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The Republican was a polarizing politician who led the Bush administration’s so-called “war on terror” and the invasion of Iraq.
Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84.
The Republican politician, who served as President George W. Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, has died, his family announced in a statement Tuesday.
“He was survived by his beloved wife of 61 years, Lynn, daughters Liz and Mary, and other family members,” the statement said, adding that he died of complications from pneumonia and cardiovascular disease.
“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who loved our country and taught his children and grandchildren the values of courage, honor, love, kindness and the life of fly fishing,” his family said.
But Cheney was a deeply divisive politician in the United States and many around the world, pushing the limits of the vice presidency and leading the Bush administration’s so-called “war on terror” and misguided invasion of Iraq.
Cheney was one of the most outspoken Bush administration officials in the lead-up to the 2003 conflict about the dangers of Iraq’s alleged stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. No such weapon was discovered.
Nevertheless, Cheney maintained that the invasion was the right decision based on the information available at the time, noting that it led to the removal of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein from power.
father and son
Mr. Cheney has remained at the top of American politics for a long time, having served as father and son president.
He led the military as secretary of defense during the Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush, then returned to public life as vice president under his son.
In the latter role, he fought vigorously for an expansion of presidential power, which he felt was being eroded since the Watergate scandal that ousted his former boss Richard Nixon from office.
He also created a national security team that often served as its own power center within the administration, expanding the influence of the vice president’s office.
He clashed with several of Bush’s top aides, including Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and defended “enhanced” interrogation techniques for “terrorist” suspects, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation.
The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Counterterrorism and Human Rights have called these techniques “torture.”
Years after leaving office, Cheney became a target of President Donald Trump. Especially after his daughter, Liz Cheney, became the Republican Party’s leading critic and examiner of the president’s desperate attempts to retain power in the wake of his election loss and his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, no one has posed a greater threat to our nation than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in a television ad for her daughter.
In a twist on her Republican allegiance, Cheney said she would vote for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in 2024.
Cheney suffered from heart disease most of his life, suffering multiple heart attacks at the age of 37. He underwent a heart transplant in 2012.
