Papers: Cheney Aide Says Bush OK'd Leak

Sugar, we're goin' down!!

The prez is the biggest crook I have ever seen. Makes Whitewater look like a case of shoplifting, and Watergate look like a peeping tom case.

I guess until he gets extra martial fellatio, he won't be impeached. What else does the man need to do?

That was meant as extra marital. Extra martial fellatio would be kind of weird. Brokeback whitehouse. lol

How can this administration be trusted? To out a undercover CIA officer working to STOP WMD from coming to America is impeachable. These guys killed years of covert spy operations, not to mention all the agents that were working for us. I say throw the bums out!

Wow, this is just insane! What is ironic is that Lynne Cheney's brother-in-law's stepson himself was a CIA agent. I wonder how they would've reacted if he had been outed while in office.

So, I apologize, but I haven't read the whole thread of comments. If I'm repeating someone's ideas, sorry.

Why the focus on Bush here?
Clearly, he did not approve the declassification of this information. How do we know? They never claimed that it was declassified information. They don't have to explain why they declassified any info... not really, so they could easily have declassified the info and said, "See! It's just declassified information. Leave us alone and let us have our war." Instead, the Prez put on his indignant response face and spouted his "I'll fire anybody involved..." crap.

Cheney LIED to Libby. When Libby was uncertain about what he was revealing, its classified status, etc., he balked. Only after Cheney told him the Prez declassified it, and then after speaking to Addison, did he then start spouting information.

Also, how often in recent months have we heard that the VP has the authority to declassify information his own self. He has made claims of late that the Prez signed an executive order at the beginning of their reign that gave him permission to do this stuff himself. So why in hell did he need to claim the Prez needed to declassify information?

Because Cheney is a liar. Cheney manipulated the whole thing.
And Cheney is, and has always been, Fitzgerald's target.

Okay, let's hear a big huzzah from everybody who thinks the President and Vice President are allowed to commit treason.

When are conservatives going to get fed up? I certainly surpasseth all understanding.

Confusing. Man.

I am not typically a believer of conspiracy theories, but! And there is a huge but here. It just seems like everything this administration has done, has been with the underlying theme of destabilizing the oil markets. Attacking Iraq, consistently threatening Iran, and other exporters.

Halliburton and the ExxonMobils of the world are profiting hand over fist from the destabilization. In case people haven't noticed the price is back over $67 per barrel.

brgiant you asked "Can you tell me what high crime Bush has committed?"

On April 20, 2004, President Bush said, "Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order. Nothing has changed, by the way. When we're talking about chasing down terrorists, we're talking about getting a court order before we do so. It's important for our fellow citizens to understand, when you think Patriot Act, constitutional guarantees are in place when it comes to doing what is necessary to protect our homeland, because we value the Constitution."

Isn't this a lie?

A few points I think are important here. Some here say the president has the authority to declassify information. Does that extend to declasifying a CIA agents identity who still has hard earned contacts in the field who will also be "outed?" Granted, the article points out that it's unknown if Cheney (or Bush) gave the nod for outing Plame, but if outing her and embarrassing Wilson wasn't the intent here, exactly what was the intent of declassifying?

It's a giant he said, she said puzzle. But what started this, if not the desire to discredit Wilson?
And if you go on the predication that, that was the intent, everything else seems to fall in place quiet badly for the Bush team.

if the info was declassified by the president, an executive order given by clinton, that dick cheney has flouted on several newstalkshows, then the leak was clearly thought out and precisely maneuvered so that their asses would be covered, and also they wouldn't really have to talk about this. i guess that one question could be well, what does this mean to out an non-renagade agent legally, even though it would normally be a felony. another question is, does the ability of the executive to declassify materials include agent information, especially if that agent is still operating in good faith. clearly this was only a political move and served no purpose other than to cause trouble for one of their own people. one can see the behind the scenes confusion that all these "ideas" have probably caused the bushies. but i guess that the moral values candidate is again found be the central agent of corruption. so if a felon happens and no one presses charges against the true perp as found through grand jury testimony than what the hell is the judicial system all about, how many millions in prison for lesser crimes?

CategoryThree, you are making a lot of assumptions here. One of which is the idea that the information referred to in this article includes the outing of Valerie Plame. No where has it been said that the President or the Vice President or even Libby outed Valerie Plame or that anyone gave anyone else permission to do that.

DanielHallo - that was one funny...long comment you put up...

My conscience is clear. I did not vote for Bush in either election.

I don't think we're making assumptions on this anymore:

/www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040600333.html">Washington Post April 7, 2006: Bush Authorized Secrets' Release, Libby Testified - Prosecutor Says Disclosures on Iraq Were Aimed at War Critic

Quoting from the article:

President Bush authorized White House official I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby to disclose highly sensitive intelligence information to the news media in an attempt to discredit a CIA adviser whose views undermined the rationale for the invasion of Iraq, according to a federal prosecutor's account of Libby's testimony to a grand jury.

Further ...

The White House did not challenge the prosecutor's account of Bush's and Cheney's role in orchestrating the effort to discredit Wilson yesterday.

And, further ...

Once the disclosure of Plame's name became the target of an investigation, Libby "implored White House officials" to issue a statement exonerating him, according to Fitzgerald's account. When he was rebuffed, Libby requested that Cheney intervene. He also wrote a draft statement by hand, asserting that he "did not leak classified information."

This is yet another despicable act in a despicable presidency.

Or, maybe a despicable vice-presidency. It's entirely possible that Dick Cheney lied to Libby about Bush's release of the information. The release didn't follow any of the channels normally used, so, of course, there's no documentation with a presidential signature. And, as much as I dislike Bush, that might explain this statement:

Three months before Fitzgerald began his probe in December 2003, Bush said at a news conference that "I've constantly expressed my displeasure with leaks, particularly leaks of classified information. . . . If there's a leak out of the administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated law, the person will be taken care of."

I don't believe Bush is evil. I just believe he's detached, uninformed and an incompetent manager. I could pretty easily believe that he made this statement without any knowledge that Cheney had "released" this information under the guise that it had been authorized by Bush.

What happens now? At a minimum, Cheney should go. I can't see how honest genuine Republicans could argue with that. Were I a Republican, I'd have been clamoring for Cheney to go long ago.

The above comment by Kelly Jonesmith is a complete fabrication. It was part of an experiment on Newsvine users by Rhine Cyrus. You can read more about it here.