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Politics : Impeach George W. Bush -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sully- who wrote (37491)	7/22/2005 6:01:03 AM
From: stockman_scott	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 93284

Rove, Libby Accounts in CIA Case Differ With Those of Reporters By Richard Keil July 22 (Bloomberg) — Two top White House aides have given accounts to the special prosecutor about how reporters told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to persons familiar with the case. Lewis “Scooter'’ Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn’t tell Libby of Plame’s identity. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who was first to report Plame’s name and connection to Wilson. Novak, according to a source familiar with the matter, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor. These discrepancies may be important because one issue Fitzgerald is investigating is whether Libby, Rove, or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether any administration officials violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a CIA agent. The CIA requested the inquiry after Novak’s July 14, 2003, article that said Plame recommended her husband for a 2002 mission to check into reports Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger. Wilson, in a July 6 column in the New York Times, said the Bush administration “twisted” some of the intelligence on Iraq’s weapons to justify the war. Robert Luskin, Rove’s attorney, said today that Rove did tell the grand jury “he had not heard her name before he heard it from Bob Novak.'’ He declined in an interview to comment on whether Novak’s account of their conversation differed from Rove’s. There also is a discrepancy between accounts given by Rove and Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper. The White House aide mentioned Wilson’s wife — though not by name — in a July 11, 2003 conversation with Cooper. Rove says that Cooper called him to talk about welfare reform and the Wilson connection was mentioned later in passing. Cooper wrote in Time magazine last week that he told the grand jury that he never discussed welfare reform with Rove in that call. The leak case shows that administration officials have in effect been using reporters as shields by claiming that the information on Plame first came from them. One reporter, Judith Miller of the New York Times, has been jailed on contempt of court charges for refusing to testify before the grand jury about her reporting on the Plame case. Cooper testified only after Time Inc. said it would comply with Fitzgerald’s demands for Cooper’s notes and reporting on the Plame matter, particularly regarding his dealings with Rove. Libby didn’t return a phone call seeking comment. The various accounts of conversations between Rove, Libby and reporters come as new details emerge about a classified State Department memorandum that’s also at the center of Fitzgerald’s probe. A memo by the department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) included Plame’s name in a paragraph marked “(S)'’ for `Secret,’ a designation that should have indicated to anyone who read it that the information was classified, the Washington Post reported yesterday. The memo, prepared July 7, 2003, for Secretary of State Colin Powell, is a focus of Fitzgerald’s interest, according to individuals who have testified before the grand jury and attorneys familiar with the case. The three-page document said that Wilson had been recommended for a CIA-sponsored trip to Africa by his wife, Valerie Wilson, who worked on the CIA’s counter-proliferations desk. In his New York Times article, Wilson said there was no basis to conclude that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear material in Africa and that the administration had exaggerated the evidence. Bush had said in his State of the Union message in January, 2003 that Iraq was trying to purchase nuclear materials in Africa. The memo summarizing the Plame-Wilson connection was provided to Powell as he left with President George W. Bush on a five-day trip to Africa. Fitzgerald is exploring whether other White House officials who accompanied Bush may have gained access to the memo and shared its contents with officials back in Washington. Rove and Libby didn’t accompany Bush to Africa. One key to the inquiry is when White House aides knew of Wilson’s connection to Plame and whether they learned about it through this memo or other classified information. Some Bush allies were hopeful that the Fitzgerald investigation, which dominated the news in Washington for the first part of July, would subside as the focus now is on Bush’s nomination of Judge John Roberts to fill the first vacancy on the Supreme Court in 11 years. Yet special prosecutor Fitzgerald, not media coverage, will determine the outcome of this investigation. thinkprogress.org

To: Sully- who wrote (37491)	7/22/2005 8:14:32 AM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 93284

'SUICIDE BOMBER' SHOT Police have killed a suspected suicide bomber at a Tube station in south London. Armed officers opened fire on the suspect after he hurdled a ticket barrier and raced along a platform at Stockwell station. Police screamed at passengers to evacuate and are thought to have shot the suspect as he stumbled on to a train. Alarmed onlookers said they saw up to 10 plain-clothed officers chasing an Asian-looking man before opening fire. Witness Mark Whitby was on the train as he saw a big man wearing a large coat and "looking absolutely petrified" lurch through the doors. Admitting to being "totally distraught", he went on: "He half-tripped, was half-pushed to the floor. "The policeman nearest to me had the black automatic pistol in his left hand, he held it down to the guy and unloaded five shots into him." Unconfirmed reports suggest the man was involved in Thursday's assault on the capital. Stockwell Tube alert If the suspect is proved to be a suicide bomber, it would mark the fifth attempted terrorist attack on London in less than a day. A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We can confirm that just after 10am armed officers shot a male at Stockwell Underground station. "A man was challenged by officers and subsequently shot. London Ambulance Service attended the scene. He was pronounced dead at the scene." Police are believed to be under orders to shoot to kill if they believe someone is about to detonate a bomb. Sky News Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said: "The officer or officers involved in this clearly felt this suspect was about to detonate a bomb." Three eyewitnesses were taken to a nearby veterinary surgery by police before being taken away for interview. Tube services on the Northern Line have been suspended at the request of police but the Victoria is running again. An earlier bomb threat targeting a mosque in east London has been given the all-clear by police.