Bush Caught Up In Plame Scandal

This 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)

4 Responses to “Bush Caught Up In Plame Scandal”

1. Pyst says:

   April 6, 2006 at 2:45 pm

   “Seriously, do you think there’s ANY accountability for Bush and Cheney when we have a Republican controlled Congress and Senate? Any whatsoever?”

   No.

   There isn’t a rule, law, or level of decency these people won’t violate to gain some type of advantage or squelch opposing viewpoints. Bush and Cheney have become dangerous to the republic itself, and should be removed. I say this because they put themselves, and their ambitions before the good of the country.
2. Pyst says:

   April 6, 2006 at 2:46 pm

   And before this came to light I thought censure was adequate, but the filth eminating from them continues to become worse by the day.
3. Dr Victorino de la Vega says:

   April 6, 2006 at 6:25 pm

   Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski a leading voice from the “isolationist� cum libertarian right who resigned from the Pentagon’s Near East-South Asia Policy Department at the onset of the Iraq war was on C-SPAN earlier this week.

   She said the following:

   
   

   “Brunner (ph), a [pro-Israeli political appointee]…. He made colonel shortly after I got there […] Colonel Brunner (ph), nice guy, but he never wore his uniform, always wore civilian clothes. And I asked him once why because, in fact, for several weeks I thought he was a civilian, and then they said he’s having a promotion party. And I’m saying, well, why? Civilians don’t have promotion parties. And it turned out he was a colonel being promoted to 06 in the Air Force. And I asked him why he never wore his uniform. He said, â€?Well, I have lots of meetings downtown, you know, I have to do a lot of meetings downtown.â€? And I was told not by him but by co-workers, â€?Well, he’s Chalabi’s handler. He’s the guy that sets up all the meetings with Chalabi (ph).â€?

   And also:

   
   

   “when they talk about the sources of some of the things that the president was saying and [the Pentagon’s] Office of Special Plans was putting in our own talking points that they were handing out for us to use, they did have sources. They just weren’t legitimate intelligence sources.�

   More here
4. Afraid to give my name says:

   April 8, 2006 at 9:17 am

   What is the penalty for Treason during Wartime?
   It is the solemn DUTY of the American people to make this administration accountable for this despicable act!
   What on earth do our troops think of this?!?! It is a slap in the face to them and all of America.

   PING:
   TITLE: Libby: Bush Authorized The Leak
   BLOG NAME: The Kudzu Files
   According to The Smoking Gun, Scooter Libby told the grand jury that Bush had authorized the release of Valerie Plame’s identity. So those who, like me, were accusing Cheney of being behind this were aiming too low. There are at…