NYTimes Online Front Page: "Cheney Aide Says Bush Approved Leak"

[understandinglife]

http://www.nytimes.com

In Court Filings, Cheney Aide Says Bush Approved Leak
9 minutes ago By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between I. Lewis Libby and a Times reporter.

And, links to the AP Story:

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-CIA-Leak.html?hp&ex=1144382400&en=82f91777a6c99ec3&ei=5094&partner=homepage

April 6, 2006
In Court Filings, Cheney Aide Says Bush Approved Leak
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:26 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

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So, it's gettig a bit of attention.


If You're pro-Bu$h, You're Anti-America

[renate]

1. it seems to me that this is the really damning part:

Maybe technically it's not a crime to declassify classified information so that leaking it for a political purpose isn't illegal, but the part below that I put in italics, and especially the part I bolded, is one of those things that makes you go Hmmm:

"Libby's participation in a critical conversation with Miller on July 8, 2003 'occurred only after the vice president advised defendant that the president specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the National Intelligence Estimate,' the papers by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald stated. The filing did not specify the 'certain information.'

"'Defendant testified that the circumstances of his conversation with reporter Miller -- getting approval from the president through the vice president to discuss material that would be classified but for that approval -- were unique in his recollection,' the papers added."

Does this mean "this is classified except when you talk to Judy Miller"? That seems pretty uncool.

[understandinglife]

2. This one has definitely "stuck." If you scan everything from Google ...

... news, to CNN, to NYT, .... it's the lead story.

6 April 2006 is "tapes day" for Bush (and Cheney).


If You're pro-Bu$h, You're Anti-America