Dick Cheney: Architect of Perpetual War, Dies Too Late for Accountability
While The New Arab notes Dick Cheney's role as an 'architect' of the 'War on Terror,' it barely scratches the surface of the human cost. This was the man who, as Vice President, championed the invasion of Iraq, built a global detention and torture program, and championed policies that led to an estimated 4.5 million deaths from direct and indirect causes across Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria,
and Yemen since 2001, according to Brown University's Costs of War Project (2023). That's not 'controversial;' it's catastrophic. His passing isn't the end of a figure but rather the closure of a chapter that funneled trillions into military contractors like Halliburton (his former employer) while destabilizing entire regions. The 'War on Terror' didn't eradicate terror; it arguably codified it as
a permanent feature of US foreign policy, much to the delight of the military-industrial complex. One might wonder if the eulogies will mention the Guantanamo Bay detainees still awaiting due process, or the trillions of taxpayer dollars diverted from schools and healthcare to endless conflicts.