One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Government Service

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was considered among the most influential incumbents of that office in US history. Although countless vice-presidents were limited to peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney exercised huge sway during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush objected to that description and stated the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, consistently referring to him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their relationship as a team because it suggested that they were on equal footing. In spite of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a wide array of administrative determinations.

The Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 assault, Bush had been attending a meeting at a school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took command, directing the destruction of any unidentified aircraft nearing the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the assaults altered his perspective, making him become intent on revenge. Together with other neo-conservatives, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Decisions

He showed no remorse about the military campaign, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on faulty reports circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the right thing to do back then. I believed it at the time and I maintain that stance today."

However even then, there were opposing views at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "obvious failure, inaction, and unaccountability: at worst, deception, unfitness, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely responsible for the Iraq military action. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for comparable steps. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the Oval Office vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested military action against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a plot to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the largest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting information documents that were both thin or totally deceptive. He supported what the Bush administration indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of waterboarding and torture.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that found that no useful information had been obtained through the torture, Cheney dismissed the report as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and establish programmes to catch the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of praise."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by detractors such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the sinister strategist in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? This represents a nice way to work, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his commercial relationships accompanied him throughout his time as VP. Although he had limited background in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the executive branch. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was awarded US contracts totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his period at the corporation grew from his $258,394 during his time as military head to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty