Dick Cheney Leaves Behind a Legacy Written in Blood and Oil
Former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has died at 84 (Image George Bush on X)
While George W. Bush remembers him as a patriot, critics call Cheney the architect of wars that killed millions and reshaped the 21st century in fear and fire.
By TRH Foreign Affairs Desk
New Delhi, November 4, 2025 —Dick Cheney is dead — and with him ends one of the darkest, most controversial chapters in modern US history.
The former vice president under George W. Bush died at 84, his family confirmed. Bush mourned his longtime ally as “a decent, honourable man” and “among the finest public servants of his generation.” But outside Washington’s bubble of power and privilege, many remember Cheney differently — as the butcher of Iraq, the architect of endless wars, and the father of the post-9/11 security state.
It was Cheney who pushed America into Iraq on the lie of weapons of mass destruction. It was Cheney who oversaw the CIA’s torture chambers and secret prisons. And it was Cheney who helped turn fear into a foreign policy doctrine.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the post-9/11 wars Cheney helped unleash have killed between 4.5 and 4.7 million people and displaced over 38 million across Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria, and Yemen. These conflicts, waged in the name of fighting terror, left behind nations in ruins — and generations scarred.
Political commentator Tony Seruga summed up the anger online: “Dick Cheney, the butcher of Iraq, who lied about weapons of mass destruction, is the reason so many American soldiers died or were maimed.”
Even as former US President Bush praised Cheney’s “calm and steady presence” during “great national challenges,” critics say that calm masked a ruthless pursuit of control — of oil fields, defence contracts, and geopolitical dominance.
Cheney didn’t just shape American foreign policy; he reshaped the world order. From Baghdad to Kabul, his shadow looms over every drone strike, every refugee camp, every flag-draped coffin.
For Washington, Cheney was a patriot. For much of the world, he was the architect of an age of permanent war.
And now, history must decide which is the truth.
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