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[q]Libby found guilty in CIA leak trial
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing a leak investigation that reached into the highest levels of the Bush administration.
Libby is the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s. The case brought new attention to the Bush administration's much-criticized handling of weapons of mass destruction intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.
The verdict culminated a nearly four-year investigation into how CIA official Valerie Plame's name was leaked to reporters in 2003. The trial revealed how top members of the administration were eager to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who accused the administration of doctoring prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Libby, who was once Cheney's most trusted adviser and an assistant to President Bush, was expressionless as the jury verdict was announced on the 10th day of deliberations. His wife, Harriet Grant, choked out a sob and sank her head.
He faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced June 5 but under federal sentencing guidelines is likely to face far less. Defense attorneys immediately promised to ask for a new trial or appeal the conviction.
"We have every confidence Mr. Libby ultimately will be vindicated," defense attorney Theodore Wells told a throng of reporters. "We believe Mr. Libby is totally innocent and that he didn't do anything wrong."
Libby did not speak to reporters.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has led the leak investigation, said no additional charges would be filed. That means nobody will be charged with the leak and Libby, who was not the source for the original column outing Plame, will be the only one to face trial.
"The results are actually sad," Fitzgerald said. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."
White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said Bush watched news of the verdict on TV in the Oval Office. Perino said the president respected the jury's verdict but "was saddened for Scooter Libby and his family."
Perino said "I would not agree" with any characterization of the verdict as embarrassing for the White House.
"I think that any administration that has to go through a prolonged news story that is unpleasant and one that is difficult — when you're under the constraints and the policy of not commenting on an ongoing criminal matter — that can be very frustrating," she said.
Libby was convicted of one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and one count of lying to the FBI about how he learned Plame's identity and whom he told. Prosecutors said he learned about Plame from Cheney and others, discussed her name with reporters and, fearing prosecution, made up a story to make those discussions seem innocuous.
[...]
Collins, a former Washington Post reporter, said jurors wanted to hear from others involved in the case, including Bush political adviser Karl Rove, who was one of two sources for the original leak. Defense attorneys originally said both Libby and Cheney would be witnesses and Rove was on the potential witness list.
"I will say there was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?' " Collins said. "I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells put it, he was the fall guy."
Though the case never proved a White House conspiracy to out Plame as retribution for Wilson's criticism, Fitzgerald showed how adamant some members of the Bush administration were to discredit Wilson. Fitzgerald provided a parade of senior administration officials and top journalists as government witnesses.[/q]
so ... let's restate the obvious. this is really about the lengths Cheney went to in order to manipulate and distort and cherry-pick the WMD intelligence that the White House used to sell the invasion of Iraq to the American people. all talk about oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Arab Democracy and fighting Al-Qaeda is nonsense, a smokescreen. perhaps these were the ulterior motivations for the war, and perhaps these comprise a better case for war than the idea of a WMD being floated up the Potomac and leveling southeast Capitol Hill, but the case that was made to the American public was the direct threat of Saddam's WMDs to the American people, and it was this threat -- this fabricated threat to the homeland -- that made the American public willing, at first, to go along for the ride. 9-11 was terrifying. it's understandable. to a point.
not so anymore.
what we have is a VP who is so nervous about the exposure of his activites that he wildly overreacts to any and all critics (really, we were at war, just how much time did this deserve? quite a bit as it turns out) and why a man like Libby was willing to go to jail in order to protect his superiors.
we need a formal Congressional investigation, and impeachment proceedings if they are warranted.
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN and MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writers
Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was convicted Tuesday of lying and obstructing a leak investigation that reached into the highest levels of the Bush administration.
Libby is the highest-ranking White House official to be convicted of a felony since the Iran-Contra scandal of the mid-1980s. The case brought new attention to the Bush administration's much-criticized handling of weapons of mass destruction intelligence in the run-up to the Iraq war.
The verdict culminated a nearly four-year investigation into how CIA official Valerie Plame's name was leaked to reporters in 2003. The trial revealed how top members of the administration were eager to discredit Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who accused the administration of doctoring prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Libby, who was once Cheney's most trusted adviser and an assistant to President Bush, was expressionless as the jury verdict was announced on the 10th day of deliberations. His wife, Harriet Grant, choked out a sob and sank her head.
He faces up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced June 5 but under federal sentencing guidelines is likely to face far less. Defense attorneys immediately promised to ask for a new trial or appeal the conviction.
"We have every confidence Mr. Libby ultimately will be vindicated," defense attorney Theodore Wells told a throng of reporters. "We believe Mr. Libby is totally innocent and that he didn't do anything wrong."
Libby did not speak to reporters.
Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who has led the leak investigation, said no additional charges would be filed. That means nobody will be charged with the leak and Libby, who was not the source for the original column outing Plame, will be the only one to face trial.
"The results are actually sad," Fitzgerald said. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."
White House deputy press secretary Dana Perino said Bush watched news of the verdict on TV in the Oval Office. Perino said the president respected the jury's verdict but "was saddened for Scooter Libby and his family."
Perino said "I would not agree" with any characterization of the verdict as embarrassing for the White House.
"I think that any administration that has to go through a prolonged news story that is unpleasant and one that is difficult — when you're under the constraints and the policy of not commenting on an ongoing criminal matter — that can be very frustrating," she said.
Libby was convicted of one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and one count of lying to the FBI about how he learned Plame's identity and whom he told. Prosecutors said he learned about Plame from Cheney and others, discussed her name with reporters and, fearing prosecution, made up a story to make those discussions seem innocuous.
[...]
Collins, a former Washington Post reporter, said jurors wanted to hear from others involved in the case, including Bush political adviser Karl Rove, who was one of two sources for the original leak. Defense attorneys originally said both Libby and Cheney would be witnesses and Rove was on the potential witness list.
"I will say there was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?' " Collins said. "I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells put it, he was the fall guy."
Though the case never proved a White House conspiracy to out Plame as retribution for Wilson's criticism, Fitzgerald showed how adamant some members of the Bush administration were to discredit Wilson. Fitzgerald provided a parade of senior administration officials and top journalists as government witnesses.[/q]
so ... let's restate the obvious. this is really about the lengths Cheney went to in order to manipulate and distort and cherry-pick the WMD intelligence that the White House used to sell the invasion of Iraq to the American people. all talk about oil fields in Saudi Arabia and Arab Democracy and fighting Al-Qaeda is nonsense, a smokescreen. perhaps these were the ulterior motivations for the war, and perhaps these comprise a better case for war than the idea of a WMD being floated up the Potomac and leveling southeast Capitol Hill, but the case that was made to the American public was the direct threat of Saddam's WMDs to the American people, and it was this threat -- this fabricated threat to the homeland -- that made the American public willing, at first, to go along for the ride. 9-11 was terrifying. it's understandable. to a point.
not so anymore.
what we have is a VP who is so nervous about the exposure of his activites that he wildly overreacts to any and all critics (really, we were at war, just how much time did this deserve? quite a bit as it turns out) and why a man like Libby was willing to go to jail in order to protect his superiors.
we need a formal Congressional investigation, and impeachment proceedings if they are warranted.
Generally, though, when one is found guilty on four counts, the other count isn't the one highlighted. Was that the first verdict in?
