Personal About Politics: The "Scooter" Libby Trial: How a Leak Turned into a Flood, and Spin Turned into a Cover-Up.

The perjury and obstruction of justice trial of I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, is a case of White House spin turned bad. 

The trial is a culmination of events, which began in February 2002, when Joseph Wilson was sent, by the CIA, on a fact-finding mission to see if Iraq had sought uranium for nuclear weapons from Niger, in West Africa. He found no evidence to this effect. However, President Bush ignored this finding and stated just the opposite in his January 2003 State of the Union Address. Bush’s “smoking gun”, in his Address, was a report from Britain’s Joint Intelligence Committee that scientist Dr. David Kelly, the Minister of Defense, admitted to “sexing up” at the behest of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s office. The report was found to be seriously flawed using fragmentary intelligence. Dr. Kelly later committed suicide after this was disclosed. (Butler Report, July 2004).

Iraq’s supposed weapons of mass destruction, made from uranium supposedly sought from Niger, were the basis for invading Iraq. Tenuous at best, but the American public bought into it, since there was no information to refute this claim.

Until July 2003, that is, when Joseph Wilson wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times entitled, “What I Didn’t Find In Africa.” The first two sentences were damning. He wrote: “Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein’s weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq? Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq’s nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.” (New York Times, July 6, 2003)

Suddenly the Bush administration was being publicly questioned about their motives for war. It put the White House in turmoil. Vice President Dick Cheney was apparently furious.  And so, on July 7, 2003, the spin began. Publicly they were dismissing it, but internally, they were already plotting revenge. According to testimony by Catherine J. Martin, the vice president’s top press aide at the time, Cheney became obsessed with Wilson’s article.  While meeting with Cheney and Libby on July 7, to plot strategies to discredit Wilson, Martin suggested leaking information to selected journalists that would undercut Wilson’s credibility. She also testified that she told both Cheney and Libby “sometime”, possibly earlier in the year about Valerie Plame, Wilson’s wife, working for the CIA.

The task of “leaking” classified information (feeding would be a better word) to selected press fell to Libby, and apparently Karl Rove got in on the act too.  Libby testified that Cheney “dictated to me what he wanted me to say to the press, including a word –for- word quote to give Time magazine and “background material he wanted me to use”.

The boys got busy in a hurry. On that same day, July 7, Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary, testified that he met Libby for lunch and that Libby told him about Ms. Wilson working for the CIA, and that it was “hush, hush”.

Apparently not too “hush, hush”, since Matthew Cooper, former reporter for Time Magazine, testified that Karl Rove, Bush’s aide, told him on July 11 about Ms. Wilson, and that he talked to Libby about her on July 12. It was also on this date that Libby spoke with Judith Miller, former reporter for the New York Times, about Ms. Wilson.

On July 14 columnist Robert Novak wrote: “ Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate” (‘Mission to Niger’ by Robert Novak, July 14, 2003). Saying that Ms. Wilson had arranged for her husband to take the trip to Niger, was a red herring and later proved to be false.

Suddenly the leak boiled over into illegal territory and Cheney’s little tit for tat had become dangerous.  Under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is a crime for anyone who has access to classified information to disclose intentionally information identifying a covert agent.

 “According to some inside the intel arena,” wrote Steven C. Clemons of ‘The Washington Note’, “Valerie Wilson’s work had a lot to do with monitoring Iran’s nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson’s cover was blown, the Administration’s ability to track Iran’s nuclear ambitions was damaged as well. If this account of Plame-Wilson’s activities is true, those who exposed Valerie Plame Wilson helped undermine American national security in much more major ways that haven’t yet been disclosed.” (Steven C. Clemons, The Washington Note, April 25, 2006)

Not only had Plame and any operatives under her been placed in harms way by the disclosure, our national security had also been jeopardized. The White House tried to dismiss the issue by saying it was “a tempest in a teapot”, however, they began flooding the press with denials about anyone in the administration being involved.  The spin had now become a cover-up.

In his grand jury testimony, Libby, has blamed everyone he talked to for the leak, saying he heard it from reporters, specifically Tim Russert. However, all 11 witnesses called by the prosecution have refuted Libby’s story. Now it appears that Cheney will be called to testify for the defense. He will be totally exposed, without the buffer zone of his office and the insulation of his minions. He will not be in control of the situation, and he will certainly not be able to bully Patrick Fitzgerald under cross-examination.

Whether “Scooter” Libby is found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice is of very little consequence. He is just a pawn. But the trial has exposed the sheer audacity of this administration to disregard the truth if it does not suit their purposes, and to try to discredit anyone who disagrees with them, and uncover the real issue, that the Bush administration fabricated intelligence information as a rationale for war.



Cheri Cabot, Politics Correspondent
Cheri’s column, “Personal About Politics”, published every Tuesday, will reflect on how the life of a 57 year-old, middle class woman is affected by politics, policy and the current state of the nation - a look at the personal aspects of politics. The articles will be posted to Politics.gather.com as part of Gather Essentials.

Cheri is a single teacher and writer, living in Southern California.  She has two grown children, one in Iowa and one at Columbia University, and is the proud grandmother of two. Cheri is also a purveyor of fine coffee, warm chatter and dry wit.

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