Dick Cheney, one of the most powerful and divisive vice presidents in US history and a leading advocate of the invasion of Iraq, has died at the age of 84.

The family announced the news, as reported by CNN: death following complications from pneumonia and heart and vascular disease.

Cheney worked for both Bush presidents, leading the military as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under George H.W. Bush, then returning to public life as the two-term vice president of his son, George W. Bush.

A hardline conservative, he consistently defended the tools of surveillance, detention, and inquisition employed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Associated Press recalls.

In recent years, he has been a target of President Donald Trump, after his daughter Liz Cheney became one of his leading critics within the Republican Party.

In an ad for her daughter, Cheney called Trump "the greatest threat to our republic." Then, in a twist Democrats of her era could never have imagined, she announced last year that she had voted for their candidate, Kamala Harris, in the presidential election against Trump.

(Unioneonline)

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