One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Influential Government Service

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at age 84, was considered one of the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in US history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for minor or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and claimed the connection was more complex. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, always referring to him in public as Mr President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Despite these objections, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the downing of any non-communicating airplanes approaching the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an attempt to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, although there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, and not about the waterboarding of individuals rounded up after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on faulty intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I hold that view presently."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, lying, incompetence, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for similar measures. He had drafted a memo setting out scenarios in which national priorities might be compromised (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to take unilateral action when cooperative measures cannot be orchestrated," specifically referencing armed actions against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to murder his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally disliked that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a portrait of his father's face that each person had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, frequently referencing information documents that were whether insubstantial or completely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "intensive questioning", the employment of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the torture, Cheney disregarded the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to implement measures and establish initiatives to catch the individuals who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a sinister influence directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that remains unseen come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to work, actually."

Business Interests

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy companies, in 1995 as chair and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the White House. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US deals totaling billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the corporation increased from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at over $20m|twenty