Full Text: U.S. v. Libby Indictment

Office of Special Counsel
Friday, October 28, 2005; 1:49 PM

Following is the full text of the indictment of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, after a two-year investigation into the leak of a CIA agent's identity:

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Holding a Criminal Term

Grand Jury Sworn in on October 31, 2003

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY"

Criminal No.

GRAND JURY ORIGINAL

Count 1: Obstruction of Justice (18 U.S.C. Section 1503)

Counts 2-3: False Statements (18 U.S.C. Section 1001(a)(2))

Counts 4-5: Perjury (18 U.S.C. Section 1623)

INDICTMENT

COUNT ONE (Obstruction of Justice)

THE GRAND JURY CHARGES:

1. At times material to this indictment:

Defendant's Employment and Responsibilities

a. Beginning on or about January 20, 2001, and continuing through the date of

this indictment, defendant I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY," was employed

as Assistant to the President of the United States, Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States, and Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. In the course of his work, LIBBY had frequent access to classified information and frequently spoke with officials of the U.S. intelligence community, as well as other government officials, regarding sensitive national security matters.

b. In connection with his role as a senior government official with responsibilities for national security matters, LIBBY held security clearances entitling him to access to classified information. As a person with such clearances, LIBBY was obligated by applicable laws and regulations, including Title 18, United States Code, Section 793, and Executive Order 12958 (as modified by Executive Order 13292), not to disclose classified information to persons not authorized to receive such information, and otherwise to exercise proper care to safeguard classified information against unauthorized disclosure. On or about January 23, 2001, LIBBY executed a written "Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement," stating in part that "I understand and

accept that by being granted access to classified information, special confidence and trust shall be placed in me by the United States Government," and that "I have been advised that the unauthorized disclosure, unauthorized retention, or negligent handling of classified information by me could cause damage or irreparable injury to the United States or could be used to advantage by a foreign nation."

The Central Intelligence Agency

c. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was an agency of the United States whose mission was to collect, produce, and disseminate intelligence and counterintelligence information to officers and departments of the United States government, including the President, the National Security Council, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

d. The responsibilities of certain CIA employees required that their association with the CIA be kept secret; as a result, the fact that these individuals were employed by the CIA was classified. Disclosure of the fact that such individuals were employed by the CIA had the potential to damage the national security in ways that ranged from preventing the future use of those individuals in a covert capacity, to compromising intelligence-gathering methods and operations, and endangering the safety of CIA employees and those who dealt with them.

Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson

e. Joseph Wilson ("Wilson") was a former career State Department official who had held a variety of posts, including United States Ambassador. In 2002, after an inquiry to the CIA by the Vice President concerning certain intelligence reporting, the CIA decided on its own initiative to send Wilson to the country of Niger to investigate allegations involving Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium yellowcake, a processed form of uranium ore. Wilson orally reported his findings to the CIA upon his return.

f. Joseph Wilson was married to Valerie Plame Wilson ("Valerie Wilson"). At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community.

Events Leading up to July 2003

2. On or about January 28, 2003, President George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union address which included sixteen words asserting that "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

3. On May 6, 2003, the New York Times published a column by Nicholas Kristof which disputed the accuracy of the "sixteen words" in the State of the Union address. The column reported that, following a request from the Vice President's office for an investigation of allegations that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger, an unnamed former ambassador was sent on a trip to Niger in 2002 to investigate the allegations. According to the column, the ambassador reported back to the CIA and State Department in early 2002 that the allegations were unequivocally wrong and based on forged documents.

4. On or about May 29, 2003, in the White House, LIBBY asked an Under Secretary of State ("Under Secretary") for information concerning the unnamed ambassador's travel to Niger to investigate claims about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium yellowcake. The Under Secretary thereafter directed the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research to prepare a report concerning the ambassador and his trip. The Under Secretary provided LIBBY with interim oral reports in late May and early June 2003, and advised LIBBY that Wilson was the former ambassador who took the trip.

5. On or about June 9, 2003, a number of classified documents from the CIA were faxed to the Office of the Vice President to the personal attention of LIBBY and another person in the Office of the Vice President. The faxed documents, which were marked as classified, discussed, among other things, Wilson and his trip to Niger, but did not mention Wilson by name. After receiving these documents, LIBBY and one or more other persons in the Office of the Vice President handwrote the names "Wilson" and "Joe Wilson" on the documents.

6. On or about June 11 or 12, 2003, the Under Secretary of State orally advised LIBBY in the White House that, in sum and substance, Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and that State Department personnel were saying that Wilson's wife was involved in the planning of his trip.

7. On or about June 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke with a senior officer of the CIA to ask about the origin and circumstances of Wilson's trip, and was advised by the CIA officer that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and was believed to be responsible for sending Wilson on the trip.

8. Prior to June 12, 2003, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus contacted the Office of the Vice President in connection with a story he was writing about Wilson's trip. LIBBY participated in discussions in the Office of the Vice President concerning how to respond to Pincus.

9. On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Division. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.

10. On June 12, 2003, the Washington Post published an article by reporter Walter Pincus about Wilson's trip to Niger, which described Wilson as a retired ambassador but not by name, and reported that the CIA had sent him to Niger after an aide to the Vice President raised questions about purported Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium. Pincus's article questioned the accuracy of the "sixteen words," and stated that the retired ambassador had reported to the CIA that the uranium purchase story was false.

11. On or about June 14, 2003, LIBBY met with a CIA briefer. During their conversation he expressed displeasure that CIA officials were making comments to reporters critical of the Vice President's office, and discussed with the briefer, among other things, "Joe Wilson" and his wife "Valerie Wilson," in the context of Wilson's trip to Niger.

12. On or about June 19, 2003, an article appeared in The New Republic magazine online entitled "The First Casualty: The Selling of the Iraq War." Among other things, the article questioned the "sixteen words" and stated that following a request for information from the Vice President, the CIA had asked an unnamed ambassador to travel to Niger to investigate allegations that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger. The article included a quotation attributed to the unnamed ambassador alleging that administration officials "knew the Niger story was a flat-out lie." The article also was critical of how the administration, including the Office of the Vice President, portrayed intelligence concerning Iraqi capabilities with regard to weapons of mass destruction, and accused the administration of suppressing dissent from the intelligence agencies on this topic.

13. Shortly after publication of the article in The New Republic, LIBBY spoke by telephone with his then Principal Deputy and discussed the article. That official asked LIBBY whether information about Wilson's trip could be shared with the press to rebut the allegations that the Vice President had sent Wilson. LIBBY responded that there would be complications at the CIA in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line.

14. On or about June 23, 2003, LIBBY met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. During this meeting LIBBY was critical of the CIA, and disparaged what he termed "selective leaking" by the CIA concerning intelligence matters. In discussing the CIA's handling of Wilson's trip to Niger, LIBBY informed her that Wilson's wife might work at a bureau of the CIA.

The July 6 "Op Ed" Article by Wilson

15. On July 6, 2003, the New York Times published an Op-Ed article by Wilson entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa." Also on July 6, 2003, the Washington Post published an article about Wilson's 2002 trip to Niger, which article was based in part upon an interview of Wilson. Also on July 6, Wilson appeared as a guest on the television interview show "Meet the Press." In his Op-Ed article and interviews in print and on television, Wilson asserted, among other things, that he had taken a trip to Niger at the request of the CIA in February 2002 to investigate allegations that Iraq had sought or obtained uranium yellowcake from Niger, and that he doubted Iraq had obtained uranium from Niger recently, for a number of reasons. Wilson stated that he believed, based on his understanding of government procedures, that the Office of the Vice President was advised of the results of his trip.

LIBBY's Actions Following Wilson's July 6 "Op Ed" Column

16. On or about July 7, 2003, LIBBY had lunch with the then White House Press Secretary and advised the Press Secretary that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and noted that such information was not widely known.

17. On or about the morning of July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. When the conversation turned to the subject of Joseph Wilson, LIBBY asked that the information LIBBY provided on the topic of Wilson be attributed to a "former Hill staffer" rather than to a "senior administration official," as had been the understanding with respect to other information that LIBBY provided to Miller during this meeting. LIBBY thereafter discussed with Miller Wilson's trip and criticized the CIA reporting concerning Wilson's trip. During this discussion, LIBBY advised Miller of his belief that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

18. Also on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with the Counsel to the Vice President in an anteroom outside the Vice President's Office. During their brief conversation, LIBBY asked the Counsel to the Vice President, in sum and substance, what paperwork there would be at the CIA if an employee's spouse undertook an overseas trip.

19. Not earlier than June 2003, but on or before July 8, 2003, the Assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs learned from another government official that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and advised LIBBY of this information.

20. On or about July 10, 2003, LIBBY spoke to NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert to complain about press coverage of LIBBY by an MSNBC reporter. LIBBY did not discuss Wilson's wife with Russert.

21. On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House ("Official A") who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson's wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson's trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson's wife.

22. On or about July 12, 2003, LIBBY flew with the Vice President and others to and from Norfolk, Virginia, on Air Force Two. On his return trip, LIBBY discussed with other officials aboard the plane what LIBBY should say in response to certain pending media inquiries, including questions from Time reporter Matthew Cooper.

23. On or about July 12, 2003, in the afternoon, LIBBY spoke by telephone to Cooper, who asked whether LIBBY had heard that Wilson's wife was involved in sending Wilson on the trip to Niger. LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without elaboration or qualification, that he had heard this information too.

24. On or about July 12, 2003, in the late afternoon, LIBBY spoke by telephone with Judith Miller of the New York Times and discussed Wilson's wife, and that she worked at the CIA.

The Criminal Investigation

25. On or about September 26, 2003, the Department of Justice authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") to commence a criminal investigation into the possible unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA to various reporters in the spring of 2003.

26. As part of the criminal investigation, LIBBY was interviewed by Special Agents of the FBI on or about October 14 and November 26, 2003, each time in the presence of his counsel. During these interviews, LIBBY stated to FBI Special Agents that:

a. During a conversation with Tim Russert of NBC News on July 10 or 11, 2003, Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY was aware that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. LIBBY responded to Russert that he did not know that, and Russert replied that all the reporters knew it. LIBBY was surprised by this statement because, while speaking with Russert, LIBBY did not recall that he previously had learned about Wilson's wife's employment from the Vice President.

b. During a conversation with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on or about July 12, 2003, LIBBY told Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but that LIBBY did not know if this was true; and

c. LIBBY did not discuss Wilson's wife with New York Times reporter Judith Miller during a meeting with Miller on or about July 8, 2003.

27. Beginning in or about January 2004, and continuing until the date of this indictment, Grand Jury 03-3 sitting in the District of Columbia conducted an investigation ("the Grand Jury Investigation") into possible violations of federal criminal laws, including: Title 50, United States Code, Section 421 (disclosure of the identity of covert intelligence personnel); and Title 18, United States Code, Sections 793 (improper disclosure of national defense information), 1001 (false statements), 1503 (obstruction of justice), and 1623 (perjury).

28. A major focus of the Grand Jury Investigation was to determine which government officials had disclosed to the media prior to July 14, 2003 information concerning the affiliation of Valerie Wilson with the CIA, and the nature, timing, extent, and purpose of such disclosures, as well as whether any official making such a disclosure did so knowing that the employment of Valerie Wilson by the CIA was classified information.

29. During the course of the Grand Jury Investigation, the following matters, among others, were material to the Grand Jury Investigation:

i. When, and the manner and means by which, defendant LIBBY learned that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA;

ii. Whether and when LIBBY disclosed to members of the media that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA;

iii. The language used by LIBBY in disclosing any such information to the media, including whether LIBBY expressed uncertainty about the accuracy of any information he may have disclosed, or described where he obtained the information;

iv. LIBBY's knowledge as to whether any information he disclosed was classified at the time he disclosed it; and

v. Whether LIBBY was candid with Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in describing his conversations with the other government officials and the media relating to Valerie Wilson.

LIBBY's Grand Jury Testimony

30. On or about March 5 and March 24, 2004, LIBBY testified before Grand Jury 03-3.

On each occasion of LIBBY's testimony, the foreperson of the Grand Jury administered the oath to LIBBY and LIBBY swore to tell the truth in the testimony he was about to give.

31. In or about March 2004, in the District of Columbia,

I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY,"

defendant herein, did knowingly and corruptly endeavor to influence, obstruct and impede the due administration of justice, namely proceedings before Grand Jury 03-3, by misleading and deceiving the grand jury as to when, and the manner and means by which, LIBBY acquired and subsequently disclosed to the media information concerning the employment of Valerie Wilson by the CIA.

32. It was part of the corrupt endeavor that during his grand jury testimony, defendant LIBBY made the following materially false and intentionally misleading statements and

representations, in substance, under oath:

a. When LIBBY spoke with Tim Russert of NBC News, on or about July 10, 2003:

i. Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, and told LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and

ii. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was surprised to hear that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;

b. LIBBY advised Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on or about July 12, 2003, that he had heard that other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, and further advised him that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true; and

c. LIBBY advised Judith Miller of the New York Times on or about July 12, 2003 that he had heard that other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but LIBBY did not know whether that assertion was true.

33. It was further part of the corrupt endeavor that at the time defendant LIBBY made each of the above-described materially false and intentionally misleading statements and representations to the grand jury, LIBBY was aware that they were false, in that:

a. When LIBBY spoke with Tim Russert of NBC News on or about July 10, 2003:

i. Russert did not ask LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did he tell LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and

ii. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was well aware that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; in fact, LIBBY had participated in multiple prior conversations concerning this topic, including on the following occasions:

In or about early June 2003, LIBBY learned from the Vice President that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA in the Counterproliferation Division;

Cheney, Libby Blocked Papers to Senate Intelligence Panel
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102805I.shtml
Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

On or about June 11, 2003, LIBBY was informed by a senior CIA officer that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA and that the idea of sending him to Niger originated with her;

On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was informed by the Under Secretary of State that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;

On or about June 14, 2003, LIBBY discussed "Joe Wilson" and "Valerie Wilson" with his CIA briefer, in the context of Wilson's trip to Niger;

On or about June 23, 2003, LIBBY informed reporter Judith Miller that Wilson's wife might work at a bureau of the CIA;

On or about July 7, 2003, LIBBY advised the White House Press Secretary that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;

In or about June or July 2003, and in no case later than on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;

On or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY advised reporter Judith Miller of his belief that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; and

On or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY had a discussion with the Counsel to the Office of the Vice President concerning the paperwork that would exist if a person who was sent on an overseas trip by the CIA had a spouse who worked at the CIA;

b. LIBBY did not advise Matthew Cooper, on or about July 12, 2003, that LIBBY had heard other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise him that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true; rather, LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without qualification, that LIBBY had heard that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; and

c. LIBBY did not advise Judith Miller, on or about July 12, 2003, that LIBBY had heard other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise her that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true;

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1503.

COUNT TWO

(False Statement)

THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES:

1. The Grand Jury realleges Paragraphs 1-26 of Count One as though fully set forth herein.

2. During the course of the criminal investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Justice, the following matters, among others, were material to that investigation:

a. When, and the manner and means by which, defendant LIBBY learned that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA; b. Whether and when LIBBY disclosed to members of the media that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA;

c. The language used by LIBBY in disclosing any such information to the media, including whether LIBBY expressed uncertainty about the accuracy of any information he may have disclosed, or described where he obtained the information; and

d. LIBBY's knowledge as to whether any information he disclosed was classified at the time he disclosed it.

3. On or about October 14 and November 26, 2003, in the District of Columbia,

I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY,"

defendant herein, did knowingly and willfully make a materially false, fictitious, and fraudulent statement and representation in a matter within the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, an agency within the executive branch of the United States, in that the defendant, in response to questions posed to him by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stated that:

During a conversation with Tim Russert of NBC News on July 10 or 11, 2003, Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY was aware that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

LIBBY responded to Russert that he did not know that, and Russert replied that all the reporters knew it. LIBBY was surprised by this statement because, while speaking with Russert, LIBBY did not recall that he previously had learned about Wilson's wife's employment from the Vice President.

4. As defendant LIBBY well knew when he made it, this statement was false in that when LIBBY spoke with Russert on or about July 10 or 11, 2003:

a. Russert did not ask LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did he tell LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and

b. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was well aware that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2).

COUNT THREE

(False Statement)

THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES:

1. The Grand Jury realleges Paragraphs 1 and 2 of Count Two as though fully set forth herein.

2. On or about October 14 and November 26, 2003, in the District of Columbia,

I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY,"

During a conversation with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on July 12, 2003, LIBBY told Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but LIBBY did not know if this was true.

3. As defendant LIBBY well knew when he made it, this statement was false in that:

LIBBY did not advise Cooper on or about July 12, 2003 that reporters were telling the administration that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise him that LIBBY did not know whether this was true; rather, LIBBY confirmed for Cooper, without qualification, that LIBBY had heard that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA;

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1001(a)(2).

COUNT FOUR

(Perjury)

THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES:

1. The Grand Jury realleges Paragraphs 1-30 of Count One as though fully set forth herein.

2. On or about March 5, 2004, in the District of Columbia,

I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY,"

defendant herein, having taken an oath to testify truthfully in a proceeding before a grand jury of the United States, knowingly made a false material declaration, in that he gave the following testimony regarding a conversation that he represented he had with Tim Russert of NBC News, on or about July 10, 2003 (underlined portions alleged as false):

. . . . And then he said, you know, did you know that this -- excuse me, did you know that Ambassador Wilson's wife works at the CIA? And I was a little taken aback by that. I remember being taken aback by it. And I said -- he may have said a little more but that was -- he said that. And I said, no, I don't know that. And I said, no, I don't know that intentionally because I didn't want him to take anything I was saying as in any way confirming what he said, because at that point in time I did not recall that I had ever known, and I thought this is something that he was telling me that I was first learning. And so I said, no, I don't know that because I want to be very careful not to confirm it for him, so that he didn't take my statement as confirmation for him.

Now, I had said earlier in the conversation, which I omitted to tell you, that this -- you know, as always, Tim, our discussion is off-the-record if that's okay with you, and he said, that's fine. So then he said -- I said -- he said, sorry -- he, Mr. Russert said to me, did you know that Ambassador Wilson's wife, or his wife, works at the CIA? And I said, no, I don't know that. And then he said, yeah -- yes, all the reporters know it. And I said, again, I don't know that. I just wanted to be clear that I wasn't confirming anything for him on this. And you know, I was struck by what he was saying in that he thought it was an important fact, but I didn't ask him anymore about it because I didn't want to be digging in on him, and he then moved on and finished the conversation, something like that.

3. In truth and fact, as LIBBY well knew when he gave this testimony, it was false in that:

a. Russert did not ask LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did he tell LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and

b. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was well aware that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA;

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1623.

COUNT FIVE

(Perjury)

THE GRAND JURY FURTHER CHARGES:

1. The Grand Jury realleges Paragraphs 1-30 of Count One as though fully set forth herein.

2. On or about March 5, 2004 and March 24, 2004, in the District of Columbia,

I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY,"

defendant herein, having taken an oath to testify truthfully in a proceeding before a grand jury of the United States, knowingly made a false material declaration, in that he gave the following testimony regarding his conversations with reporters concerning the employment of Joseph Wilson's wife by the CIA (underlined portions alleged as false):

a. Testimony Given on or about March 5, 2004 Regarding a Conversation With Matthew Cooper on or About July 12, 2003:

Q. And it's your specific recollection that when you told Cooper about Wilson's wife working at the CIA, you attributed that fact to what reporters --

A. Yes.

Q. -- plural, were saying. Correct?

A. I was very clear to say reporters are telling us that because in my mind I still didn't know it as a fact. I thought I was -- all I had was this information that was coming in from the reporters.

. . . .

Q. And at the same time you have a specific recollection of telling him, you don't know whether it's true or not, you're just telling him what reporters are saying?

A. Yes, that's correct, sir. And I said, reporters are telling us that, I don't know if it's true. I was careful about that because among other things, I wanted to be clear I didn't know Mr. Wilson. I don't know -- I think I said, I don't know if he has a wife, but this is what we're hearing.

b. Testimony Given on or about March 24, 2004 Regarding Conversations With Reporters:

Q. And let me ask you this directly. Did the fact that you knew that the law could turn, the law as to whether a crime was committed, could turn on where you learned the information from, affect your account for the FBI when you told them that you were telling reporters Wilson's wife worked at the CIA but your source was a reporter rather than the Vice-President?

A. No, it's a fact. It was a fact, that's what I told the reporters.

Q. And you're, you're certain as you sit here today that every reporter you told that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, you sourced it back to other reporters?

A. Yes, sir, because it was important for what I was saying and because it was -- that's what -- that's how I did it.

. . . .

Q. The next set of questions from the Grand Jury are -- concern this fact. If you did not understand the information about Wilson's wife to have been classified and didn't understand it when you heard it from Mr. Russert, why was it that you were so deliberate to make sure that you told other reporters that reporters were saying it and not assert it as something you knew?

A. I want -- I didn't want to -- I didn't know if it was true and I didn't want people -- I didn't want the reporters to think it was true because I said it. I -- all I had was that reporters are telling us that, and by that I wanted them to understand it wasn't coming from me and that it might not be true. Reporters write things that aren't true sometimes, or get things that aren't true. So I wanted to be clear they didn't, they didn't think it was me saying it. I didn't know it was true and I wanted them to understand that. Also, it was important to me to let them know that because what I was telling them was that I don't know Mr. Wilson. We didn't ask for his mission. That I didn't see his report. Basically, we didn't know anything about him until this stuff came out in June. And among the other things, I didn't know he had a wife. That was one of the things I said to Mr. Cooper. I don't know if he's married. And so I wanted to be very clear about all this stuff that I didn't, I didn't know about him. And the only thing I had, I thought at the time, was what reporters are telling us.

. . . .

Well, talking to the other reporters about it, I don't see as a crime. What I said to the other reporters is what, you know -- I told a couple reporters what other reporters had told us, and I don't see that as a crime.

3. In truth and fact, as LIBBY well knew when he gave this testimony, it was false in that LIBBY did not advise Matthew Cooper or other reporters that LIBBY had heard other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise Cooper or other reporters that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true;

In violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1623.

A TRUE BILL:

FOREPERSON

PATRICK J. FITZGERALD

Special Counsel

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/leakgate.htm

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Indictment doesn't clear up mystery at heart of CIA leak probe

By Jonathan S. Landay and Warren P. Strobel
Knight Ridder Newspapers
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13024382.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
WASHINGTON - At the heart of Friday's indictment of a top White House aide remain two unsolved mysteries.

Who forged the documents that claimed Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium for nuclear weapons in the African country of Niger?

How did a version of the tale get into President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address, even though U.S. intelligence agencies never confirmed it and some intelligence analysts doubted it?

Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who found no substance to the alleged deal during a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, accused Bush in July 2003 of twisting the intelligence.

Shortly thereafter, the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, a covert CIA officer, was leaked to journalists, igniting special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's probe.

The FBI has been investigating the clumsy forgeries, which first surfaced in Rome in October 2002, for two years, but has made little progress, four U.S. government officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation continues. Those officials blame a lack of cooperation from Italy. A spokesman for the Italian Embassy in Washington denied that.

But a weeks-long review by Knight Ridder has established that:

-Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI, and people close to it, repeatedly tried to shop the bogus Niger uranium story to governments in France, Britain and the United States. That created the illusion that multiple sources were confirming the story.

The CIA had begun receiving intelligence reports based on the same forgeries in October 2001, but they could not be confirmed. Copies of the fake documents suddenly surfaced at a critical point in the White House's fall 2002 campaign to take the country to war in Iraq.

The CIA eventually determined that the earlier reports were "based on the forged documents" and were "thus ... unreliable," a presidential commission on unconventional weapons proliferation said in March.

-State Department intelligence analysts and some in the CIA discounted the uranium story. But White House officials, working through a back channel to one CIA unit, seized on the tale, and it was included in Bush's case for war.

The following is a chronology of events that led up to the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. It's based on interviews and on reports by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the presidentially appointed panel on weapons intelligence.

Oct. 15, 2001 - The CIA received the first of three top-secret reports from a foreign intelligence service - which intelligence officials said was Italy's SISMI - that Niger planned to ship tons of uranium ore, or yellowcake, to Iraq.

SISMI was behind similar reports in Britain and France. Paris never put any stock in the reports, according to two European officials. London has stood behind its statement that Iraq was seeking uranium in Africa.

February 2002 - Cheney and other officials asked the CIA to find out more.

Some CIA and Pentagon analysts were impressed with the reporting. But the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) was skeptical. Its analysts noted that France controls Niger's uranium mines and argued that Iraq wouldn't risk being caught breaking U.N. sanctions.

The CIA station in Rome was skeptical of the reports from the start.

Feb. 21 - Wilson traveled to Niger at the CIA's request to investigate the purported uranium deal. He said he found nothing to substantiate the allegation. Neither did two other U.S. officials who investigated.

March 8 - The CIA circulated a report on Wilson's trip - without identifying him - to the White House and other agencies.

Sept. 9 - With the White House's public campaign against Iraq in full swing, Nicolo Pollari, head of SISMI, met with then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley at the White House. Hadley later took the blame for including the false Niger allegation in Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech.

National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones said Thursday that the meeting was a 15-minute courtesy call and that no one could recollect talk about yellowcake.

Oct. 1 - U.S. intelligence agencies sent the White House and Congress their key prewar assessment of Iraq's illicit weapon programs, which said Iraq was "vigorously" trying to buy uranium ore and had sought deals with Niger, Somalia and possibly the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The State Department's INR dissented in the report.

Oct. 5 - Then-CIA Director George Tenet advised Hadley to drop a reference to Niger from the draft of a nationally televised speech that Bush was to give on Oct. 7 because the "president should not be a fact witness on this issue" as "the reporting was weak." The sentence was removed.

The CIA then wrote the White House that "the evidence (of a uranium ore deal) is weak. One of the two mines cited by the source of the uranium oxide is flooded. The other mine cited by the source is under the control of the French."

Oct. 9 - An Italian journalist for the Rome magazine Panorama, owned by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a supporter of the Iraq war, gave the U.S. Embassy a copy of the purported agreement by Niger to sell yellowcake to Iraq.

The journalist, Elisabetta Burba, reportedly received the documents from Italian businessman Rocco Martino, who has connections to SISMI.

The Italian government has denied any connection to the forged documents.

The embassy forwarded a copy to the State Department. It raised the suspicion of an INR nuclear analyst, who noted in an e-mail that the documents bear a "funky Emb. Of Niger stamp (to make it look official, I guess.)"

Jan. 13, 2003 - The INR nuclear analyst told other analysts that he believed the Niger documents were forgeries.

Jan. 16 - The CIA finally received copies of the forged French-language documents. It sent them back to the State Department to be translated.

Jan. 17 - A CIA analytical unit known as WINPAC (Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control) said in a secret assessment that there was "fragmentary reporting" on Iraqi attempts to purchase uranium from "various countries in Africa."

Sometime in late January, Robert Joseph, a senior White House staffer, and Alan Foley, the head of WINPAC, agreed that Bush could refer to the uranium claim in his State of the Union speech, but he should cite a public British report.

Jan. 28 - Bush delivered the State of the Union.

Feb. 5 - Secretary of State Colin Powell addressed the U.N. Security Council on the threat from Iraq but didn't repeat the yellowcake allegation.

March 3 - The International Atomic Energy Agency told the United States that the documents were forgeries after an expert used the Google search engine to identify false information.

July 6 - In an op-ed piece in the New York Times, Wilson wrote that his failure to confirm the alleged uranium deal led him to conclude that the Bush administration "twisted" some of the intelligence it used to justify the war.

July 14 - Syndicated columnist Robert Novak identified Plame in a column.
http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/13024382.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

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Lawmakers back special prosecutor

Joseph Straw, Register Washington Bureau

10/29/2005

http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15476855&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=6

WASHINGTON — Like Valerie Plame, U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, R-2, used to make his living working undercover for the CIA.
And Friday, after a grand jury indicted Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff for allegedly lying to investigators about the leak of Plame’s identity, Simmons made clear his feelings about the work of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. "If public officials lie to a grand jury and obstruct a federal investigation in a clear and obvious way, they should be fully prosecuted under our process of law and afforded their day in court," Simmons said.

"That is how our judicial system works, and after two years of investigation, Mr. Fitzgerald today has sent a strong message reinforcing the rule of law," Simmons said.

Ken Dautrich, a professor of public policy at the University of Connecticut, said the indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby "pales in comparison" to Watergate or the Lewinsky affair.

The significance of Friday’s developments was the resignation of Libby, who while widely unknown prior to the scandal, was a prime catalyst for the administration’s divisive foreign policy, Dautrich said.

Libby was born in New Haven and is a 1972 Yale graduate.

"It’s not the president or vice president who lied to a grand jury. It’s a top aide, but Bush or Cheney, they don’t have a stink left on them," Dautrich said.

"This is the guy behind the Bush administration’s foreign policy. This is a guy who thought Saddam Hussein had to be taken out. He was the highest-level hardliner, and was a close adviser to Cheney and Bush. Clinton lied to a grand jury. This was just a high level aid," Dautrich said.

U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., has been critical of both Bush administration policy in Iraq and the jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller for her refusal to name her source’s identity in the Plame case. She eventually testified it was Libby.

Dodd said that if true, the allegations against Libby indicate "extreme arrogance on behalf of this White House."

"Leaking a CIA agent’s identity is extremely dangerous, reckless and wrong. But doing so for the larger purpose of discrediting someone who did not believe the administration’s untruths about Iraq and misleading the country into war is reprehensible and damaging to our country’s interests," Dodd said.

U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., called Friday "a sad day in the history of our government," but said the indictment was "not about partisan politics or the war in Iraq."

"This indictment is about serious violations of law," Lieberman said. "Whatever our party affiliation or opinion on the war, we all agree that perjury, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to a grand jury are inexcusable criminal acts.

"That is where our shared focus should be so that today’s indictment does not become one more cause of debilitating political divisiveness in our government," Lieberman said.

U.S. Rep. Rosa L. DeLauro, D-3, however, invoked Iraq and called on both Bush and Cheney to address the country.

"This indictment is an indication of wrongdoing, unethical and now seemingly unlawful behavior at the highest level of the Bush White House," DeLauro said. "The president said he would fire all involved in this attempt to silence whistleblowers about Iraq. He has not kept his word to the American people."

Scott McLean, chairman of the political science department at Quinnipiac University, said it’s still unclear how the indictment would affect next year’s midterm elections, but said the cloud still hanging over Bush Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove could make him "like Kryptonite" in the White House.

U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, called the indictment "extremely disturbing."

"Obstruction of justice, false statements and perjury are charges that — if proven correct — show contempt for our judicial system. … The American people deserve better than a top government official perjuring himself and obstructing justice," Shays said. http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15476855&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517515&rfi=6

LIBBY RATTED OUT BY ROVE--They will spill guts about forged war intel.

Posted by CHallmark on Friday October 28, 2005 at 9:17 am MST

http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=27415

Karl Rove apparently has sang his heart out to Patrick Fitzgerald's grand jury and gotten Lewis Libby to take the rap for him, for now. More important than these people are the American casualties, now in the thousands (2000+) and over 100,000 dead Iraqi -- killed in a war that Bush, Rove, Cheney, Lewis and others lied us into. The trials in this matter -- any trials -- will make clearer the lies and the uselessness of this war. Fitzgerald still could indict Rove and others besides those announced today. Another US Attorney, Paul McNulty, has brought three indictments into Israeli spying against the US, and this will uncover more facts about the war scam. Then there is the ongoing investigation in Italy into that country's involvement in forged war evidence used by Bush and Blair, which could come to a head with extradition proceedings for Bob Lady and 21 other CIA operatives.

Rove/Libby/Bush/Cheney got and used forgeries (shown) on Niger uranium to start the Iraq war -- WHICH LED TO A COVERUP AND THE PRESENT CHARGES. The point isn't their fate but (A) the administration is corrupt, (B) the war is based on forgeries can end now, and (C) foreign governments that aided the culprits must be exposed. The Washington grand jury of US Attorney Fitzgerald will obtain indictments in the outing of CIA's Valerie Plame on Friday, sources say, and could nail Bush's and Cheney's right-hand men, Rove and Libby.....In Alexandria, VA, another grand jury, Paul McNulty's, investigating Israeli espionage against the US, has indicted a neocon Pentagon analyst and continues its work.

With these and other probable indictments, there will be trials that will EXPOSE FIXED INTELLIGENCE and FOREIGN MANIPULATION that pushed the US into war.....Also, Italian officials promise to request in coming weeks the extradition of CIA man Bob Lady, a key figure in Imam Rapito and the NIGER FORGERIES. See how these events are converging.

The way things are going, the Neo-Conservatives are going to need more than a puppet judge to replace Harriet Miers, THEY ARE GOING TO NEED TO "STACK" THE SUPREME COURT. --------------------------- IF YOU SEE NO GRAPHICS HERE OR AT BOTTOM, go to http://www.indybay.org/news/2005/10/1776552.php to see them. ------------------------------- [Rome -- Oct. 25, 2005] The AP reported that Italy's parliament announced Tuesday that the director of Italy's SISMI (their CIA), Nicolo Pollari, will be called to testify on charges he gave Bush official Stephen Hadley the forgeries shown and described here, knowing they were forgeries. This is in response to the newspaper report http://www.repubblica.it/2005/j/sezioni/esteri/iraq69/bodv/bodv.html that Pollari met with Hadley in the White House on Sep. 9, 2002, just before the forgeries were put into play to start the war. Hadley is now Bush's National Security Advisor, the successor of Condoleeza Rice. ------------------------------- [Washington, DC -- Oct. 14, 2005] As Karl Rove made his fourth appearance before a grand jury investigating the "outing" of CIA undercover agent Valerie Plame, the Washington Post quoted a source close to White House adviser Karl Rove as saying at least two people told him Valerie Plame was an agent. One of them was Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, and Rove said he couldn't remember who the other person was. The multiple appearances of Rove and Libby and the low bar a prosecutor must clear to get indictments makes it likely that they will be indicted and will have to leave the administration at least until they can be tried. ------------------------------ [Rome -- Sep. 29, 2005] The Chicago Tribune reported that Italian investigators have uncovered computer records, including photographs and an Internet map search, that appear to link a former U.S. diplomat and CIA operative to the controversial February 2003 abduction of a Muslim cleric in Milan, according to court documents. Prosecutors say they are proceeding with formal extradition requests. THIS WILL BE BIG NEWS, if the Italians keep their word. Robert Seldon Lady, the alleged leader of the CIA gang, is reported by the Trib to be hiding from the law in Honduras [most likely Valle de Angeles]. http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/world/12776492.htm ------------------------------ [Alexandria, VA -- Aug. 4, 2005] US Attorney Paul McNulty, whose grand jury has been investigating Israeli espionage against the US, involving Bush Administration figures, spelled out more on charges against Defense Department analyst Larry Franklin and two others. Franklin already had been accused of illegally disclosing classified defense information to Israeli lobbyists. Administration officials close to Israel, like Franklin, helped incite the Iraq war. -----------------------------

The above news stories are developing and converging and should at last give Cindy Sheehan some of the answers she sought from President Bush about the "noble cause" that took her son's life in Iraq. Maybe we will even learn how foreign agents manipulated the US into the Iraq war and just how corrupt our own government is.

NIGERGATE: Forged Italian Documents on Niger Uranium Sent GIs to War

As this story is developing, there will be some overlap and synergies between the investigations of US attorney Paul McNulty's grand jury in Eastern Virginia and US Attorney Patrick Figzgerald's grand jury in Washington, DC. Fitzgerald is concentrating on Plamegate, the outing by Karl Rove and others of Valerie Plame Wilson in revenge for her husband exposing the tricks of Nigergate (forged Niger documents on uranium and Iraq).

At Michael Ledeen's (Karl Rove's foreign policy advisor) meeting with Italian intelligence in December 2001, to procure evidence against Iraq as an excuse for war, was Larry Franklin, whom McNulty got indicted for collaboration with Israeli agents.

The FBI caught Franklin, 58 -- a Pentagon analyst on Iran and an Air Force Reserve colonel -- meeting two agents of AIPAC, Israel's US "lobby," in an Alexandria, VA, restaurant in June 2003. AIPAC employees -- including now-charged AIPAC agents at the meeting, Steven Rosen and Keith Weissman -- had been under FBI surveillance for a couple of years. The FBI was surprised by Franklin showing up and began investigating him, too. The FBI arrested Franklin, on May 4, 2005, for illegally disclosing highly classified information to AIPAC -- spying for AIPAC, in other words. He is free on bond and is expected to plead innocent at his trial.

The McNulty grand jury is the one that indicted Franklin and is covering territory that approximates that of the Downing Street Memos. McNulty is concentrating on collaboration between Israel and US officials who incited the Iraq war. As we see, there are a few European governments that appear to have manipulated US policy to the same end.

Before the Rosen and Weissman indictments, we wondered why no one at AIPAC had been charged in the Israeli-spying case besides Franklin. Did someone in the Bush administration obstruct justice by trying to prevent the two latest, and possibly more, indictments?

For that matter, why hasn't the FBI interviewed Rocco Martino, the acknowledged and admitted procurer of the phony Niger uranium documents that Pollari is to be questioned about? They are known to be investigating the phony documents but somehow missed interviewing Martino when he visited New York. The documents are one of the main reasons we are at war and are related to McNulty's and Figzgerald's investigations and the Italians' charges against Bob Lady. Bob Lady was the CIA chief in Italy and may have been a conduit for the Niger forgeries. Is he serving as a patsy, a fall guy, to take the fall for higher-ups? Is someone else to serve as a patsy for Bush, Cheney or other administraton officials.

The Bush administration can't interview the Itialian citizen Martino, but they could have the CIA abduct an Egyptian cleric, Abu Omar (Osama Mostafa Hassan), off the streets of Milan in February 2003, for "extraordinary rendition," aka "torture," in Egypt. This open violation of Italian sovereignty, supervised by the CIA's station chief in Milan, Robert Seldon Lady, formerly of Panama and New Orleans -- involves still another investigation, by Italian prosecutors and legislators. (Could it be that US legislators -- the Congress -- need to look into this, too?) The US violated the sovereignty of another European nation, Sweden, in the 2001 rendition of Ahmed Agiza and Muhammed Al Zero. Swedish officials were complicit and the Swedish public was outraged. Where is the outrage in America?

EXPORTING PERSONS BY FORCE, FOR TORTURE, BY US AGENTS, FROM ITALIAN SOIL

Nineteen CIA agents were charged formally in June 2005 with illegally abducting Egyptian cleric Abu Omar off the street in Milan in February 2003. They sent him, with the cooperation of certain named US Air Force officers at the Aviano Air Base, to Egypt for questioning enhanced by torture. Kidnap-torture (so-called "renditioning") is sanctioned by President George Bush to get around the fact that torture is unconstitutional in the United States. In October 2005 three more Americans were charged and the Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro promised to initiate the process to extradite all 22 to Italy to face charges. I doubt if he can keep this promise.

The chief of the crime ring (as the Italians see it), Robert Seldon Lady, also appears to be involved in using Italian intelligence sources, official and unofficial, for producing phony intelligence, and laundering intelligence produced in other countries, to secretly influence US foreign policy. One product of Italy and the CIA is the forged Niger-uranium documents that President Bush and Tony Blair alluded to in inciting the US to war against Iraq. These documents are at the center of the probes of the McNulty and Fitzgerald grand juries.

The CIA was tipped off by an Italian source about 6 months before charges were brought, and the CIA removed the 19 from Italy and presumably Europe. The spies, including Lady, are currently sought all over Europe under warrants issued by a judge in Italy. To facilitate capture, the prosecutor's office has asked police experts to digitally enhance the photos of the CIA fugitives. This was back in June 2005. The entire rogue's gallery was to be forwarded to Eurojust and Europol for circulation at airports and border posts.

WHERE ARE THE CIA FUGITIVES' PHOTOS AFTER 4 MONTHS? WHERE IS THE EXTRADITION PLEA TO US AUTHORITIES?

The original photos obtained by DIGOS are mainly photocopies of IDs, copied at the luxury hotels where the kidnappers hatched their plot over 3 months. The photocopies were dark and thus needed to be enhanced.

Under a treaty former US president Ronald Reagan signed with Italy in 1982, it is thought Washington is obliged to reveal the real identities of the agents, as well extradite all those charged. Has Italy sought to invoke the treaty and extradite the criminals? As they made public the charges against three more Americans -- including Betnie Medero, a 38-year-old female CIA agent who was working as the second secretary at the US embassy in Rome until a couple of months ago -- they promised to try to extradite the fugitives. She now is reported to be at the US Embassy in Mexico City. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article10473.htm The two other CIA agents now wanted by Italian police have been named as 55-year-old Vincent Faldo and 57-year-old Thomas Harbison, apparently their real names since both had valid passports. [Why not just "rendition" them? That would be faster and easier, as well as poetic justice.]

While we wait for the Italian authorities to get serious about apprehending the CIA fugitives, special prosecutors in the US Government have convened two grand juries that are investigating possible criminal charges in two scandals that are coming to be referred to as "Nigergate" (similar to the Downing Street Memos scandal in the UK but focusing on espionage by Israel) and "Plamegate" (the outing of Iraq whistleblower Joseph Wilson's CIA-spy wife, Valerie Plame). The two scandals eventually could result in the prosecution of the president's top aide, Karl Rove, and even criminal charges against the president or vice president. The president, but not the vice president, would first have to be removed from office by impeachment or resignation. Potentially at least, Bush and Cheney could be imprisoned under existing US laws.

NIGERGATE: ASSOCIATES OF KARL ROVE AND MICHAEL LEDEEN PROCURED NIGER FORGERIES

Karl Rove's only full-time foreign-policy advisor is Michael Ledeen, a rabid anti-Arab, anti-Iran, pro-Israel activist. The FBI is investigating Ledeen for procuring forged documents (shown here) on nonexistent WMD, which George Bush used to justify his war on Iraq. Did Ledeen procure the documents for Rove, and how might he have done that? This story, the Nigergate scandal, includes multinational stool pigeon Rocco Martino, Italian spy Francesco Pazienza, wanted CIA spy Robert Seldon Lady, and Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin, who's under charges of giving US secrets to Israel. http://bellaciao.org/en/article.php3?id_article=7256 On October 25, 2005, we begin to see the Plamegate and Nigergate scandals converge, along with the CIA cleric-kidnapping ("Imam Rapito") case in Italy.

Karl Rove's foreign-policy advisor, Michael Ledeen, proclaimed "the rightness of the fascist cause" in 1972. He is a particular admirer of Benito Mussolini. In 1984 he got George Bush Sr to appoint Iranian arms merchant and Iranian/Israeli double-agent Manucher Ghorbanifar as a middleman in the scandalous Iran-Contra affair. Ledeen has been a fixture in Washington and Israel ever since, advocating a modern version of the Crusades against Islamic nations. Based on what he has said and written, I believe Ledeen is insane. He certainly is advocating madness.

Michael Ledeen, Rove's "brain," is one of the leading advocates for a US attack on Iran. The Washington Post quoted Ledeen as saying that Rove told him, "Anytime you have a good idea, tell me." I guess that means we can look forward to the Bush team drumming up a war with Iran.

George Bush Jr., when he assumed the presidency at the start of 2001, already knew that he was going to settle the family score with Saddam Hussein. His "brain," Rove, quickly enlisted Ledeen to trump up a causus belli, which took about a year.

1999, EARLY 2000: ROCCO MARTINO AND THE FRENCH CONNECTION

Rocco Martino is a 66-year-old Italian gentleman SEE PHOTO who worked on and off for the Italian SISMI (analogous to the CIA) for many years and who also peddled the same information to various spy organizations and publications -- a convicted felon and international stool pigeon, just the kind of person Ledeen's associates needed. rocco_martino.jpg #file_1#

After being fired by SISMI (he was considered unreliable, possibly because he had been convicted for receiving stolen checks, among other things), he convinced the French intelligence in 1999 that he knew all about Africa and the traffic in conventional and nonconventional arms. To avoid stepping on the toes of SISMI (Italian intelligence), the French gave him a contact, or handler, in Brussels.

Meanwhile, the Italians were pursuing their own intelligence aims, according to Martino, using the Niger embassy in Rome as a conduit to distribute information the US and others while concealing their identity.

In early 2000, a former colleague at SISMI told Martino of a SISMI source at the Niger embassy in Rome -- "a lady," according to most reports, but this was no lady, as we shall see -- who could provide Martino with information.

Martino soon provided the French with documents showing that Iraq may have been planning to expand trade with Niger. In fact, the first set of documents did not refer to uranium, and the trade plans were probably the typical sort of relationship Arab oil states had with a whole range of third-world countries.

Martino was surprised when he saw that the French immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion and thought that the documents indicated an Iraqi interest in uranium. (The world now knows that Iraq had no nuclear program.) Martino's handler in Brussels asked him to obtain every type of news or reference to contraband uranium from Niger -- ("NYE-jer") a former French colony in the Sahara desert, not to be confused with ex-British Nigeria in W. Africa -- where mining was under the jurisdiction of two companies controlled by the gigantic French mining company Cogema.

JANUARY 2001 BREAK-IN AT NIGER EMBASSY

At night, between the first and second of the January 2001, a mysterious thief came to the embassy of Niger in Rome and into the residence of the counselor in charge. It turned out that some letterhead and seals (see photocopy) came up missing.

Then, late in 2001 Martino received a telephone call from a former colleague at SISMI, who informed him that his source, the "lady" at the Nigerien embassy, was in possession of documents that might be of interest to him. “I met her and she gave me documents,” Martino later told the Sunday Times (London). “SISMI wanted me to pass on the documents but they didn't want anyone to know they had been involved.” Martino thus received half a dozen letters and other documents between Niger and Iraqi officials negotiating a sale of 500 tons of uranium oxide (yellowcake).

Martino passed the dossier on to the French secret service, who had paid for it, and anyone else he could sell it to, practically hawking it on the sidewalks like a newsboy.

It was a forgery, and very amateurish, not likely produced through official channels by any state intelligence agency with their vast resources. However, it soon became important as the Bush administration, in its first year (2001), ramped up its public relations campaign for war.

ROME MEETING IN DECEMBER 2001

Michael Ledeen organized a meeting in Rome to gather evidence to support the planned war. Remember, Martino obtained the Niger forgeries about this time -- possibly a littler sooner, possibly a little later. Present at the meeting were:

1. Michael Ledeen, Karl Rove's foreign policy advisor and organizer of the meeting

2. Nicolo Pollari, head of the the Italian equivalent of the CIA, the SISMI. Pollari certainly knew Lady, the CIA chief in Milan.

3. Italy's Minister of Defense, Antonio Martino (no relation apparently to the spy Rocco Martino), Pollari's boss 4. Larry Franklin, an American who presently is being prosecuted in the US for giving classified information to an Israeli front group, AIPC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) -- which some would call "spying," even though he has not been charged with espionage

5. Harold Rhode: member of Dick Cheney's Office of Special Plans, protege of Ledeen, go-between with Iraqi exile and CIA asset (at the time) Ahmed Chalabi.

6. Manucher Ghorbanifar, Iranian/Israeli double agent and Ledeen accomplice going back to Iran/Contra. I won't even attempt to guess whom or what Ghorbanifar was working for in 2001. If it was Iran or Israel, both wanted action against Iraq.

IMPORTANT THING ABOUT MEETING: A FOREIGN GOVERNMENT LIKELY CREATED OR PASSED THE FORGERIES TO INFLUENCE US POLICY.

Whether it was France, Israel, Iran, or Italy, or some other country, this is highly illegal, and such goings on are a threat to US national security bigger than any known terrorist activity. Again, is the FBI investigating, or not? Was the idea to make Saddam "look bad," or Bush? It turns out the forgery has made both look bad, has brought down Saddam and crippled Bush.

Ledeen already had a longstanding friendship with Francesco Pazienza, an Italian felon and forger who had been kicked out of the official Italian intelligence organization SISMI but who had found a new home in the renegade intelligence agency P-2 (Propaganda Due). Pazienza apparently was not present but definitely was known to Italian intelligence agents, including Rocco Martino, as well as to Ledeen and probably Lady.

Ledeen also was a personal friend of Pollari, who, like Ledeen, is a master of the card game bridge (Ledeen writes columns on it). There are close ties between Pollari's official intelligence organization, SISMI, and Pazienza's unnofficial one, P-2. In fact, P-2 recruits from SISMI.

Somehow, through the efforts of the people at Ledeen's meeting, plus Rocco Martino, Francesco Pazienza (or at least P-2), and CIA man Bob Lady, the Bush administration soon had its causus belli, the forged letters on the sale of uranium by Niger to Iraq.

Rove, Ledeen -- the Bush administration -- obtained this historic false information through very irregular means, and this means should be the subject of a Congressional investigation, perhaps in the next Congress. To preserve the rule of law in the United States, the FBI and US attorneys should ascertain how these people and others used unofficial channels to obtain a false causus belli. The Constitution will mean little if the president and his cronies can get away with sneaking around using common criminals, false information, and clandestine foreign alliances to fabricate a case for war that they couldn't obtain through legal channels -- their own CIA and State Department.

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence of Sen. Pat "Coverup" Roberts of Kansas looked into this and another, June 2002, meeting between some of these persons but backed off, apparently with the consent of Democrats on the committee. Conducting defusing investigations is Roberts' specialty. "Coverup's" committee is like the administration's bomb squad.

CAUSUS BELLI: A PIECE OF CRAP [SEE PHOTOCOPY] nigery7580.jpg #file_2#

The accompanying figure shows one of the letters made with the stolen letterheads and seals and forged by an unofficial source -- most likely Ledeen's friend, Francesco Panzienza. These documents are the "evidence" on which George Bush has sent almost two thousand young Americans and untold thousands of Iraqi civilians, mostly children, to their deaths.

SPRING 2002: JOE WILSON TO NIGER

Former US Ambassador (to Gabon) Joseph Wilson made the trip, apparently at the behest of the CIA, to determine the authenticity of the charges in Martino's documents, even though the CIA already could see they were forgeries. I believe the CIA already had the documents by this time, even though the Italian magazine Panorama says it was months later that Martino conveyed them to Panorama and that Panorama in turn gave them to the US embassy in Rome. I believe that Karl Rove's man Ledeen somehow obtained them from Martino or P-2 about the end of 2001. Wilson reported back to the CIA that there was no proof that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. The US government knew there was no proof.

FALL 2002: USING THE CRAP

In London, Tony Blair spoke on September 24, 2002, for the first time on the attempts of Saddam Hussein to obtain uranium from Africa. Remember, Martino apparently had obtained the phony dossier this was based on in late 2001; and Ledeen, Franklin, and Rhode had gone to Rome to get the goods on Saddam Hussein in December 2001. The US State Department and CIA had rejected Martino's dossier. The Pentagon, too, knew it was false, of course, but the Wolfowitz-Feith-Perle Defense Policy Board cabal -- plus Bush and Cheney and their respective aides, Karl Rove and I. Lewis Libby (both now subjects of interest to US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and his grand jury in Washington, DC -- decided to go public with it anyway. The first step was to get their British stooge Tony Blair to go public as just noted. This indiscretion of Blair's is the subject of the Downing Street Memos.

In October 2002, Martino passed the Niger-uranium dossier on to Panorama (a magazine owned by Bush lackie and Italian president Silvio Berlusconi), which assessed it in order to study it, dispatching reporter Elizabeth Burba to Niger. Panorama also turned the file over to the US embassy in Rome for cross-checking.

The Italian journalist soon told Martino that her trip to Niger had not produced any real confirmation, and the French also confirmed to Martino that the reports he had passed on to them were groundless. In other words, Bush's war rationale had been debunked by amateur as well as professional sleuths. Martino says he was surprised again by what happened next.

THE REST IS HISTORY: "The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein...

...recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." THIS IS BUSH'S LEGACY: Sixteen little words in Bush's January 2003 State of the Union message that will be remembered in history with more honorable presidential words like, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" (FDR). Bush was going on the forged documents procured by Rocco Martino, debunked by experts and amateurs, and debunked by Joseph Wilson for the CIA. In March 2003, the International Atomic Energy Agency (a UN organization) needed just a few hours to debunk the Niger document. However, a few days later, George Bush started a war. US forces overcame Iraqi opposition -- temporarily (resistance was "suicide" for the Iraqis at first, now it's occupation and collaboration that are suicide as US deaths near multiple thousands, 2000) -- mainly by bombing civilian structures, beginning on March 19, 2003

PLAMEGATE: The exposure of Valerie Wilson's secret CIA cover by Bush officials who misused government information they knew was secret, in order to endanger her CIA assignments and colleagues as a payback to her husband Joseph.

Wilson's outraged response to using, for murder, evidence he had debunked got his family, or at least his wife, targeted by that amoral husk of a man, Karl Rove, who, along with I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby (Cheney's chief aide) outed Valerie Wilson to Robert Novak, Judith Miller (the jailed New York Times reporter and pro-war hawk), Matthew Cooper (Time's reporter who jeopardized Rove in the criminal investigation), and at least two or three other journalists. Except for Novak, they all wisely resisted Rove's bait. Novak has been Rove's leaker since at least the early 1990s (Bush's father once fired Rove for a Novak leak).

IMP OF IMPS: MICHAEL LEDEEN'S DAUGHTER SMILES IMPISHLY IN IRAQ [PHOTO] simone_3.jpg #file_3#

The war is not just about oil, Israel's fears/ambitions, or US hegemony. There are contracts and contractors in Iraq. Modern-day carpetbaggers with briefcases descended like a plague of scorpions on the poor, bloodied, bombed-out, grieving people of Iraq. They included the daughter of the war's chief banshee -- Simone Ledeen, Michael's daughter -- shown in the photo, greeting with an impish smile another occupier at the Baghdad airport -- getting ready to lord it over the Iraqis as she tries out her new MBA in working for the CPA.

The Lady Is No "lady": ROBERT SELDON LADY

It is my belief that the "Italian functionary," or "a lady," that Martino said gave him the Niger forgeries used to incite war was actually a Lady, Robert Seldon Lady Sr, the same man who headed up the torture abduction of Abu Omar.

Italian prosecutor Armando Spataro has obtained arrrest warrants for 9 more CIA spies in addition to the original 13 that included Robert Lady, in connection with the abduction.

Robert Seldon Lady, 51, had homes in Abita Springs, LA, and in Panama until 2001, when he left for the Milan post. He and his wife Martha own a villa in the Italian countryside near Penango (Asti) in NW Italy, where they hoped to enjoy retirement before he took it on the lam. Born in Honduras, he was an affable New York City cop in the 80s who infiltrated and ratted out leftist groups. He is something of an electronics hacker (someone hacked the cell phones his operatives used, but not successfully, as the Italians used base-station data to retrace the agents' movements). In the 1980s he joined the CIA and its efforts in Honduras in behalf of the Nicaraguan "contras" who were attempting to overthrow the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. Lady is the son of an American expatriate in Honduras, Billy Seldon Lady, who had many resources and aptitudes coveted by the CIA and who even operated an airline, Aero Servicios. And now the son, Bob Lady, is a wanted felon in Europe. He is in Honduras again as the Sandinistas are resurgent in Nicaragua, and the Bush administration no doubt needs a few good men to oppose them.

During the "Imam Rapito" (imam kidnapping) operation in Italy, Lady apparently worked directly with the commander of the 31st Security Police Squadron -- Lt. Col. Joseph L. Romano, USAF -- at the Aviano Air Base in Italy. Lt. Col. Romano, who currently works at the Pentagon, also is sought for questioning by Italian prosecutors. At the time, Romano worked under Brig Gen R. Michael Worden, commander of the 31st Fighter Wing, who also has some questions to answer. Evidence has also been uncovered that Lady was in Cairo during the two weeks when Omar is said to have suffered the most violent interrogation. Investigators tracked down two airplane tickets showing that he flew to Cairo from Zurich on 24 February 2003, and returned to Italy on 7 March. The Italian prosecutor could attempt to extradite the American kidnap-torture perps at any time. In that event, the kidnapping of Abu Omar could become a very big story because of its possible effects on relations between nations and its relationship to the fixed intelligence for the Iraq war. http://www.phxnews.com/fullstory.php?article=27415

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