Newsweek: Cheney plans to leave (escape?) country for 10-day trip to Asia on Feb 19.

[seafan]

Where Will Cheney Be?

By Michael Isikoff
Updated: 8:44 p.m. ET Feb 9, 2007


Eric Gay / AP
Off to Asia: Cheney's scheduled meetings with Japanese and Australian leaders may keep the vice president away from the courtroom

On Monday, lawyers for the vice president’s former chief of staff will start presenting their defense. But they will have to make some quick decisions. One of their potential star witnesses—Dick Cheney—is due to leave the country for a 10-day trip to Asia on Feb. 19.
So conveniently or not, the vice president’s loyalty to his former top aide may now run smack up against the imperatives of U.S. foreign relations. The vice president recently called Libby "a strong friend and supporter." But Cheney already has meetings scheduled with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Australian Prime Minister John Howard, according to a recent press release from his office that has gotten virtually no media attention.

If Cheney is take the witness stand—as Libby’s lawyers have repeatedly hinted he will—it appears he will have to do so very soon.

Reading the tea leaves as to whether Cheney will testify—along with deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove, presidential counselor Dan Bartlett and even Libby himself—has been a preoccupation of courtroom observers.... (Rove and Bartlett received trial subpoeanas before the trial even began.)
But the political perils, for the vice president in particular, have grown considerably since prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald began presenting his evidence. With testimony, documents and Libby’s own grand-jury testimony, Fitzgerald has placed Cheney at the epicenter of a White House campaign to discredit the allegations of former ambassador and Iraq war critic Joe Wilson—in part by suggesting to reporters that Wilson’s trip to Africa to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium for a nuclear bomb may have been, in Cheney’s words, a “junket” arranged by Wilson’s wife, Plame.

.....

But, it is now clear that putting Cheney in the dock raises big risks—both for the vice president and for Libby himself. The vice president would be opened to cross examination by the able Fitzgerald, who could be expected to drill down on Cheney—confronting him with his own notes and other documents—to show just how preoccupied he and his entire office were with the Wilson allegations. “The government will be able to make its case all over again through Cheney,” notes Scott Fredericksen, a former federal prosecutor and experienced Washington trial lawyer who has been following the case closely.

All told, it is an experience the vice president may just choose to forgo—so he can pack his bags for Tokyo.

Not so fast, Big Time.

[whistle]

1. Don't let the bastard and his Nazi wife Lynne anywhere near a

...nuclear missile site while they are gone!

[goforit]

8. His wife is even scarier than he is.

[symbolman]

2. FLEE

Like the RAT BASTARD that YOU ARE Crash Cart..

I hope that the Japanese introduce you to a concept called KARMA.

Can you imagine how many SS agents it takes to sweep an entire area for MICROWAVE Machines, all those break rooms, convenience stores, etc..

They say that Heart guys are supposed to avoid being around one, don't they?

Wonder if his cell phone interferes with his BORG GEAR? :)

[malaise]

3. And he will be in Afghanistan right next to

Iran right!! Very suspicious trip.

[havocmom]

4. So, he'll be back for the Ides of March?

Or be gone a very long time? Probably depends on what sort of questions get asked?

[bleever]

5. See Dick run.

Run Dick, run!

[bananarepublican]

6. Do you think he'll be 'Wellstoned'? His usefulness to the 'high cabal' has greatly diminished. n/t

[goforit]

9. Hmmm.... Yah, who are his real friends after all.

[NNadir]

7. I'm surprised he isn't traveling to Paraguay.