"Link to Cheney Deepens ‘leak-gate’ Scandal"

[GreenPartyVoter]

The news that Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff was the second possible source in the leaking of the identity of a CIA agent to Time magazine elevates the scandal to a whole new level. It is bad enough for Karl Rove to be accused of being a leaker, since he is President Bush’s chief political strategist.

But if Time’s story holds, I. Lewis Libby’s involvement represents an even more insidious abuse of power. The Bush administration is being accused of leaking the name of Valerie Plame in retribution for a New York Times op-ed article written by her husband, diplomat Joseph Wilson. Wilson wrote that he never found any evidence in a 2002 trip to Africa, contrary to claims made by President Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address, that Saddam Hussein was procuring uranium from Niger for nuclear weapons.

Bush would invade Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that were never found. But Libby, Cheney, and the other influential right-wing hard-liners, such as Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Armitage, Richard Perle, and Douglas Feith, saw their dreams come true. Back in the administration of the senior President Bush, Cheney was defense secretary and Libby and Wolfowitz were two of his aides who, after the first Gulf War left Saddam in power, drafted a document advocating ‘‘preemptive’’ war against possible threats.

They said the United States should be ‘‘postured to act independently when collective action cannot be orchestrated.’’

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0719-20.htm

[JuniperLea]

1. what a tidy little ball

of shite!

can the teflon hold out?

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. I hope not. I hope Fitzy has an acid strong enough to eat through it

[bonzotex]

3. Obviously bigger than just Rove

There is much more to this story than just Rove being a politically vindictive bitch. Too many people knew, were following the events, and deliberately made Outing Valerie Plame a priority. They went to a lot of trouble to do this. They didn't have to. The "why" of this sick tale is going to be fascinating.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Well if the stories about breaking her front company in order

to protect their heinouns weapons trading are true.. then maybe they did have to. Maybe she was just too darned good at her job and tehy sent Wilson so that they had an excuse to break her.

[bonzotex]

5. The CIA sent Wilson...not the Bush or Cheney cabal

The CIA wanted to debunk the rush to war. Like them or not, there is a professional cadre in the CIA that likes to be accurate. I don't think they had any idea Rove and pals would freak out so badly. Valerie Plame and her work are involved somehow. Somehow it was advantageous to take her out of play. Any damage to Joe Wilson's rep was just gravy.

Otherwise, why bother? They could have just disregarded Wilson's complaints and move on.

There were a lot of other Government agencies and individuals calling bullshit on Bush WMD claims. DoE refuting the Aluminum tube fabrications, USAF poo-pooing the Iraqi UAV scare, to name a couple. Bushco didn't go to extreme lengths to attack individuals in other instances. But they did with Joe Wilson.

Why? ...and why out his wife? They could have smeared him in any number of other ways or just ignored him. That's the real story here.

[JuniperLea]

6. oh great

good point! i'm betting we hear a lot of talk from the WH on how corrupt the CIA is now.