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From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: August 2, 2008 3:10:22 AM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Subject: Who Ordered the Plame Leak? GEORGE BUSH HIMSELF.
Scott McClellan Dismantles Cheney’s Plame Firewall
By: emptywheel Friday August 1, 2008 6:53 am
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3715142
When evidence from the Scooter Libby trial showed that Dick Cheney had
probably ordered Scooter Libby to leak Valerie Plame's identity,
Cheney built a firewall that legally excused the leak--but still
insulated George Bush from involvement in knowingly outing a CIA spy.
Cheney claimed, on at least two occasions, that he himself had the
authority to declassify classified information, presumably up to and
including Valerie Plame's identity. Yet new information from Scott
McClellan dismantles Cheney's firewall; McClellan reveals that in the
same period when Cheney was claiming he had the authority to
declassify such information, the White House Counsel's Office under
Harriet Miers disagreed that the Vice President had such
declassification authorities.
..............................
The Implications of Cheney's Crumbling Firewall:
The only one who could override his lawyers on this matter, it seems,
would be the President himself.
..........................
But, ultimately, this reflects back on Bush--and puts him solidly in
the middle of discussions about the leak of Valerie Plame's identity.
The Vice President started publicly claiming to have the authority to
declassify things like the CIA trip report and Plame's identity only
after Libby had clearly implicated both his supervisors--Cheney and
Bush--in the Plame leak. By all appearances, Bush didn't finally
decide the issue until 2007. If Bush --and his lawyers-- didn't decide
whether or not Cheney had the authority to declassify the extra things
leaked to Miller until four years after the fact, it suggests Bush was
the one who bought off on that leak, not Cheney. Cheney can't be
Bush's firewall, because he didn't have the authority to be until four
years after the leak. If, as abundant evidence suggests, Cheney
ordered Libby to leak Plame's identity, either this leak was illegal,
or President Bush approved the deliberate exposure of a CIA spy.
links, info, interviews and much more at:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/08/01/scott-mccl...
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