Bush OK’d release of intel, but didn’t specify Libby (SO WHAT)

[dajoki]

MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12187153/from/RSS/

Source: Bush didn’t specify Libby should leak
President OK’d release of intel, but didn’t name VP’s ex-aide, attorney says

Updated: 7:38 p.m. ET April 8, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush declassified sensitive intelligence in 2003 and authorized its public disclosure to rebut Iraq war critics, but he did not specifically direct that Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, be the one to disseminate the information, an attorney knowledgeable about the case said Saturday.

Bush merely instructed Cheney to “get it out” and left the details to him, said the lawyer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case for the White House. The vice president chose Libby and communicated the president’s wishes to his then-top aide, the lawyer said.

Declassification details unknown
It is not known when the conversation between Bush and Cheney took place. The White House has declined to provide the date when the president used his authority to declassify the portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, a classified document that detailed the intelligence community’s conclusions about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.