- US Vice President Dick Cheney cursed a Democratic senator
as lawmakers gathered for an annual photographic session in the Senate
chamber, Senator Patrick Leahy's spokesman said.
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- "I think he was just having a bad day," the
Vermont senator said, according to his spokesman, David Carle.
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- "I was kind of shocked to hear that kind of language
on the floor," Carle told AFP, quoting Leahy.
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- After the photo shoot, Cheney approached Leahy and protested
the senator's recent criticism of Halliburton, the huge Defense Department
contractor accused of profiteering in Iraq.
-
- Carle said that Leahy had reminded Cheney that he had
once called Leahy a bad Catholic, to which Cheney responded either "fuck
you" or "fuck yourself."
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- Leahy is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary
Committee.
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- Cheney, as vice president, is also president of the Senate.
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- Cheney is Halliburton's former chief executive officer.
He stepped down from the company to join President George W. Bush's 2000
election campaign.
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- Halliburton is under investigation by the US government
for allegedly overcharging the military for fuel delivered to Iraq, and
some Democrats in Congress have called for a wider probe of its Iraq contracts.
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