Newsflash: Cheney says shooting of fellow hunter was based on "faulty intelligence".

VP Believed Shooting Victim Was Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Mr. Cheney acknowledged that the man he sprayed with pellets on Saturday was not the Iranian leader 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 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had infiltrated my hunting party to get my ideas on the Iranian Nuclear standoff situation," 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."

Later that day President Ahmadinejad appeared at a news conference to announce that he was uninjured in the vice president's attack because, in his words, "I was in Iran."

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 anybody right now it would be Osama Bin Laden."

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," President Bush said.

Hat tip: Adapted from an email I was forwarded from the New York Vintage Wines Rugby Club