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

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who has died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful incumbents of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. Whereas countless VPs had to settle for minor or symbolic roles, Cheney exercised substantial sway during the term of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "actual president".

Bush objected to that description and said the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was deferential, always calling him in public settings as President, while he addressed him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were equals. In spite of these denials, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a broad range of governmental choices.

A Period Following the Attacks

In charge of a faction of neo-cons that encompassed defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Pentagon second-in-command Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the armed incursion of Iraq in 2003 in reaction to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. At the time of the 9/11 attack, Bush had been participating in a session at a educational institution in Florida. Whereas Bush headed for a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the downing of any non-communicating planes approaching the Capitol building.

Cheney said the strikes changed him, leading him to become determined on retribution. Along with other neo-conservatives, including Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he advocated for a invasion of Afghanistan in an effort to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, although there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Disputed Actions

He expressed no regrets about the invasion, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals captured after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was based on faulty information circulated by Cheney, was the right decision. "It represented the proper decision to do then. I was convinced back then and I maintain that stance today."

Yet even then, there were dissenting voices at a top tier about the poor management of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I observed, as a baseline," he later wrote "obvious failure, carelessness, and recklessness: in the worst case, falsehoods, unfitness, and dishonesty."

Broader Context

Cheney was not completely to blame for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had written a document setting out situations in which US concerns might be threatened (encompassing "access to crucial commodities, mainly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had argued that "America should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," specifically citing military moves against Iraq.

Bush also had entered the presidency generally inclined on executing what his predecessor had specifically avoided to do in 1991; topple Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the initial gathering of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had declared his objective of reducing America's involvement in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush carried a private grievance against Saddam, thinking he had been involved in 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 father's visage that everyone had to step on.

Investigation Approaches

Yet it was Cheney who was one of the most outspoken supporting striking Iraq, repeatedly referencing information documents that were both insubstantial or completely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush White House euphemistically referred to as "intensive questioning", the use of waterboarding and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no actionable intelligence had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the conclusions as "full of crap". He told Fox News: "We requested [the CIA] to take steps and put in place programmes to capture the perpetrators who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of credit."

Public Persona

Cheney reveled in monikers imposed on him by critics such as the Star Wars villain and The Prince of Darkness, and by the concept that he was a shadow power manipulating Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the duo, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the sinister strategist in the corner that operates invisibly leave his lair? That is a nice way to work, in fact."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships pursued him throughout his time as VP. While he had little experience in corporate affairs but good contacts in security, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial energy companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he became Bush's running mate for the presidency. Contentiously, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US deals valued at multiple billions.

It significantly boosted his finances. His yearly compensation during his period at the company increased from his previous salary when he was defence secretary to millions. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package valued at more than $20m|twenty