Ex- VP Dick Cheney: A Look Back on the Influential Government Service

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was considered one of the most influential incumbents of the vice-presidency in American history. Whereas many second-in-commands were confined to minor or figurehead positions, Cheney wielded enormous sway during the term of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently described as the "actual president".

Bush resented that description and claimed the relationship was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was courteous, invariably calling him in public as Mr President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a collaboration because it suggested that they were equals. Despite these objections, Cheney found the easygoing president accommodating on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a contingent of conservative hawks that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a gathering at a school in Florida. Whereas Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, directing the destruction of any unresponsive planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on retaliation. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a occupation of Afghanistan in an attempt to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on inaccurate reports echoed by Cheney, was the right course of action. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."

But during that period, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the mishandling of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the role. "I witnessed, at the very least," he wrote later "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and corruption."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for such action. He had written a memorandum setting out situations in which US concerns might be compromised (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the White House generally inclined on executing what his father had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his intention of lowering America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush carried a individual resentment against Saddam, convinced he had been responsible for a scheme to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally objected to that one of the largest accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his predecessor's face that everyone had to walk over.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most vehement behind striking Iraq, frequently quoting intelligence reports that were either insubstantial or entirely deceptive. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "enhanced interrogation", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that concluded that no useful information had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the conclusions as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and establish initiatives to apprehend the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it never happened again. That was specifically what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers given to him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that nobody ever sees come out of his lair? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. Although he had little experience in commerce but established relationships in security, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's largest oil and gas conglomerates, in 1995 as chair and top executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US agreements worth multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary when he was military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth over $20m|twenty