Dick Cheney Cuts And Runs

So Vice President Cheney will not testify at Libby trial after all. Could it be because evidence already presented at the trial clearly shows he was primarily responsible for Bush's 2003 SOTU lies?

The media is ignoring the revelation yesterday that it was Vice Pres. Cheney who knowingly inserted a false statement about Iraq’s nuclear program into the 2003 State of the Union speech.

They are also apparently uninterested in reporting that both Pres. Bush and his spokesman Scott McClellan lied on the record in July 2003 about how the infamous 16-word statement — “The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” — came to be included in the speech.

Here's what Richard Armitage told Bob Woodward:

We’re clean as a whistle. And George [Tenet, then-CIA Director] personally got it out of the Cincinnati speech of the president.

W: Oh, he did? …

W: It was taken out?

A: Taken out. George said you can’t do this.

W: How come it wasn’t taken out of the State of the Union then?

A: Because I think it was overruled by the [Vice Pres. Cheney] types down at the White House. [Then-National Security Adviser] Condi [Rice] doesn’t like being in the hot spot.

And here's what Bush said:

“When [the CIA] looked at the speech, it was cleared. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have put [the 16 words] in the speech. I’m not interested in talking about intelligence unless it’s cleared by the CIA. And as Director Tenet said, it was cleared by the CIA.
– Pres. George W. Bush, July 2003

Imagine Cheney (and even Libby) on the stand under oath being forced to answer questions about this. Imagine the defendant's lawyer leaping to his feet shouting "Objection!" Imagine the judge over-ruling with a stern, "Just answer the question, Mr Cheney." Now THAT would give the media something to talk about!