One-time Vice-President Dick Cheney: An Examination on the Influential Time in Office

The late US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was regarded as arguably the most powerful incumbents of that position in the nation's history. Although numerous vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or symbolic positions, Cheney held huge power during the administration of George W Bush, to the point that he was commonly described as the "real president".

Bush disliked this portrayal and claimed the relationship was more complex. He noted that Cheney was courteous, invariably addressing him in public settings as President, while he called him as Dick. Bush questioned even descriptions of their association as a partnership because it suggested that they were on equal footing. Regardless of these denials, Cheney considered the easygoing president pliable on a wide array of governmental choices.

The Post-9/11 Era

Leading of a contingent of neo-conservatives that encompassed Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he vigorously promoted the armed incursion 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 taking part in a session at a educational institution in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, directing the destruction of any unresponsive airplanes nearing the government building.

Cheney claimed the strikes altered his perspective, leading him to become determined on revenge. Together with other neo-cons, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a occupation of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then strongly advocated for the armed intervention of Iraq, though there was insufficient indication of Saddam Hussein being involved.

Debated Decisions

He expressed no regrets about the armed intervention, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of individuals apprehended after 9/11. He told CNN in 2015 that the Iraq military action, which was founded on misleading intelligence circulated by Cheney, was the right path to take. "It was the correct action to do at that time. I believed it back then and I believe it now."

However during that period, there were opposing views at a top tier about the botched execution of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the Middle East, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was not reappointed from the position. "I observed, at a minimum," he later wrote "true dereliction, negligence, and recklessness: at worst, falsehoods, incompetence, and graft."

Broader Context

Cheney was not solely to blame for the Iraq invasion. Even before 9/11, Wolfowitz had advocated for similar measures. He had drafted a memo detailing circumstances in which national priorities might be threatened (encompassing "obtaining essential resources, primarily Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had asserted that "America should be prepared to operate alone when joint efforts cannot be arranged," explicitly referencing military moves against Iraq.

Bush too had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on carrying out what his father had specifically avoided to do in 1991; remove Saddam. Subsequent to he had been fired by the president, the finance chief Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had announced his plan of lowering America's participation in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and suggested armed intervention against Iraq.

Bush held a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been responsible for a plot to kill his predecessor, President George HW Bush, on a journey to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the biggest establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a likeness of his parent's visage that all visitors had to tread upon.

Questioning Techniques

But it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken behind striking Iraq, frequently citing intelligence reports that were either thin or entirely misleading. He backed what the Bush White House politely called as "advanced techniques", the employment of simulated drowning and harsh treatment.

Responding to a Senate analysis in 2014 that determined that no useful information had been obtained through the harsh techniques, Cheney rejected the findings as "loaded with crap". He told Fox News: "We instructed [the CIA] to take steps and put in place procedures 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 merit a lot of praise."

Public Persona

Cheney took pleasure in monikers imposed on him by critics such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In Peter Baker's 2013 book about the pair, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is cited as commenting: "Is it me who is the evil genius in the corner that operates invisibly come out of his domain? It's a advantageous way to function, truthfully."

Business Interests

Debate over his commercial relationships followed him through his period as VP. Although he had limited background in corporate affairs but good contacts in military, notably in Saudi Arabia, he was offered a position at Halliburton, one of the world's largest energy companies, in 1995 as leader and chief executive.

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

It greatly increased his wealth. His yearly earnings during his period at the company grew from his quarter-million dollars when he was Pentagon chief to over four million. When he resigned in 2000 he had a severance arrangement totaling more than $20m|twenty