One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: A Retrospective on His Influential Government Service

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of that office in American history. Although countless VPs were confined to minor or figurehead roles, Cheney wielded huge influence during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the connection was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush challenged even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president malleable on a broad range of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush traveled to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the destruction of any non-communicating aircraft approaching the US Capitol.

Cheney claimed the assaults transformed him, leading him to become focused on retribution. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Controversial Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects apprehended after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on inaccurate information repeated by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the right thing to do at that time. I believed it then and I maintain that stance today."

However even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the area, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at the very least," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, deception, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely responsible for the Iraq invasion. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out circumstances in which American interests might be endangered (encompassing "availability of essential resources, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be positioned to operate alone when collective action prove impossible," specifically citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the White House somewhat determined on implementing what his parent had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed military action against Iraq.

Bush held a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a scheme to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore disliked that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his father's face that everyone had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He backed what the Bush government indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the employment of interrogation method and harsh treatment.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to implement measures and put in place initiatives to capture the perpetrators who killed 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 Persona

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the sinister presence, and by the notion that he was a shadow power directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly come out of his lair? It's a nice way to operate, actually."

Corporate Connections

Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him throughout his time as second-in-command. Even though he had minimal expertise in business but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's running mate for the presidency. Controversially, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a package worth more than $20m|twenty