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Cheney assumes role of silent partner as war decision nears

Advice valued by president

From John King
CNN Washington Bureau

One lawmaker says Vice President Dick Cheney provides President Bush with 'the single most important advice.'
One lawmaker says Vice President Dick Cheney provides President Bush with 'the single most important advice.'

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Vice President Dick Cheney is the president's point man on many important decisions and his influence far outweighs his lack of public visibility on the showdown with Iraq, CNN's John King reports (March 10)
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Vice President Dick Cheney has assumed the role of silent partner as President Bush nears a decision on going to war with Iraq.

"In this town, if you give good advice and if you are discreet about that advice, you are very valuable," said Rep. Rob Portman, R-Ohio. "And that is what Dick Cheney provides for the president."

In recent weeks, Cheney has had few public events and there has been no interaction with reporters similar to his recent meeting with Iraq-Americans to discuss post-war planning.

But out of sight hardly means out of the loop.

"The advice he gives the president, I hear constantly, is the single most important advice the president gets," Portman said.

Cheney is a leading voice in daily national security sessions and believes removing Saddam Hussein from power is critical to remaking the Middle East.

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"He's a scholar and somewhat of an academic, and has studied our history and America's place in the world, in history, and believes that all the progress of the last century, or a goodly portion of it -- eradication of tyrants and communism and fascism and Hitlerism -- was a direct result of the strength of the United States of America and their willingness to use their strength for good," said Mary Matalin, former counselor to the vice president.

Cheney's prized West Wing real estate, just steps from the Oval Office, is empty most days. The vice president tends to work elsewhere when the president is in town, a reflection of security considerations since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

This year, aides said, Cheney and Bush have been in the same room off White House grounds only three times.

Vice President Dick Cheney, right, speaks with Iraqi Americans and Iraqi expatriates in the White House this past Thursday.
Vice President Dick Cheney, right, speaks with Iraqi Americans and Iraqi expatriates in the White House this past Thursday.

"For our government to go securely forward, the heads of it need to be separated, and he accepts that as part of the job," Matalin said.

But security concerns are just one reason Cheney has kept such a low profile of late.

Secretary of State Colin Powell is viewed as the most reluctant warrior of the Bush national security team and, as such, considered to be the more powerful spokesman to make the case that diplomacy has failed.

But administration officials say plans are already in the works for the vice president to resume a high-profile role explaining -- and defending -- any decision by the president to go to war.


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