'Senior Administration Official' Is Less Than Discreet in Briefing on Cheney

By: So who are those "senior administration officials" you hear quoted in the media?

Sometimes they're VERY senior administration officials.

Take the person who briefed reporters aboard Vice President Cheney's plane after his secret stay in Afghanistan. He didn't want his name used when he talked to reporters, but he kept using the words "I" and "me" as he referred to Cheney and to the reason for the vice president's visit.

For example, the source said, "The reason the president wanted me to come, obviously, is because of the continuing threat that exists in this part of the world."

And when it comes to the reports that Cheney went in to "beat up on" the Pakistani president and to get him to crack down on al-Qaida and Taliban fighters on the border with Afghanistan, the official said, "That's not the way I work."

So again, who was that mystery man on Cheney's plane? The senior administration official won't let anyone say.