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PROSECUTOR DISCOVERS CHENEY WAS LIBBY'S SOURCE 25 October 2005 The New York Times is reporting that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has discovered, in notes from a previously unknown conversation between VP Dick Cheney and his chief of staff I. Lewis Libby, that Cheney informed Libby of the status of Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame as a CIA operative. The conversation took place nearly one month before the identity of Valerie Plame was leaked to the press, then published by Robert Novak. The news of this previously undisclosed conversation appears to mean that Libby may have falsely testified to the grand jury regarding Cheney's possible role in the effort to discredit Wilson. If true that Libby lied to the grand jury, he could face charges of perjury and/or obstruction of justice, and based on the new information, the investigation will have to consider the apparent role of the Vice President in disclosing the identity of a covert operative. News reports indicated that the Special Prosecutor was already looking at the Vice President in recent weeks, but the Libby notes reportedly indicate that Cheney sought and obtained this information from then CIA director George Tenet. It is thought to be highly unlikely that any CIA director would willingly participate in a scheme to unmask one of the agency's operatives, endangering lives, sources and information. The New York Daily News has reported that Libby was thought to be "totally obsessed with Wilson", and that his actions in what appeared to be a coherent campaign to discredit the administration's then leading critic, may have been directed by Mr. Cheney. Reports about the content of the Libby notes show no proof that either Cheney or Libby knew Plame was a covert operative or that her identity was classified top secret information. But, and this is a vital element to whether the investigation will give a comprehensive report on the facts, whoever passed that information along should have included the classification status along with the information, according to gov't regulations. It again falls to common sense to ask whether George Tenet would have disclosed top secret information without the classified disclaimer in some form, even verbal, and whether failing to do so would have constituted a violation of the same laws that prevent disclosure of the operative's identity. Unite Press International (UPI) is also now reporting that NATO intelligence sources confirm that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has sought and obtained information related to the forged documents, allegedly obtained through the Italian government, which purported to indicate Iraq had approached Niger about illegal purchase of unrefined uranium. Those forgeries led to false claims in the president's 2003 State of the Union address, and were the impetus for Ambassador Wilson's mission to Niger in 2002. The news means that Fitzgerald has broadened his investigation not only from the leaking of Plame's identity to include the possible cover-up of that leak and obstruction of justice, but now to include possible invovlement by top officials the government in using forged documents as evidence to justify the Iraq invasion. [For more: E&P]
BACKGROUND: Supporters of Karl Rove, spokespeople for the Republican party and talking points issued to party members, press and pundits have been eagerly asserting that Karl Rove violated no law when he revealed that Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was an "agency" operative, because he did not state her name. In fact, this is plainly false: the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, the applicable federal law, states that revealing "any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not JUDGE IMPRISONS REPORTER FOR REFUSING TO REVEAL SOURCE New York Times reporter Judith Miller has been jailed by a Special Prosecutor investigating the leak by White House officials of the identity of an undercover CIA agent to the press. She could face up to four months in prison, for violating a court order which she believes runs contrary to the constitutionally protected press freedoms. Investigating who in the White House leaked the name of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame to the press in the summer of 2003, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had demanded full testimony by reporters Judith Miller (of The New York Times) and Matthew Cooper (of TIME) regarding the identity of the sources they used to write stories about the controversy. [Full Story] |
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