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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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July 13th,
2006 - Ex-CIA Agent Sues Cheney in Leak Case |
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Ex-CIA
Agent Sues Cheney in Leak Case By James Vicini Reuters Thu Jul 13, 2006 10:50 PM BST Washington
(Reuters) - Former CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband sued U.S. Vice
President Dick Cheney, top White House aide Karl Rove and others on Thursday
for their role in disclosing her classified CIA employment. The
lawsuit alleged "a conspiracy among current and former high-level
officials in the White House" to "discredit, punish and seek
revenge" against Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, for
publicly disputing statements made by Bush justifying the war in Iraq. The
suit was the latest twist in a long-running saga over the public exposure of
Plame that put U.S. President George W. Bush on the defensive over his
campaign to justify the war and reached into the highest levels of the White
House. The
lawsuit comes at a time when Rove, Bush's top political aide, seeks to keep
Congress in Republican hands in November elections. Rove learnt last month he
would not face criminal charges in the CIA leak investigation. Plame
and Wilson's suit said the couple suffered violations of their constitutional
and legal rights, including an invasion of their privacy, and that the
disclosure of her name destroyed her CIA career. The
suit said the couple fear for their safety and that of their children because
disclosure of Plame's covert identity made the family a potential target for
people or groups hostile to the United States or its intelligence officers. The
CIA-leak case flared after Wilson accused the administration of leaking his
wife's name to punish him for writing in the New York Times that the Bush
administration twisted intelligence about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction
in the run-up to the war launched by Washington in 2003. An
investigation led to the indictment of a top Cheney aide, Lewis
"Scooter" Libby, last year on charges of obstruction of justice and
perjury. He is the only person charged in the case. 'Whispering Campaign' The
23-page lawsuit said the defendants "embarked on an anonymous
'whispering campaign' designed to discredit and injure the plaintiffs and to
deter other critics from publicly speaking out." "This
lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials
of the federal government of one such human source at the CIA, Valerie Plame
Wilson, whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and
who risked her life for her country," the suit said. The
suit also named Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, and 10 unnamed senior
government officials or political operatives. While
no specific dollar amount is requested, the lawsuit sought unspecified
compensatory and punitive damages and attorneys' fees and costs. Cheney
spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride had no comment on the lawsuit. "This
relates to a matter already before the courts, so our policy is not to
comment on a matter in litigation," she said. Mark
Corallo, a spokesman for Rove's legal team, said, "It is clear that the
allegations are absolutely and utterly without merit." Plame's
name was disclosed in the news media by conservative columnist Robert Novak
in July 2003. The
long-anticipated lawsuit came a day after Novak said Rove and former CIA
spokesman Bill Harlow had confirmed what one other unnamed administration
official told him about Plame. Sen.
Charles Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said, "It is unfortunate that
it looks like it will take a criminal investigation and now a civil suit to
expose all those who harmed Valerie Plame." (additional reporting by
Deborah Charles) ©
Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. External link:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/13072006/325/ex-cia-agent-sues-cheney-leak-case.html |