Scooter’s singing, and it doesn’t look good for Bush or Cheney. Libby says Bush, by way of Cheney, authorized his leak to New York Times reporter Judith Miller of selected prewar intelligence that had previously been classified.
I’m no legal scholar, but it’s my understanding that the President has the authority to declassify information, so in this case no law was broken. But the timing is pretty suspicious.
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.
There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame’s CIA identity.
But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq….
…Libby’s testimony also puts the president and the vice president in the awkward position of authorizing leaks — a practice both men have long said they abhor, so much so that the administration has put in motion criminal investigations to hunt down leakers.
Yeah, they abhor it until it suits their needs. Then they’re all for it.
it’s a simple syllogism: dubya can do no wrong; dubya leaked the information; therefore, it was not wrong to leak the information.
Oh, of course. I understand it all now. Thanks for clearing it up, Wheeler.