Entered into the database on Friday, February 10th, 2006 @ 15:34:29 MST
A US weekly magazine says Dick Cheney, the US vice president, directed
his aide Lewis Libby to use classified material to discredit a critic of the
Bush administration's Iraq war effort. The National Journal reported on Thursday that court papers released last week
show that Libby was authorised to disclose classified information to news reporters
by "his superiors" in an effort to counteract diplomat Joe Wilson's
charge that the Bush administration twisted intelligence on Iraq's nuclear weapons
to justify the 2003 invasion. The magazine, citing attorneys familiar with the matter, reported on Thursday
that Cheney was among those superiors referred to in a letter from prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald to Libby's lawyers. A lawyer for Cheney had no immediate comment. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, faces perjury
and other charges in the leak of the identity of Wilson's wife Valerie Plame,
a move that effectively ended her career at the CIA. Not guilty plea Libby has pleaded not guilty to five counts of perjury, making false statements
and obstruction of justice. Cheney's name has surfaced in other court documents as well. According to an appeals-court decision made public last Friday, the vice-president
informed Libby "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" that Wilson's
wife worked at the CIA one month before her identity was made public. Both documents cite testimony Libby made to a grand jury. Lawyers for Libby could not be reached for comment. Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, declined to comment. "Our policy is we're not going to discuss this while there's an ongoing
legal proceeding," McClellan said.
