CULTURE OF CORRUPTION
- From: KantouJr@xxxxxxxxx (Kantou Jr.)
- Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2006 23:11:05 -0500
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter)
Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized"
by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to
disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush
administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to
war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to
court records.
Libby specifically claimed that in one instance he had been authorized
to divulge portions of a then-still highly classified National
Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to
develop nuclear weapons, according to correspondence recently filed in
federal court by special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald.
Beyond what was stated in the court paper, say people with firsthand
knowledge of the matter, Libby also indicated what he will offer as a
broad defense during his upcoming criminal trial: that Vice President
Cheney and other senior Bush administration officials had earlier
encouraged and authorized him to share classified information with
journalists to build public support for going to war.
Later, after the war began in 2003, Cheney authorized Libby to release
additional classified information, including details of the NIE, to
defend the administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the
case for war.
Libby testified to the grand jury that he had been authorized to share
parts of the NIE with journalists in the summer of 2003 as part of an
effort to rebut charges then being made by former U.S. Ambassador Joseph
Wilson that the Bush administration had misrepresented intelligence
information to make a public case for war.
________________________________
"The guy saw me in almost a dozen settings, and joked with me about a
bunch of things, including details of my kids. Perhaps he has forgotten
everything, who knows," Abramoff wrote in an e-mail to Kim Eisler,
national editor for the Washingtonian magazine. Abramoff added that Bush
also once invited him to his Texas ranch.
The messages were made public by the American Progress Action Fund, a
liberal activist group. Eisler confirmed their accuracy to Reuters but
said he did not intend them to become public. "They reflect the feeling
of frustration he has not just with Bush but with all these guys
claiming they didn't know him," said Eisler, who knew Abramoff through a
book he wrote about the Pequot Indian tribe.
Abramoff pleaded guilty to fraud charges in early January and is
cooperating with prosecutors in a corruption probe that could implicate
lawmakers and officials across Washington. Bush has said he never had a
discussion with Abramoff and does not remember having his picture taken
with him.
The White House has said Abramoff attended three Hanukkah receptions at
the White House.
Eisler said he had seen five photographs of Abramoff with Bush, none
taken at Hanukkah parties
__________________________________
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security,
deserve neither liberty or security" -- Benjamin Franklin
Countdown to Impeachment
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