WASHINGTON ‒ Dick Cheney , one of the most powerful vice presidents in United States history, a chief architect of the war in Iraq and a member of an old Republican Party guard that is quickly fading away, died Monday night.

Cheney , whose death was confirmed by a statement from the Cheney family, was 84.

Cheney helped lead the push under President George W. Bush to invade Iraq based on intelligence ‒ later proven wrong ‒ that Saddam Hussein had amassed weapons of mass destruction.

The Iraq war cost the lives of an estimated 200,000 Iraqi civilians and 4,492 U.S. servicemembers, and cost more than $700 billion.

'Big Time' to his president, 'Darth Vader' to his enemies

Cheney was a hawkish, deeply partisan figure with deep knowledge of government and few qualms about the use o

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