Posted on 02/09/2006 10:33:40 AM PST by conserv13
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.
According to sources with firsthand knowledge, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.
Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Beyond what was stated in the court paper, say people with firsthand knowledge of the matter, Libby also indicated what he will offer as a broad defense during his upcoming criminal trial: that Vice President Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials had earlier encouraged and authorized him to share classified information with journalists to build public support for going to war. Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case for war.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationaljournal.com ...
I don't know if this is true. The link doesn't work and I can't read all of it.
It relates in any event to portions of the NIE which I believe Cheney was certainly authorized to declassify. Indeed, by July 11 Tenet formally did so when he issued his statement.
Perhaps because it is NOT so. The press is known for telling the whole truth, right?
It's obvious what side smear merchants are on, and it isn't the US.
C'mon, guys - remember this dude?
Impossible.
Of all people, VP Cheney would never authorize the disclosure of ANY classified info for ANY reason.
Classified is Classified. period. End of discussion.
No, but I can guess what his politics are.
Libby has never claimed that Cheney encouraged him to disclose information about Plame to the media. ...Finally, the new information indicates that Libby is likely to pursue a defense during his trial that he was broadly "authorized" by Cheney and other "superiors" to defend the Bush administration in making the case to go to war. Libby does not, however, appear to be claiming that he was acting specifically on Cheney's behalf in disclosing information about Plame to the press.
Note too, the article leads the reader to think in terms of "this is a leak case." But it's not. The charges against Libby are that he deliberately mislead investigators.
The thrust of the article in that regard is that Libby's defense team wants to show that Libby was pressed with bigger fish than affair de Plame, and therefore forgot that he knew for a fact that Plame worked for the CIA when he talked with investigators.
Your quote is a little off. You should try again, because your version alters the meaning a bit.
It'll sure be interesting to see what Libby's lawyers dig up.
Just ask Joesph Wilson IV. I'm sure he'll be able to repeat it verbatim.
The author of this story, which by the way is not a new story, is trying to conflate approval Libby may have had to discuss some "classified" info with the press, into an "approval" to reveal Valerie Plame's "classified" identity, when in fact it is not such an approval any more than is it evidence that her status was "classified".
Yet, you can bet that the dim-witted Dim Matthews will jump t o every erroneous conclusion the author is trying to present.
"My wife was not a clandestine officer the day Bob Novak blew her identity".
May I be one of many who will probably offer you 'condolences' for your honesty!.
It got touted around here as some kind of admission that she wasn't covert BEFORE that day. When you look at the questions that led to that response, that's a bit of a stretch.
I think I'll add a keyword to the list. One that describes this precisely!
That I am Libertarian or that I live in Highlandtown? LOL
well........my brother has an aunt who's next door neighbor has a cat who's owner know's a guy who once spoke with a woman who's brother-in-law's ex sister-in-law saw someone who knew that bush lied, and cheney covered it up!!!!
Um, Libby is being charged with obstructing justice, not revealing classified information. So how would saying Cheney told him to release classified information help him in that regard? Hell all libby has to show is one person told him and that person be a reporter.
Excellent observation.
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