Treasury Seeks Probe Into Papers Taken by O'Neill

The U.S. Treasury requested a probe on Monday of how a possibly secret document appeared in a televised interview of Paul O'Neill, as a book criticizing the Bush administration that uses material supplied by the ex-Treasury secretary hits the stores.

In the book about his term as Treasury chief, O'Neill, who left the job in December 2002 in a shake-up of President Bush's economic team, criticized White House policies and provided author Ron Suskind with thousands of administration documents.

O'Neill said the Bush administration had been looking for a justification to oust President Saddam Hussein since early 2001, long before the Sept. 11 attacks that year.

Nichols did not specify the topic of the specific document that led to the decision to ask the Inspector General's office to look into it.

"It's based on the (CBS program) '60 Minutes' segment, and I'll be even more clear -- the document as shown on '60 Minutes' that said 'secret,"' Treasury spokesman Rob Nichols told reporters at a weekly briefing. Nichols said the probe will focus on how possibly classified information appeared on a television interview as one of O'Neill's papers.

According to a summary of the segment on CBS's web site, Suskind said one of the briefing materials O'Neill had included a paper marked "secret" that was titled "Plan for post-Saddam Iraq."

"We're asking them to simply look into the '60 Minutes' segment and then take appropriate steps, if necessary," Nichols said. However, he said the legal threshold for asking for an inquiry was "very low."

Asked if seeking the probe may look vindictive, Nichols said, "We don't view it in that way."

1 posted on 01/12/2004 2:53:58 PM PST by Maria S

2 posted on 01/12/2004 2:56:55 PM PST by stylin19a (Is it vietnam yet ?)

O'Neill is a perfect example of what NOT to do after leaving a job. You never burn bridges. It always comes back to haunt you.

3 posted on 01/12/2004 3:01:26 PM PST by Dutch Boy

The U.S. Treasury requested a probe

"Huh, huh, they said, "Probe"...

"Shaddap, Beavis!"

4 posted on 01/12/2004 3:02:42 PM PST by Old Sarge (149th Armd' Bde, KyARNG: Bosnia-bound. Remember Them.)

The author is now saying it was only a cover sheet that said SECRET.

So he conspired with CBS to misrepresent?

LIES LIES and more LIES from the alphabets.

5 posted on 01/12/2004 3:51:50 PM PST by OldFriend (Always understand, even if you remain among the few)

Secret is one grade below classified and is not a crime to use. Classified is a felony to reveal. The FBI is running into the reverse in the Plame affair investigation. The leakers are supposed to have used a secret report rather than a classified report.

6 posted on 01/12/2004 7:03:27 PM PST by meenie

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