Dick Cheney Dead: How 9/11 shaped the 'Cheney Doctrine' and created America's 'war on terror'

Dick Cheney, America’s most powerful modern vice president and the architect of the “war on terror”, has died at 84. His death closes a turbulent chapter in US politics that began in the smoke of the Twin Towers and defined the country’s posture for a generation. For Cheney, 9/11 was not merely a national trauma; it was the moment that turned fear into philosophy and leadership into doctrine. The “Cheney Doctrine”, as it came to be known, was built on three pillars: strike first, ask later, and grant the executive the power to act without hesitation. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Cheney was in the White House while President George W. Bush was in Florida. As hijacked planes struck New York and Washington, the vice president was ushered into the Presidential Emergency Opera