WASHINGTON – Dick Cheney was once vilified as the Darth Vader of the Republican Party for his aggressive prosecution of Middle East wars, but he embraced the image even as he and his daughter were ostracized from President Donald Trump’s version of the GOP.
Cheney, who died Nov. 3 at 84, helped direct the Persian Gulf War as defense secretary to President George H.W. Bush. After the terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, Cheney became the architect of the war plans in Afghanistan and Iraq as vice president to President George W. Bush. During those latter conflicts, Cheney defended harsh interrogation techniques that others labeled torture.
Then-Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-California, who headed the Intelligence Committee, described interrogation of suspected terrorists during that period, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation, as "absolutely brutal, far worse than the CIA represented them to policymakers and others."
But in later years, Cheney and his daughter, former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, became heroes to many Democrats by becoming two of the most vocal critics of President Donald Trump. Trump retaliated by blasting the elder Cheney for "Endless, Nonsensical wars" and the younger Cheney as a "radical war hawk."
