26.10.05 1.00pm

By David Usborne

NEW YORK - The name of Vice President Dick Cheney surfaced unexpectedly yesterday in the probe into who might have leaked the identity of the undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to journalists, increasing the pressure on the White House as the special prosecutor in the case prepares to file possible criminal charges.

The man who has increasingly been at the heart of the investigation - Mr Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby - reportedly gave written notes to the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald that revealing that he first heard of Ms Plame from his boss.

The contents of the notes and the role played by Mr Cheney were reported for the first time in yesterday's New York Times, anonymously citing lawyers connected to the investigation.

They seem to contradict testimony given by Mr Libby to a grand jury that he had learned of Ms Plame from journalists.

According to the newspaper, the notes from Mr Libby are a record of a conversation with Mr Cheney that took place on 12 June 2003, weeks before her name first appeared in public in a column written by the prominent journalist Robert Novak.

Mr Fitzgerald will this week conclude his investigation into whether anyone at the White House deliberately unmasked Ms Plame to journalists in 2003 as part of a vendetta against her husband, Joseph Wilson, who had been questioning administration claims regarding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

It is clear that if anyone at the White House is charged by Mr Fitzgerald, they would have to resign at once.

No one knows what Mr Fitzgerald will decide, but he is expected to end the suspense before Friday.

Mr Libby is widely considered to be at risk, as is Mr Bush's top political confidant, Karl Rove.

If, indeed, Mr Cheney was the first to mention Ms Plame to Mr Libby that does not suggest any criminal wrong-doing on his part.

Mr Cheney may not have known at the time of Ms Plame's status at the CIA as an undercover agent.

Disclosing the name of a covert agent, if done knowingly, is a crime.

Moreover, a vice president is perfectly at liberty to discuss all secrets of state with his own chief of staff.

Yet, the latest twist turns up the heat on the White House, because it indicates that Mr Cheney was personally involved in the effort to find out more about Ms Plame at a time when the White House was fuming about her husband's revelations about WMD and the increasingly limp-looking case for war in Iraq.

Mr Wilson had been sent by the CIA to Niger the year before to seek evidence that Iraq had tried to buy uranium there for its weapons programme.

He found no such evidence, yet the Niger link was cited by Mr Bush in his 2003 State of the Union speech.

Mr Wilson thereafter began to accuse the White House of twisting the facts on Iraq.

He finally went public in July 2003 in an article in the New York Times.

While no one doubts that the White House took aggressive steps to counter the impact of Mr Wilson's criticism, it is up to Mr Fitzgerald to decide whether that included the illegal leaking of his wife's name.

At the same time, however, he may be tempted to file criminal charges against anyone in the White House he believes either lied to his grand jury or tried to obstruct justice in the case.

This may be the biggest danger for Mr Libby, who may have decided to omit any mention of Mr Cheney in his grand jury testimony because of a desire to protect him.

The Times said that Mr Cheney had himself heard about Ms Plame from the former director of the CIA, George Tenet.

Neither the Vice President's office nor lawyers for Mr Tenet were offering any comment yesterday.

....it indicates that Mr Cheney was personally involved in the effort to find out more about Ms Plame at a time when the White House was fuming about her husband's revelations about WMD and the increasingly limp-looking case for war in Iraq.

Mr Wilson had been sent by the CIA to Niger the year before to seek evidence that Iraq had tried to buy uranium there for its weapons programme.

He found no such evidence, yet the Niger link was cited by Mr Bush in his 2003 State of the Union speech.

Mr Wilson thereafter began to accuse the White House of twisting the facts on Iraq.

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Karl "teflon' Rove probably (correctly) feels, Cheney is more expendable than himself and a deal is done...

It's been 30 years. Can we please stop adding the "gate" suffix to every scandal that comes along?

cv

It's been 30 years. Can we please stop adding the "gate" suffix to every scandal that comes along? 

cv

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yep, when our glorious Thai leader stops using the word "hub"

It's been 30 years. Can we please stop adding the "gate" suffix to every scandal that comes along? 

cv

yep, when our glorious Thai leader stops using the word "hub"

You mean after he gets busted in Hub-gate?

cv

NEW YORK - The name of Vice President Dick Cheney surfaced unexpectedly yesterday in the probe into who might have leaked the identity of the undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame to journalists,

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This whole affair is nothing more than a partisan political farce in preparation for the next presidential election campaigns.

The entire pretext of the "case" against is that this woman was an undercover operative. That allegation in and of itself is little more than misinformation. This woman was not a covert operative, plain pure and simple. Her association with the CIA was and is common knowledge inside the beltway.

None of the people involved are "angels" by any stretch of the imagination. They are just another group of sleazy politicians.

This is nothing more than vintage inside the beltway political grandstanding. When all is said and done, no one will go to jail and no one will be punished. It is all an expensive joke, being funded by Mr. & Mrs. Taxpayer.

It's been 30 years. Can we please stop adding the "gate" suffix to every scandal that comes along?

'Icegate' = underage boozer causes rumpus

'Cutiegate' = girl gets 'Pearl Harbored' in pub

'Toiletgate' = Moog posts bowel movement pix

'Bambigate' = Who is the chosen one?

'Scampygate = TGS gets pummeled in Phuket by unidentifed TV member

Any more?

It's been 30 years. Can we please stop adding the "gate" suffix to every scandal that comes along?

'Icegate' = underage boozer causes rumpus

'Cutiegate' = girl gets 'Pearl Harbored' in pub

'Toiletgate' = Moog posts bowel movement pix

'Bambigate' = Who is the chosen one?

'Scampygate = TGS gets pummeled in Phuket by unidentifed TV member

Any more?

Pearl Harbored

Shit about to hit Fan !!!

Better Cheney than Bush I say

Can you imagine Cheney as the new Prez if Bush had to be indicted ?

Shit about to hit Fan !!! 

Better Cheney than Bush I say 

Can you imagine Cheney as the new Prez if Bush had to be indicted ? 

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Butterfy - you dont honestly believe this? I'll be surprised if anyone is charged.

Shit about to hit Fan !!! 

Better Cheney than Bush I say 

Can you imagine Cheney as the new Prez if Bush had to be indicted ? 

Butterfy - you dont honestly believe this? I'll be surprised if anyone is charged.

Is the law system as corrupt as the political system ?

Isn't it always?

Shit about to hit Fan !!! 

Better Cheney than Bush I say 

Can you imagine Cheney as the new Prez if Bush had to be indicted ? 

A better scenario is Ann Coulter being confirmed to the Supreme Court and swearing in Condi Rice as President (w/Oliver North as VP)!

Isn't it always?

It's the Golden Rule.

He who has the Gold makes the rules.

Top Cheney aide indicted IN CIA leak probe

29.10.05 11.45am

By Adam Entous and James Vicini

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, was indicted for obstructing justice, perjury and lying after a two-year CIA leak investigation, dealing a damaging blow to the beleaguered White House.

Libby, who could face up to 30 years in prison, resigned minutes after the indictment was filed in a case that has put a spotlight on how the administration sold the nation on the war in Iraq and countered its critics. In a statement, Cheney said Libby would "fight the charges brought against him".

President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was not indicted along with Libby, but special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald has made clear to Rove he remains under investigation and in legal jeopardy, lawyers said.

"It's not over," Fitzgerald told a news conference.

Bush said the investigation and legal proceedings were "serious and now the process moves into a new phase".

"I am confident that at the end of this process I will be completely and totally exonerated," Libby said in a statement.

Reggie Walton, the federal judge chosen to handle Libby's case, was appointed by Bush to the court. An arraignment for Libby to enter a plea has yet to be scheduled.

The White House is already reeling over the slow response to Hurricane Katrina, growing opposition to the Iraq war and the withdrawal of Bush's nominee for the US Supreme Court, Harriet Miers, under fire from Bush's conservative base.

Despite initial denials, both Rove and Libby spoke to reporters in June and July 2003 about the CIA operative, Valerie Plame, whose identify was leaked to the media.

Libby, who played a major behind-the-scenes role in building the case for the Iraq war, was accused in the five-count indictment of making false statements about how and when he learned and disclosed to reporters classified information about Plame.

Plame's cover was blown after her diplomat husband, Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to support military action against Iraq. Wilson said it was done deliberately to erode his credibility.

"Today is a sad day for America," Wilson said in a statement. "When an indictment is delivered at the front door of the White House, the Office of the President is defiled."

Some Republicans have accused Fitzgerald of being overzealous by pursuing "legal technicalities" instead of the underlying crime. Libby was not charged with illegally disclosing the name of a covert CIA operative.

"I'll be blunt," Fitzgerald said in response. "That talking point won't fly."

He also sought to distance the indictment from the growing national debate over the Iraq war, saying the issue was whether "Libby lied or not" and not whether "the war was justified or unjustified."

If convicted, Libby, 55, faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.25 ($1.79) million fine, prosecutors said.

The charges accuse Libby of lying to FBI agents who interviewed him on October 14, 2003, and November 26, 2003, committing perjury while testifying under oath to the grand jury twice in March 2004, and engaging in obstruction of justice by impeding the grand jury's investigation.

Fitzgerald said Libby lied "under oath and repeatedly." Wilson based his criticism of the administration in part on a CIA-sponsored mission he made to Africa in 2002 to check out an intelligence report that Iraq sought uranium from Niger.

Bush cited intelligence that Iraq sought uranium from Africa in his 2003 State of the Union address, but Wilson later said the claim was unsubstantiated.

Cheney's office sought to discredit Wilson and his findings by suggesting the trip had been arranged by his wife.

The indictment showed that Libby began seeking information about Wilson and his wife in late May 2003, some six weeks before Plame's identity was publicly disclosed in a July 14, 2003, newspaper column by Robert Novak.

It appears that Libby first learned that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA -- and that she was involved in organising his trip to Niger -- on June 11 or June 12, 2003 in conversations with the undersecretary of State and a senior officer at the CIA, who were not identified by name. The undersecretary referred to in the documents is Marc Grossman.

The indictment also highlighted Cheney's role. Libby learned from Cheney himself on June 12, 2003, that Wilson's wife worked in the counterproliferation division of the CIA.

Fitzgerald declined to predict when Libby's trial would begin but said he would not be arrested.

As for Rove, legal sources said the key Bush aide could at a later date face perjury charges for initially failing to tell the grand jury he talked to a Time magazine reporter about Plame.

Fitzgerald said he would use a new grand jury if necessary for any additional charges since the one that handed up Libby's indictment expired today.

"The special counsel has advised Mr Rove that he has made no decision about whether or not to bring charges and that Mr Rove's status has not changed," Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, said in a statement.

Yawn...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Yawn...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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or are better Boonie.

Does this mean that your "side" is in the poo?

Yawn...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

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Classic NeoCon reply when caught in the act of lying or cheating

Bush tries to ignore leak case

30.10.05 1.00pm

By Caren Bohan

WASHINGTON - US President George W. Bush is trying to move beyond the damage caused by yesterday's indictment of a senior White House aide in the CIA leak probe.

After Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, resigned following a five-count indictment, Bush chose to focus his weekly radio address on the results of Iraq's October 15 vote on a US-backed constitution.

Bush called Tuesday's announcement of the charter's approval a milestone, but did not mention that on the same day the US military death toll in Iraq surpassed 2,000.

Nor did he mention the CIA leak case.

"Just 30 months removed from the rule of a dictator, and nine months after they first elected their own leaders, the Iraqi people are resolving tough issues through an inclusive political process," Bush said.

"And this process is isolating the extremists who wish to derail democracy through violence and murder."

The approval of the constitution, which was strongly supported by Shiites and Kurds in Iraq but rejected by many minority Sunni Arabs, will pave the way for a December 15 election to shape a new parliament.

The crossing of the 2,000 threshold of US military deaths adds to Bush's political woes at home, where his approval rating has fallen to all-time lows.

The investigation into the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity has its roots in the Iraq war.

Plame's husband, former US diplomat Joe Wilson, had accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence when officials cited a threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to justify the 2003 US invasion. No such weapons were found.

Lewis Libby was indicted on charges of obstructing justice, perjury and lying and is accused of making false statements about how and when he learnt and disclosed to reporters classified information about Plame.

Bush said the leak case was serious and but added he wanted to remain "wholly focussed on the many issues and opportunities facing this country" as the investigation proceeds.

Another piece of business he will be turning his attention to will be picking a new Supreme Court nominee after the withdrawal of his long-time friend and White House counsel Harriet Miers.

The Miers nomination prompted a rebellion of Bush's conservative political base as critics questioned her qualifications for the job.

Bush is spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat and shared a long hug with his wife Laura as he arrived there Friday afternoon at the end of a brutal week for him politically.

Bush is spending the weekend at the Camp David presidential retreat and shared a long hug with his wife Laura as he arrived there Friday afternoon at the end of a brutal week for him politically

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/42136

Yawn...zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Classic NeoCon reply when caught in the act of lying or cheating

Look! He's laughing at you. And so am I. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

The Clinton Legacy

RECORDS SET

- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance

- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates*

- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation

- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify

- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly

- First president sued for sexual harassment.

- First president accused of rape.

- First first lady to come under criminal investigation

- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case

- First president to establish a legal defense fund.

- First president to be held in contempt of court

- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions

- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad

- First president disbarred from the US Supreme Court and a state court

Let's not forget Sandy Burglar stealing and destroying classified documents, the governor of Arkansas who had to resign because of Whitewater, or the pardons as Clinton was leaving office.

Bush: Scooter Libby. And that hasn't even been proven yet.

Bush: Scooter Libby. And that hasn't even been proven yet.

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BM, starting to look as desparate as Ken Starr is beneath you

Don't you miss headlines like these?

President Clinton announces ANOTHER record budget surplus

or:

Longest Economic Expansion in U.S. History

or:

Passed the largest deficit-cutting plan in history -- saving more than $1 trillion over seven years.

or:

Lowest combined rate of unemployment and inflation since 1968.

or:

Americans Benefit from Reduced Debt

or:

Clinton bringing the nations of Europe closer

or:

Undertook, with NATO allies and UN, military and diplomatic actions to alleviate the suffering and lead the effort to broker a comprehensive peace agreement in Bosnia.

I could go on and on... Bush? Well, Karl Rove talks a great show thru Dubya's arse

Bush: Scooter Libby. And that hasn't even been proven yet.

BM, starting to look as desparate as Ken Starr is beneath you

Don't you miss headlines like these?

President Clinton announces ANOTHER record budget surplus

or:

Longest Economic Expansion in U.S. History

or:

Passed the largest deficit-cutting plan in history -- saving more than $1 trillion over seven years.

or:

Lowest combined rate of unemployment and inflation since 1968.

or:

Americans Benefit from Reduced Debt

or:

Clinton bringing the nations of Europe closer

or:

Undertook, with NATO allies and UN, military and diplomatic actions to alleviate the suffering and lead the effort to broker a comprehensive peace agreement in Bosnia.

I could go on and on... Bush? Well, Karl Rove talks a great show thru Dubya's arse

Right...well, here's Bubba with one of his Classy supporters...

Bush tries to ignore leak case

30.10.05 1.00pm

By Caren Bohan

...Nor did he mention the CIA leak case.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've been drinking too much media koolaid.

There was and is no CIA leak case. Even the top dog in all this, the special prosecutor Fitzgerald has acknowledged this fact.

Sober up. Get off the koolaid. Get your facts straight.

Let's tell it like it is. Plame's husband was recruited to go to Niger by the CIA. Why?

This guy is a career and personal scumbag, not the career diplomat that the media makes him out to be. Sure he was in the foreign service, but for most of his career, he was no diplomat nor part of the diplomatic corps.

He was nothing more than a glorified facilities manager, responsible for making sure that the basic building functions where he was assigned, were in good working order.

He was screwing around with his second wife to be while still married to his first wife. What can one say about a common philanderer?

As some political patronage, someone threw him a bone and made him an ambassdor, not to some high profile place like Austria or Belgium, but to Gabon of all places. They gave him the job because no one else wanted it.

With that assignment, the guy essentially realized that he was dead ended in his career and chose retirement.

But now let's put two and two together. Out of the blue, the guy is recruited by the CIA to investigate uranium purchases in Niger. While not in common knowledge or circulation, people in DC know who he is married to and who his wife's employer is. For your average beltway insider, this is common knowledge. He even advertised her as his wife in "Who's Who in American", an annual American publication.

His wife was nothing more than a desk-based analyst, nothing more than one of thousands doing similar work in Langley and other known CIA work areas. There is speculation that she may have done some covert work earlier in her career. However, at the time of the supposed "leak" she was not working in any covert activity. She was too busy raising twin toddlers.

So let's conclude with saying things as they are. The guy loved the Clinton's because they gave him what little political visibility and influence that he ever had in his pathetic career. The guy hates Bush because his "diplomatic" career became dead-ended as soon as his people fell out of power.

The guy is also another beltway sociopathic liar. His research actually verified that middle eastern governments were attempting to buy uranium. Yet in his big NY Post op-ed piece, he tried to tell the American people the exact opposite. This is a guy with an axe to grind against the Bush administration. This whole affair has nothing to do with his wife or her place of employment.

Bush tries to ignore leak case

30.10.05 1.00pm

By Caren Bohan

...Nor did he mention the CIA leak case.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You've been drinking too much media koolaid.

There was and is no CIA leak case. Even the top dog in all this, the special prosecutor Fitzgerald has acknowledged this fact.

Sober up. Get off the koolaid. Get your facts straight.

Let's tell it like it is. Plame's husband was recruited to go to Niger by the CIA. Why?

This guy is a career and personal scumbag, not the career diplomat that the media makes him out to be. Sure he was in the foreign service, but for most of his career, he was no diplomat nor part of the diplomatic corps.

He was nothing more than a glorified facilities manager, responsible for making sure that the basic building functions where he was assigned, were in good working order.

He was screwing around with his second wife to be while still married to his first wife. What can one say about a common philanderer?

As some political patronage, someone threw him a bone and made him an ambassdor, not to some high profile place like Austria or Belgium, but to Gabon of all places. They gave him the job because no one else wanted it.

With that assignment, the guy essentially realized that he was dead ended in his career and chose retirement.

But now let's put two and two together. Out of the blue, the guy is recruited by the CIA to investigate uranium purchases in Niger. While not in common knowledge or circulation, people in DC know who he is married to and who his wife's employer is. For your average beltway insider, this is common knowledge. He even advertised her as his wife in "Who's Who in American", an annual American publication.

His wife was nothing more than a desk-based analyst, nothing more than one of thousands doing similar work in Langley and other known CIA work areas. There is speculation that she may have done some covert work earlier in her career. However, at the time of the supposed "leak" she was not working in any covert activity. She was too busy raising twin toddlers.

So let's conclude with saying things as they are. The guy loved the Clinton's because they gave him what little political visibility and influence that he ever had in his pathetic career. The guy hates Bush because his "diplomatic" career became dead-ended as soon as his people fell out of power.

The guy is also another beltway sociopathic liar. His research actually verified that middle eastern governments were attempting to buy uranium. Yet in his big NY Post op-ed piece, he tried to tell the American people the exact opposite. This is a guy with an axe to grind against the Bush administration. This whole affair has nothing to do with his wife or her place of employment.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well I hope media koolaid is good,because it does sound like the same type of media tone when you failed to impeach Clinton.

What can one say about a common philanderer? You tell me.There have been enough of your Presidents that have put it about abit..I think Tom Jefferson kicked things off by screwing the staff didn't he?(he was the primary author in preparing the Declaration of Independence wasn't he?)I don't think that screwing around made him any less aleader because of his nocturnal wanderings? It would only make a difference I feel if you were looking at it from a religious view point or high christian moral ground.

I can't argue about the rest of your reply, as it may very well be true (With a Spee bias of course ) So lets conclude that each side desperatly want to &lt;deleted&gt; the other.At this moment, your side are in the brown stuff.Let the games begin.

You know somebody who can use this dose of reality ... don't you?

Joe Wilson's Stack of Lies

(Max Boot in the LA Times: Plamegate's Real Liar)

(Stephen Hayes: The Incredibles)

(Weekly Standard: The Nine Lives of Joe Wilson's Reputation )

(Full Text: Report on Prewar Intelligence assessments)

(Report Additional Views of Chairman Pat Roberts joined by Senators Bond and Hatch)

(New York Sun: Pardon Libby - Editorial)

(PowerLineBlog: The Indictment: Take Two)

(NRO: Clifford D. May on Joe Wilson)

(The Editors: This is not Watergate or Iran-Contra, but neither is it a trifle)

(National Review: The Corner)

American Spectator: Joe Wilson in a Bind)

(Weekly Standard: The Left's Cruelest Month)

(FrontPageMag: Joe Wilson's Credibility Problem)

Joe Wilson's Uranium-Not-Sought-in-"Africa" Facts...

(Washington Post: Husband Is Conspicuous in Leak Case - Dana Milbank)

(Newsbusters: Fitzgerald Does a "Star" Turn as Captain Queeg)

(Newsbusters: Plamegate-Obsessed Nets Yawned

Over Potential Indictments of Hillary...And Bill)

(Slate: Plame's Lame Game - Christopher Hitchens)

(Bob Novak: Wilson contradictions leave Democrat senators speechless)

(Weekly Standard: Four Facts and Five Conclusions)

(NewsMax: Novak: Wilson's Wife Not a Covert CIA Agent)

(WSJ: The End of the Plame Kerfuffle!)

(WS: Additional Views. What did Rockefeller say back in 2002? - Stephen F. Hayes)

(Kansas City Star: Wife Suggested Wilson for Inquiry, Report Says)

(NRO: Exposed and Discredited, Joe Wilson Might Consider Going Back)

(Weekly Standard: The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons - Stephen F. Hayes)

(NRO: Did the CIA “Out” Valerie Plame? - Andrew McCarthy)

(Chicago Sun-Times: Plame security breach? It just ain't so, Joe - Mark Steyn)

(American Thinker: Spy Valerie and the rogue CIA)

(LAT: Top Aides Reportedly Set Sights on Wilson)

(LAT: Rove's Troubles Expose Strategic Drawbacks of a United Front - Brownstein)

(American Spectator: Operation Overrove)

(MCR: CBS Airs One-Sided Anti-Rove Story; CNN Sees "Smear" of Wilson)

(NewMax: The Uranium Joe Wilson Didn't Mention)

Link

BTW - apparently in the DC party circuit - Mr. Wilson would introduce his wife as an agent for the CIA. It seems if anyone is responsible Mr. Wilson should be seeing jail time.

BTW - apparently in the DC party circuit - Mr. Wilson would introduce his wife as an agent for the CIA. It seems if anyone is responsible Mr. Wilson should be seeing jail time.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, I've read the same thing. If true, this is really outrageous and unforgivable, if not illegal behavior. When I lived in that area, I knew many people who worked at Christians In Action, No Such Agency and other related groups. Some of them were family and others were close friends.

The last thing in the world they would do is advertise their work to someone they didn't know. That was a free ticket to getting clearances yanked and reassigned or terminated. If asked, they would admit that they worked for the government and that was it. If pressured, they would tell a little fib and change the subject.

This guy is obviously more interested in furthering his own ego and status than anything concerning his wife or events as they actually took place. If it were my guess, I would suspect that some fiery political and legal retribution is headed in his direction.