Libby heads to trial in CIA leak case
By MATT APUZZO and MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN
Associated Press
Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby goes on trial Tuesday over the administration's response to one critic who questioned assertions President Bush made four years ago to justify waging war against Iraq.
Once the right-hand man to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby faces charges of perjury and obstruction of an investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity to reporters.
Libby joins a long list of presidents' men to face charges in the federal courthouse in the nation's capital — Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman in Watergate, Adm. John Poindexter and Marine Col. Oliver North in Iran-Contra.
In those scandals, trials spawned more trials and long reports from independent counsels. Libby, however, probably will be the only official charged in the CIA leak investigation. His trial is unlikely to fix blame for the scandal and there will be no narrative report.
The trial, nevertheless, should give the public glimpses of how Bush administration insiders responded to one high-level critic — former ambassador Joseph Wilson — who claimed the president and his closest advisers distorted intelligence and lies to push the nation into war with Iraq.
Wilson was the leading critic of Bush's claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Africa. Wilson, who was sent to Niger to check the uranium story, told reporters the intelligence did not check out and the administration knew that long before Bush included the assertion in his State of the Union speech in January 2003.
(Continued, here.)
Associated Press
Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby goes on trial Tuesday over the administration's response to one critic who questioned assertions President Bush made four years ago to justify waging war against Iraq.
Once the right-hand man to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby faces charges of perjury and obstruction of an investigation into the leak of a CIA officer's identity to reporters.
Libby joins a long list of presidents' men to face charges in the federal courthouse in the nation's capital — Bob Haldeman and John Ehrlichman in Watergate, Adm. John Poindexter and Marine Col. Oliver North in Iran-Contra.
In those scandals, trials spawned more trials and long reports from independent counsels. Libby, however, probably will be the only official charged in the CIA leak investigation. His trial is unlikely to fix blame for the scandal and there will be no narrative report.
The trial, nevertheless, should give the public glimpses of how Bush administration insiders responded to one high-level critic — former ambassador Joseph Wilson — who claimed the president and his closest advisers distorted intelligence and lies to push the nation into war with Iraq.
Wilson was the leading critic of Bush's claim that Iraq tried to buy uranium in Africa. Wilson, who was sent to Niger to check the uranium story, told reporters the intelligence did not check out and the administration knew that long before Bush included the assertion in his State of the Union speech in January 2003.
(Continued, here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home