.Specter Urges Bush, Cheney to Detail Iraq Disclosures
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- A senior Republican U.S. senator said President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney owe the public a ``specific explanation'' of their involvement in disclosing classified information to rebut Iraq war critics.
``It is necessary for the president and the vice president to tell the American people exactly what happened,'' Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. Bush may have had authority to declassify intelligence material ``but that was not the right way to go about it because we ought not to have leaks in government.''
Another ranking Republican lawmaker, House Majority Leader John Boehner, declined to defend the administration's leaking of information in 2003, saying, ``I don't have the facts.''
Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that the vice president told him Bush authorized the disclosure of information from a classified intelligence report on Iraq's attempts to gain nuclear weapons when the administration's rationale for going to war was being questioned, documents filed in federal court last week say.
The documents don't allege that Bush or Cheney directed Libby or anyone else to divulge the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose naming in a July 2003 newspaper column prompted a Justice Department investigation. Under a 1995 executive order, the president has authority to declassify government information for release.
Discredited Information
The information that Libby says he was authorized to disclose, that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons in Africa, has since been discredited. The New York Times reported today that even as Libby was being authorized to portray the information as a ``key judgment,'' several senior administration officials had concluded it was wrong.
The court documents, contained in a motion filed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, are the first that tie Bush to the administration's attempt to counter critics of the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in which Libby was a behind-the-scenes conduit for information to reporters.
``There's been enough of a showing here'' in the court record ``that the president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people,'' Specter, 76, of Pennsylvania, said.
`Let the Courts Decide'
Boehner, 56, an Ohio Republican, declined to comment on whether it was appropriate for the administration to authorize declassification of intelligence information in the case.
``Let's let the prosecutors make their case and let the courts decide the case,'' Boehner said on ABC's ``This Week'' program.
Democrats are using the revelation to renew criticism of Bush's decision to go to war and the administration's use of intelligence data.
``The bottom line remains that if the president of the United States is authorizing for political purposes the release of classified information, you have a very serious issue,'' Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said in a recorded interview on CNN's ``Late Edition'' program.
Libby, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case. The new details emerged in a motion filed by Fitzgerald in response to Libby's request for more government documents to assist his defense. He resigned from the administration after he was indicted last October.
White House Defense
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Friday defended Bush's decision to release the information, saying the administration was rebutting ``irresponsible and unfounded'' claims by Democrats and other critics that the administration distorted pre-war intelligence to make the case for the invasion.
``The president would never authorize the disclosure of information he felt would compromise our national security,'' McClellan said. ``We made sure we continued to protect sources and methods when a portion of it was declassified.''
One of those critics was former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Plame's husband, who was dispatched by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002 to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime was trying to obtain processed uranium ore from Niger. He wrote an essay published in July 6, 2003, in the New York Times saying the administration ``twisted'' intelligence about Iraq's attempts to gain nuclear weapons material ``to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.''
Plame's identity was revealed the next week, in a July 14, 2003, article by syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who cited unnamed ``senior administration officials'' as the source of the information.
`Repudiate Mr. Wilson'
Documents uncovered during the course of Fitzgerald's investigation ``reveal a strong desire by many, including multiple people in the White House, to repudiate Mr. Wilson before and after July 14, 2003,'' the prosecutor's filing states.
Libby testified that Cheney ``advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions'' of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons to then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald's court filing said.
Wilson said today that Bush and Cheney should release the transcripts of their interviews with the special counsel.
``I would like them to speak to the American people,'' Wilson said on the ABC program. ``We could easily clear this up by releasing those White House transcripts.''
It is illegal for anyone with access to classified information to intentionally reveal the identity of a covert intelligence agent. No one has been charged with that crime in the case, though Fitzgerald is continuing his investigation.
``What I understand the evidence to say is that the president wanted to get all of the information out about the national intelligence estimate'' to respond to a ``distorted picture'' created by Wilson, Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, said on CNN.
Asked if he would support Specter's call for an explanation from Bush and Cheney, he said Kyl would be ``wary'' of such a move right now, given the grand jury investigation and Libby's indictment. ``At some point, it is important,'' Kyl said.
Bloomberg
Like if the facts ever made a difference.
``It is necessary for the president and the vice president to tell the American people exactly what happened,'' Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter said on the ``Fox News Sunday'' program. Bush may have had authority to declassify intelligence material ``but that was not the right way to go about it because we ought not to have leaks in government.''
Another ranking Republican lawmaker, House Majority Leader John Boehner, declined to defend the administration's leaking of information in 2003, saying, ``I don't have the facts.''
Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that the vice president told him Bush authorized the disclosure of information from a classified intelligence report on Iraq's attempts to gain nuclear weapons when the administration's rationale for going to war was being questioned, documents filed in federal court last week say.
The documents don't allege that Bush or Cheney directed Libby or anyone else to divulge the identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, whose naming in a July 2003 newspaper column prompted a Justice Department investigation. Under a 1995 executive order, the president has authority to declassify government information for release.
Discredited Information
The information that Libby says he was authorized to disclose, that Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons in Africa, has since been discredited. The New York Times reported today that even as Libby was being authorized to portray the information as a ``key judgment,'' several senior administration officials had concluded it was wrong.
The court documents, contained in a motion filed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, are the first that tie Bush to the administration's attempt to counter critics of the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in which Libby was a behind-the-scenes conduit for information to reporters.
``There's been enough of a showing here'' in the court record ``that the president of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people,'' Specter, 76, of Pennsylvania, said.
`Let the Courts Decide'
Boehner, 56, an Ohio Republican, declined to comment on whether it was appropriate for the administration to authorize declassification of intelligence information in the case.
``Let's let the prosecutors make their case and let the courts decide the case,'' Boehner said on ABC's ``This Week'' program.
Democrats are using the revelation to renew criticism of Bush's decision to go to war and the administration's use of intelligence data.
``The bottom line remains that if the president of the United States is authorizing for political purposes the release of classified information, you have a very serious issue,'' Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said in a recorded interview on CNN's ``Late Edition'' program.
Libby, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in the case. The new details emerged in a motion filed by Fitzgerald in response to Libby's request for more government documents to assist his defense. He resigned from the administration after he was indicted last October.
White House Defense
White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on Friday defended Bush's decision to release the information, saying the administration was rebutting ``irresponsible and unfounded'' claims by Democrats and other critics that the administration distorted pre-war intelligence to make the case for the invasion.
``The president would never authorize the disclosure of information he felt would compromise our national security,'' McClellan said. ``We made sure we continued to protect sources and methods when a portion of it was declassified.''
One of those critics was former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, Plame's husband, who was dispatched by the Central Intelligence Agency in 2002 to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein's regime was trying to obtain processed uranium ore from Niger. He wrote an essay published in July 6, 2003, in the New York Times saying the administration ``twisted'' intelligence about Iraq's attempts to gain nuclear weapons material ``to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.''
Plame's identity was revealed the next week, in a July 14, 2003, article by syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who cited unnamed ``senior administration officials'' as the source of the information.
`Repudiate Mr. Wilson'
Documents uncovered during the course of Fitzgerald's investigation ``reveal a strong desire by many, including multiple people in the White House, to repudiate Mr. Wilson before and after July 14, 2003,'' the prosecutor's filing states.
Libby testified that Cheney ``advised him that the president had authorized defendant to disclose the relevant portions'' of a 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons to then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Fitzgerald's court filing said.
Wilson said today that Bush and Cheney should release the transcripts of their interviews with the special counsel.
``I would like them to speak to the American people,'' Wilson said on the ABC program. ``We could easily clear this up by releasing those White House transcripts.''
It is illegal for anyone with access to classified information to intentionally reveal the identity of a covert intelligence agent. No one has been charged with that crime in the case, though Fitzgerald is continuing his investigation.
``What I understand the evidence to say is that the president wanted to get all of the information out about the national intelligence estimate'' to respond to a ``distorted picture'' created by Wilson, Senator Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican, said on CNN.
Asked if he would support Specter's call for an explanation from Bush and Cheney, he said Kyl would be ``wary'' of such a move right now, given the grand jury investigation and Libby's indictment. ``At some point, it is important,'' Kyl said.
Bloomberg
Like if the facts ever made a difference.
posted by madtom at 12:49 AM
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