The court documents provided the most concrete evidence yet that Bush and Cheney were engaged in a campaign to disclose selected snippets of highly classified intelligence — much of it misleading, exaggerated or wrong — to a few trusted journalists in an effort to bolster their case for war.
“I am troubled by news reports that President Bush may have authorized Mr. Libby to disclose intelligence information to support the administration’s case for war in Iraq,” said Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader of the House. “I served for 13 years on the House Intelligence Committee, and I know intelligence must never be classified or declassified for political purposes.”
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada said: “President Bush must fully disclose his participation in the selective leaking of classified information. The American people must know the truth.”
Bush and Cheney have railed against leaks, particularly of classified information. When the investigation over the disclosure that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was an undercover CIA officer arose, Bush promised to get to the bottom of it and vowed that anyone in his administration caught leaking would be dealt with accordingly.
“There’s leaks at the executive branch; there’s leaks in the legislative branch,” Bush told reporters in a trip to Chicago on Sept. 30, 2003. “And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.”
Friday, April 07, 2006
Testimony: Bush OK'd leak to derail critic (videos)
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