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Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks of Highly Classified Iraq
Intel to Bolster Case for War
Amy Goodman Questions Fmr. Chief Military Spokesman in Iraq
About U.S. Killing, Detaining of Journalists and Planting
of News Stories in Iraqi Press
Robert Fisk on Iraq, Palestine and the Failure of the U.S.
Corporate Media to Challenge Authority
Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks of Highly Classified
Iraq Intel to Bolster Case for War
Lewis "Scooter" Libby - the Vice President's former
chief of staff - has testified that President Bush authorized
him to leak details of a highly classified intelligence assessment
to the press to defend the Bush administration's decision
to go to war with Iraq, according to court papers filed Wednesday.
We speak with investigative journalist Murray Waas. [includes
rush
transcript]
Lewis "Scooter" Libby - the Vice President's former
chief of staff - has testified that President Bush authorized
him to leak details of a highly classified intelligence assessment
to the press to defend the Bush administration's decision
to go to war with Iraq.
The news has created a firestorm in Washington. Throughout
his presidency, Bush has often denounced leaks from his administration
and vowed to punish the leakers. The top Democrat on the House
Intelligence Committee, Congressmember Jane Harman of California
said, "If the disclosure is true, it's breathtaking.
The president is revealed as the leaker-in-chief."
Libby's grand jury testimony was cited in court papers filed
by prosecutors late Wednesday. Libby was indicted in October
on charges that he lied to investigators about his role in
the outing of former CIA operative Valerie Plame, the wife
of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.
In July 2003, Wilson published an OpEd in the New York Times
questioning the accuracy of Bush's claim that Iraq had sought
nuclear materials from Niger. According to Libby's testimony,
Vice President Dick Cheney told Libby to divulge to the media
portions of a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam
Hussein's alleged efforts to develop nuclear weapons to contradict
Wilson's claims.
Libby says that he refused to do so because the NIE was classified.
A little later on, Cheney told Libby that he had gone to Bush,
and that Bush had specifically authorized leaking the information
in the NIE. According to the court papers, Libby testified
that such presidential authorization to disclose classified
information was "unique in his recollection." Libby
also testified that an administration lawyer told him that
by authorizing the disclosure, Bush had in effect declassified
the information.
That authorization led to a July 8, 2003 conversation between
Libby and then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller. The
filing said that Libby understood he was to tell Miller that
a key judgment of the intelligence estimate was that Iraq
was "vigorously trying to procure" uranium. According
to The New York Times, the CIA did not believe this finding,
which came from the Defense Intelligence Agency and remains
unproved to this day.
Prosecutors have alleged in the case against Libby that at
that meeting he also gave information to Miller about the
identity of Valerie Plame. But the court filing makes no allegation
that President Bush or Dick Cheney authorized the disclosure
of Plame's identity. However, the papers do place the president,
for the first, time, directly in a chain of events that led
to Plame's outing.
Amy Goodman Questions Fmr. Chief Military Spokesman
in Iraq About U.S. Killing, Detaining of Journalists and Planting
of News Stories in Iraqi Press
Reuters sponsored a debate this week in New York asking
the question: "Iraq - is the media telling the real story?"
At the event, Amy Goodman asked Lt. Col. Steve Boylan, the
former chief military spokesman in Iraq, about the killing
and detaining journalists by U.S. forces and the paying of
Iraqi journalists to plant stories in the press. [includes
rush
transcript]
"Iraq - is the media telling the real story?"
- that was the question asked at a public debate sponsored
by Reuters this week in New York. The panel included journalists
from The New York Times, International Herald Tribune, the
Wall Street Journal and Al -Hayat. Also on the panel was Lieutenant
Colonel Steve Boylan, who recently returned to the United
States after 16 months in Iraq as chief spokesperson for the
military. Amy Goodman was at the event and I had the chance
to question Boylan.
- Lt. Col. Steve Boylan responds to Amy Goodman
Robert Fisk on Iraq, Palestine and the Failure of
the U.S. Corporate Media to Challenge Authority
We speak with one of the most experienced war correspondents
in the world today, Robert Fisk - chief Middle East correspondent
of the London Independent - about Iraq, Palestinian and Israeli
elections, the corporate media and much more. [includes rush
transcript]
For the past thirty years Fisk has covered almost every major
event in the Middle East: From the civil wars in Algeria and
Lebanon to the Iranian revolution and the Iran-Iraq war. From
the massacres at Sabra and Shatila to the Russian invasion
of Afghanistan. From the 1991 Persian Gulf War to the invasion
and ongoing occupation of Iraq. Robert Fisk"s latest
book is "The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest
of the Middle East."
- Robert Fisk, chief Middle East correspondent for the
London Independent.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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