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

The deceased US VP Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as one of the most significant incumbents of that position in US history. While many vice-presidents were confined to marginal or ceremonial roles, Cheney exercised enormous sway during the presidency of George W Bush, to such an extent that he was commonly called as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently addressing him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their partnership as a partnership because it indicated that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these objections, Cheney found the laidback president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.

A Post-9/11 Era

In charge of a faction of neo-conservatives that encompassed military head Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he strongly advocated the invasion of Iraq in 2003 in response to the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been taking part in a meeting at a elementary school in Florida. As Bush headed for a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the downing of any unresponsive airplanes heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the attacks altered his perspective, causing him to be focused on retaliation. In conjunction with other neo-cons, like Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the military action of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, and not about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He stated to CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was predicated on faulty intelligence echoed by Cheney, was the proper path to take. "It proved to be the correct action to do then. I had faith at the time and I hold that view presently."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a high level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not retained from the role. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, inaction, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and corruption."

Wider Perspective

Cheney was not solely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had written a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "the United States should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had entered the presidency vaguely intent on carrying out what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the first meeting of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of reducing America's participation in the Middle East dispute and suggested defense operations against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been involved in a conspiracy to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He also disliked that one of the most prominent hotels in Baghdad had a ground design with a image of his predecessor's face that each person had to tread upon.

Interrogation Methods

But it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, consistently quoting information documents that were whether insubstantial or entirely inaccurate. He supported what the Bush administration euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the application of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate document in 2014 that concluded that no valuable data had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and create procedures to apprehend the bastards who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they merit a lot of praise."

External Perception

Cheney took pleasure in nicknames imposed on him by critics such as the dark character and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power controlling Bush. In the author's 2013 publication about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Do I represent the sinister strategist in the corner that remains unseen emerge from his domain? It's a nice way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his corporate affiliations followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in business but good contacts in defence, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was asked to become part of Halliburton, one of the world's biggest petroleum corporations, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the executive branch. Contentiously, during the Iraq war, Halliburton was given US deals totaling substantial sums.

It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars while Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a compensation package worth more than $20m|twenty