[Marxism] Indicted

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9837835/
Top Cheney aide Libby indicted, quits post
Meantime, lawyer for Rove says his client is safe for now
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 1:29 p.m. ET Oct. 28, 2005

WASHINGTON - Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis
"Scooter" Libby, was indicted Friday on five charges that include
obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury in the
investigation into the leak of a covert CIA agent's name.

Moments after the indictment was announced, the White House said that Libby
had resigned.

The five-count indictment accuses Libby of lying about how and when he
learned about CIA official Valerie Plane's identity in 2003 and then told
reporters about it. The information was classified.

The grand jury indictment could trigger a shake-up at the White House,
already on the defensive over the response to Hurricane Katrina, opposition
to the Iraq war and the withdrawal of President Bush's nominee for the U.S.
Supreme Court, Harriet Miers.

Details were to be outlined at 2:15 p.m. ET, when Special Counsel Patrick
Fitzgerald will hold a press conference at the Justice Department. The
grand jury that handed up the indictment had been hearing the case for
nearly two years and its term expires Friday.

Prosecutors said that Libby, if found guilty on all charges, faces a maxium
sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1.25 million fine.

Fitzgerald and his investigators have been trying to determine whether
Libby or any other administration officials knowingly revealed the identity
of Plame or lied about their involvement to investigators. Her husband is
diplomat Joseph Wilson, an opponent of the Iraq war who challenged Bush's
assertion that Saddam Hussein was trying to secure nuclear materials.

Libby is considered Cheney's alter ego, a chief architect of the war with
Iraq. Any trial of Libby would give the public a rare glimpse into Cheney's
influential role in the West Wing and his behind-the-scenes lobbying for war.

Though he has worked in relative obscurity, Libby is one of the
administration's influential advisers because of his proximity to Cheney,
one of the most powerful vice presidents in history.

The leak case has put a spotlight on the sometimes aggressive tactics the
White House uses to counter critics of the Iraq war. It has also focused
attention on the administration's shifting justifications for the 2003
invasion, from the threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction -- which
were never found -- to a need to spread democracy.

Rove's situation
Presidential confidant Karl Rove is also being investigated, but his lawyer
said he was not being indicted, at least for now.

"The Special Counsel has advised Mr. Rove that he has made no decision
about whether or not to bring charges and that Mr. Rove's status has not
changed," Robert Luskin said in a statement Friday. "Mr. Rove will continue
to cooperate fully with the Special Counsel's efforts to complete the
investigation. We are confident that when the Special Counsel finishes his
work, he will conclude that Mr. Rove has done nothing wrong."

The lack of an indictment against Rove is a mixed outcome for the
administration. It keeps in place the president's top adviser, the
architect of his political machine whose fingerprints can be found on
virtually every policy that emerges from the White House.

But leaving Rove in legal jeopardy keeps Bush and his team working on
problems like the Iraq war, a Supreme Court vacancy and slumping poll
ratings beneath a dark cloud of uncertainty.

When the investigation began two years ago, a White House spokesman checked
with Rove and Libby, then assured the public that neither was involved in
leaking Plame's name.

But in the past month, it was revealed that Libby spoke to New York Times
reporter Judith Miller, who says their conversations included Plame's CIA
status.

On July 7, the president told reporters that if anyone in his
administration committed a crime in connection with the leak, that person
"will no longer work in my administration." Weeks later, he backpedaled
from that assertion.

Rove's legal problems stem in part from the fact that he failed initially
to disclose to prosecutors a conversation in which he told Time magazine
reporter Matt Cooper that Plame worked for the CIA. The president's top
political adviser says the conversation slipped his mind.

Columnist Robert Novak revealed Plame's name and her CIA status on July 14,
2003. That was five days after Novak talked to Rove and eight days after
Wilson published an opinion article in the Times accusing the Bush
administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate the threat posed by Iraq.

Wilson and his supporters have charged the leak of Plame's name, which
ended her ability to work undercover for the CIA, was designed to discredit
him and punish him for his criticism and intimidate others inside the
government critical of Bush's Iraq policies.

Uranium yellowcake
Also in the backdrop of Fitzgerald's investigation is a set of forged
documents that stated Iraq was acquiring uranium yellowcake from the
African nation of Niger. Wilson had been sent by the CIA to Africa to
investigate such reports, later used by Bush to help justify the war in Iraq.

On Thursday, the White House disputed an Italian news report relating to
those forgeries, which the FBI is continuing to investigate.

The news report and speculation on Internet blogs have said that National
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley may have received bogus information three
years ago from an Italian intelligence chief about Iraq's nuclear ambitions.

National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said Hadley met briefly
on Sept. 9, 2002, with Nicolo Pollari, the head of Italian military
intelligence, but the subject of Iraq's supposed uranium deal with Niger is
not believed to have come up.

The meeting occurred a month before documents, later determined to be
forgeries, surfaced in Italy claiming to show Saddam Hussein's regime had
an agreement to buy 500 tons of uranium from Niger. After his trip to
Niger, Wilson reported he could not substantiate any uranium sales to Iraq.

The Hadley-Pollari meeting was a courtesy call that lasted fewer than 15
minutes and "no one present has any recollection of yellowcake being
discussed or documents being provided," Jones said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.


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