Former US vice-president Dick Cheney, architect of the US invasion of Iraq of 2003, has died. He was 84.

Vice-president to George W. Bush between 2001 and 2009, Cheney was a White House veteran and deeply controversial. He is believed to have played a key role in the Bush administration's decision to launch the "war on terror" which is believed to have killed close to half a million people. No weapons of mass destruction, which the administration cited Iraq was stockpiling, have been found.

Reuters credits Cheney with having fought vigorously for an expansion of the power of the presidency, as he believed that it was eroding since the Watergate scandal that removed his former boss Richard Nixon from office. Cheney also put together a national security team that served as a power centre of its own.

A Republican, Cheney curiously threw his weight behind Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris last year.

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