Protecting the ruling family

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert; caption

Baghdad is so dangerous that the visiting US Vice President, Dick Cheney, wears a flak jacket next to his plane on the runway at the airport. Incidentally, one so far unexplained aspect of Cheney's trip is why his daughter Liz, whose only recent known work activity was writing up Republican talking points for the Washington Post, is with him on the trip.

UPDATE 11 MAY: Dick Cheney provides the 1st explanation, in an interview with Fox News, of why his daughter is on the trip --

QUESTION: How are you feeling?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good.
QUESTION: Yeah? The doctors okay with a long trip?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: They signed up to it and I've got my daughter along to watch carefully to make sure I do everything they tell me to.
QUESTION: I saw the meals. They were pretty healthy on the flights.
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Right. Well, what I get especially is healthy. (Laughter.)

FINAL UPDATE: Another Liz Cheney sighting --

The US vice president and his daughter Liz were to have an informal dinner with Jordan's King Abdullah II and other officials, with Cheney due to hold talks with the monarch on Monday before returning to Washington.

And here she is getting off the plane in Cairo with her father. It's remarkable that she's been allowed to play a leading role on this trip without any public demand to explain what her role actually is.