Wars, under Cheney’s influence, contributed to millions of deaths and displacements. A Brown University study estimates the post-9/11 wars (primarily Afghanistan and Iraq) killed ~4.5 million people and displaced 38 million.
Richard Bruce Cheney: (January 30, 1941 – November 3, 2025) was an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush.
Dick Cheney, who served as U.S. Secretary of Defense (1989–1993) and Vice President (2001–2009), was a key architect of several major U.S.-led military interventions. He actively advocated for, planned, or oversaw these operations, often as a proponent of neoconservative foreign policy emphasizing preemptive action and regime change. While he never served in the military himself (receiving five draft deferments during the Vietnam War era), his roles made him a central figure in post-Cold War U.S. military strategy.
- U.S. Invasion of Panama (Operation Just Cause)
- Persian Gulf War (Operation Desert Storm)
- U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom)
- U.S. Invasion of Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom)
These are the conflicts where Cheney had direct, high-level involvement—either overseeing operations or driving policy. Broader “support” (e.g., as a congressman in the 1980s, he backed aid to anti-communist insurgents in Afghanistan, Angola, and Nicaragua, but these were proxy conflicts, not U.S. wars he led). He also advocated for potential action against Iran and North Korea but did not oversee invasions.
Human Cost: These wars, under Cheney’s influence, contributed to millions of deaths and displacements. A Brown University study estimates the post-9/11 wars (primarily Afghanistan and Iraq) killed ~4.5 million people and displaced 38 million.
Influence in the Aftermath of 9/11
Cheney’s role extended far beyond that day, shaping U.S. policy for years:
Architect of the “War on Terror”: He was a driving force behind the invasions of Afghanistan (October 2001) and Iraq (March 2003), advocating for preemptive strikes and linking (falsely, as later debunked) Saddam Hussein to al-Qaeda. This “Cheney Doctrine” emphasized executive power, surveillance expansion (e.g., warrantless wiretapping), and “enhanced interrogation” techniques at sites like Guantanamo Bay.
Policy Legacy: His influence led to the Patriot Act, CIA black sites, and a peak public approval rating of 68% post-9/11. Critics, however, blame him for misleading intelligence on Iraq’s WMDs and ties to 9/11, contributing to over 800,000 deaths in related conflicts across multiple countries.
James Corbett on Dick Cheney:
- The Dark Legacy of Dick Cheney by James Corbett (Odysee)
- Episode 485 – The Dark Legacy of Dick Cheney (Corbettreport.com with show notes)
Max Blumenthal’s Comments on Dick Cheney’s Death
“Dick Cheney died after a long life in which he cashed in handsomely on calamitous wars he launched on the basis of crude lies.
But his spirit lives on in the Trump administration, a collection of authoritarian knaves and white collar criminals who have escalated his bogus war on terror to pursue lucre through violent conquest in Venezuela, while bombing Iranian targets designated by apartheid Israel, and threatening to jail and deport those within their realm who disagree.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have attempted to salvage the image of the Cheney family, making Liz Cheney the star surrogate of Kamala’s historically inept 2024 campaign, hailing her as an icon of American democracy, and even praising her father for his “service.” They did this purely because the Cheneys opposed Trump, as if that was sufficient to atone for their seminal role in torture, criminal deception, the maiming of thousands of US service members and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Dick Cheney may be physically dead but the most odious characteristics of his leadership and legacy have been distilled into the essence of the US regime.”
