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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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September 13th,
2006 - Armitage Added To Plame Lawsuit |
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Armitage Added To Plame
Lawsuit CBS News September 13, 2006 Washington - Valerie Plame
and Joseph Wilson will include ex-deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage
in their civil suit in the CIA leak case, the Citizens for Responsibility in
Ethics in Washington (CREW), counsel for the Wilsons, announced Wednesday. Armitage is being sued for
violating the "Wilsons' constitutional right to privacy, Mrs. Wilson's
constitutional right to property, and for committing the tort of publication
of private facts," CREW said in a release. Plame and her husband, a
former ambassador, filed a lawsuit in July against Vice President Cheney,
Lewis "Scooter" Libby and Karl Rove, claiming that they had
violated her constitutional rights and discredited her by disclosing that she
was an undercover CIA operative. "The addition of
Armitage as a defendant in no way reduces the culpability of the three
original defendants," CREW executive director Melanie Sloan said,
"this case was and remains about one issue – the abuse of government
power." Armitage admitted to CBS
News last week that he had inadvertently revealed Plame's identity to
journalists Bob Woodward and Bob Novak. It makes sense that the
Wilsons would include Armitage in the lawsuit, CBS News Justice Department
producer Beverley Lumpkin, since he was the original leaker. Plus, logically
speaking, he was the one to "put her in play," Lumpkin says. Although Armitage described
his disclosure of Plame as inadvertent, Bob Novak contested that
characterization in his column Wednesday. "Armitage did not slip
me this information as idle chitchat," Novak writes, "he made clear
he considered it especially suited for my column." Novak goes on to say that
"Armitage's tardy self-disclosure is tainted because it is
deceptive." Armitage told CBS News
correspondent David Martin that he was remorseful, including towards the
Wilsons themselves. "I feel terrible every
day," Armitage said, "I think I let down the President. I let down
the Secretary of State. I let down my department, my family, and I also let
down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson." Early in the leak inquiry,
Armitage had told authorities he was Novak's source. Armitage said Special
Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald asked him to not to say that publicly. Fitzgerald
then pressed on with the investigation, questioning White House aides. Among
them was Rove, who appeared five times before a grand jury before being
cleared of wrongdoing this summer. When Libby was indicted in
October 2005 on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and lying to
investigators, Fitzgerald said Libby was the first official to discuss Plame
in a conversation with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. After Fitzgerald's comment
about Libby at a news conference, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward
reminded Armitage that he had made a passing comment to him days before
Libby's conversation with Miller. That meant that Armitage, not Libby, had
been the first to mention it to a reporter, and he quickly informed the
prosecutor of that recollection. External link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/09/13/politics/main2006236.shtml |