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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings, Torture and Big Money |
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January 15th,
2007 - Judge Rules Agent Can Sue CIA |
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Associated Press January 15, 2007 Washington - A fired CIA
employee, who collected prewar intelligence that Iraq was not developing
weapons of mass destruction, can continue with a lawsuit challenging his
dismissal, a federal judge has ruled. U.S. District Judge Gladys
Kessler decided on technical grounds that the lawsuit could not be dismissed.
But she did not rule on the covert agent's contention that he was fired
because he refused to alter intelligence that contradicted Bush
administration policies. Kessler said in the ruling
Friday that the covert agent, identified only as Doe, had the right to argue
his firing was based on allegedly false information placed in his personnel
file. The agent said he collected
intelligence from several countries in the Near East. "Obviously, Iraq
was one of them," said the plaintiff's Washington attorney, Roy Krieger.
The lawsuit does not name any of the countries. The intelligence was
collected as the United States prepared for the invasion of Iraq in 2003, and
President Bush justified the war on grounds that Iraq had weapons of mass
destruction. No such weapons have been found. The lawsuit said Doe's CIA
superiors either refused to disseminate the intelligence or demanded he
falsify his report to indicate several countries were developing the weapons. The agent said he was told
by superiors that President Bush would be informed of the intelligence, but
the lawsuit contended the briefing never occurred. The plaintiff said the CIA
launched two sham investigations of him before his termination in September,
2004, accusing him of having sex with a female intelligence asset and
diverting money designated for informers to his own use. Kessler's ruling centered on
Doe's assertion that his firing was based on inaccurate information in his
personnel file. She said Doe's allegation
"is plausible." "For example, he knows
that the CIA initiated two investigations and he knows he was subsequently
fired," she wrote. "It is not unreasonable to conclude, as
plaintiff has alleged, that information recorded in his files as a result of
the investigations was the cause of his termination." External link: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/15/national/w130258S88.DTL |