Libby defense may point to Cheney

[Neil D]

[:"blue"] When Bush senior states that leaks like this ought to be concidered treason, I think that someone needs to be at least impeached from office....then tried for treason.... Just my opinion....

So, guess who is getting fingered...? [/]

WLS By Chuck Goudie

February 9, 2006 - It was the vice president himself, Dick Cheney, who gave the go-ahead to leak classified information, according to one report out of Washington, in part backed up by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, the US attorney in Chicago.

When federal prosecutor Fitzgerald announced last fall that the vice president's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was being indicted for perjury and obstruction, it triggered a treasure hunt for who had given Libby the information.

"The defense will show that Mr. Libby is totally innocent, that he has not done anything wrong," said Ted Wells, Libby's attorney, last Friday.

Thursday night, what may be Libby's defense strategy: he had been authorized to leak classified CIA information.

The investigation tracing the leak has been overseen by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. According to a letter from Fitzgerald to Libby's lawyers obtained by the I-Team, "Mr. Libby testified (to the grand jury) that he was authorized to disclose (classified) information ... to the press by his superiors."

As chief of staff to the vice president, Libby didn't have many superiors. The National Journal publication in Washington reported Thursday that it was Cheney himself who okayed the illegal disclosure of information, citing lawyers familiar with the case.

Libby leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to the media in an attempt to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had criticized the Bush administration for going to war in Iraq.

After Libby was indicted and then quit, jockeying began in court between his lawyers and special prosecutor Fitzgerald for White House documents that could reveal who did what and when.

But in the Fitzgerald's letter, the special prosecutor admits that "not all e-mail of the office of vice president and the executive office of president ... was preserved through the normal archiving process on the white house computer system." In other words, some White House e-mails were killed and so it is unknown whether they might have had any bearing on the CIA leak case.

But Fitzgerald's letter suggests there is no evidence the emails were purposely erased, a la the infamous 18-minute gap in the Watergate tapes.

Beyond the letter, there is no comment from prosecutor Fitzgerald in Chicago.

An attorney for Libby contends that they have not notified the court as to their defense plans.

[Jeannieb43]

"some White House emails were killed..." (instead of being archived in the normal process)

This reminds me of the 18 minutes of dictation tape erased "accidentally" by Nixon's secretary....

Rule: When committing a crime, be sure to destroy the evidence.

[Dr. Shane]

I don't know what news source the article comes from but it seems more like commentary than hard news. There is so much spin in it I got dizzy.

[Neil D]

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There is so much spin in it I got dizzy.

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Spoken like the neo-conservative that you are, Shane....

While this article was reported from ABC, NBC and CBS evening news both reported it as well, as well as PBS...

Mainstream news...not much spin, nor variation on the report....

[Dr. Shane]

Proof - The mainstream media has a liberal slant.

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As chief of staff to the vice president, Libby didn't have many superiors.

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This is really commentary. The word "many" is relative. How many superiors did he have. That shouldn't be hard to figure out, especially if it wasn't "many". Why not just report the factual number? Did he have two, five, ten, twenty or fifty superiors?

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The National Journal publication in Washington reported Thursday that it was Cheney himself who okayed the illegal disclosure of information

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Wheeeeeew... I need to catch my balance. That is some pretty big spin.

And what is the source of "The National Journal's" information? It has not even been determined that the disclosure of Flame's identity violated any law.

Oh, oh wait...

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citing lawyers familiar with the case.

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Lawyers familiar with the case. Does that clear it up or just spin it a little faster?

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Libby leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to the media in an attempt to discredit her husband

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Speculation anyone? Spin boys, spin it up fast no one can tell it is spinning. Report it as fact and maybe everyone will think it is.

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a la the infamous 18-minute gap in the Watergate tapes.

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SPIN SPIN SPIN. There is more comparison between this and the Monica Lewinsky scandel than the Watergate scandel. Why not talk about Clinton and Star?

[Dr. Shane]

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Spoken like the neo-conservative that you are, Shane....

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I think I have made it clear that I do not consider myself a neo-conservative and that I find the term insulting and inflamatory.

If anyone wants to call me names "centrist" "moderate" or even "conservative" is acceptable. Neo-conservative actually refers to the GW Bush Republicans and because of the way it is used by anti-Bush forces, is considered insulting by many.

[Neil D]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney told a federal grand jury that his superiors authorized him to give secret information to reporters as part of the Bush administration's defense of intelligence used to justify invading Iraq, according to court papers.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said in documents filed last month that he plans to introduce evidence that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, disclosed to reporters the contents of a classified National Intelligence Estimate in the summer of 2003.

The NIE is a report prepared by the head of the nation's intelligence operations for high-level government officials, up to and including the president. Portions of NIEs are sometimes declassified and made public. It is unclear whether that happened in this instance.

In a January 23 letter to Libby's lawyers, Fitzgerald said Libby also testified before the grand jury that he caused at least one other government official to discuss an intelligence estimate with reporters in July 2003.

"We also note that it is our understanding that Mr. Libby testified that he was authorized to disclose information about the NIE to the press by his superiors," Fitzgerald wrote.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan refused to comment. "Our policy is that we are not going to discuss this when it's an ongoing legal proceeding," he said.

William Jeffress, Libby's lawyer, said, "There is no truth at all" to suggestions that Libby would try to shift blame to his superiors as a defense against the charges.

Libby, 55, was indicted late last year on charges that he lied to FBI agents and the grand jury about how he learned CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity and when he subsequently told reporters. He is not charged with leaking classified information from an intelligence estimate report.

Plame's identity was published in July 2003 by columnist Robert Novak after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the administration of twisting intelligence about Iraq's efforts to buy uranium in Niger. The year before, the CIA had sent Wilson to Niger to determine the accuracy of the uranium reports.

Wilson's revelations cast doubt on President Bush's claim in his 2003 State of the Union address that Iraq was trying to develop a nuclear bomb and had sought to buy uranium in Africa as one of the administration's key justifications for going to war in Iraq.

On Thursday, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, said Cheney should take responsibility if he authorized Libby to share classified information with reporters.

"These charges, if true, represent a new low in the already sordid case of partisan interests being placed above national security," Kennedy said. "The vice president's vindictiveness in defending the misguided war in Iraq is obvious. If he used classified information to defend it, he should be prepared to take full responsibility."

In the summer of 2003, White House officials -- including Libby -- were frustrated that the media were incorrectly reporting that Cheney had sent Wilson to Niger and had received a report of his findings in Africa before the war in Iraq had begun.

In an effort to counter those reports, Libby and other White House officials sought information from the CIA regarding Wilson and how his trip to Niger came about, according to court records.

Fitzgerald, in his letter to Libby's lawyers, said he plans to use Libby's grand jury testimony to support evidence pertaining to the White House aide's meeting with former New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

During the meeting with Miller on July 8, Libby also discussed Plame, Fitzgerald said.

"Our anticipated basis for offering such evidence is that such facts are inextricably intertwined with the narrative of the events of spring 2003, as Libby's testimony itself makes plain," the prosecutor wrote.

Miller spent 85 days in jail for refusing to discuss her source.

[:"blue"] So, Shane, is this any better? If not, why not?

Oh, and btw, regarding

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I think I have made it clear that I do not consider myself a neo-conservative and that I find the term insulting and inflamatory.

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While YOU may not concider yourself neo-conservative, your posts show otherwise. And I suspect that there is not a person on this BBS who doesn't find that you are also a neo-conservative. I find, in this case, that the term is accurate. I am sorry that you find it insulting and inflamatory. I will, in the future, that I will refrain from calling you neo-conservative. But you will never, unless you change your posting, get the moderate lable from me. [/]

[Dr. Shane]

I would say the AP article is much better than the former.

Let me share a couple differences between me and neo-conservatives. Neo-conservatives, unlike traditional conservatives, favor expanding government and lack fiscal responsibility. Neo-conservatives favor making the tax-cuts permenant. I favor allowing taxes to increase as long as they are matched with budget reduction to decrease the defecit, and if any surplus occurs, pay down the debt. Neo-conservatives have proposed cuts, or reduced growth, in higher education grants and student loans. I see that as a farmer eating his seed-corn. Education is the future of our country just like the seed-corn is the future of the farm. More educated workers earn more money and pay more taxes. They also make for a more efficent workforce able to compete in the global economy.