'Hard Evidence' Shows Cheney's Staff Outed CIA Operative

Cap Hill Blue ^ | Feb. 6, 04 | RICHARD SALE

[churchillbuff]

From UPI: 'Hard Evidence' Shows Cheney's Staff Outed CIA Operative By RICHARD SALE Feb 6, 2004, 08:22

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.

According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were the two Cheney employees. "We believe that Hannah was the major player in this," one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president's office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.

The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah "that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time" as a way to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law-enforcement official said.

The case centers on Valerie Plame, a CIA operative then working for the weapons of mass destruction division, and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who served as ambassador to Gabon and as a senior U.S. diplomat in Baghdad in the early 1990s. Under President Bill Clinton, he was head of African affairs until he retired in 1998, according to press accounts.

Wilson was sent by the Bush administration in March 2002 to check on an allegation made by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address the previous winter that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from the nation of Niger. Wilson returned with a report that said the claim was "highly doubtful."

On June 12, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus revealed that an unnamed diplomat had "given a negative report" on the claim and then, on July 6, as the Bush administration was widely accused of manipulating intelligence to get American public opinion behind a war with Iraq, Wilson published an op-ed piece in the Post in which he accused the Bush administration of "misrepresenting the facts." His piece also asked, "What else are they lying about?"

According to one administration official, "The White House was really pissed, and began to contact six journalists in order to plant stories to discredit Wilson," according to the New York Times and other accounts.

As Pincus said in a Sept. 29 radio broadcast, "The reason for putting out the story about Wilson's wife working for the CIA was to undermine the credibility of [Wilson's] mission for the agency in Niger. Wilson, as the last top diplomat in Iraq at the time of the Gulf War, had credibility beyond his knowledge of Africa, which was his specialty. So his going to Niger to check the allegation that Iraq had sought uranium there and returning to say he had no confirmation was considered very credible."

Eight days later, columnist Robert Novak wrote a column in which he named Wilson's wife and revealed she was "an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction." Since Plame was working undercover, it exposed her and, in the opinion of some, ruined her usefulness and her career. It also violated a 1982 law that prohibits revealing the identity of U.S. intelligence agents.

On Oct. 7, Bush said that unauthorized disclosure of an undercover CIA officer's identity was "a criminal matter" and the Justice Department had begun its investigation into the source of the leak.

[William McKinley]

Imagine that- a Capital Hill Blue piece that is a hit on the administration and relies on anonymous sources. We've never seen that before!

[MEG33]

If it's in Capitol Hill Blue,it's a fact/sarcasm.Getting after Cheney pretty hard this morning I notice.

[G.Mason]

Hard evidence?

We're waiting.........

[babble-on]

this is a fishing expedition by Bush 41 people who are trying to fry the "neo-cons". If they had "hard evidence" then they'd have an indictment. They would not need to be peddling this story through old intelligence hacks to the gutter press

[Mo1]

Was it a source they've known for 20 yrs?

[MizSterious]

CHB might be consistantly wrong (not to mention biased), but that doesn't stop the mainstream media from picking up these stories and running with them.

[Neets]

Is someone giving lessons on CHP????

[Neets]

A source they have known for 20 years AND RECENTLY HAD lunch/dinner/brunch/snacks/cocktails/tail-gate/fishfry with.

[MizSterious]

"...a Justice Department official said." "According to these sources..." "...one federal law-enforcement officer said." "According to one administration official..." (and so on.)

Once again, no named sources. Everyone is anonymous.

[marty60]

If true (probably not)they should be given a medal. Who needs an anaylst that practices nepotism and then has the same hubbie write a hit piece on Bush. Good riddance to an inept operative.

[Ingtar]

I agree...

According to unamed sources at the State Department, the fiasco at the Superbowl halftime was caused by aliens. According to an anonymous source in the Bush/Cheney White House, Republicans will try to starve your kids this year.

My saying this does not make it true. And, of course, since I am a journalist, you cannot ask me about my sources.

[Born Conservative]

Aw Jeez, not this stuff again...

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Hannah and Libby are the targets? That's amusing.

CHB needs to take a rest... he's getting beaten to a pulp, as of late.

[Quilla]

Wilson was sent by the Bush administration in March 2002 to check on an allegation made by President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address the previous winter that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from the nation of Niger. Wilson returned with a report that said the claim was "highly doubtful."

There are more lies in this statement than I can count. Who wrote this, Jon Lovitz?

[babble-on]

also Richard Sale lies outright in this piece claiming that Plame was "working undercover" at the time the stories were out.

[Interesting Times]

They forgot to change the name to "Capital Hill Red" a couple of years ago when they changed sides...

[Doc Savage]

Is there anyone on earth who doesn't believe for a single second that every foreign intelligence network doesn't know who works at Langley. Hell just sit outside the gates and take down license plates, follow people home, moles, intercepts, photographs, bribes and stoolies. Sure, no one ever knew this broad was an analyst until Novak's column. Please give me a break. Deep Cover maybe, but not some 9-5 clock puncher at Langley.

[roses of sharon]

Exactly.

I'll bet when Wilson came back and wrote that lie in the NYT, the went on MTP to lie again a say Cheney sent him, Cheney's people, or whoever, simply said, "we didn't send him, she did".

Wow, sounds criminal to me.

[hellinahandcart]

Imagine that- a Capital Hill Blue piece that is a hit on the administration and relies on anonymous sources. We've never seen that before!

I got to the second paragraph, and had to look up to make sure the author wasn't (cough) someone else...