Ex- Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on the Influential Government Service

The former US VP Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as among the most influential occupants of that office in US history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to marginal or figurehead roles, Cheney held enormous influence during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more nuanced. He noted that Cheney was deferential, invariably calling him in public as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a whole raft of governmental choices.

A Aftermath of 9/11

Leading of a group of conservative hawks that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, ordering the shooting down of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retribution. Together with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was little proof 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 harsh treatment of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It proved to be the proper decision to do then. I had faith back then and I hold that view presently."

Yet even then, there were opposing views at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the White House's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I saw, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memorandum outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be compromised (featuring "access to crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be postured to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be orchestrated," particularly mentioning military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the White House vaguely intent on executing what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been sacked by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a individual resentment against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a conspiracy to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the largest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's countenance that each person had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently referencing intelligence reports that were either thin or totally deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush government politely called as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create programmes to capture the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a effective way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Controversy over his business interests pursued him throughout his time as VP. Even though he had little experience in corporate affairs but strong connections in defence, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the executive branch. Controversially, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts worth substantial sums.

It greatly increased his wealth. His annual income during his period at the company rose from his $258,394 during his time as Pentagon chief to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty