One-time VP Dick Cheney: An Examination on His Impactful Government Service

The former US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as among the most significant incumbents of that position in the nation's history. While countless second-in-commands had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial functions, Cheney wielded huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complex. He observed that Cheney was courteous, consistently addressing him in public settings as the President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush challenged even characterisations of their partnership as a collaboration because it indicated that they were peers. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of administrative determinations.

A Period Following the Attacks

Leading of a contingent of neo-cons that featured defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any non-communicating planes nearing the government building.

Cheney stated the attacks changed him, leading him to become focused on revenge. Along with other neo-conservatives, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an attempt to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein having involvement.

Debated Actions

He showed no remorse about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis perished, nor about the harsh treatment of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was based on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It was the correct action to do back then. I was convinced back then and I believe it today."

However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the White House's own representatives to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the role. "I saw, as a baseline," he subsequently stated "true dereliction, inaction, and irresponsibility: potentially, falsehoods, incompetence, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq military action. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for such action. He had composed a memo setting out circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "availability of essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be postured to act independently when joint efforts cannot be arranged," specifically mentioning defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had assumed the Oval Office somewhat determined on executing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill disclosed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of lowering America's participation in the Middle East dispute and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, believing he had been behind a scheme to kill his father, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a floor mural with a likeness of his parent's countenance that everyone had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly quoting agency briefings that were either weak or totally inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration politely called as "enhanced interrogation", the application of simulated drowning and physical pressure.

Answering a Senate report in 2014 that determined that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the report as "riddled with crap". He informed Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place programmes to apprehend the perpetrators who killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it would not recur. That's exactly what they did and they earn a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by detractors such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the notion that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that operates invisibly emerge from his hole? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Controversy over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. Although he had minimal expertise in corporate affairs but established relationships in security, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's largest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

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

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm increased from his previous salary while military head to $4.4m. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling in excess of $20m|twenty