Discovery: a word meaning a secret scheme or plot

Word discovery: cabal
Citation: “Former Powell Aide Says Bush Policy Is Run by 'Cabal'” by Brian Knowlton, The New York Times online, October 21, 2005
Usage: First paragraph: former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, saying that "foreign policy had been usurped by a ‘Cheney-Rumsfeld cabal,’" [link and color font mine]
Meaning: “a secret scheme or plot”, American Heritage Online Dictionary.
Comments: a word used a lot lately to describe the influence of neocons in general, and Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in particular, in the George W. Bush Administration.