One of the jurors in the trial of the top White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who was convicted of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI in Washington on Tuesday, said after the case was over that a number of times during the proceedings they asked themselves: "What is he doing here? Where is Rove and all these other guys? ... I'm not saying we didn't think Mr Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was the fall guy."
The principal absentees were Karl Rove, then President Bush's chief of staff, and vice-president Dick Cheney who - prosecutors claimed - encouraged Mr Libby to brief reporters against diplomat Joe Wilson, who had cast doubt on intelligence claims about Iraq's nuclear arms capability. Information released included the fact that Mr Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was herself in the CIA.
It reveals a great deal about the Bush administration that this information should have been regarded as so damaging. It was intended to discredit Mr Wilson by implying a nepotistic role in choosing him for the mission to Niger to investigate reports that it was supplying Iraq with uranium. Mr Wilson's conclusion (conveyed to Mr Cheney) that they were probably a hoax was disregarded. The administration bypassed the CIA to create its own intelligence estimates and lied about the nuclear threat from Iraq.
Mr Cheney intends to ride out the affair if he can. He has been described correctly as one of the most powerful vice-presidents ever, given his role in driving the Iraq war and continuing to justify it at home and around the world. That is becoming more and more difficult as US and Iraqi casualties mount and American opinion has shifted so decisively in favour of withdrawing. This verdict follows last week's scandal about poor conditions at Washington's main military hospital vividly recalled the Vietnam war.
Mr Cheney is not getting his own way so much any more on foreign policy issues, as shown by recent decisions on North Korea and Iran. But Mr Bush's stubborn personal loyalty to his right-wing mentor, even as the political ground shifts away from him, is characteristic. The Libby trial has mesmerised and fascinated political Washington precisely for this reason - including whether Mr Bush will pardon Mr Libby if he is unsuccessful in his motion for a new trial or - alternatively - his appeal fails. It concentrates attention on the secretive and deceptive way the case for war was made just when the war itself has become most discredited.