Ex-vice president and ‘architect of war on terror’ Dick Cheney dies aged 84

Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has died at the age of 84 after complications from pneumonia and cardiac disease, his family announced.

Cheney served under President George W Bush from 2001 to 2009, and was considered a chief ‘architect’ on the war on terror in the early 2000s.

In recent years, he began criticising Trump and ultimately voted for Kamala Harris.

In a statement, his family said: ‘Richard B Cheney, the 46th Vice President of the United States, died last night, November 3, 2025. His beloved wife of 61 years, Lynne, his daughters, Liz and Mary, and other family members were with him when he passed.

‘For decades, Dick Cheney served our nation, including as White House Chief of Staff, Wyoming’s Congressman, Secretary of defense, and Vice President of the United States.

‘He was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and to live lives of courage, honour, love, kindness and fly fishing.

‘We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.’

Cheney was inside the White House when news of the 9/11 terrorist attacks was announced. He told CNN in 2002 he knew it was a ‘deliberate act’.

The attacks led to Cheney pushing for a widening of the war in Iraq, which he believed had weapons of mass destruction.

Cheney later expressed ‘no regret’, telling a Senate Intelligence Committee report: ‘I would do it again in a minute,’ referencing the interrogation methods of alleged terrorists in the aftermath of 9/11.

‘It was the right thing to do then. I believed it then and I believe it now,’ he said in 2015.