"Did Cheney confirm he's the source of the Plame leak?" Admits it on MtP!

[Mugsy]

Did Cheney confirm he's the source of the Plame leak?

(...) NBC gave VP Cheney the full hour on “Meet the Press”.

During the program, the Vice President continued to spin the Bush Administration line that Saddam Hussein was a threat to the United States, despite the long-admitted “no connection to 9/11” and now the newly revealed “no connection to al Qaeda either“… which we have since learned is from a FEBRUARY 2002 PRE-WAR Pentagon report!

But buried in all this spin, what may be the most amazing admission of all: Vice President Cheney implies he in fact was the source that outed covert CIA agent Valery Plame Wilson! (see “Armitage” story below for more info on the subject).

FROM THE TRANSCRIPT:

MR. RUSSERT: Let me turn back home, domestic politics, and talk about the whole situation involving Scooter Libby, your former chief of staff, who was indicted by Patrick Fitzgerald. This was a document that was released in the investigation. It’s a New York Times op-ed piece with your handwriting on it. And that handwriting says, “Or did his wife send him on a junket?” referring to Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, who was a CIA, CIA agent. Did you, in any way, authorize Scooter Libby to release her name or her occupation to the press?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Tim, Scooter Libby is, he’s a good man. He’s a friend of mine. He’s somebody—one of the most competent and capable people I’ve ever known. He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence. But there is a legal matter pending, there is going to be a trial next year, I could well be a witness in the trial, and much as I would like to talk about, and I certainly have strong opinions about the case, I think it’d be totally inappropriate for me to do so.

MR. RUSSERT: There was a story in the National Journal that Cheney authorized Libby to leak confidential information. Can you confirm or deny that?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: I have the authority as vice president under executive order issued by the president to classify and declassify information. And everything I’ve done is consistent with those authorities.

MR. RUSSERT: Could you declassify Valerie Plame’s status as an operative?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: I’ve said all I’m going to say on the subject, Tim.

I have argued for the past couple of years that NONE of the people (that we know of) that spoke to reporters about the true employer of Ms. Plame (the CIA) had the authority to request the identity of a covert agent working for the CIA. Only the President, Vice President, maybe the National Security Advisor and Director of the NSA could obtain that kind of information, and of those people, ONLY Bush and Cheney had an ax to grind...

(more)

[Mugsy]

1. Sorry but...

I have to do this. It's important: *bump*.

[seemslikeadream]

2. Dick Cheney American Judas

Dick Cheney exposed Valerie Plame to cover up his association with A.Q. Khan's Nuclear Walmart. Read about it here: http://s93118771.onlinehome.us/DU/AMERICANJUDAS.pdf

[Garbo 2004]

3. Nothing new here, though. Valerie Wilson's name was in the State Dept memo

which Libby was briefed about in late May 2003 by the State Dept. A number of folks saw that memo as it was subsequently circulated and/or were aware of its contents. The memo, although classified, did not specify her NOC status. It wasn't necessary to request her NOC status/identity for them to know that she worked for the CIA.

Court docs already released include Libby's statement that Cheney authorized him to release classified info from the NIE on Iraq. As I recall, Cheney briefly discussed the VP's authority in his shooting interview with Brit Hume. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/02/20060215-3.html And Bush admitted he authorized release of classified Iraq info. http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/04/10/whitehouse.leak/index.html But they are NOT publicly admitting to authorizing release of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment with the CIA.

Cheney's not copping to anything here. And too many folks have mistakenly claimed that the Administration's admissions regarding release of NIE Iraq info is an admission that they authorized the release of Plame's identity. They're not copping to anything. Libby in fact still claims he did not discuss Valerie Wilson with Judy Miller. And that he'd "forgotten" he already knew she worked for the CIA when he was chatting up reporters.