On the August 1 edition of CNN's American Morning, anchor John Roberts reported that in a taped interview that aired during the July 31 edition of CNN's Larry King Live, Vice President Dick Cheney “reignited a dispute between the [Bush] administration and Senator Hillary Clinton [D-NY], telling [host] Larry King that he backed a Pentagon bureaucrat [Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Eric Edelman] who has accused Clinton of helping the enemy in Iraq.” In May, when Clinton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, asked the Pentagon to brief Congress on contingency plans for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Edelman sent Clinton a letter responding that "[p]remature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq." But Roberts did not note that Edelman is a "former top aide" to Cheney, nor that, in contrast with Cheney, Defense Secretary Robert Gates responded to Clinton that the Pentagon in no way “believe[s] that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies, nor do we question anyone's motives in this regard.” Roberts repeated his report in the 8 a.m. ET hour of American Morning.

Additionally, on the July 31 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, host Wolf Blitzer asked Larry King about “the exchange [King] had with the vice president on Hillary Clinton,” repeating Edelman's assertion that Clinton's questions about U.S. withdrawal plans in Iraq “reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq.” But when addressing Gates' response, Blitzer said only that Clinton “got a subsequent letter from the defense secretary, Bob Gates, saying, 'I truly regret that this important decision went astray, and I also regret any misunderstanding of intention,' seeming to back away a little bit from that Edelman letter.” Blitzer did not quote Gates' statement that “we do not claim, suggest, or otherwise believe that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies.”

On May 22, Clinton sent a letter to Gates requesting that the Pentagon provide briefings to “the appropriate oversight committees in Congress -- including the Senate Armed Services Committee” on “what current contingency plans exist for the future of withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq.” On July 16, Clinton received a response from Edelman, who wrote: “Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq, much as we are perceived to have done in Vietnam, Lebanon, and Somalia.” Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines called Edelman's accusation “at once outrageous and dangerous.”

In a second letter to Gates, Clinton renewed her “request for a briefing, classified if necessary, on current plans for the future withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq or an explanation for the decision not to engage in such planning.” Gates himself responded in a July 25 letter, writing: “I emphatically assure you that we do not claim, suggest, or otherwise believe that congressional oversight emboldens our enemies.” In response, Reines said Clinton was “disappointed that Secretary Gates does not repudiate Under Secretary Edelman's unacceptable political attack,” but “welcomes Secretary Gates's acknowledgment that congressional oversight of the war in Iraq is essential to our national debate.”

From the August 1 edition of CNN's American Morning:

ROBERTS: The vice president also reignited a dispute between the administration and Senator Hillary Clinton, telling Larry King that he backed a Pentagon bureaucrat who has accused Clinton of helping the enemy in Iraq.

[begin video clip]

KING: A member of the Department of Defense sent Hillary Clinton a letter saying she should not criticize because it helps the enemy.

Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: It didn't say she should not criticize. She was demanding the plans for withdrawal from Iraq.

KING: Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: And I agreed with the letter Eric Edelman wrote. I thought it was a good letter.

KING: So, you should not call for the plans for withdrawal?

CHENEY: No. There's an important principle here, Larry, and that is, debate over what our policy ought to be is perfectly legitimate.

What we don't do is we don't get into the business of sharing operational plans. We never have with the Congress.

[end video clip]

ROBERTS: So the vice president backs his deputy secretary of Defense. The Clinton camp firing back this morning, saying, quote, “It seems the right hand doesn't know what the far-right hand is doing. Senator Clinton calls on President Bush to set the record straight.” I was chatting with their spokesperson last night, they're expecting a response.

CHETRY: Yeah, they went on to say, also, that she asked a simple question and was personally attacked and her patriotism was called into question. So that is a fiery story we're going to continue to cover today as well.

[...]

ROBERTS: Now, the vice president also threw gasoline on the dispute between the administration and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, telling Larry King that he backed a Pentagon bureaucrat who has accused Clinton of giving comfort to the enemy in Iraq.

[begin video clip]

KING: A member of the Department of Defense sent Hillary Clinton a letter saying she should not criticize because it helps the enemy.

Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: It didn't say she should not criticize. She was demanding the plans for withdrawal from Iraq.

KING: Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: And I agreed with the letter Eric Edelman wrote. I thought it was a good letter.

KING: So, you should not call for the plans for withdrawal?

CHENEY: No. There's an important principle here, Larry, and that is, debate over what our policy ought to be is perfectly legitimate.

What we don't do is we don't get into the business of sharing operational plans. We never have with the Congress.

[end video clip]

ROBERTS: Now the Clinton camp is firing back this morning saying quote, “It seems that the right hand doesn't know what the far-right hand is doing. Senator Clinton calls on President Bush to set the record straight.”

We'll see if they get a response today.

From the July 31 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:

BLITZER: All right. Let's talk a little bit about the exchange you had with the vice president on Hillary Clinton. And I'll give a little bit of background.

She asked, as a member of the Armed Services Committee, for some information about possible troop withdrawal plans from the Pentagon. As a member of the committee, she got a pretty tough response from the undersecretary of defense, Eric Edelman, “Premature and public discussion of the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq reinforces enemy propaganda that the United States will abandon its allies in Iraq.”

She responded in outrage that she was being accused of aiding enemy propaganda. She then got a subsequent letter from the defense secretary, Bob Gates, saying, “I truly regret that this important decision went astray, and I also regret any misunderstanding of intention,” seeming to back away a little bit from that Edelman letter.

But when you spoke about that with Cheney today, listen to what he said.

[begin video clip]

KING: A member of the Department of Defense sent Hillary Clinton a letter saying she should not criticize because it helps the enemy.

Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: It didn't say she should not criticize. She was demanding the plans for withdrawal from Iraq.

KING: Do you agree with that letter?

CHENEY: And I agreed with the letter Eric Edelman wrote. I thought it was a good letter.

KING: So, you should not call for the plans for withdrawal?

CHENEY: No. There's an important principle here, Larry, and that is, debate over what our policy ought to be is perfectly legitimate.

What we don't do is we don't get into the business of sharing operational plans. We never have with the Congress.

[end video clip]

BLITZER: He was blunt there --

KING: Very.

BLITZER: -- in sending a pretty strong signal to the Democratic presidential front-runner.

KING: Very. And not only blunt to her, but seeming to say to Mr. Gates, you know, I'll take it from here. That was pretty strong stuff.

BLITZER: And Eric Edelman used to work for Cheney. So he knows this man very well, and he knows the background.

KING: Now, you know the game --

BLITZER: Yeah.

KING: -- better than anyone. Will Hillary respond to him?

BLITZER: Oh, you better believe. As soon as they hear this, they're going to get another response from the Hillary Clinton campaign.

KING: Then it snowballs.

BLITZER: Yeah. This is going to go on. It's good for her to a certain degree, because any time she's in a fight with the vice president, it will help her with the Democratic base. So, this is going to generate some reaction.

KING: Good point.