Former US vice president Dick Cheney dies

Former US vice president Dick Cheney, one of the leading advocates for the US waging the Iraq War, has died.

In a statement, his family said the 84-year-old was surrounded at the time of his death by his wife Lynne, daughters Liz and Mary, and other family members. He died from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, it said.

The Republican was one of the most polarising vice presidents in US history under George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, and was one of the main foreign policy hawks ahead of the invasion of Iraq in 2003. With Mr Bush in the presidency, Mr Cheney was also one of the most powerful vice presidents in history, leading US policy after the 9/11 attacks, when America conducted the War on Terror, and shaping the administration's more assertive international approach.

In later life, he became a target of Donald Trump, especially after his daughter, Liz Cheney, became the leading Republican critic and examiner of Mr Trump's actions surrounding the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol. "In our nation's 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Mr Cheney said in a TV advert for his daughter.

"He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward." Last year, he said he was voting for Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate, to be president against Mr Trump.

Mr Cheney survived five heart attacks and declared in 2013 he woke up each morning "with a smile on my face, thankful for the gift of another day". He previously served as defence secretary under Mr Bush's father, George HW Bush, directing the US-led military operation to expel Saddam Hussein's Iraqi occupying army from Kuwait in the first Gulf War.

Before that, he had been Gerald Ford's chief of staff and served as a congressman for Wyoming in the House during the Reagan years. His family's statement said: "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.

"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. "We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country.

"And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man." In a statement, Mr Bush described his former colleague as a "decent, honourable man" who would be remembered as "among the finest public servants of his generation". Mr Cheney was "a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held".

As his vice-president, he was a "calm and steady presence in the White House amid great national challenges. I counted on him for his honest, forthright counsel, and he never failed to give his best," he said..