Reply With Quote
The wheels came off Washington along time ago. Dummy! You are not very
observant!
- George W. Bush, October 6, 2003"And, you know, there's a lot of leaking in Washington, D.C. It's a town famous for it. And if this helps stop leaks of - this investigation in finding the truth, it will not only hold someone to account who should not have leaked - and this is a serious charge, by the way. We're talking about a criminal action, but also hopefully will help set a clear signal we expect other leaks to stop, as well. And so I look forward to finding the truth. ... I don't know who leaked the information, for starters. So it's hard for me to answer that question until I find out the truth. You hear all kinds of rumors. And the best way to clarify the issue is for full participation with the Justice Department. These are professionals who are professional prosecutors who are leading this investigation, and we look forward to -- look, I want to know. I want to know."
Bush Approved Iraq Intelligence Leak, Libby Testified (Update1)
BloombergApril 6 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush authorized disclosure of classified information on Iraq's weapons program to rebut war critics, a former top administration aide told a grand jury, according to do ents filed in federal court.
The do ents filed by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald don't allege the president authorized aides to divulge the iden y of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose naming in a July 2003 newspaper column prompted a Justice Department investigation. The court papers also don't suggest Bush violated any rule or law governing the handling of classified material.
The do ent describes federal grand jury testimony by Vice President Cheney's former Chief of Staff I. Lewis Libby, who was indicted last October of charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to FBI agents investigating the Plame case. Libby has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.
Libby testified that Cheney ``advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions'' of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons to former New York Times reporter Judith Miller, the court filing says.
Cheney's role in authorizing the leak was reported in February by the National Journal magazine. The court papers filed by Fitzgerald last night are the first to tie Bush directly to the chain of events in the administration's attempt to counter critics of the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq by using Libby as a conduit for information to reporters.
No Comment
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the administration won't comment on a continuing investigation. Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride referred all questions to Fitzgerald's office.
``We will cooperate with the Department of Justice as this case goes forward,'' McBride said. ``Part of that cooperation is referring press inquiries to the special counsel.''
Administration critics renewed demands that the president reveal more about the White House role.
``The more we hear, the more it is clear this goes way beyond Scooter Libby,'' Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York said in a statement. ``President Bush and Vice President Cheney should fully inform the American people of any role in allowing classified information to be leaked.''
Rebuttal
Libby met July 8, 2003, with Miller as part of an effort to rebut former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who questioned the administration's justification for the war in an essay published two days earlier in the New York Times. Wilson is married to Plame, who worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.
Libby ``testified that he was specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the NIE was `pretty definitive' against what Ambassador Wilson had said and that the vice president thought it was `very important' for the key judgments of the NIE to come out,'' Fitzgerald wrote in the do ent, a motion filed in response to Libby's request for government do ents for his defense.
Libby is requesting classified information from the government to use in his defense at a trial scheduled to begin next January.
No one has been charged with leaking Plame's name, which first appeared in a July 14, 2003, article by syndicated columnist Robert Novak. The article, citing two unnamed ``senior administration officials'' said Plame had a role in sending Wilson on a 2002 mission to Niger to investigate claims Iraq was seeking nuclear materials.
Publication
Wilson has contended the publication of his wife's name ended her career as a covert agent and that her name was leaked to intimidate other war critics in the government.
Fitzgerald, who was appointed a special prosecutor in the case in December 2003, is continuing the investigation into the disclosure of Plame's iden y.
Cheney previously has said he has authority to release classified information, as does the president.
``There's an executive order that specifies who has classification authority, and obviously it focuses first and foremost on the president, but also includes the vice president,'' Cheney said in a Feb. 15 interview on Fox News.
Bush acted under a 1995 executive order governing the distribution of classified information that was signed by then- President Bill Clinton and modified by Bush in March 2003.
The order essentially made it easier for the government to keep classified do ents from the public eye as well as authorizing declassification of information. The modification signed by Bush extended to the authority to the vice president.
The Wheels could be coming off the bus folks!
The wheels came off Washington along time ago. Dummy! You are not very
observant!
Anyone who thinks this administration is gonna last another 2 years must have marbles in his head.
The Wheels could be coming off the bus folks!
The court papers also don't suggest Bush violated any rule or law governing the handling of classified material.
Que?
I am shaking mine now, don't hear anything rattling. Maybe you should try yours!
Do you hear the ocean between your ears?
could it be because its empty?
So it's OK for Dubya to intentionally decieve the American public as long as no Federal charges have been filed against him - yet?
Don't see the deception there, Dan.So it's OK for Dubya to intentionally decieve the American public as long as no Federal charges have been filed against him - yet?
In the Bush quote he is talking about the Plame leak; the other leak may have been self-serving for the administration as it fought a formidable adversary in Wilson, but it wasn't deceptive, IMO.
Get him outa there.
http://www.impeachbush.org
Here is the latest piece from the National Journal (the mag that originally broke the Cheney-leak connection):
Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks
By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, April 6, 2006
National Journal......
The White House had no immediate reaction to the court filing.
Although not reflected in the court papers, two senior government officials said in interviews with National Journal in recent days that Libby has also asserted that Cheney authorized him to leak classified information to a number of journalists during the run-up to war with Iraq. In some instances, the information leaked was directly discussed with the Vice President, while in other instances Libby believed he had broad authority to release information that would make the case to go to war.
In yet another instance, Libby had claimed that President Bush authorized Libby to speak to and provide classified information to Washington Post assistant managing editor Bob Woodward for "Plan of Attack," a book written by Woodward about the run-up to the Iraqi war.
Bush and Cheney authorized the release of the information regarding the NIE in the summer of 2003, according to court do ents, as part of a damage-control effort undertaken only days after former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV alleged in an op-ed in The New York Times that claims by Bush that Saddam Hussein had attempted to procure uranium from the African nation of Niger were most likely a hoax.
According to the court papers, "At some point after the publication of the July 6 Op Ed by Mr. Wilson, Vice President Cheney, immediate supervisor, expressed concerns to regarding whether Mr. Wilson's trip was legitimate or whether it was in effect a junket set up by Mr. Wilson's wife."
Libby's smile says it all
Meanwhile the horrible, little politicized bas of AG says:
Gonzales: Bush Could Order Domestic Wiretaps
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 6, 2006; 4:48 PM
Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales today left open the possibility that President Bush could order warrantless wiretaps on telephone calls occurring solely within the United States, dramatically expanding the potential reach of the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance program.
In response to a question from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) during an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee, Gonzales said the government would have to determine if a conversation was related to al-Qaeda and crucial to fighting terrorism before deciding whether to listen in without court supervision.
"I'm not going to rule it out," Gonzales said, referring to the possibility of monitoring purely domestic communications.
The comments mark a dramatic departure from previous statements by Gonzales, Bush and others within the Bush administration, who have repeatedly stressed that an NSA eavesdropping program ordered after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks was focused only on international communications.
Gonzales previously testified in the Senate that Bush had initially considered including purely domestic communications in the NSA spying program, but said the idea was rejected in part because of fears of public outcry. He also testified at the time that the Justice Department had not fully analyzed the legal issues of such a move.
During today's testimony, Gonzales also reiterated earlier hints that there may be another program, or an expanded version of the NSA program, that has not been revealed publicly. While acknowledging disagreements among officials over the monitoring efforts, Gonzales disputed some published reports that have detailed the disputes.
"They did not relate to the program the president disclosed," Gonzales testified. "They related to something else and I can't get into that."
Administration officials have acknowledged that Bush issued an order in October 2001 authorizing the NSA to intercept phone calls and e-mails between the United States and overseas in which one of the parties was suspected of some link to al-Qaeda.
Gonzales and the Justice Department have argued that the program is cons utional and was effectively authorized by Congress when it approved the use of force against al Qaeda after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
Many Democrats and some Republicans say that Congress did not intend any such authorization, and that the program violates a 1978 intelligence law that set up a special court to oversee and approve all clandestine surveillance within the United States. Lawmakers are considering several proposals to legalize the program in some way, while potential presidential candidate Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has called for censure of Bush for ordering its use.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
Libby: Bush Authorized Leak
LAST UPDATE: 4/6/2006 12:32:29 PM
United Press International
http://www.woai.com/news/national/st...6-3F9D5A1CEEF8
Former Cheney aide I. Lewis Scooter Libby reportedly claims U.S. President George W. Bush authorized him to leak classified information to a reporter.
TheSmokingGun.com reports Libby, a former top aide to Vice President Cheney, told a federal grand jury he gave New York Times reporter Judith Miller information from a National Intelligence Estimate. In a filing made Wednesday by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Libby said he was told by Cheney that the president specifically authorized the leak.
Libby also testified Cheney told him to talk to other reporters as well. There was no immediate word on whether Cheney or Bush confirmed Libby's account when they were interviewed by investigators.
Cheney is accused of obstructing Fitzgerald's investigation into who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to reporters and lying to federal investigators.
================================================== =============
Impeach him.
Those bas s!!
So Bush is evil after all.
I'd still take him over Chavez . . .
How soon we forget...
Clinton got a blow job... IN THE OVAL OFFICE!!!
But she didn't swallow.
Joe... I am talking about the OVAL OFFICE here.
THE OVAL OFFICE!!!
I notice the words "authorized...to leak" used.
In fact, the President authorized the Vice President to release certain information from an intelligence briefing that had already been declassified and was going to be released publicly in three days.
It may come as a shock to some of you but, the President of the United States has the authority to declassify a whole buttload of information if he so chooses.
This is regurgitated news already reported months ago and the media is just knee-jerking over the recent release of court do ents.
Also, Nowhere in the court papers (or in Scooter Libby's testimony/affidavits/statements) is Valerie Plame mentioned as the subject of the information released.
Also, nowhere in the court papers (or anywhere for that matter) are the indictments of Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame you told us were on the horizon (http://spurstalk.com/forums/showpost...59&postcount=8). Are we still supposed to be waiting?Also, Nowhere in the court papers (or in Scooter Libby's testimony/affidavits/statements) is Valerie Plame mentioned as the subject of the information released.
Yep. Statute of limitations hasn't run out on some of their crimes. Keep waiting.
Congressional Record
Here's the Congressional Record from July 21, 2003 containing the declassified NIE information "leaked" by Libby earlier that summer.
The Congressional Record doesn't say when the information was declassified but, it's a sure bet it was before the Congressional Record printed it and probably, before Libby "leaked" it.
The declassifying of information was only between Bush, Cheney and Libby.
There are procedures on declassifying info, and in This particular case, it was Not followed.
Nice try though.
Impeach Bush
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