"faulty intelligence"

[news, Cheney, VP]

Vice President Dick Cheney revealed today that he shot a fellow
hunter while on a quail hunting trip over the weekend because he
believed the man was the fugitive terror mastermind Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Mr. Cheney acknowledged that the man he sprayed with pellets on
Saturday was not al-Zawahiri but rather Harry Whittington, a 78-year-
old millionaire lawyer from Austin, blaming the mix-up on "faulty
intelligence."

"I believed I had credible intelligence that al-Zawahiri had
infiltrated my hunting party in disguise with the intent of spraying
me with pellets," Mr. Cheney told reporters. "Only after I shot Harry
in the face and he shouted 'Cheney, you bastard' did I realize that
this intelligence was faulty."

Moments after Mr. Cheney's assault on Mr. Whittington, Mr. al-
Zawahiri appeared in a new videotape broadcast on al-Jazeera to
announce that he was uninjured in the vice president's attack
because, in his words, "I was in Pakistan."

An aide to the vice president said he believed that the American
people would believe Mr. Cheney's version of events, but added, "If
he was going to shoot any of his cronies right now it's a shame it
wasn't Jack Abramoff."

At the White House, President George W. Bush defended his vice
president's shooting of a fellow hunter, saying that the attack sent
"a strong message to terrorists everywhere."

"The message is, if Dick Cheney is willing to shoot an innocent
American citizen at point-blank range, imagine what he'll do to you,"
Mr. Bush said.