Former U.S. vice-president Dick Cheney at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington in February, 2008.

Dick Cheney, a driving force behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 who was considered by presidential historians as one of the most powerful vice-presidents in U.S. history has died at age 84, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.

Cheney died Monday night from complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, his family said.

The Republican – a former Wyoming congressman and secretary of defence – was already a major Washington player when then-Texas governor George W. Bush chose him to be his running mate in the 2000 presidential race that Bush went on to win.

As vice-president from 2001 to 2009, Cheney fought vigorously for an expansion of the pow

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