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The War Profiteers - War Crimes,
Kidnappings & Torture |
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July 3rd,
2009 - New Evidence Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak |
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New Evidence
Cheney Swayed Reaction to Leak Discussions of CIA Agent Listed in Filing By R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post July 3, 2009 A document filed in federal
court this week by the Justice Department offers new evidence that former
vice president Richard B. Cheney helped steer the Bush administration's
public response to the disclosure of Valerie Plame Wilson's employment by the
CIA and that he was at the center of many related administration
deliberations. The administration's
discussion of Wilson's link to the CIA was meant to undermine criticism by
her husband of administration allegations that Iraq attempted to acquire
uranium, a matter that her husband had probed for the CIA, according to
testimony presented in a 2007 trial. A list of at least seven
related conversations involving Cheney appears in a new court filing approved
by Obama appointees at the Justice Department. In the filing, the officials
argue that the substance of what Cheney told special prosecutor Patrick J.
Fitzgerald in 2004 must remain secret. No such agreement was
reached between Fitzgerald and Cheney at the time of their chat, according to
a 2008 Fitzgerald letter to lawmakers. But the Bush administration rejected
requests by Congress and a nonprofit group for access to two FBI accounts of
the conversation, saying the material was exempt from disclosure under
subpoena or the Freedom of Information Act. The Obama administration has
since agreed that the material should not be disclosed. A Justice Department
lawyer at one point last month argued that vice presidents and other White
House officials will decline to be interviewed in the future if they know
their remarks might "get on 'The Daily Show' " or be used as fodder
for political enemies. U.S. District Judge Emmet G.
Sullivan expressed doubt about that argument. To counter Sullivan's
skepticism, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer said in a supporting
affidavit to the new court filing that the department needs the ability to
interview White House officials informally in future law enforcement
investigations, and that if the Cheney interview summaries are made public,
"there is an increased likelihood that such officials could feel
reluctant to participate." Breuer served as special counsel to President
Bill Clinton during the Whitewater probe. The nonprofit group pushing
for disclosure, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington,
responded yesterday with a statement that the Justice Department has
subpoenaed such officials without difficulty in the past. "It is
astonishing that a top Department of Justice political appointee is
suggesting other high-level appointees are unlikely to cooperate with
legitimate law enforcement investigations. What is wrong with this picture?"
said Melanie Sloan, head of the group. A list of what Cheney and
Fitzgerald discussed appears in a declaration to the court by Acting
Assistant Attorney General David J. Barron, who oversees the department's
Office of Legal Counsel. Barron said he thinks substantial portions of the
chat are covered by "the deliberative process privilege,"
protecting advice, recommendations and other "deliberative
communications" between government officials. He mentioned in particular
Cheney's discussion of his conversation with then-CIA Director George J.
Tenet about "the decision to send Ambassador Joseph Wilson on a
fact-finding mission to Niger in 2002." Wilson is the former CIA
operative's husband, and a report he filed after the trip cast doubt on
claims that Iraq had purchased uranium from Niger for a nuclear weapons
program. President George W. Bush cited those claims as part of the
justification for the Iraq war. Barron also listed as exempt
from disclosure Cheney's account of his requests for information from the CIA
about the purported purchase; Cheney's discussions with top officials about
the controversy over Bush's mention of the uranium allegations in his 2003
State of the Union speech; and Cheney's discussions with deputy I. Lewis
"Scooter" Libby, press spokesman Ari Fleischer, and Chief of Staff
Andrew H. Card Jr. "regarding the appropriate response to media
inquiries about the source of the disclosure" of Valerie Plame Wilson's
identity. The declaration also said
Cheney had helped resolve disputes about "whether to declassify certain
information," including portions of a National Intelligence Estimate
related to Iraqi weapons programs that Libby leaked to then-New York Times
reporter Judith Miller. © 2009 The Washington Post
Company External link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070203608.html |