Waas: CHENEY's ACTIONS- Set Stage For Events That Lead To Prosecution Of Scooter Libby

[kpete]

INTELLIGENCE LEAKS

The vice president's actions in 2002 helped set events in motion that led to the prosecution of Scooter Libby, his own chief of staff.

Cheney's Call
By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007

On that morning in June 2002, Cheney could not have known that his complaints to Graham about the leaking of classified information would help set events in motion that eventually would lead to the prosecution of his own chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, as the result of a separate leak investigation.

Libby, who stands accused of trying to conceal his role in disclosing the identity of an undercover CIA officer, Valerie Plame, in 2003, is now on trial in federal court in Washington on five counts of perjury, making false statements, and obstruction of justice. Testimony and evidence at Libby's trial has raised questions as to whether Cheney himself authorized the selective leaking or declassification of information, including whether Cheney may have encouraged Libby to disclose Plame's CIA identity to reporters.

And when Graham received Cheney's phone call nearly five years ago, he had no idea that the vice presidentwas not acting on impulse or entirely out of anger. Although administration officials have said that the White House was legitimately concerned that the NSA intercept leak could harm the war on terrorism, they also saw the incident as an opportunity to undercut congressional oversight and possibly restrict the flow of classified information to Capitol Hill. Libby, two administration officials recalled in interviews, was among the aides advising Cheney on this strategy of neutralizing the Hill.

After Cheney ended his call with Graham that morning, the White House was far from done.


READ THE WHOLE THING - AMAZING STORY!!!
more at:
http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.nationaljournal.com%2Farticles%2F0215nj1.htm

[Annces]

1. Sweet - Cheney bites himself in the ass

But as Graham points out, Libby, who as the vice president's chief of staff had vigorously demanded leak investigations of others, became a victim of his own "boomerang that had come around."


I have met people like this, they are looking to start trouble and rumors just to further their own conniving ends, despicable. Cheney is one mean mean person.

[bobbolink]

13. "Bites himself in the ass"? Why can't he shoot himself in the face?

:evilgrin:

[speedoo]

2. Mind boggling, and yet delicious.

Darth outsmarted himself. It's just too good to be true.

[BuyingThyme]

3. That's pretty much the best article ever written.

Graham said, "Looking back at it, I think we were clearly set up by Dick Cheney and the White House. They wanted to shut us down. And they wanted to shut down a legitimate congressional inquiry that might raise questions in part about whether their own people had aggressively pursued Al Qaeda in the days prior to the September 11 attacks. The vice president attempted to manipulate the situation, and he attempted to manipulate us." Graham added: "But if his goal was to get us to back off, he was unsuccessful."

http://www.rawstory.com/showarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.nationaljournal.com%2Farticles%2F0215nj1.htm

READ THE WHOLE THING - AMAZING STORY!!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x219507

[DURHAM D]

4. Thanks for posting -

I read it earlier. A great article and a must read.

[Catherine Vincent]

5. Thank you, kpete!

More reading material on the bus tonight.

[BuyingThyme]

6. kcik

[Spazito]

7. Excellent read!

Puts more pieces of the whole picture puzzle in place. Thanks for posting!

Recommended.

[myrna minx]

8. Wow! K&R.

:kick:

[NewJeffCT]

9. good story - recommended

thanks for posting the link.

[nashville_brook]

10. in view of Frontline's investigation of modern journos, Carl Cameron's

actions are VERY INTERESTING. he didn't wait a DAY to rat Shelby out to the FBI.. and why was that? because Shelby also talked to CNN!!!

jesuschristonacracker how do these people get away with calling themselves journalists? is there any such thing anymore?

Carl Cameron makes Judith Miller seem like Joan of Arc.

[BuyingThyme]

11. kcik

[bleever]

12. Great background on Cheney's previous use of leaks

in a number of ways.

[BuyingThyme]

14. kcik

[DemReadingDU]

15. evening kick

[stop the bleeding]

16. I like this part....

"Before the trial, both Cheney and Libby denied that the vice president had authorized or even known that Libby had spoken to reporters about Plame. But at the trial, FBI agent Deborah Bond testified that Libby said in an interview with her that on July 12, 2003, Libby might have spoken to Cheney about the possibility of divulging Plame's name to reporters before he actually did so later that day."

~s~


The irony that Libby, once the vice president's top aide, was accused of concealing his role in leaking information to the press has not been lost on some. Graham said in an interview: "It's hard to believe that the chief of staff to the vice president was acting as a rogue agent. What we have learned from the trial validates the suspicion that Libby was not just operating as a lone ranger. He was carrying out what the vice president wanted him to do, which was to besmirch Joe Wilson. I think Libby has been a conspirator in one of the most reprehensible and damaging breaches of American security in modern history."

~s~


As Bond testified, Libby furiously scribbled notes on a yellow legal pad. If he looked like one of the accomplished attorneys at the defense table, it was because Libby is one, too. A graduate of Phillips Academy Andover, Yale University, and Columbia Law School, Libby had been, just before going to work for the vice president in 2001, the managing partner of the Washington office of an international law firm then named Dechert, Price, and Rhoads.

But as Graham points out, Libby, who as the vice president's chief of staff had vigorously demanded leak investigations of others, became a victim of his own "boomerang that had come around."




what a fascinating article, so many players, talk about "keeping people close"



and this

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/02/washington/02libby.html?ex=1328072400&en=4f0c9f26f9f2507b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

In flat, unemotional tones, Ms. Bond recounted two interviews that she and other agents conducted with Mr. Libby in the Old Executive Office Building in October and November of 2003. In them, Mr. Libby gave answers that directly conflicted with the reporters’ accounts.

At the time, the Justice Department was in the early stages of its investigation into how Ms. Wilson’s name was leaked to the press and whether the leak was part of an effort to retaliate against her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV. Mr. Wilson had written an Op-Ed article published in The New York Times on July 6, 2003, asserting that the Bush administration had willfully distorted intelligence to justify invading Iraq.

“Mr. Libby said he had no recollection of discussing Joe Wilson’s wife with Ms. Miller” at a July 8, 2003, meeting at a Washington hotel, Ms. Bond testified. In fact, she said, “Mr. Libby claimed he had no knowledge of Joe Wilson’s wife during that time.”

Ms. Bond, a 19-year veteran of the bureau, testified that Mr. Libby had “claimed” he told Mr. Cooper he heard about Ms. Wilson from other reporters.

In an intriguing but unexplored exchange with a prosecutor, Peter Zeidenberg, Ms. Bond also said that Mr. Libby had acknowledged in one of the interviews that he might have talked to Mr. Cheney aboard Air Force Two about whether to tell the press about Ms. Wilson as part of the effort to rebut Mr. Wilson’s criticisms.

[kpete]

20. stop the bleeding!!!

So good to hear from you. This story had legs aferall - Don't You Think?

[stop the bleeding]

29. Yes

this story is very interesting and like I said before it is even more interesting how so many people were put into positions that have authority over matters such as these.

keeping people real close.

I am sending you a pm

[Catamount]

17. Yes, amazing stuff, but not surprising! Thanks -k&r

[DemReadingDU]

18. morning kick

[The Backlash Cometh]

19. Can somebody help me keep score here:

Because of Cheney's previous attempt (30 years ago, i.e. Church investigation) to use a leak as a reason to limit an investigating committee's powers, we are now seeing the parallel with the way he operated in this leak?

A) It begins with Senator Shelby (R)leaking to FoxNews Cameron that the NSA, on Sept. 10th, received a tip-off that the 9/11 attacks were about to happen. Unfortunately, that tip was not translated until Sept. 12th.

B) When this NSA classified information shows up in the mainstream news, Cheney frantically calls Senator Graham of Florida (D) to complain. At this time, we do not know that it was Shelby who leaked the information. In fact, the only thing we do know is that everyone at this time, believes that leaking to a journalist is safe because journalists won't be complied to testify in court for two reasons: first, because of the journalist ethics of protecting sources; and second, because the heads of the Justice Department were GOP appointees who would squash any subpoenas of journalists.

C) Cheney tries to use the NSA tip leak as evidence that Senators can not be trusted with classified information, thus, he tries to take the investigating powers away from Congress so that information that could implicate him would be limited and controlled. Yet, in order to make his case, he makes one critical error. He demands that an investigation be made to determine who leaked the tip to Fox News Cameron and CNN. It is a mistake because he now has opened the door for an investigation that would also require an investigator to ask White House staffers what they knew, and when they knew it.

So here's a question I have for anyone who has been paying attention. You know, I believe it was in summer of 2001 that Shelby had gone on a trip to the Middle East and came back with the comment, "We have bin Laden on the Run." Who did Shelby meet in the Middle East in that summer of 2001? Was he at all involved with the Energy meetings or meetings with the Taliban where someone allegedly said something like, You will deal with us and receive a carpet of gold, or instead, a carpet of bombs? What was Shelby's reason to leak information to Fox News Cameron and CNN? Was he a good guy trying to follow his conscience or a bad guy sent by Cheney to set up the Congressional investigating committee as inferred by Graham and Goss?

[Catherine Vincent]

21. What an excellent article by Waas.

Take a look at this snippet:

A recently declassified memo handwritten by Cheney more than 30 years ago when he was an aide to President Ford shows him considering whether to press the Justice Department to pursue criminal charges against The New York Times and reporter Seymour Hersh after the newspaper published an article revealing a highly classified espionage program against the Soviet Union. The memo was uncovered for a soon-to-be-aired documentary by the PBS program Frontline.

So Dick Cheney had it in for Seymour Hersh all these years?

[mod mom]

22. Murray Waas is always on target.

[jaksavage]

23. Holy Shit

I am a hardened pessimist and I am shocked by this one
and MORE shocked that we know all this stuff and nothing happens about it.

Thanks to all for all the news.

[BuyingThyme]

24. kcik

[BuyingThyme]

25. kcik

[Catherine Vincent]

26. Okay, let me in on the joke.

Why do you purposely misspell "kick"?

[BuyingThyme]

27. I don't.

.sdrawkcab ti lleps tsuj I

[Catherine Vincent]

28. Cute.

n/t