Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Government Service

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was seen as arguably the most significant holders of that office in American history. Although many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or symbolic functions, Cheney exercised enormous power during the term of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often called as the "true president".

Bush resented such a characterisation and said the connection was more complicated. He noted that Cheney was courteous, consistently calling him in official appearances as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even characterisations of their association as a partnership because it implied that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney found the relaxed president accommodating on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

At the head of a group of neo-conservatives that included military head Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been taking part in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unidentified airplanes heading toward the US Capitol.

Cheney stated the attacks altered his perspective, leading him to become intent on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He voiced no apologies about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis died, nor about the harsh treatment of detainees apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on faulty information repeated by Cheney, was the proper course of action. "It proved to be the correct action to do back then. I believed it then and I hold that view now."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he wrote later "clear negligence, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had composed a document setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be compromised (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be positioned to act independently when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had assumed the Oval Office generally inclined on carrying out what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of reducing America's participation in the regional tensions and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the biggest accommodations in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken behind invading Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether weak or completely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "advanced techniques", the use of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "loaded with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create procedures to catch the individuals 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 credit."

External Perception

Cheney enjoyed labels assigned to him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Am I the evil genius in the background that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in commerce but good contacts in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's VP candidate for the White House. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements valued at billions.

It made him rich. His annual income during his period at the corporation increased from his previous salary while Pentagon chief to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at over $20m|twenty