Dick Cheney talks with members of the army's 3rd Armored Division in Southern Iraq on May 7, 1991. Bill Haber/AP

He was defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush during Operation Desert Storm. He was vice president under the younger Bush during the US-led invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Dick Cheney, who passed away Tuesday at the age of 84, was arguably one of the most powerful and influential US vice presidents in history.

Cheney was, it was said again and again on the day of his passing, President George W. Bush’s chief operating officer.

And as COO, he was one of the most forceful and outspoken proponents for regime change in Iraq – perhaps his most lasting, and darkest, legacy.

“Simply stated,” he said at the annual convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Aug

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