[Mb-civic] Libby Testified He Was Told To Leak Data About Iraq - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Libby Testified He Was Told To Leak Data About Iraq

By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, February 10, 2006; A08

Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff testified that his bosses 
instructed him to leak information to reporters from a high-level 
intelligence report that suggested Iraq was trying to obtain weapons of 
mass destruction, according to court records in the CIA leak case.

Cheney was one of the "superiors" I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby said had 
authorized him to make the disclosures, according to sources familiar 
with the investigation into Libby's discussions with reporters about CIA 
operative Valerie Plame.

But it is unclear whether Cheney instructed his former top aide to 
release classified information, because parts of the National 
Intelligence Estimate were previously declassified.

The disclosure in a legal document written by special prosecutor Patrick 
J. Fitzgerald demonstrates one way in which Cheney was involved in 
responding to public allegations by Plame's husband, former ambassador 
Joseph C. Wilson IV, that the administration had exaggerated 
questionable intelligence to justify war with Iraq.

In a letter written in January and released in court papers filed by 
Libby's defense Monday, Fitzgerald wrote that Libby testified that his 
"superiors" authorized him to disclose information from the National 
Intelligence Estimate to reporters in the summer of 2003.

The National Journal first reported on its Web site yesterday that 
Cheney had provided the authorization.

The intelligence estimate is a classified report prepared by 
intelligence officers for high-level government officials, and some 
parts are regularly declassified in a summary and available to the public.

Cheney spokeswoman Lea Anne McBride declined to comment on Cheney's role 
in Libby's discussions of the intelligence estimate, referring calls to 
Fitzgerald's office. Fitzgerald's spokesman has declined to comment on 
the prosecutor's investigation and filings.

Libby was indicted in October on charges of obstruction of justice, 
perjury and making false statements in the course of the investigation. 
Fitzgerald has been trying to determine since January 2004 whether 
administration officials knowingly disclosed Plame's identity to 
reporters to discredit Wilson's allegations, a possible violation of law.

Plame's name first appeared in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak in 
July 2003, eight days after her husband publicly accused the 
administration of relying on questionable information about Iraq's 
weapons program to justify the war.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said the new information about Libby's 
testimony exposes a possible hypocrisy within the Bush administration as 
it seeks to punish those who leak politically embarrassing information 
about secret CIA prisons and warrantless spying, but encourages leaks 
that aid the administration's political strategy.

"These charges, if true, represent a new low in the already sordid case 
of partisan interests being placed above national security," Kennedy 
said in a statement. "The Vice President's vindictiveness in defending 
the misguided war in Iraq is obvious."

Larry Johnson, a former intelligence officer and colleague of Plame's 
who has been critical of the administration's campaign against Wilson, 
said the Libby testimony helps prove that top executive branch officials 
were working to discredit an administration critic.

"This was not some rogue operation, but was directed at the highest 
levels, and specifically by Dick Cheney," Johnson said. "Libby was 
definitely a man with a mission, but a man who was given a mission."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/09/AR2006020902117.html?nav=hcmodule
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