Former Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Impactful Time in Office

The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who passed away at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most influential holders of the vice-presidency in the nation's history. While many vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial roles, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and stated the relationship was more complicated. He observed that Cheney was deferential, consistently referring to him in public settings as the President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even characterisations of their relationship as a partnership because it indicated that they were peers. Regardless of such protestations, Cheney found the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of policy decisions.

A Post-9/11 Era

At the head of a contingent of conservative hawks that included defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and assistant defense secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in answer to the September 11th 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 traveled to a underground facility in Nebraska, Cheney took command, ordering the downing of any unresponsive aircraft heading toward the Capitol building.

Cheney claimed the strikes changed him, making him become determined on retribution. In conjunction with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he campaigned for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to apprehend Osama bin Laden. Cheney then pressed fiercely for the invasion of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.

Disputed Policies

He expressed no regrets about the military campaign, in which an estimated 100,000 Iraqis perished, or about the enhanced interrogation of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was predicated on misleading reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It represented the right thing to do at that time. I was convinced then and I believe it today."

However even then, there were contrary opinions at a high level about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the government's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the post. "I saw, at a minimum," he subsequently stated "clear negligence, negligence, and irresponsibility: at worst, falsehoods, ineptitude, and graft."

Additional Factors

Cheney was not entirely accountable for the Iraq campaign. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for comparable steps. He had composed a memo outlining circumstances in which national priorities might be endangered (encompassing "availability of vital raw materials, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to operate alone when collective action cannot be orchestrated," particularly referencing defense operations against Iraq.

Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his parent had famously refused to do in 1991; topple Saddam. After he had been dismissed by the White House, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill disclosed 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 regional tensions and mooted armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush bore a private grievance against Saddam, convinced he had been behind a conspiracy to assassinate his father, President George HW Bush, on a trip to Kuwait in 1993. He additionally resented that one of the most prominent accommodations in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's face that all visitors had to step on.

Questioning Techniques

However it was Cheney who was among the most vociferous advocating invading Iraq, consistently referencing information documents that were either weak or completely deceptive. He backed what the Bush administration indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the use of interrogation method and physical pressure.

Addressing a Senate analysis in 2014 that found that no useful information had come from the harsh techniques, Cheney dismissed the findings as "riddled with crap". He told Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and put in place procedures to catch the individuals who murdered 3,000 of us on 9/11 and ensure it was not repeated. That is precisely what they did and they deserve a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney enjoyed nicknames imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the dark figure, and by the idea that he was a dark force controlling Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 volume about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Is it me who is the malevolent mastermind in the shadows that operates invisibly leave his hole? This represents a effective way to operate, truthfully."

Corporate Connections

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as second-in-command. While he had minimal expertise in commerce but good contacts in military, especially in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial petroleum companies, in 1995 as leader and CEO.

In 2000 he was selected as Bush's election partner for the presidency. Debatably, during the conflict in Iraq, Halliburton was awarded US contracts valued at multiple billions.

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly compensation during his period at the firm rose from his $258,394 when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a compensation package totaling in excess of $20m|twenty