Cheney's Fingerprints

Finally, in 2007, Cheney went to Islamabad in March 2007, along with Stephen R. Kappes, the deputy C.I.A. director, "to register American concern."

Mazzetti and Rohde write that "while Mr. Bush vowed early on that Mr. bin Laden would be captured 'dead or alive,' the moment in late 2001 when Mr. bin Laden and his followers escaped at Tora Bora was almost certainly the last time the Qaeda leader was in American sights, current and former intelligence officials say. Leading terrorism experts have warned that it is only a matter of time before a major terrorist attack planned in the mountains of Pakistan is carried out on American soil."

Iraq's Oil

Andrew E. Kramer writes in the New York Times: "A group of American advisers led by a small State Department team played an integral part in drawing up contracts between the Iraqi government and five major Western oil companies to develop some of the largest fields in Iraq, American officials say.

"The disclosure, coming on the eve of the contracts' announcement, is the first confirmation of direct involvement by the Bush administration in deals to open Iraq's oil to commercial development and is likely to stoke criticism.

"In their role as advisers to the Iraqi Oil Ministry, American government lawyers and private-sector consultants provided template contracts and detailed suggestions on drafting the contracts, advisers and a senior State Department official said....

"The deals have been criticized by opponents of the Iraq war, who accuse the Bush administration of working behind the scenes to ensure Western access to Iraqi oil fields even as most other oil-exporting countries have been sharply limiting the roles of international oil companies in development."

Today's report would appear to contradict Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said on Fox News this month: "The United States government has stayed out of the matter of awarding the Iraq oil contracts. It's a private sector matter."

Similarly, as Anne Flaherty reported for the Associated Press last week, the White House insisted there was no U.S. involvement: "'Iraq is a sovereign country, and it can make decisions based on how it feels that it wants to move forward in its development of its oil resources,' said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.

"'And if that means that our companies here in the United States can compete and win business, then that's for them and the Iraqis to decide,' Perino added. 'But I don't think the federal government of the United States needs to get involved.'"

Peter S. Goodman writes in the New York Times: "From the first days that American-led forces took control of Iraq, the conquering army took pains to broadcast that it was there to liberate the country, not occupy it, and certainly not to cart off its riches. Nowhere were such words more carefully dispensed than on the subject of Iraq's oil. . . .

"Many critics of the invasion derided that characterization. In Arab countries and among some people in America, there was suspicion that the war was a naked grab for oil that would open Iraq to multinational energy giants. President Bush had roots in the Texas oil industry. Vice President Cheney had overseen Halliburton, the oil services company. Whatever else happened, such critics said, energy players with links to the White House would surely wind up with a nice piece of the spoils."

Iraqi Agreement Watch

Alissa J. Rubin writes in the New York Times: "Iraqi government officials on Sunday criticized the American military for two recent attacks in which soldiers killed people who the government said were civilians. . . .