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 ...
Yeah, Waas is apparently the BS con artist you say he is. See post #79.
Just when I thought the matter was laid to rest, CBS news showed a classified document that has now been unclassified which quotes Libby saying he was authorized to reveal classified information by his superiors. What the document was I cannot say as I came in on the tail end of the broadcast and heard "classified document now unclassified" and something about Fitzgerald. The way it was portrayed by CBS it seems to have legs but I'd sooner trust Carl Cameron.
Ok, now it's time for all you Clinton bashers (me too) to start joking about that is exactly what Clinton did when he gave missle and nuclear secrets to the Chinese.
What if it was Libby who leaked it, or his lawyer acting to further Libby's litigation strategy? Would you still want the leaker prosecuted?
Chris Matthews is gonna be upset about this news ... he was drooling at tonights news
That's good to hear!
I thought it looked like a crock. I guess I was right.
It just listened to CBS radio "News World Roundup" which they said Cheney has 'No comment' and Scott McClellan would not comment on the ongoing 'Investigation.'
However, CBS did leave out Libby's defense team statement that they have "no intention of raising as a defense anything about VP authorization to leak classified information."
Imo, this is a coordinated attack to revive the Libby story. Now the Lame Stream Media can broadcast it for days and gives the weekend talk shows their headlines.
Gotta give it to the commies; one thing they're good at and it's propaganda.
Please see my post #90.
yEAH, I Saw Chris drooling........I was getting worried because Chris said, I think, that this claim to the "I only did it because the VP and other superiors told me too" was written by Libby's own attorney.
But I thought, we'll, I can't imagine Cheney doing anything illegal and there has to be more to this story.....but Matthew's and the other lefties rely on bits of inflamatory reporting to those who never want to follow-up on what's reported. "Hey, maybe we can get the Dems thousands more votes for our report tonight"
They were also comparing Scooter to Oliver North - both defenses being "I only did what I was told to do"
All this being said, I remain confused......
If I were the VP, I would call a press conference and make it abundantly clear that this news is a bunch of bunk and hopefully shut them up.
I don't see anything here about super duper secret agent Plame. As far as I'm concerned, the Pres. being our chief exec. and the VP working under his authority, there's a good chance Cheney had the authority to leak whatever he wanted to.
Yah yah - we know about unnamed attorneys "familiar" and unnamed sources, don't we? But court records? The records of Libby's testimony have been released? I feel so out of the loop here.
I noticed their broadcast did as but during the broadcast they made mention that the WH is quite embarrassed by the new revelations. Typical!
They are ALREADY going into orgasmic fantasies over this-again.....
"I SENSE IMPEACHMENT PAPERS W/ FRESH INK
by: horrified_hank_jr 02/09/06 07:37 pm
Won't be long now boys and girls.."
"Liddy fingers Bush & Cheney
by: american_patriot_man 02/09/06 07:07 pm
Another case for IMPEACHMENT!!!!"
You should NEVER make the mistaken assumption that we are dealing with reasonably sane people here......
The Lib base is down, and browbeaten, and the leadership has jit them up for every dime these poor losers have....
Gulfstream Jet fuel is expensive, and they need reasons to keep begging for that 23rd "Just $10 More!!"....
I didn't know Sidney Blumenthal had anything to do with this.
This is a very lame attempt at keeping the Democrat's Merry Fitzmas high afloat.....
that said, NCA has the authority to declare certain things unclassified. It just depends on what it is. Sources and methods generally aren't considered to be a good thing to disclose, but certain pieces of information about what we knew and when, especially a couple years after the fact, sometimes have a short shelf-life.
Not that Plame was undercover nor was her identity classified at the time, however.
This is what the AP is saying-
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.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CIA_LEAK?SITE=COSTE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Why is the AP giving us the impression that this information that was leaked- may or may not have been classified?
If Fitzgerald believed that Libby knowingly leaked classified information, why was Libby not charged with leaking classified information?
If Libby admitted that he leaked classified information in his grand jury testimony, why did Fitzgerald not charge him and Cheney both with leaking the information?
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