Thanks to Newsweek, we now know that one of the last of the undead, neocon Eric Edelman, weighed in to skew the Pentagon's inspector-general report on Doug Feith, Edelman's predecessor as undersecretary of defense for policy.

In a blistering internal memo obtained by Newsweek, Eric Edelman, under secretary of defense for policy, characterized portions of the inspector-general's report as “egregious.” Edelman—the Pentagon’s No. 3 official—also staunchly defended the actions of his predecessor, Douglas Feith, who has been criticized for his pre-war efforts to promote the idea that Saddam Hussein's regime had a relationship with Al Qaeda.

The protests of Edelman—and his success in getting acting Pentagon Inspector-General Thomas Gimble to drop recommended policy changes from his report—shows how current and former Cheney aides still wield their clout throughout the government.

Edelman was Scooter Libby's deputy around the time of the invasion of Iraq. I once asked him at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting about whether or not he cooperated with Feith in manipulating intelligence before the war in Iraq, and he flatly denied doing so, though unconvincingly.

According to the Newsweek piece, Edelman wrote a 52-page document denouncing the IG's report, and Thomas Gimble, the IG, capitulated to Edelman by removing sections of his report that called for important policy changes.