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Isikoff Doubles Down on His Anonymous Leak from ...
Nov 2, 2009 ... Michael Isikoff's coverage of Dick Cheney's interview seems designed as much to defend his bad reporting on the CIA Leak case as to report ...
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LEAK-GATE: The White House Scandal Page 1
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http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=8&ved=0CBsQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpopurls.com%2Fview%2Fdick-cheney-s-lies-about-his-role-in-the-leak-of-b804b47b9c3b61aa26315d6c8ab642b3&ei=zIrvSt4Wi5AxjLLxhQc&usg=AFQjCNEbaurte_1k80mDbcVYxX60ZJjibw&sig2=Wzzl65f0urdtx1wGM6tvAQDick Cheney: Articles & Commentary: 2000-2006 - SourceWatch
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Fall of the Republic HQ full length version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shUCheneys Betrayal Made an IIPA Charge for Libby Possible
By: emptywheel Sunday November 1, 2009 11:44 am
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2009/11/01/cheneys-betrayal-made-an-iipa-charge-for-libby-possible/Yesterday, I showed the many ways that Dick Cheney hung his purportedly valued aide, Scooter Libby, out to dry in his interview with Patrick Fitzgerald.
But I didnt do a very good job of explaining the consequences of that action from Cheney. Luckily, perris did that for me.
As a reminder, Ive shown over the years that a great deal of circumstantial evidence suggests that Dick Cheney ordered Scooter Libby to leak a number of things to Judy Miller on July 8, 2003: The NIE (as Libby testified), but also the report from Joe Wilsons trip and Valerie Wilsons identity. From public reporting, it always looked like Cheney had constructed a firewall to defend against an IIPA violation. If Fitzgerald ever proved that Libby leaked Valerie Wilsons identity to Judy Miller knowing she was covert, then Cheney could claim that he had insta-declassified her identity, thereby giving that leak a legal defense, however dubious. Cheney even went so far to imply to Tim Russert that he hypothetically could have declassified Valerie Wilsons identity.
Q There was a story in the National Journal that Cheney authorized Libby to leak confidential information. Can you confirm or deny that?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: I have the authority as Vice President under an executive issued by the President to classify and declassify information. And everything Ive done is consistent with those authorities.
Q Could you declassify Valerie Plames status as an operative?
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Ive said all Im going to say on the subject, Tim.
But Cheneys denials of all knowledge of the Plame leak during his Fitzgerald interview would have made that defense impossible.
[Cheney] has no personal knowledge of anyone having provided [Mrs. Wilson's employment] to Robert Novak, or any other reporter.
[snip]
he does not recall having a conversation with the President about the Wilsons. [note, Cheney goes on to contradict this claim]
[snip]
He does not recall discussing Valerie Wilson with Libby prior to her name appearing in Novaks column on 7/14/03.
[snip]
His handwritten notes on the 7/6/03 editorial about Wilsons trip and the involvement of Wilsons wife in the CIAs selection of Wilson was triggered by his recollection of the prior telephone conversation he had with George Tenet, wherein Tenet identified Wilsons wife as an employee of the agency. The Vice President also indicated that he never discussed the substance of his call with Tenet with anyone prior to the publication of Valerie Wilsons identity in Novaks 7/14/03 newspaper column. [Note, earlier he had said he may have told Libby]
[snip]
The Vice President advised that it is possible he and Scooter Libby discussed former Ambassador Wilsons credentials for undertaking the mission for the CIA, but he has no specific recollection of such a discussion. Additionally, he does not recall any discussion with Libby of perceived nepotism associated with Wilsons selection for the CIA assignment. [elsewhere he admits he discussed Wilson's op-ed, which he had annotated, with someone]
[snip]
The Vice President believed it possible that he and Libby discussed the Wilson trip as some kind of a junket or boondoggle, words which are to him synonymous in their meaning. However, he has no solid recollection of any such discussion.
The Vice President advised that there was no discussion of pushing back on Wilsons credibility by raising the nepotism issue, and there was no discussion of using Valerie Wilsons employment with the CIA in countering Joe Wilsons criticisms and claims about Iraqi efforts to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger.
[snip]
The Vice President does not recall any member of his staff, including Scooter Libby, meeting with New York Times reporter Judith Miller during the week of 7/7/03, just after publication of Joe Wilsons editorial in the New York Times. [Note, Libby has clear notes recording a discussion between him and Cheney about this]
[snip]
The Vice President advised that no one ever told him of a desire to share key judgments of the NIE with a news reporter prior to the NIEs declassification on 7/18/03.
[snip]
The Vice President cannot specifically recall having a conversation with Scooter Libby during which Libby advised the Vice President that he wanted to share with the key judgments of the NIE with Judith Miller. Although if it did occur, he would have advised Libby only to use something if it was declassified. He believed Libby would have told him about any attempts to put something out to the media prior to its declassification and the Vice President cannot recall such a discussion. [Note this paragraph contradicts Cheney's statements elsewhere in several key ways, and the question was not about key judgments but about the uranium portion]
When asked if he ever had a conversation with Scooter Libby wherein Libby informed the Vice President that certain material within the NIE needed to be declassified before it could be shared externally, Vice President Cheney advised he does not recall. [This is where Cheney refuses to answer questions about whether he said the President, and then he started complaining that he was short of time]
While Fitzgerald never asked Cheney whether Libby had asked him about declassified Plames identityas distinct from the NIECheney asserted that:
* He has no personal knowledge of anyone providing Plames identity to any reporter.
* He does not recall discussing Plame with Libby prior to Novaks column
* He does not recall Libby meeting with Judy Miller
* He has not recall any conversations about declassifying the NIE before leaking it to a journalist
Again, this is not a specific denial of remembering a conversation about declassifying Plames identity, but it would be virtually impossible for Cheney, after having made these assertions, to later claim he remembered insta-declassifying Plames identity in anticipation of leaking it to Judy Miller (on Cheneys order, it must be said). Sure, Libby could have and would have had some evidence that Cheney had done just that. And Cheney could have said, Eureka! I remember now, insta-declassifying that counterproliferation officers identity! But given the way Cheney claimed to have no memory of anything related to declassifying even the NIE, much less Plames identity, such approaches would have been pretty weak defenses for Libby.
Of course, speaking as he was in May 2004, when everyone assumed there would be no way Judy Miller would testify about her conversation with Libby, Cheney probably thought no one would ever wonder whether Libby was authorized to leak Plames identity to Miller.
But after 2005, when Judy testified, it was too late for Cheney to change his testimony. Libby was already ...ed. ...ed over by the guy he went to such lengths to protect.
Cheney was publicly implying that he would have had the authority to declassify Plames identity. Perhaps this was just an attempt to make people ignore inquiries like mine. But its just as likely that when Cheney realized that Libby had testified he had ordered Libby to leak stuff to Judy Miller (this happened the same weekend Cheney shot an old man in the face), he wanted to give Libby the impression that his own testimony protected Libby from an IIPA violation.
But it didnt. Judys unreliable testimony saved Libby. But without that, Cheneys own testimony would have been the evidence Fitzgerald would have needed to charge Libby with deliberately outing a CIA spy.
comment on this98 Comments spotlight Spotlight
98 Responses to Cheneys Betrayal Made an IIPA Charge for Libby Possible
tryggth November 1st, 2009 at 11:57 am
1
The other day I was wondering what prompted Libby to write his letter to Judy. Did DOJ share something with Libbys lawyers that made them think it was better to get her on the record? (Albeit, in a somewhat coached manner.)
replyReply
emptywheel November 1st, 2009 at 11:59 am
2
In response to tryggth @ 1
Remember the Aspens reference.
THAT was the reference that Judy wouldnt answer for meshe explained the reference away to having met Libby in Jackson Hole, and I asked whether she had met Cheney too. No answer.
Maybelikelythat was Libbys signal to her that he and Cheney had worked out a new fall-back plan, which is why Cheney was saying he could have declassified Plames ID.
replyReply
Loo Hoo. November 1st, 2009 at 12:20 pm
3
Whoops. Misspelling in the title.
replyReply
emptywheel November 1st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
4
In response to Loo Hoo. @ 3
Thanks Loo Hoo.
replyReply
Loo Hoo. November 1st, 2009 at 12:36 pm
5
Cheney realized that Libby had testified he had ordered Libby to leak stuff to Judy Miller (this happened the same weekend Cheney shot an old man in the face)
Guilt or drunkenness? Or drunkenness over guilt? Or just plain karma.
replyReply
Leen November 1st, 2009 at 12:49 pm
6
To think an un indicted war criminal (Ron Reagans description of Cheney has not only gotten away with outing a CIA undercover agent and endangering her life , her families lives, and undermining US national security. Cheney is still out there actively undermining a legitimately elected President and foreign policy.
replyReply
pdaly November 1st, 2009 at 12:50 pm
7
In response to Loo Hoo. @ 5
Interesting. Wish Fitz could have used the IIPA angle as the nucleus of a sticky ball to successfully roll up the remaining Bush crew.
Maybe Attorney Worthington, the victim of Cheneys splatter on the Armstrong ranch, had advised Cheney to turn himself in. Ms. Armstrong was quick to point out to the newspaper reporters at the time, however, that Worthington was there because of her invitation and that she didnt know whether Worthington and Cheney knew each other beforehand.
replyReply
pdaly November 1st, 2009 at 12:54 pm
8
Speaking of Aspens, I heard on NPR this past week that the Aspens are going through a die off. This LA Times article states it is due to global warming which has allowed parasitic insects to thrive. Tough times in the west.
Another thing about aspens from this 2005 Slate article
Aspen clones develop through a process of asexual reproduction called root suckering. Unlike many other trees, new aspens rarely come from seeds; they almost always grow as extensions from an existing root system.* Suckers can pop out of the ground in great numberstens of thousands per acreand can appear dozens of feet away from the nearest stem. Each new sucker gets the benefit of a pre-existing root system that delivers nutrients from the soil.
Pre-existing root systemaka wingnut welfare?
replyReply
pdaly November 1st, 2009 at 12:57 pm
9
lol, emptywheel. I just saw the pink clothespins in the Libby photo above.
replyReply
bmaz November 1st, 2009 at 1:02 pm
10
In response to pdaly @ 7
Whittington, Harry. It should be noted that although he had been a life long Republican active in politics, Whittington has now dissociated himself completely from Republican politics and is an active voice against the death penalty in Texas.
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pdaly November 1st, 2009 at 1:08 pm
11
In response to bmaz @ 10
oops. Thanks for the name correction.
Good to know that Whittington is a thinking man.
replyReply
fatster November 1st, 2009 at 1:15 pm
12
In response to bmaz @ 10
Hmmmmm. Has Harry spoken of having an epiphany? Sure would like to know what that might have been. A face, neck and upper chest full of buckshot might have something to do with it.
replyReply
Mary November 1st, 2009 at 1:21 pm
13
When I was reading Cheneys stuff I remembered Libbys crew threatening to call Cheney as a witness and the almost bemused response from the prosecutors.
Was Cheneys info about how he may have shared and cared with Matalin anything new?
replyReply
bmaz November 1st, 2009 at 1:24 pm
14
In response to fatster @ 12
No clue. May just be old and tired. Saw that here. Here is a decent writeup on him. Sounds like a decent chap.
replyReply
View this users Facebook profile bobschacht November 1st, 2009 at 1:34 pm
15
pdaly @ 8 wrote,
Speaking of Aspens, I heard on NPR this past week that the Aspens are going through a die off. This LA Times article states it is due to global warming which has allowed parasitic insects to thrive. Tough times in the west.
The thriving parasitic insects is usually a reference to Pine bark beetles. In dry weather (Arizona has been in drought for about 10-15 years), pine trees cant draw much sap, and it is the sap that keeps the beetles under control. Without good sap flow, the beetles feast and the trees die.
Bob in AZ
In Ponderosa & Aspen country
replyReply
fatster November 1st, 2009 at 2:00 pm
16
In response to bmaz @ 14
Many thanks. I tried googling and didnt come up with anything, which is why I troubled you with it. I do appreciate the links.
replyReply
fatster November 1st, 2009 at 2:07 pm
17
Petrocelliif youre around, the first link bmaz pos