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

The late US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as one of the most significant holders of that position in US history. Whereas numerous second-in-commands had to settle for minor or figurehead roles, Cheney held huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "real president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, consistently calling him in official appearances as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a team because it suggested that they were equals. Regardless of these denials, Cheney viewed the relaxed president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Aftermath of 9/11

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary 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 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the shooting down of any non-communicating airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, even though there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Controversial Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the invasion, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on inaccurate intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the proper decision to do then. I was convinced then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and corruption."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (featuring "access to essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the US should be positioned to take unilateral action when collective action prove impossible," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the White House somewhat determined on carrying out what his predecessor had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and mooted military action against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vehement supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether insubstantial or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the report as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a dark force manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the evil genius in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his hole? This represents a nice way to function, in fact."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his commercial relationships pursued him during his tenure as VP. Even though he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but strong connections in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy corporations, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was given US contracts totaling substantial sums.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm increased from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he departed in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty