Uproar Grows Over Bush Role in Libby Leakage

[Elidor]

By E&P Staff and The Associated Press

Published: April 06, 2006 11:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Leading newpapapers in articles for Friday papers portrayed the revelation that President Bush may have authorized Lewis "Scooter" {Libby} to feed sensitive intelligence information to reporters as another major blow to the White House.

<snip>
The New York Times in a news story observed that the latest information "provides an indication that Mr. Bush, who has long criticized leaks of secret information as a threat to national security, may have played a direct role in authorizing disclosure of the intelligence report on Iraq."

<snip>
On Thursday, Democrats criticized the roles of Bush and Cheney.

"President Bush must fully disclose his participation in the selective leaking of classified information," said Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid. "The American people must know the truth."

"The president and the vice president must be held accountable," Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said from the Senate floor. "Accountable for misleading the American people, accountable for the disclosure of classified material for political purposes. It is as serious as it gets in this democracy."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002313562

[lovuian]

1. Well Said Dick Durbin!!!

Must be held accountable Republicans... Delay has been held accountable... its Bush's turn now...

[Kagemusha]

2. Durbin was prevented by law from revealing the holes in the case for war.

Bush made holes in the law to press the case for war while holding everyone else to its standards.

So yeah, Durbin has just a bit of a reason to be ticked off...

[Erika]

5. This is so sick

The intelligence committee cannot divulge what they have learned, but W can selectively leak info to the media to support his disgusting case for war.

[serryjw]

4. Lets see

Bushit
Cheney
Rummy
Rice a Roni
Gonzales
Delay
Libby
Hadley
Keep on going.......whom have I missed?

[calimary]

16. rove.

Say no more.

Keep doing it...

Visualize IMPEACHMENT!!!
AND REMOVAL FROM OFFICE!!!
And then go DO something about it.

[serryjw]

21. OMG How did I forget Rove?

To The Hague..I visualize it everyday..it keeps me going!


Lets not forget some 20 Reps that will be implicated in the Abramoff mess :bounce:

[WhiteTara]

20. that's Rice a Rongi

according to Jon Stewart

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. heh heh...

you said "leakage" heh


:rofl:


have Beavis and Butthead ruined civilization as we know it?


Discuss

:popcorn:

[Trevelyan]

6. Some encouraging news on Fitzgerald's investigating Niger forgeries

Hinchey Statement On Revelation That President Bush Authorized Leak Of Classified Information To Bolster Administration's Public Case For War Washington, D.C. 4/5/2006
Some encouraging news on Fitzgerald's investigating Niger forgeries on Rep
Hinchey's website:

http://www.house.gov/hinchey/ == "If what Scooter Libby said to the grand jury is true, then this latest development clearly reveals yet again that the CIA leak case goes much deeper than the disclosure of a CIA agent's identity to the press. The heart and motive of this case is about the deliberate attempt at the highest levels of this administration to discredit those who were publicly revealing that the White House lied about its uranium claims leading up to the war.

The Bush Administration knew that Iraq had not sought uranium from Africa for a nuclear weapon, yet they went around telling the Congress, the country, and the world just the opposite. When Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Valerie Wilson's husband, publicly spoke out with proof that the administration was not telling the truth on uranium, the administration
engaged in an orchestrated plot, which now reportedly includes President Bush, to discredit Ambassador Wilson and dismiss any notion that they had lied about pre-war intelligence.

"It is an absolute disgrace to the institution of the presidency that President Bush authorized members of his administration to disclose select parts of highly classified information from a National Intelligence Estimate in order to make political advances and gain public support.

How dare President Bush and Vice President Cheney say they want to prosecute those who leaked the NSA domestic surveillance program when they themselves authorized the disclosure of information from some of the most highly sensitive documents in the government. The White House opposes leaks when the disclosed information hurts them politically, but supports leaks when information advances their political cause.

"Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald recently responded to my request for him to expand his investigation to include the motive behind the leak, which I believe was to discredit Ambassador Wilson's revelation that Iraq never sought uranium from Africa. If so, President Bush and other top members of his administration knowingly lied about uranium to the Congress, which is a crime. It is my belief, as well as the belief of my 39 House colleagues who signed my original letter to Special Counsel Fitzgerald, that he has the
authority and obligation to expand his investigation to investigate the lies about uranium, which are the true heart of this case.

"Scooter Libby's camp is currently engaged in a legal proceeding to remove Patrick Fitzgerald from his post and have the case dismissed. This is just further evidence that Scooter Libby doesn't have a leg to stand on. I'm confident that the latest Libby motion will be rejected and that the case will move forward.

As such, I am formulating a response to Patrick Fitzgerald's letter to me and will aggressively pursue every avenue needed to ensure that an investigation is conducted into the administration's uranium lies. The heart of the CIA leak case cannot and must not be ignored."

==Rep. Hinchey only allows his constituents to write but I would like to know more about Fitz's letter to him and I thought DU had published an article that Hinchey and 39 Congresspersons had asked Fitzgerald to handle the impeachment hearings in the House in Oct/Nov 2005 or am I remembering it wrong???

[Elidor]

9. Great news

After all the times I thought this affair was dead in the water, it's mushrooming fast.

[Catrina]

14. Rep. Hinchey is great and has been so outspoken about this

administration. I think he's from upstate NY and I remember last year there was a request on DU to call his office to show him support after he had given a speech in his town and freeper who was present got more freeper thugs to call his office and harrass him. When I called, his aide sounded so scared. She was so relieved it was a supporter calling.

Maybe he can be reached by snail-mail or by phone ~

I hadn't heard anything about him asking Fitzgerald to handle impeachment hearings.

I had heard that Fitz. might be looking into the forged Niger Documents story though. Maybe this is what that story was about. He is so on top of these issues ~ he's one of the good guys.

[Placebo]

7. Illinois is counting on you Senator Durbin!

Make us proud—impeach the whole lot of them.

[Nothing Without Hope]

8. ***Here's a link & Excerpt from the NYT article for Friday:***

The page with the NYT article also has a link to a video of one of the authors (Sanger) talking about it.

The article says that Libby did NOT say Bush or Cheney authorized the leak of Plame's identity, but only of the NIE:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/07/washington/07leak.html?ei=5094&en=98d2386b13fe4dd0&hp=&ex=1144468800&partner=homepage&pagewanted=all

Cheney's Aide Says President Approved Leak

By DAVID JOHNSTON and DAVID E. SANGER
Published: April 7, 2006

WASHINGTON, April 6 — Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff testified that he was authorized by President Bush, through Mr. Cheney, in July 2003 to disclose key parts of what until then was a classified prewar intelligence estimate on Iraq, according to a new court filing.

The testimony by the former official, I. Lewis Libby Jr., cited in a court filing by the government made late Wednesday, provides an indication that Mr. Bush, who has long criticized leaks of secret information as a threat to national security, may have played a direct role in authorizing disclosure of the intelligence report on Iraq.

(snip)

The president has the authority to declassify information, and Mr. Libby indicated in his testimony that he believed Mr. Bush's instructions — which prosecutors said Mr. Libby regarded as "unique in his recollection" — gave him legal cover to talk with a reporter about the intelligence.

(snip)

Mr. Libby did not assert in his testimony to a grand jury, first reported on the Web site of The New York Sun, that Mr. Bush or Mr. Cheney had authorized him to reveal the name of an undercover C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson. Mr. Libby is scheduled to go on trial next year on perjury and obstruction charges connected to the disclosure of Ms. Wilson's name.

(snip)

Also note the blanket statement that the President has the authority to declassify secret information. According to the info in this thread, that's not an accurate statement when applied so universally:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x863042
thread title (4-6-06): The President is NOT authorized to declassify a Covert Agent.
So close reading on this point is important. Here is a thread with links to pdfs of the documents:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x860418
thread title (4-6-06): LINKS for all 3 PDF COURT DOCS from FIBBY'S 04/05/06 filing(s) - HERE!!!
(The NYT only links to one court filing document: http://news.findlaw.com/nytimes/docs/iraq/uslibby40506grsp.html)

[Kagemusha]

10. A covert agent yeah. NIE, well, the CIA is executive branch...

Bush is loaning his power to the director of the CIA under the constitution. Bush can take that power back in any way he likes and act on what he thinks ought to be done, so long as that doesn't violate some other law (though in practice, good luck punishing him).

So yeah he can do this. They just didn't wanna admit he actually had.

[oasis]

13. Drip,drip,drip.

:evilgrin:

[truthisfreedom]

11. this should make for an interesting friday news dump.

watch for it kids... they'll dump a bunch of stuff that they want to bury behind the maelstrom of this story.

[shanti]

12. good. i hope it turns into a firestorm

impeach the bastard.

[NorthernSun]

15. Judy Miller

So in other words Ms Miller was protecting the lying monkey himself.

[UpInArms]

18. Judy was a gusher for this maladmin -

they would leak their lies to her - she would write up the spin - the NYTs would publish her above the fold on the front page on Sunday morning - the maladmin drones would appear on the Sunday talk shows and use her columns to prove that the world was flat - and the talking points for the week were spread far and wide.

[radfringe]

17. inherent authority

----snip----

again with the inherent authority excuse....next excuse will be "the president was acting on divine intervention and is following the instructions of a higher power..."

smells like a monarchy to me....it's one thing to allow a president te latitude of precident (i.e. inherent authority) it's another to abuse it.

from news last night, the talking heads are trying to downplay it as "...it wasn't illegal..." (move along nothing to see....)

just my 2-cents -- BUSH LIED. He lied about not knowing who was the leaker. He has totally betrayed the public trust. This needs to be investigated and action taken. sadly, the rubber-stamp republicans are in control of Congress - any 'investigation' they may initiate will just be window dressing.

[riona]

19. Apparently the Tampa Tribune

does not find this topic to be front page news. it made page 5. on our front page, the main topic was trash collection complaints.