A couple of weeks ago, I arose on the morning of November 4th, looking forward to the busy day ahead, election day of all things! Hiding just inches away, on the screen of my iPhone, a beautiful truth awaited me. The day I previously had only dreamed of finally arrived. Dick Cheney, dead at 84!, if only Harry Whittington could’ve lived to see this day…
Dick began his political career in the 1970s. Starting during the Nixon administration, where he worked under Donald Rumsfeld, who soon became his mentor. In 1975,he served as Whitehouse chief of staff, ending in 1977. From 1979-1989, he served as Wyoming’s sole member of the House of Representatives.
From 1989-1993 he served as George H.W. Bush’s secretary of defense during which he oversaw the US invasion of Panama, and ‘Operation Desert Storm’ also known as the Persian Gulf War or the first Iraq war. The Iraqi Death toll of Desert Storm is estimated to be more than 100,000, and in 1991 it was considered the “single most devastating event in the Middle East since World War 1.” The war was conducted to maintain the US’s access to oil in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
After his time as Secretary of Defense, Dick persued a brief endeavor into the world of business as the CEO and Chairman of Halliburton company, only the world’s second-largest oil service company. He served in this position until 2000, when he decided he hadn’t had enough of politics, and left with a 33.7 million dollar severance package.
In 2000, George W. Bush approached Dick, to ask if he’d run for Vice President. Bush was young and inexperienced, and needed someone experienced to solidify his campaign. George W. Bush won the presidential election in 2000 because of the outsized power of the electoral college, he lost the popular vote by more than 500,000 votes. Dick Cheney served as VP to George W. Bush from 2001-2009. Dick did more than provide the illusion of experience, once elected he took the reins and became the most powerful Vice President in history. It was, under his de facto leadership where the worst atrocities of the bush administration occurred. Dick, proud subscriber of “The Unitary Executive Theory,” A troubling legal theory which espouses that the President has total control over the Executive branch and military.
Dick was eager to invade Iraq, making up claims about the existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction. He was supportive of the Enhanced Interrogation Technique (EIT) also known as the CIA torture program, that was practiced throughout CIA black sites US military prisons. The torture program traumatized, injured, and killed. Leaked photos depict US service members exhibiting unimaginable cruelty to inmates, a striking example being soldier Sabrina Harman posing with the body of Manadel al-Jamadi, who was murdered during torture, giving a thumbs up and smiling.
Dick is hailed as the architect of the Global War on Terror, which perpetrated hundreds of human rights violations and resulted in the deaths of more than 4.5 million people, mostly civilians. By 2009, at the end of his second vice presidential term, his approval rating was only 13%.
In 2012, Dick received a heart transplant that extended his life by 13 years. I would say 13 years too many, but that would be a terrible understatement. Dick will be remembered for being the most evil person in modern US history, unfortunately, even his death doesn’t bring justice to the millions he murdered.
Bad Dick poem
Maybe it’s wrong to celebrate
Now that he is here no more
But through his life he took with him
The world we knew before
I wonder if he tossed and turned
If it kept him up at night
Or if the horrors he brought upon this earth
Were a subject of delight
He surely made the most of
investing big in oil
He used to his power to heighten conflict
Then went to war to keep the markets loyal
Maybe he felt no remorse
Perhaps his conscience he had bankrolled
But there will be no atonement for his sins
No amount of money could buy back his soul
I believe hell is almost empty
At least that’s what the catholics say
But I’m sure it gained one more member
The dreary November day
