Cheney Chief-of-Staff Named as Spy-gate Leaker

[Dover]

Cheney Chief-of-Staff Named as Spy-gate Leaker by Justin Raimondo October 2, 2003

MSNBC'S Buchanan & Press scored a major scoop on Wednesday, all but unmasking the high government official who "outed" a CIA operative via a July 14 column by Robert Novak. Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst who worked with Valerie Plame, the reported agent, all but identified "Scooter" Libby as the government official who outed her – and at least one other in the Vice President's office.

Who is "Scooter" Libby?

He's the nexus of the neocon network in Washington, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and assistant to the President, whose office is the operational nerve center of the War Party. It is Libby and Cheney who made repeated trips to the CIA, pressuring them to accept tall tales of Al Qaeda connections and assorted "weapons of mass destruction" supposedly lurking in Baghdad – including the Niger-uranium yellowcake "evidence" that Iraq had acquired fissionable material for a nuclear weapon.

The documents purportly proving the Niger-Iraq uranium connection turned out to be a crude forgery.

Pressed by Pat Buchanan to name the leaker, Johnson refused to deny it was Libby; he furthermore stated that the perpetrator was no stranger to "scandal."

As Marc Rich's longtime lawyer, and a key figure in procuring the fugitive billionaire a presidential pardon, Lewis ""Scooter" Libby surely fits the bill.

Johnson also rebutted widespread stories that Pflame wasn't an undercover intelligence officer. Clifford May, of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, has said her status was an open secret, and that she was an analyst whose life would not be placed in danger if her CIA connection was revealed. Asked by Buchanan if Plame's work would have taken her overseas, where compromising her CIA affiliation would put her in physical danger, Johnson's answer was an emphatic yes. Furthermore, her emphasized, her outing would put all her various overseas contacts in jeopardy.

Developing ...

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/jspecial100203.html

[VolcanoJen]

1. Dupe... locking

Please continue discussion by posting within the original, earliest LBN thread on the Larry Johnson/Scooter Libby topic, which can be found here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=142863&mesg_id=142863

Dover, your link to that story would be very helpful in the original thread, and I hope you'll post it there.

Thanks!
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. This is coming out

and yes Buchannan was very sharp today.

I rarely agree with him but some think he is
the original deep throat... and if he is... we can
bet he will put his country ahead of party once again.

[E_Zapata]

3. So, we are to assume the chiefs of staff just act unilaterally?

This is bullshit.

Cheney is on his deathbed with his heart....and the energy probe,

"yeah, let's just let Cheney take the fall for Kkkarl"