WASHINGTON (AP) — Dick Cheney, the hard-charging conservative who became one of the most powerful and polarizing vice presidents in U.S. history and a leading advocate for the invasion of Iraq, has died at age 84.

Cheney died Monday night due to complications of pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease, according to a statement from family spokesman Jeremy Adler.

The quietly forceful Cheney served father and son presidents, leading the armed forces as defense chief during the Persian Gulf War under President George H.W. Bush before returning to public life as vice president under Bush's son, George W. Bush.

Cheney was, in effect, the chief operating officer of the younger Bush's presidency. He had a hand, often a commanding one, in implementing decisions most important to the presiden

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