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

The deceased US second-in-command Dick Cheney, who passed away at age 84, was considered arguably the most significant occupants of that position in the nation's history. Whereas many second-in-commands were limited to minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised enormous power during the presidency of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly called as the "real president".

Bush resented that description and stated the connection was more nuanced. He pointed out that Cheney was deferential, invariably referring to him in public settings as the President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush disputed even portrayals of their relationship as a team because it indicated that they were equals. Regardless of these objections, Cheney viewed the laidback president pliable on a broad range of administrative determinations.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a faction of neo-conservatives that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. During of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush made his way to a secure location in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, ordering the destruction of any non-communicating airplanes heading toward the government building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, causing him to be focused on retribution. Along with other conservative figures, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to capture Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the invasion of Iraq, although there was little proof of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He showed no remorse about the invasion, in which an approximated 100,000 Iraqis died, or about the enhanced interrogation of detainees captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion, which was founded on misleading information echoed by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It represented the correct action to do back then. I had faith then and I believe it now."

Yet even at the time, there were contrary opinions at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own representatives to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I witnessed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and unaccountability: in the worst case, deception, incompetence, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for such action. He had drafted a memorandum setting out scenarios in which US concerns might be endangered (including "availability of vital raw materials, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly citing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush too had entered the Oval Office somewhat determined on implementing what his predecessor had notably declined to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the administration, the Treasury head Paul O'Neill revealed how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his intention of reducing America's engagement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and proposed armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a personal grudge against Saddam, believing he had been responsible for a scheme to murder his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore objected to that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a ground design with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to walk over.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was among the most outspoken supporting invading Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were whether thin or completely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush government euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of simulated drowning and torture.

Addressing a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had come from the torture, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to take steps and establish programmes to catch the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That was specifically what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."

External Perception

Cheney reveled in monikers assigned to him by critics such as Darth Vader and The Prince of Darkness, and by the idea that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 publication about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is quoted as saying: "Do I represent the malevolent mastermind in the background that nobody ever sees emerge from his lair? It's a advantageous way to function, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his corporate affiliations pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest energy conglomerates, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was given US contracts valued at substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly earnings during his tenure at the firm grew from his previous salary during his time as defence secretary to millions. When he departed in 2000 he had a severance arrangement valued at in excess of $20m|twenty