DeclinetoState
02-07-2007, 02:52 PM
Jurors hear new details of efforts to discredit Wilson
Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
(02-07) 04:00 PST Washington -- Former White House official Lewis "Scooter" Libby told a grand jury in 2004 that Vice President Dick Cheney was upset by an ambassador's public questioning of the Iraq war and that President Bush, Cheney and Libby were involved in a plan -- kept secret from other senior White House officials -- to leak previously classified intelligence to counter the criticism.
Libby's audiotape testimony, played for jurors in federal court here, offered new details about how the White House orchestrated a campaign to discredit the Iraq war critic, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. His wife, undercover CIA operative Valerie Wilson, also known by her maiden name Plame, was subsequently exposed in the media, triggering a criminal investigation.
As Libby sat silently in the courtroom, jurors heard his voice describe how he was instructed to leak intelligence secrets to selected reporters, even as other White House officials were expressing concern over the leaks and debating whether the administration should formally declassify intelligence reports on Iraq to combat criticism of the case for war.
Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/07/MNGISO03RI1.DTL&feed=rss.news)
Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
(02-07) 04:00 PST Washington -- Former White House official Lewis "Scooter" Libby told a grand jury in 2004 that Vice President Dick Cheney was upset by an ambassador's public questioning of the Iraq war and that President Bush, Cheney and Libby were involved in a plan -- kept secret from other senior White House officials -- to leak previously classified intelligence to counter the criticism.
Libby's audiotape testimony, played for jurors in federal court here, offered new details about how the White House orchestrated a campaign to discredit the Iraq war critic, Ambassador Joseph Wilson. His wife, undercover CIA operative Valerie Wilson, also known by her maiden name Plame, was subsequently exposed in the media, triggering a criminal investigation.
As Libby sat silently in the courtroom, jurors heard his voice describe how he was instructed to leak intelligence secrets to selected reporters, even as other White House officials were expressing concern over the leaks and debating whether the administration should formally declassify intelligence reports on Iraq to combat criticism of the case for war.
Source (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/07/MNGISO03RI1.DTL&feed=rss.news)