Cheney faces troubled new year

from The Financial Times

(It couldn't happen to a bigger Dick)

Dick Cheney has forged a reputation as the most powerful but also least visible vice-president in recent history. In the next few weeks, however, he will be forced to fight some of his battles in the open – in the courtroom and on Capitol Hill.

The first test will come in the criminal trial of his former chief of staff, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, charged with lying to a grand jury during an investigation into how a CIA agent’s name was leaked. The trial, due to begin in two weeks, is likely to set an ignominious precedent when Mr Cheney becomes the first vice-president to testify in a trial.

Mr Cheney’s legal team are also steeling themselves for the launch of legislative investigations by the new Democrat-controlled Congress.

In 2004 the vice-president felt confident enough to dismiss questions from Patrick Leahy, then a powerless Democrat, with a lewd invitation for him to do something sexually impossible. Now, he faces political revenge: Mr Leahy, the incoming chairman of the judiciary committee, has said he will issue subpoenas to secure documents that show whether the Bush administration authorised torture as part of its “war on terror”.

He also vowed to look into no-bid Iraq contracts, including those awarded to Halliburton, a company the vice-president once ran. He said: “At the risk of incurring another of Vice-President Cheney’s special season’s greetings, I ask: ‘Where did all the money go?’ ”... http://tinyurl.com/y9d5bt [Open in new window]

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