Dick Cheney, former Vice President and longtime advocate for invading foreign countries, is dead at 84. As the Associated Press puts it, he was "in effect, the chief operating officer" of Bush Jr.'s presidency and "often commanding" in implementing its decisions—most importantly a disastrous invasion of Iraq, justified by falsehoods, which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians.
"His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him as he passed," the family said in a statement. "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."
He died of pneumonia, cardiac and vascular disease.
Cheney consistently defended the extraordinary tools of surveillance, detention and inquisition employed in response to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. … In a twist the Democrats of his era could never have imagined, Dick Cheney said last year he was voting for their candidate, Kamala Harris, for president against Trump.
Adds the AP, on his famous smirk: "detractors called it a smirk."
"Am I the evil genius in the corner that nobody ever sees come out of his hole?" he asked. "It's a nice way to operate, actually."
He alleged links between the 2001 attacks against the United States and prewar Iraq that didn't exist. He said U.S. troops would be welcomed as liberators; they weren't.
