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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at age 84, was seen as one of the most powerful holders of the vice-presidency in American history. While numerous second-in-commands were limited to minor or figurehead functions, Cheney wielded enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was often described as the "real president".

Bush disliked that description and claimed the dynamic was more complicated. He pointed out that Cheney was respectful, invariably referring to him in public settings as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush disputed even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the easygoing president malleable on a whole raft of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a faction of neo-cons that included Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been attending a session at a school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney took charge, commanding the downing of any unidentified planes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, making him become focused on revenge. In conjunction with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis died, and not about the waterboarding of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading information repeated by Cheney, was the correct course of action. "It represented the correct action to do then. I was convinced at the time and I hold that view now."

Yet even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own special envoys to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, at the very least," he later wrote "clear negligence, carelessness, and irresponsibility: in the worst case, falsehoods, ineptitude, and dishonesty."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had pushed for comparable steps. He had drafted a memorandum detailing situations in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "obtaining crucial commodities, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts prove impossible," particularly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency somewhat determined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been dismissed by the White House, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his objective of diminishing America's engagement in the Middle East dispute and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been involved in a plot to assassinate his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He also objected to that one of the biggest hotels in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his father's countenance that everyone had to step on.

Interrogation Methods

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently citing intelligence reports that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He endorsed what the Bush White House indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and torture.

Addressing a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had been obtained through the interrogation methods, Cheney dismissed the findings as "full of crap". He informed Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the perpetrators who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and guarantee it never happened again. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of recognition."

Public Image

Cheney reveled in nicknames imposed on him by opponents such as the Star Wars villain and the dark figure, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In the author's 2013 book about the two, 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 operates invisibly come out of his hole? This represents a effective way to work, truthfully."

Commercial Ties

Dispute over his business interests accompanied him during his tenure as vice-president. Although he had little experience in commerce but strong connections in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum companies, in 1995 as chairman and chief executive.

In 2000 he assumed the role of Bush's running mate for the White House. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His annual income during his tenure at the company grew from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement worth in excess of $20m|twenty