Ironworks Gaming Forum - Scooter Libby found guilty of perjury

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Libby is convicted of lying in leak case
Appeal vowed; Ex-Cheney aide could face prison

By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | March 7, 2007

WASHINGTON -- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney and an architect of the Iraq war, was convicted yesterday of obstruction of justice and perjury in a case that highlighted the White House's effort to sell the war, revealed how a CIA agent's cover was blown, and forced some of the city's most influential journalists to disclose their sources on the witness stand.

Libby, 56, the key adviser to Cheney and an Oval Office insider, was convicted of lying to prosecutors who were trying to determine if top Bush administration officials leaked the identity of former CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson -- purported retaliation for her husband's contention that the Bush administration twisted intelligence facts to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Libby contended that he heard about Plame Wilson from reporters, and any false statements he made to a special grand jury investigating the case were due to his being preoccupied as the White House prepared for war and could not remember details.

As the verdict was announced, Libby was stone-faced, while his wife wept and hugged her husband's defense lawyers. Later, Libby's chief attorney, Theodore V. Wells Jr. -- who decided to keep Libby off the witness stand -- told reporters afterward that he was "very saddened" by the verdict and vowed to appeal.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said he was disappointed that he was forced to put Libby on trial. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official, a person who worked in the office of the vice president, obstructed justice and lied under oath," Fitzgerald said.

Later, juror Denis Collins told reporters that some jurors believed the defense: that Libby was a "fall guy" for the Bush administration and Karl Rove, the president's top strategist, who testified before the grand jury several times but was not indicted. Collins, a former Washington Post reporter, said that the jury concluded that Libby lied when he told a special grand jury that he found out about Plame Wilson from political journalist Tim Russert, host of NBC's "Meet the Press."

"There was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury," Collins said. "It was said a number times: 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? . . . Where are these other guys?' "

The verdict was another blow to President Bush, whose job approval rating is languishing near record lows, largely because of the Iraq war; the case against Libby, authorities say, stemmed from a White House decision to play hardball with critics who challenged their reasoning for the war. Cheney was particularly incensed at a New York Times opinion article by Joseph Wilson, Plame Wilson's husband, a retired ambassador who accused the administration of exaggerating Iraq as a security threat.

Shortly after the verdict, leading Democrats seized on Libby's conviction as evidence that other top administration officials were involved in the matter -- including Cheney, who White House critics say engineered the leak.

"Many unanswered questions remain" about the case, said Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean. He said it's likely other key Bush advisers participated in the effort to mislead the American people about the war "and smear its critics," and he urged Bush to reject a pardon for Libby.

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said yesterday the president watched the verdict on television and was "saddened for Scooter Libby and his family." Perino said she did not know whether Bush will consider pardoning Libby. Cheney issued a statement saying he was "disappointed" with the verdict and said Libby had "served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction" for many years.

Libby could face up to 25 years in prison when sentenced June 5, but federal sentencing guidelines will probably prescribe far less, perhaps one to three years.

The case began in 2002, as the White House pressed for the Iraq invasion. The CIA sent Joseph Wilson, who had served in Africa, to Niger to determine whether the nation had supplied Iraq with uranium "yellowcake," an essential ingredient for a nuclear weapon. Wilson reported back that he found no evidence Niger had procured uranium for Iraq.

In his January 2003 State of the Union address, however, Bush told Congress that the British government "has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." The statement helped persuade lawmakers to grant Bush permission for the Iraq invasion later that year.

But in July 2003, Wilson wrote in a Times opinion article that "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." That caught Cheney's attention. He clipped the article and wrote a note on it questioning why the CIA sent Wilson: "Have they done this sort of thing before? Send an Amb. to answer a question? . . . Or did his wife send him on a junket?"

A week after Wilson's article, Robert Novak, a powerful political columnist, wrote that Plame Wilson had been involved in arranging her husband's trip, and identified her as a CIA officer. Novak later said Rove confirmed to him that Plame Wilson worked for the CIA.

During the trial, prosecutor Fitzgerald played a tape of Libby's grand jury testimony, in which Libby said Russert told him about Plame Wilson and that "all the reporters" know about her role with the CIA. But during Libby's trial Russert vehemently testified that he hadn't talked with Libby about Plame Wilson.

In the months before the Iraq invasion, as debate about it intensified, Libby lobbied Washington's elite political journalists, including Judith Miller, then a reporter for the Times. Miller subsequently wrote numerous Times articles about Iraq's effort to obtain weapons of mass destruction.

Though she never wrote about Plame Wilson, Miller was questioned as someone who found out about Plame Wilson's identity. But Miller refused to tell the grand jury that Libby was her source and spent 85 days in jail -- until Libby personally released her from her pledge not to identify him.

Another star journalist drawn into the case was Bob Woodward, The Washington Post's re nowned investigative reporter. Woodward said Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told him in a tape-recorded interview that the CIA sent Wilson to Niger "because his wife's an [expletive deleted] analyst at the CIA." Woodward never published a story about the conversation.

Since the scandal unfolded, Wilson has authored a book about the case, his wife has received a reported $2.5 million contract for her story, and a Hollywood feature film based on their story is reportedly in the works. Wilson has also sued Libby, Cheney, Rove, and others, alleging that they violated his civil rights by leaking the fact that his wife was a CIA operative. No one has been charged with leaking Plame Wilson's name to the press.

Wilson, in a conference call with reporters yesterday, said a disturbing subplot in the trial "is the extent to which the press was used and abused by the administration."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/wa..._in_leak_case/