Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney
Born	January 30, 1941 Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.
Died	November 3, 2025 (age 84) North Virginia, U.S.
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Political orientation	Imperialism
Political party	Republican

Richard Bruce Cheney (January 30, 1941 – November 3, 2025) was a Statesian politician and war criminal who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. Known as the "most powerful vice president in American history", Cheney played a key role in supporting U.S. imperialism, particularly in causing the War on terror, and subsequently the War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War. Cheney previously served as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford, and as the 17th United States secretary of defense for President George H. W. Bush.

As Vice-President, Cheney worked to consolidate the President's authority into absolute power over the executive, believing that the Presidency was an elective monarchy. Cheney used this executive he built up through shadow control over the bureaucracy, to commit war crimes in Iraq, most notably the CIA torture program, with no consequences. Later in life Cheney would hypocritically decry Donald Trump's use of the power and tactics Cheney created, as "a threat to our republic."

Secretary of Defense (1989–1993)

Under President George H. W. Bush, Cheney served as secretary of defence from 1989 to 1993, where he played an important role in reorientating military policy due to the end of the Cold War. In the early 1990s, Cheney cut the armed forces by 25 percent, canceled major weapons programs and closed many military bases. Cheney also directed the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama as well as missions in Haiti and Somalia.

Cheney's most important role was coordinating the first western invasion of Iraq during the Gulf War. Cheney was remarkably prudent during the war with he and Joint Chiefs chairman Colin Powell resisting calls to topple Saddam Hussein. Cheney believed that invading Baghdad would leave the U.S. to occupy Iraq on its own, threaten the country’s territorial unity, and lead to unacceptable casualties.

Vice presidency (2001–2009)

In the 2000 Presidential election Cheney was selected to find a running mate for Bush, and he chose himself as the Republican vice presidental candidate. The election was marred by corruption but the pair succesfully managed to get themselves into office regardless of the law. In Bush's first term Cheney was regarded as the real power in the White House and although his influence waned in the second term, he would remain a influential figure nonetheless, particularly in regards to national security.

Foreign policy

The 9/11 attacks occured early into Bush's Presidency, during these attacks Cheney took the unusual decison of taking military command and ordering the shoorting down of United Airlines Flight 93. In the aftermath of these attacks Cheney increased his own power and became the architect of the decision to use the attacks as a convenient excuse to start a "War on terror". Cheney placed a particular focus on Iraq, which he falsely claimed, without evidence, had both nuclear weapons and was involved in the 9/11 attacks through supposed links to al-Qaeda, meanwhile the actual links to Saudi Arabia were ignored.

Conservative estimates of the costs of the wars that Cheney championed put the death toll at nearly a million direct deaths, a large proportion of which were civilians, as well as trillians of dollars in spending. Cheney and his advisors argued that the Geneva Conventions did not apply to detainees captured in the War on terror, a distinction that he used to justify the CIA's interrogation program and the use of the torture tactics such as waterboarding, the latter Cheney described in 2006 as a “no‑brainer.”

Later life

After his vice presidency Cheney remained a influential figure over the Republican Party, though his health was too poor to run for a political positon, and he continued supporting both the party and the political career of his daughter, Liz Cheney. After the election of Barack Obama, Cheney emerged as a leading critic of the new administration, particularly of the planned closure of Guantánamo Bay concentration camp, which he claimed was endangering the country. Cheney continued to defend his legacy as vice president for the rest of his life and would only later express a few regrets over his controversial decisions, though no major ones.

After the January 6 insurection in 2021, Cheney ironically emerged as an opponent of Donald Trump, declaring him a threat to democracy, and giving his daughter help in her conflict with Trump. This conflict led him to endorse Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election, which was gleafully accepted by Harris who began helping to rehabilitate Cheney's reputation.

Cheney died in Northern Virginia on November 3, 2025, at the age of 84 after experiencing complications related to pneumonia and vascular disease. Cheney faced no punishment for his crimes during his lifetime and instead was offered condolences upon his death by politicians including Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Bill Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi.