Several top officials who were with Bush when he took the oath in January 2001 have since resigned, some like ex-treasury secretary Paul O'Neill, going public with their feelings about the Bush style of government.

But it has been the White House infighting pitting Secretary of State Colin Powell against Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney that will be most remembered.

In his book "Plan of Attack", about events within the administration before the invasion of Iraq, Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward quoted Powell as saying "Cheney has a fever. It is an absolute fever. It's almost as if nothing else exists."

Woodward said the administration had an invasion plan from the end of 2001, which Powell could do nothing about.

Powell, a retired general and former chairman of the chiefs of staff, went to the UN Security Council in February 2003 to put the US case for war and show what the United States considered proof of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

This loyalty has since become an embarrassment for Powell. No signs of weapons of mass destruction have been found.

But Iraq has not been a triumph for Rumsfeld or Cheney. The defence secretary is now struggling with widespread chaos in the country where about 1,030 US soldiers have now been killed since the March 20, 2003 invasion.

Cheney's vow that US soldiers would be greeted as "liberators" are now turned against him by opposition Democrats in the campaign for the November 2 presidential election.

Only Central Intelligence Agency director George Tenet has been made to pay with his job for the false information used to justify the invasion.

Bush took over the White House vowing to head a team in perfect political harmony. And it has been one of the most secretive administrations of recent decades.

But the cracks in the facade became apparent in December 2002 when O'Neill and White House economic advisor Lawrence Lindsey resigned.

Both had been struggling for months against the White House economic policy. O'Neill was particularly opposed to the huge tax cuts that Bush sought to rejuvenate the US economy.

In a book released at the start of this year, "The Price of Loyalty", O'Neill accused Bush of acting like "a blind man in a room full of deaf people". He criticised the lack of dialogue within the administration.

Christine Todd Whitman, a moderate Republican, quit as head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in May 2003. But it still showed that it is difficult to be as loyal as Bush demands.

She left after two years fighting the ecologists and environmentalists infuriated by the US decision not to sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. Pressure mounted after the government passed pro-industry regulations on factory pollution levels and exploitation of forests.

Despite the cracks, the main players in the team remain in place as Bush seeks a second term.

Cheney, despite rumours saying he might be dropped, is still a key member of the re-election campaign. Powell and Rumsfeld are also still at their posts awaiting the result of the November 2 vote.

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