Writing a story that isn't news, nor criminal, nor even relevant to the case against Libby.
" Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff has testified that President Bush authorized him to disclose the contents of a highly classified intelligence assessment to the media to defend the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq, according to papers filed in federal court on Wednesday by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case."
and.....?
" Additionally, Libby "testified that he also spoke to David Addington, then counsel to the Vice President, whom [Libby] considered to be an expert in national security law, and Mr. Addington opined that Presidential authorization to publicly disclose a document amounted to a declassification of the document."
Which is absolutely correct.
So, where is the story?
" Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert CIA officer at the time, and Cheney, Libby, and other Bush administration officials believed that Wilson's allegations could be discredited if it could be shown that Plame had suggested that her husband be sent on the CIA-sponsored mission to Niger."
Excuse me? She wasn't nothing of the kind, a fact that has been established over and over again and yet these bozos on the left can't let it go. Fitzgerald didn't charge Libby with that because there was nothing to charge. She wasn't covert - end of story.
UPDATE: For the clueless MSM, and clarity THIS is an AUTHORIZED release of Government information and NOT a 'leak'. The President had the authority.
On the other hand,This is NOT an authorize release of secrets and in fact is a LEAK. Even more clear about what a real leak is read here as well. Fact is that the MSM would take it's collective noses out of the DNC arses, they would find that there is REAL news out there.
Andy McCarthy at National Review "The Corner" asked the same question, "What's the story?"
UPDATE: Byron York weighs in - same question.
"As for leaking portions of the National Intelligence Estimate, yes, it was classified, although it would later be declassified. But it should be remembered that when the president decides to make something public, then it can be made public. In the Plame case, there has been much discussion of the unauthorized disclosure of classified information. Would anyone argue that this disclosure was unauthorized?"
Well yeah, the left - but that's why they're the left and ignorant and suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome.
So again Murray - Waas the story?
UPDATE II: Heh....Lurch.
Again, Powerlineblog not news.
UPDATE III: Rick Moran on "Beating Dead Horses".
Washington Post article on the legality of Bush's act. Yet errs in the assertion that it's "unusual". Note the following:
"FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT
After the Japanese Rape of Nanking, FDR leaked to press stories of Japanese atrocities. At the time he was seeking new funds to expand the Navy.
During World War II FDR became convinced that the wife of his trusted aide, Harry Hopkins, was leaking material damaging to the administration. According to Victor Lasky, FDR placed a wiretap on Hopkins's phone.
JOHN KENNEDY
According to Victor Lasky, during the presidential campaign of 1960 Kennedy aides "filched" secret polls produced by the United States Information Agency that showed that American prestige had declined under the Republicans. Kennedy leaked the polls to the New York Times and then used them to undermine the campaign of opponent Richard Nixon.
In the summer of 1961 President John Kennedy instigated one of the most important leaks in American history. The consequences were devastating. Worried that he had been humiliated by Khrushchev at a celebrated meeting in Vienna, Kennedy leaked to the newspapers evidence that the United States had clear strategic nuclear superiority over the Soviet Union. The leak humiliated Khrushchev. Under pressure, the Soviet leader ordered nuclear missiles to be slipped into Cuba. This decision led directly to the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis."-source
So this is NOT unusual, or unheard of as all Presidents - especially during conflict - have used leaks to the media to shore up their support. Secondly, the President of the United States of America as Command and Chief has the authority to declass any information he deems necessary. The New York Times, Washington Post, Senator Jay Rockefeller, and Dick Durbin do not.
More with Cliff May at National Review.
judith miller valerie plame karl rove Valerie Plame PlameGate john hannah cheney libby joe wilsonwoodward bob woodward
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