Analysis: Verdict Puts Focus on Cheney (Associated Press)

Created by : Francis Goodwin View profile

The conviction of I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby gave the White House a scrubbing -- but not the one George W. Bush had in mind.

March 6, 2007 -- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Campaigning in 2000, George Bush promised he would swear on the Bible to restore honor and dignity to a sullied White House and give it ''one heck of a scrubbing.'' The conviction of I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby gave the White House a scrubbing -- but not the one Bush had in mind.

The case laid bare the inner workings of a presidency under siege and the secretive world of Vice President Dick Cheney.

It showed the lengths to which Cheney went in early summer 2003 to discredit administration critic Joseph Wilson. The former ambassador's assertions had cast doubt on the administration's justification for having taken the country to war in Iraq. And the Libby case showed the president assisting Cheney in the leaked attacks on Wilson.

Libby, who was Cheney's chief of staff, was found guilty on Tuesday of four of five counts of obstructing justice, lying and perjury during an investigation into the administration's disclosure of the identity of undercover CIA official Valerie Plame, Wilson's wife.

The verdict ''does great damage to the Bush administration,'' said Paul C. Light, professor of public service at New York University. ''It undermines the president's pledge of ethical conduct. But the most serious consequence is that it will raise questions about Cheney's durability in office. It may be time for Cheney to submit his resignation.''

But don't count on it. Bush in the past has repeatedly come to the defense of his vice president.