CREW Alleges Cheney Leaked Classified Information, Breaking Federal Law

[Robbien]

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2004--Earlier today, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit legal watchdog group, sent a letter to President Bush asking that he call upon the White House Counsel to investigate Vice President Cheney's confirmation of leaked classified information in an interview with the Rocky Mountain News on January 9, 2004.


Federal law prohibits leaking classified information. Confirming information that has already been leaked is also prohibited. In his Jan. 9th interview, Mr. Cheney referred his interviewer to a story that appeared in The Weekly Standard's November 24, 2003 issue. The story, written by Stephen F. Hayes, discussed a 16 page memo written by Defense Department Under Secretary for Policy regarding raw data and reports describing possible links between Al Queda and Iraq.

Mr. Cheney, responding to a question regarding the relationship between Iraq and Al Queda, called the Standard's story "the best information out there." Mr. Cheney provided this information despite the Pentagon's November 15, 2003 press release stating that news reports that characterized the contents of the memo were "inaccurate" and excoriated the leak as "deplorable and may be illegal." The Pentagon also stated that leaking such information does "serious harm to national security."

"Mr. Cheney's reference to classified information and the ensuing silence from the White House shows a distinct pattern: leaking classified information that the administration deems beneficial is Standard Operating Procedure," Melanie Sloan, Executive Director of CREW said today.

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=GENERIC&newsId=20040128005636&newsLang=en&beanID=202776713&viewID=news_view

[proud patriot]

1. Wooo Hooooo ! CHECKMATE !

Cheney is arrogant fuck , and his own arrogance
is taking the Republican party DOWN !

[indie_voter]

2. Do you think anything will happen?

I keep getting my hopes up only to see them dashed.

I hope this is indeed checkmate.

Kudos to Clark who ranted about this on his last MTP appearance.

[xultar]

5. *crickets chirping*

[arcane1]

7. sure! They caught the anthrax assassin, the Plame leaker, etc..

oh wait...

[proud patriot]

6. End game is happening IMHO

hence I keep posting Checkmate .

I know it should be Check , but I'm not sure if
people would get the Chess analogy .

[mike1963]

21. I just hope we don't get rooked again.

:evilgrin:

[Jackpine Radical]

23. We're all pawns in this game. (nt)

[0007]

26. Love the game!

Rove in a master player, so I just wait before I get too excited.

[indepat]

17. I doubt anything will happen or he is shaking in his boots

[Robbien]

8. Did you see the statement they made on the Plame investigation?

CREW said

"The deliberate delay in investigating the outing of Valerie Plame and the immediate investigation into an alleged leak by former Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill the morning after Mr. O'Neill's interview with 60 Minutes shows the contrast between investigations into leaks that help with President Bush's agenda and those that damage the administration's efforts."

You go CREW! Show them up for the hypocrites are are.

This is the organization who is looking into Aschroft's and DeLay's campaign finance and PAC violations.

[PaDUer]

30. Free Pass..

aren't these the goons who feel they're "above the law". After all, look who he went hunting with recently..Probably told him, you butter my hand and I'll butter yours! Scumbags!

[ewagner]

3. I'm not going to hold my breath

This is another example of Cheney's arrogance and skullduggery but will anything actually come of it?

Hope for the best but don't bet the farm on it.

[aquart]

4. Cheney commits treason three times before breakfast.

And that's just his warm up.

[louis-t]

14. Ha! Good one!

[ewagner]

18. hehehehe

Maybe just to get his heart started :evilgrin:

[peterh]

9. Could it be that all roads lead to Cheney…

This, the CIA outing case and a host of lesser publicly acknowledged items??? May be a reason the rumors are flying that Cheney won’t be on the `04 ticket and may be in need of a pardon….just thinking out loud….

[salinen]

10. Seeing Cheney do a perp walk

would just about give me an erection.

[pinto]

11. kick, the Cheney cabal has run a shadow government behind the

public's perception that B*sh is a somewhat bumbling, faith-based nice guy.....

Worked well didn't it?

Yet, the worm turns...

I think that Karen's appearance for the last SOTU address speaks volumes about the backstairs conflicts and "cracks" in this Admin....

[NoKingGeorge]

12. I agree. Dumping everything on cHeney ,who then resigns for

health reasons ,would help to exonerate the slow-one. Who would then pardon cHeney, appoint Guiliani and move on.

[GCP]

13. Bingo, I think that's it

Cheney will take the heat for the Energy Commission, Iraq intelligence short-falls, Halliburton etc etc. Guiliani will run as Veep and Cheney gets his pardon in the last days of this presidency.

[Fovea]

15. From ONiell's book

you can certainly get that picture of Cheney as massively involved in subverting the normal mechanisms of the modern cabinet. I think that the possiblity should be considered that whatever Rove is doing, it is being done at Cheney's, not Bush's behest.

[Gin]

16. and the end of the road is HELL!

may the wind be ever at his back on his journey...if anyone deserves a speedy trip...he does.

[RainDog]

19. Will he take the fall, though?

or will he take down others with him?

I remember, I think it's HerbertFlotz? on this board saying that Lynn would make Martha Mitchell look like a mute.

I can only hope.

A is for asshole, Lynn.

you're married to one.

[Selwynn]

20. Absolutely nothing will come of this.

Shouldn't even be on the "News" forum...

[mike1963]

22. Just a reminder - some details go down the mem hole: Cheney lied about

where he lived in 2000 and was sent out to find the best VP candidate.

...

[Loco_moco]

24. One can only hope...

..that since absolutely nothing will be done about this or the many other illegal things this misadministration has done since the overthrow, that the new Democratic administration will begin investigations that will eventually indict, impeach (SCOTUS, etc.) and imprison Bush, Cheney, et al, for a long, long time...

justice, then peace;
rob

[Just Me]

25. And if "hope" doesn't work for ya',...try dreamin'!!!

Just dreamin' about these guys actually paying their debt to this country for their evil, self-serving deeds is enough to perk my passion,...and my "hope", too.

Hell, who knows? These guys could possibly, no matter how remote, go down in the history books as the first U.S. administration to go to prison for treason, among various and other sundry charges!!!

[Rose Siding]

27. The CREW page reads like they are the good guys-

In the decade just ended, this litigation strategy was applied to a new area: government integrity. Since the 1970's, citizens' groups have been increasingly active in government investigations ranging from Watergate to Iran-Contra to the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill matter. But it was not until the 1990's that these groups hit on the strategy of using private investigation and litigation to parallel and support government investigations. This began with Whitewater, continued through the campaign finance investigations, and culminated in the Paula Jones litigation and the presidential impeachment proceedings.

This use of the legal system was innovative but irresponsible. The legal groups leading the charge were more focused on partisan political agendas than on promoting the public interests. They often targeted innocent public officials based on little more than those officials' political associations.

These right wing groups often focused on private conduct rather than on public policy. Of course, we should have high standards for government leaders, but the greatest danger to democracy is posed not by the personal peccadillos of government leaders, but rather, public policy unduly influenced by special interests. This concept was lost in the flurry of investigations and lawsuits undertaken during the previous government administration.

We believe there is a niche for a mainstream group that helps real people who have suffered injustice bring or defend legal actions stemming from the conduct of unscrupulous government officials. The groups that have pioneered this type of legal advocacy are avowedly conservative and extremist: Judicial Watch; the Rutherford Institute; the National Legal and Policy Center; to name just a few.

Conservative groups such as these have no real parallel in the mainstream. There are a number of non-partisan groups that address government honesty, including Common Cause, the Center for Public Integrity, and Democracy 21. While we applaud their efforts, we have noted that these groups focus principally on research and legislation. They do not use litigation to target outrageous conduct, nor do they bring the message of injustice to the people the way their conservative counterparts do. Because these public interest organizations focus mostly on policy issues and not on obstacles faced by ordinary citizens, these groups have not mobilized a shift in public opinion on the issue of government honesty. The mainstream needs a parallel to the conservative groups mentioned above — CREW will fill that niche.

http://www.citizensforethics.org/about/index.php

[Snappy]

28. One more

Another charge on Cheney that will be taken down into the WH basement and swept under that Neo Fascist dirty rug.

Thanks to CREW for tying though.

[goforit]

29. Hello Ashcroft ....where are you???? Too scared to handle Dick???

Hmmmm........

[banana republican]

31. KICK

( I've always want to kick something)