In case you missed...

...it, Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, Colin Powell's longtime aide and chief of staff, told ABC News that former Vice President Dick Cheney "was president for all practical purposes for the first term of the Bush administration" and "fears being tried as a war criminal" (my emphasis):
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"Waterboarding is a war crime, unwarranted surveillance… all of which are crimes. I don't care whether the president authorized him to do it or not, they are crimes," Wilkerson said.
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Wilkerson said the former vice president always "coveted power" and that Cheney was "fully expecting that he was going to be vice-president" when he headed up the search team for Bush.

"He wanted desperately to be president of the United States … he knew the Texas governor was not steeped in anything but baseball, so he knew he was going to be president and I think he got his dream. He was president for all practical purposes for the first term of the Bush administration."