Dick Cheney, “America’s most powerful modern vice-president and chief architect of the war on terror” died Monday at the age of 84. According to his family, Cheney died as a result of complications arising from “pneumonia and cardiac and vascular disease.” From 2001 to 2009, Cheney served as vice-president alongside Republican president George W. Bush and wielded enormous influence from ‘behind the scenes’.Prior to his career as vice-president, Cheney served as White House chief of staff, as well as the Secretary of Defence. In fact, George W. Bush actually recruited Cheney to vet his potential running-mates until Cheney himself seized the day and stepped into the role of vice-president, forever transforming Bush’s political career and the political trajectory of the United States of America.As Bush’s vice-president during 9/11, Cheney often vividly remembered “the split second of horror when a second hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center in New York” and he “became a changed man, determined to avenge the al Qaeda-orchestrated attacks and to enforce US power throughout the Middle East with a neo-conservative doctrine of regime change and pre-emptive war.” For the rest of his life, Cheney would recall that “At that moment, you knew this was a deliberate act. This was a terrorist act.”Post-Bush, Cheney was a vigorous critic of President Donald Trump, and frequently branded him a “coward,” as well as the “greatest-ever threat to the republic,”Cheney was ultimately ostracized from the Republican Party, as a result of his beliefs and intense criticism of Trump, and he actually cast his final vote in a presidential election for a liberal Democrat: Kamala Harris. Former US President and Cheney’s longtime friend, George W. Bush, lamented Cheney’s death, stating that his passing is "a loss to the nation and a sorrow to his friends." and that "History will remember [Cheney] as among the finest public servants of his generation…a patriot who brought integrity, high intelligence, and seriousness of purpose to every position he held."Bush reiterated "I counted on him for his honest, forthright counsel, and he never failed to give his best. He held to his convictions and prioritized the freedom and security of the American people."In addition to his political prowess, Cheney is often also remembered for his indomitable will and love for hunting, despite all of its potential pitfalls and hazards.
