No Safe Harbor

"It's OK. I'm alright."

Cheney OK after blast outside Afghan base

After a long week on the run from a verdict in the Scooter Libby trial, Dick Cheney cheated death yet again as a suicide bomb exploded at the main security gate at Bagram air base in Afghanistan. 23 people were killed and many more injured, but the Dick made his flight.

Maj. William Mitchell said it did not appear the explosion was intended as a threat to the Vice President. However, a purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said Cheney was the target of the attack.

"We knew that Dick Cheney would be staying inside the base," Ahmadi told The Associated Press by telephone. "The attacker was trying to reach Cheney."

The event comes several days into Mr. Cheney's spontaneous and hastily extended 'round the world trip, which so far has included stops in Japan and Australia, and suprise visits to Singapore, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, back at home and seeming to correspond with the Vice President's jaunt, jury deliberations resumed in the Scooter Libby trial today with one less member, as the Judge overseeing the case removed one juror and declined to seat an alternate.

Run Dick, run.