WASHINGTON

CHENEY THOUGHT IRAQ WOULD RECOVER QUICKLY

Vice President Cheney said yesterday that he overestimated the pace of Iraq’s recovery from the U.S.-led invasion because he didn’t realize the lasting devastation wrought by Saddam Hussein on his people after the first Gulf War. Asked to name his mistakes in planning the war in Iraq, Mr. Cheney said he had not anticipated how long it would take the Iraqis to begin running their own country. Not until after Saddam was ousted did America realize the extent of the Iraqi leader’s brutality in putting down revolt in 1991, Mr. Cheney said. “I think the hundreds of thousands of people who were slaughtered at the time, including anybody who had the gumption to stand up and challenge him, made the situation tougher than I would have thought,” he said on “The Don Imus Show” on the radio. “I would chalk that one up as a miscalculation, where I thought things would have recovered more quickly,” Mr. Cheney said. Mr. Cheney, interviewed hours before he was sworn in for his second term, also said that Iran now tops the list of “the world’s potential trouble spots.” Iran is pursuing “a fairly robust nuclear program” and has a history of sponsoring terrorism, he said. “That combination is of great concern.” Mr. Cheney said the Bush administration might seek U.N. sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program if necessary. The administration prefers to address the problem with diplomacy and doesn’t want more war in the Middle East, he said.

– Associated Press

WEST

JUDGE WON’T SPEED UP GOP CHALLENGE TO ELECTION

WENATCHEE, Wash. – A judge refused yesterday to speed up the Republican challenge to the bitterly disputed Washington governor’s election, handing a small victory to Democrats. Chelan County Superior Court Judge John Bridges ruled that the case would go forward, but not on the expedited schedule proposed by Republicans. “The old maxim that justice delayed is justice denied has a corollary: Justice hurried is justice denied,” Judge Bridges said. But in a plus for the GOP, the judge also denied a request by Democrats to delay “discovery” – the gathering of evidence – until the court considers the underlying constitutional issues in the dispute. The hearing came eight days after Democrat Governor Gregoire was sworn into an office that she had at first apparently lost to Republican Dino Rossi. A hand recount found she had won by 129 votes, and the Republicans are challenging the result. Judge Bridges will hear motions by the Democrats and county officials to dismiss the case February 4. The heart of the Republicans’ challenge is that mistakes during the vote-counting forever obscured the true results of the November election, and the only just remedy is another statewide vote. Yesterday’s hearing was held at the county auditorium instead of the courthouse to accommodate the large crowd. Neither Mr. Rossi nor Ms. Gregoire attended. Mr. Gregoire remained in Olympia, working to establish her authority as governor. Mr. Rossi traveled to Washington, D.C., for President Bush’s inauguration.

– Associated Press

JURY PICKED FOR FORMER PRIEST’S RAPE TRIAL

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – A jury was seated yesterday to hear the child-rape case against defrocked priest Paul Shanley, one of the most notorious figures in the Boston Archdiocese sex scandal. Opening statements are set for Monday. Eight men and eight women will hear the case. They will later be split into a 12-member jury and four alternates. Shanley, 73, is accused of molesting a former altar boy. The alleged victim, now 27, said Shanley raped him repeatedly at St. Jean’s parish in Newton between 1983 and 1989, beginning when he was 6. Shanley, once a long-haired priest in blue jeans who reached out to Boston’s troubled youth, was defrocked by the Vatican last year. His lawyer, Frank Mondano, has said the accuser made up his story to win money in a lawsuit. Prosecutors have dropped charges related to three other alleged victims. Internal church documents showed church officials knew about allegations against Shanley as early as 1967 but continued to transfer him from parish to parish.

– Associated Press