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NYT: Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby's testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson's husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration's handling of intelligence about Iraq's nuclear program to justify the war...

...The notes do not show that Mr. Cheney knew the name of Mr. Wilson’s wife. But they do show that Mr. Cheney did know and told Mr. Libby that Ms. Wilson was employed by the C.I.A. and that she may have helped arrange her husband's trip.

And therein lies Mr. Libby's problem. He has has reportedly testified that he learned of the link from journalists, mentioning the name of Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert. Russert has denied this. (AP, Oct. 19: "The network has said Russert told authorities he did not know about Wilson's wife's identity until it was published and therefore could not have told Libby about it.")

Interestingly, Vice President Cheney appeared on Meet the Press on Sept. 14, 2003, three months after this alleged conversation with Libby, saying,

VICE PRES. CHENEY: ...I don't know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn't judge him. I have no idea who hired him and it never came...

MR. RUSSERT: The CIA did.

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Who in the CIA, I don't know.

MR. RUSSERT: This is what concerns people, that the administration hyped the intelligence, misled the American people. This article from The Washington Post about pressuring from Cheney visits: "Vice President Cheney and his most senior aide made multiple trips to the CIA over the past year to question analysts studying Iraq's weapons programs and alleged links to al Qaeda, creating an environment in which some analyst felt they were being pressured to make their assessments fit wth the Bush administration's policy objectives, according to senior intelligence officials...."

The whole section interview is worth rereading in the light of these new reports, and of the events in Iraq since the interview.

Related: LAT: The White House Cabal by Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Colin Powell's chief of staff from 2002 to 2005:

IN PRESIDENT BUSH'S first term, some of the most important decisions about U.S. national security -- including vital decisions about postwar Iraq -- were made by a secretive, little-known cabal. It was made up of a very small group of people led by Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld....

I believe that the decisions of this cabal were sometimes made with the full and witting support of the president and sometimes with something less. More often than not, then-national security advisor Condoleezza Rice was simply steamrolled by this cabal.

Its insular and secret workings were efficient and swift -- not unlike the decision-making one would associate more with a dictatorship than a democracy....

This follows on the heels of a New Yorker story published yesterday (Breaking Ranks: What Turned Brent Scowcroft Against the Bush Administration?), not online but summarized by UPI, in which "Brent Scrowcroft, 80, the former national security advisor and close friend of President George W. Bush's father, President George H. W. Bush," says,

"I'm not a pacifist," he said. "I believe in the use of force. But there has to be a good reason for using force. And you have to know when to stop using force." Scowcroft does not believe that the promotion of American-style democracy abroad is a sufficiently good reason to use force, the New Yorker said.

"I thought we ought to make it our duty to help make the world friendlier for the growth of liberal regimes," he said. "You encourage democracy over time, with assistance, and aid, the traditional way. Not how the neo-cons do it."

"How do the neo-cons bring democracy to Iraq? You invade, you threaten and pressure, you evangelize." And now, Scowcroft said, America is suffering from the consequences of that brand of revolutionary utopianism. "This was said to be part of the war on terror, but Iraq feeds terrorism," he said....

"The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney," Scowcroft said. "I consider Cheney a good friend -- I've known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don't know anymore."

According to the Washington Post yesterday, prosecutor Fitzgerald has questioned President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former CIA Director George Tenet, along with many aides and spokesmen.

While George Bush is no doubt gnashing his teeth over the possible indictments, he may also feel a need to take back his presidency from the "cabal" about which Wilkerson writes.

What did Colin Powell tell prosecutor Fitzgerald? That's the story I want to read.

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2 Comments

AB* said:

D.C. Appellate Court throws out Bush suit against DOJ to block Fitzgerald indictments
Date: Tuesday, October 25
Topic: --

D.C. Appellate Court throws out Bush suit against DOJ to block Fitzgerald indictments

by Tom Flocco

Washington, DC?October 25, 2005?www.TomFlocco.com?Earlier today the District of Columbia Appellate Court threw out a Bush administration suit against its own Justice Department, attempting to block the issuance of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald?s indictments against White House officials.

The White House?s initial attempt to obstruct justice and have the indictments quashed and sealed was dismissed by the D.C. District Court late Friday afternoon, according to a sequence of events based on information in the form of data from intelligence field reports.

On Friday, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez refused to sign for and issue the indictments against himself and his colleagues, which would have made them immediately public.

Fitzgerald reportedly appeared with Miers and Rice that same day before the D.C. District Court.

The indictments included both President Bush and Vice President Cheney, confirming our exclusive August 2, 2005 Bush-Cheney indictment story at TomFlocco.com.

According to intelligence field reports, the appellate court judges reportedly laughed at Bush?s White House counsel and former personal attorney Harriet Miers and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying ?you can?t do this.?

The last ditch attempts by the White House to prevent the release of the indictments and their criminal contents were led by Miers and Rice, since Gonzalez has reportedly been indicted in an additional count for refusing to issue the original indictments as Bush?s attorney general.

This, also according to intelligence sources with intimate knowledge of the facts and the events who spoke with national security expert Thomas Heneghan (www.stewwebb.com).

Importantly, the dismissals by both the district and appellate courts will likely preclude an additional appeal by the Bush administration to the United States Supreme Court, since two consecutive reversals ordinarily prevent the high court from granting relief.

This would avoid another 5-4 Supreme Court split decision similar to the controversial Bush-Gore 2000 election recount litigation which has divided the country for five years.

Miers and Rice also reportedly attempted to have the courts place a gag order on Fitzgerald and the grand jury in another attempt to obstruct justice and prevent the criminal and far-reaching contents of the indictments from becoming public.

According to the intelligence sources, there are now 28 indictments to be issued in Fitzgerald?s first round?not 22?a fact that was not previously known up to the present time.

The number may have changed as a result of new information coming to light in recent days or a decision to add additional indicted officials to the first round for other reasons.

An indication of the far-reaching and expanded nature of Fitzgerald?s probes of White House crime families and his independent authority to do so is found in the December 30, 2003 letter from Acting Attorney General James Comey to Fitzgerald in which Comey said ?I hereby delegate to you all the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department?s investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee?s identity; and I direct you to exercise that authority as Special Counsel independent of the supervision or control of any officer of the Department.?

Comey was even more specific in another letter to Fitzgerald on February 6, 2004 when he said the Fitzgerald?s authority ?is plenary and includes the authority to investigate and prosecute violation of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure, as well as federal crimes committed in the course of, and with intent to interfere with, your investigation, such as perjury, obstruction of justice, destruction of evidence, and intimidation of witnesses; to conduct appeals arising out of the matter being investigation and/or prosecuted??
Developing hard?????
www.tomflocco.com

Previous related stories about Patrick Fitzgerald and his grand jury investigations of White House crime families:

Bush-Cheney CIA/Plame case indictments released this morning
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/CiaPlameCaseIndictments.htm

U.S. intelligence reports Miers as 'deep-cover' foreign operative
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/UsIntellReportsMiers.htm

CIA, French intelligence kill 4, capture 5 Israelis in NY subway attack
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/CiaFrenchIntell.htm

9-11 crash victim Barbara Olson arrested in Europe
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/OlsenArrested.htm

Who killed John-John?
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/PurgeTheEvil.htm

Cash payoffs, bonds and murder linked to White House 911 finance
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/FinancialTerrorism.htm

BUSH AND CHENEY INDICTED
http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/BushCheneyIndicted.htm

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http://www.tomflocco.com/fs/CourtthrowsOutBushSuit.htm

TOM FLOCCO HERO only one has the guts to tell the real story besides Nelson Thalls site cloakandagger.de which not has been knocked down by the bushboyz stay tuned will be back up

Link | October 25, 2005 5:48 AM
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Bill said:

And they said that Bill Clinton was corrupt

Link | October 25, 2005 10:51 PM
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