NEWSWEEK COVER: Cheney's Man - Secrets, Lies & A War With the CIA

In the November 7 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands today, Monday, Oct. 31): "The Libby Indictment. Cheney's Man." Newsweek looks at what Scooter Libby's indictment means for the Bush administration. Plus: Evan Thomas profiles Libby and examines the inner-workings of the vice president's office and how, if the Libby case goes to trial, it could shine a light on the machinery that sold the Iraq war. Also: an interview with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad; a look at Ben Bernanke.(PRNewsFoto)

NEW YORK, NY USA 10/30/2005

    Newsweek reports that at least some administration officials-speaking on
background, of course-have begun to retroactively dismiss Cheney's role. As an
aide now tells it, Cheney's influence began to wane from the start of the
second term and effectively came to an end as the Fitzgerald investigation
gained momentum in recent months. "You can say that the influence of the vice
president is going to decrease," says a senior official sympathetic to
Cheney's policies, "but it's hard to decrease from zero." Even on foreign
policy, says a senior Bush aide, the veep has been eclipsed by Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice, who now has the president's ear and works effectively
with her successor as national security adviser, Stephen Hadley. Bush has
grown more confident, aides say, having jettisoned the Cheney training wheels.
"The president has formulated a lot of his own views," says an aide, "and has
a very firm idea of what he wants to do and accomplish with his foreign
policy."


What does this mean?  Blageurette thinks Cheney could be a little more than a thorn
in the side of W as all of the story unfolds!

Cheney aide to make 1st court appearance Thursday

A public trial could expose the role played by Cheney's secretive
office in the leak case, which has put a spotlight on how the
administration sold the nation on the war in Iraq and aggressively
countered its critics.