Former Vice President Richard B. “Dick” Cheney, the historically powerful vice president and architect of the U.S.’s endless “war on terror” during his time as the No. 2 in the George W. Bush administration, has died, his family announced in a statement Tuesday. He was 84.
“The former Vice President died due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease” on Monday evening, the statement reads.
“For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of Defense, and Vice President of the United States,” his family said. “Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing.”
During his tenure as Bush’s vice president from 2001 to 2009, Cheney was a crucial, manipulative proponent of the U.S. invasion of Iraq — which led to what has come to be viewed as a pointless war resulting in the deaths of an estimated hundreds of thousands of people, including about 4,500 Americans, while costing taxpayers over $2 trillion — and a notable advocate for torture of suspected terrorists. He became known for his neoconservative views on foreign policy and his advocacy of the use of executive power.
