Plame. Libby hits fan with raw sewage

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis Libby Jr., testified that he was authorized by President Bush, through Mr. Cheney, in July 2003 to disclose key parts of what until then was a classified prewar National Intelligence Estimate (N.I.E) on Iraq, according to a new court filing.

Mr. Libby testified, the prosecutors said, that he was "specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified N.I.E. to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the N.I.E. was 'pretty definitive' against what Ambassador Wilson had said and that the vice president thought that it was 'very important' for the key judgments of the N.I.E. to come out."

This means (if true - and hey that's a big IF - if you really know what "IF" means) that Mr. Bush, who has long criticized leaks of secret information as a threat to national security, may have played a direct role in authorizing disclosure of the intelligence report on Iraq.

"We're not commenting on any ongoing legal proceedings," said Scott McClellan, Mr. Bush's press secretary, NYT reports today .Previously having said Sept. 29, 2003. “If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration.”

For example he was reported by CNN Wed. Feb 11th 2004 ...

"If there's a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is," Bush told reporters at an impromptu news conference during a fund-raising stop in Chicago, Illinois. "If the person has violated law, that person will be taken care of."

"I welcome the investigation. I am absolutely confident the Justice Department will do a good job.

"I want to know the truth," the president continued. "Leaks of classified information are bad things."

He added that he did not know of "anybody in my administration who leaked classified information."

Bush said he has told his administration to cooperate fully with the investigation and asked anyone with knowledge of the case to come forward.

Consortium News has some commentary on events today ...

"Also deserving an explanation is the curious trip that Fitzgerald reportedly made to the office of Bush’s personal criminal attorney, James Sharp, on the morning of Oct. 28, 2005, just before announcing the indictment of Libby on charges of obstruction, perjury and false statements. [NYT, Oct. 29, 2005]

It’s unclear why Fitzgerald would take time out of his very busy schedule that day to visit Bush’s personal lawyer unless Fitzgerald had to pass on sensitive information about Bush’s status in the investigation. Possibilities range from telling Bush that he would not be named in the Libby indictment to saying he had become an investigative target.

Attorney Sharp accompanied Bush on June 24, 2004, when the President was questioned about the Plame case"