Bush Caught Up In Plame Scandal
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in The Plame GameThis from the New York Sun:
“Defendant testified that he was specifically authorized in advance of the meeting to disclose the key judgments of the classified NIE to Miller on that occasion because it was thought that the NIE 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 NIE to come out,” Mr. Fitzgerald wrote.Mr. Libby is said to have testified that “at first” he rebuffed Mr. Cheney’s suggestion to release the information because the estimate was classified. However, according to the vice presidential aide, Mr. Cheney subsequently said he got permission for the release directly from Mr. Bush.
“Defendant testified that the vice president later advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions of the NIE,” the prosecution filing said.
Wow. This is a pretty big. Not just because it’s about the Plame case, but because it shows that this “above the law” pattern we’ve had to deal with in this administration is coming from the very top. Of course, nobody can ever say for sure that anybody in the administration knew that Plame was covert, but the trend points to leaders that think they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and never have to answer for it.
Seriously, do you think there’s ANY accountability for Bush and Cheney when we have a Republican controlled Congress and Senate? Any whatsoever?
By the way, if you want to read the documents, here they are…courtesy of The Smoking Gun.
(h/t: Sully)
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April 6th, 2006 at 11:00 am
[...] Take a look at Memeorandum: Josh Gerstein / New York Sun: Bush Said to Have Cleared Early Release of Iraq Intelligence to Times â€â€? New York Sun Web Exclusive â€â€? A former White House aide under indictment for obstructing a leak probe, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded “National Intelligence Estimate” … – Discussion: Eriposte / The Left Coaster:  Treasongate: Libby and the NIE “key judgements” Tom Maguire / JustOneMinute:  New Libby Material â€â€? [The UPDATE is a must read for Plamaniacs]. Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:  Bush Nailed â€â€? We have a missing link. No, I don’t mean the post-fish. Wonkette:  Scooter: “Bush Said I Wouldn’t Get In Trouble!” Justin Gardner / Donklephant:  Bush Caught Up In Plame Scandal Susie / Suburban Guerrilla:  Impeach Him â€â€? If it’s true: … See, now this is what I’ve been saying all along. Gawker:  ‘Sun’ Reports Bush OK’d ‘Times’ Leak; Drudge Promptly Kills ‘Sun’ Link Search: Google, Bloglines, Technorati, and IceRocket + Discussion: The Left Coaster, JustOneMinute, Andrew Sullivan, Wonkette, Donklephant, Suburban Guerrilla and Gawker  And no, Andrew Sullivan doesn’t count.  The right-wing, and the big media outlets, have also been silent on this.  Technorati Tags: Bush Iraq Libby Plame Waas [...]
April 6th, 2006 at 12:47 pm
I keep hearing this “above the law” talk, but can you provide the specific law Bush violated, and how and why he violated it? There is plenty of sounds and fury in these allegations, but precious little evidence of a crime demonstrated.
April 6th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
So the President gave permission to declasiify prewar intelligence and provide it to a reporter? I admit it – I’m missing the scandal. Please point me towards it. Thanks.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Here you go:
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode50/usc_sec_50_00000421—-000-.html
(a) Disclosure of information by persons having or having had access to classified information that identifies covert agent
Whoever, having or having had authorized access to classified information that identifies a covert agent, intentionally discloses any information identifying such covert agent to any individual not authorized to receive classified information, knowing that the information disclosed so identifies such covert agent and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent’s intelligence relationship to the United States, shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:50 pm
Ok – as far as I can tell this is just another blow to Bush’s credibility. I don’t think any laws were broken but his statements at the time and in the past 3 years are clearly misleading and meant to obscure the issue of the leak investigations and his administrations part in it. Not illegal, but again highly unethical, deceitful and deserving of reprimand. Oh, no. You only get in trouble for blowjobs in this country. What a shame for the Republican party.
April 6th, 2006 at 1:54 pm
Where does it say that Bush said Plame’s identity could be leaked?
April 6th, 2006 at 2:32 pm
There is no indication that this leak involves Plame’s identity. It only seems to involve portions of the NIE which supported the administration’s case for war. I think Bush is a lying crook but you can’t pin the Plame thing on this statement. His credibility is (again!) shot all to hell but there isn’t anything illegal here. Yet. One can hope!
April 6th, 2006 at 4:45 pm
No…Bush may not have known, but he did know WHY this document was being declassified. So if he didn’t know, then they didn’t give him the information. It’s not unrealistic to speculate that if Bush was in the loop with this, and knew why they were declassifying this information, then he’d know the rest of it too.
But yes, there appears to be nothing illegal here, but it doesn’t help his credibility problem.
April 6th, 2006 at 4:52 pm
Justin, what is your understanding as to why the information was declassified and where did you discover this information?
From what I’ve heard the administration say, the info was declassified to show the other side of the debate in regards to Wilson’s op-ed.
Also, will you please explain to me where the credibility problem comes into play. Thanks.
April 6th, 2006 at 6:15 pm
Wow. Here we go again…
The POTUS is the absolute and sole classification and declassification authority. The President has absolute power to declassify information as his judgment – and his judgment alone – sees fit. The most familiar instance of this power is JFK’s 1963 decision to declassify near real-time imagery of Soviet ballistic missile site under construction in Cuba to garner political support for his naval blockade policy in what became known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. This is Day 1 stuff from intelligence school. Every time you see comabt camera footage on CNN or disclosure of the name of a ongoing military operation, you are seeing the result of this process.
April 6th, 2006 at 8:23 pm
The MSM will sell paper and time on this … little will happen in terms of Bush/ Cheney legal issues … Nicely wrapped package on the ethical end …
Eural said …statements at the time and in the past 3 years are clearly misleading and meant to obscure the issue … then Eural says … I think Bush is a lying crook …. I would go with Micael Reynolds on this one and say he is a LIAR. Lying is not illegal in all cases …. but, let me add …Liar Liar Pants on Fire! … in the interest of upsetting the decorum in the Congress … I will personally campaign for the first elected official who says that one in the hallowed halls.
April 7th, 2006 at 1:16 am
Monica, to address your points…
I got my information from the court docs. The reason why seems simple. As you pointed out, Bush wanted to present the other side of the argument. But to think that an op-ed in the NY Times would be so harmful that you’d have to declassify a NIE document is certainly odd to me.
The credibility problem comes into play when people think Bush declassified this in response to an editorial in the NY Times. Declassification because of an editorial? Sorry, but that’s odd. And then this all leads to Plame being outed. If Bush knew about this, what else did he know. Maybe we’ll never know, but this new info points to the possibility he was involved in that too. As I’ve stated before, I have no idea whether they knew if Plame was covert or not, but since Bush has said outright that he thinks his authority supercedes any of our laws, then one can surmise that he’d think he was above the outing of a covert agent as well. And frankly, I don’t think that the majority of Americans think the President is above the law given that we’re in a war without end.
Thanks for the comment Monica.
April 7th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Patriot – The case currently before the court, according to the prosecutor, has nothing to do with the release of the identity of Plame. This is very likely because the release of her identity was not a crime under the law you cited (she simply didn’t qualify for the protection).
Justin Gardner – We know now that Wilson was misrepresenting the facts of his trip and his findings to the press and to the country. It is both legal and ethical to set the record straight. I don’t find partially declassifying an NIE in order to stop the damage to the country to be unethical. Such operations are delicate and I think that the President is well within the bounds both legally and ethically in his declassification in order to stop a pack of lies that was eroding support for the national policy of the US.
April 7th, 2006 at 10:46 am
Everybody, watch this and tell me what you think afterwards…
http://images1.americanprogress.org/il80web20037/ThinkProgress/2006/leak.320.240.mov
April 9th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Wow… all this wasted breathlessness!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800895.html