Bush Colonoscopy Leaves Cheney in Charge

The US president, George Bush, will undergo what aides described as a routine colonoscopy tomorrow, temporarily leaving vice-president Dick Cheney in charge.

The White House press secretary, Tony Snow, said Mr Bush will have the procedure done at his Camp David retreat in Maryland.

A colonoscopy is a test that allows doctors to look inside the large intestine for possible tumors. Mr Snow said the procedure the president is undergoing will be a follow-up to a test he had in 2002.

The procedure will be performed by a team of doctors from the National Naval Medical Centre in Bethesda, under the supervision of Mr Bush's doctor, Dr Richard Tubb.

In 2002, the president transferred presidential powers to Mr Cheney for more than two hours during the routine colon screening that ended in a clean bill of health.

It was only the second time in history that the constitution's presidential disability clause was invoked. Ronald Reagan was the first to invoke the 25th Amendment since its adoption in 1967 as a means of dealing with presidential disability and succession.

The earlier colonoscopy for Bush was also done at the well-equipped medical facility at Camp David. Mr Bush felt well enough afterwards to play with his dogs and take a four-and-a-half walk with his wife Laura and others.

Dr Tubb said two polyps were discovered during examinations in 1998 and 1999 while Mr Bush was governor of Texas, making him a candidate for regular examinations.

The 2002 procedure lasted 20 minutes. When Mr Bush woke up he did not resume his presidential office until nearly two hours later to make sure the sedative had no after-effects.