Cheney Discussed Inquiries Into Plame Leak, Obama Administration Trying To Keep Details Secret

WASHINGTON — Vice President Dick Cheney talked with top White House officials about how to respond to reporters' inquiries into who leaked the identity of a CIA operative, according to a court filing.

Cheney told the FBI about his recollection of discussions with his former top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, and other White House officials on the media's questions. But the Obama administration is fighting in court to keep the substance of what Cheney revealed to the FBI from the public.

The FBI interviewed Cheney in 2004 as it was investigating the leak of former CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters the year before. Her name was revealed after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, criticized the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.

The leak touched off a lengthy inquiry that led to Libby being convicted on charges of obstruction of justice and lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters. Libby told the FBI it was possible that Cheney ordered him to reveal Plame's identity to the media.

The liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit last year seeking records related to Cheney's FBI interview.

In a court filing Wednesday, Acting Assistant Attorney General David Barron argued that parts of Cheney's interview should be kept secret because they involve confidential deliberations among White House officials. Barron said their disclosure could limit frank and open discussion about matters of national importance in the White House in the future.

He said Cheney's recollection of discussions with Libby, the White House communications director and chief of staff about media inquiries into the Plame leak were among those portions that should be protected. He also included Cheney's discussions with the CIA director about Wilson's trip and his role in resolving disputes about declassifying "certain information" in that category.

Barron's filing was first reported Thursday on The Washington Post's Web site.

Comments

[wijg]

"Following World War II (1939-1945) American prosecutors convicted several Japanese soldiers for waterboarding Allied prisoners of war. The soldiers were tried as part of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. During the Vietnam War, a U.S. soldier who participated in the waterboarding of a North Vietnamese prisoner of war was court-martialed in 1968. As recently as 1983, a Texas sheriff was sentenced to ten years in prison for waterboarding suspects in an attempt to coerce confessions."

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_701880744/Waterboarding.html

[cognitivereddawn]

Cheney's out of his mind. Can't have a rational discussion with him. Only delay & misdirection.

[digeridoo2]

Yawn yawn. How long will HP continue to keep Cheney in the news?

[wijg]

Hopefully, until he's behind bars.

[digeridoo2]

Good luck with that. The Obama administration is too busy hoping and changing.

[lazercat2008]

Amid all the brouhaha over whether I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Karl Rove, or any number of Bush administration insiders had a hand in leaking the name of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, the essential crime at the core of the investigation – and its probable starting point – often gets lost in the shuffle. The "outing" of Plame was not an end in itself: the outers didn't just one day decide that they were going to go after her and Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, her husband, because they were in a vindictive mood. They were out to get them because Wilson drew attention to the provenance of the infamous "16 words" uttered by President Bush in his 2003 state of the union address, in which Bush claimed that Iraq had sought out uranium in "an African country" in order to make a nuclear bomb. Perhaps without knowing it, Wilson – in taking an interest in this subject – was getting too close to the enormous fraud at the center of the War Party's propaganda campaign. --Anti-war.com

[lazercat2008]

Michael Ledeen was one of the founders of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA). He holds the Freedom Chair at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a think tank for AIPAC. He is co-founder of the Coalition for Democracy in Iran. As far back as 1980, the CIA allegedly listed Ledeen as an agent of influence of Israel. Ledeen is the main foreign policy advisor to Karl Rove. Ledeens main obsession seems to be to overthrow Iran.

In 2001, Ledeen was hired by Feith to work on contract for the Office of Special Plans.

It was Ledeen who got Israeli spy Jonathon Pollard his job in the Navy.

It was Ledeen who insisted on using Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Mossad double agent, in the Iran-Contra affair.

It was Ledeen who organized the meeting between Rhodes, Franklin and Ghorbanifar on Dec. 1, 2001 in Rome.

[Polarcap]

Heavy gave me a real laugh - he accused Cheney of crimes, as follows: 1. authorizing waterboarding
2. lying about the Iraq war, and 3. 'outing Valerie Plame

Digbydog was banned because he answered these charges so he asked that I follow up - here goes
1. waterboarding is not illegal, therfeore, no crime
2. lying (even if he did) is no crime, otherwise everybody in govt would be in jail, including Bambam
3. Armitage 'outed' that wrench Plame - he is state dept & hired by clinton - Cheney was nowhere near this

[abouttime]

Flimmsy new-speak!

[Heavy]

That's funny, the DOJ, Red Cross, Geneva conventions and POTUS say it is a crime.
Lying us into war is high treason
And you obvioulsy have nothing but an Armitage talking point for knowledge of the Pl ame case.

You are the laugh.

[flossophy]

You believe in fantasies... pouring water up nostrils is not t0rture, nobody |ied us into war, and Armitage leaked Plame... the whole Scooter thing was a political witch hunt.

Your ign0rance on these things is amusing.

[Polarcap]

the DoJ specifically said waterboarding was not torture nor a crime - who does your research - your parrot?

[Polarcap]

the Geneva Convention does not define waterboarding as torture - it is not mentioned in the dissertation defining torture

because POTUS says it's torture to him, makes it illegal????? what are you smoking?

[Derelict outlaw]

So he was SecDef when he took us into the first oil war on the side of the corrupt despotic regime that so alienated its patriots that ten years later they flew aircraft into our buildings in New York, then fabricated an excuse for another war, and suspended all of the constitutional guarantees we used to enjoy, and then committed treason by outing a working NOC CIA agent to protect hmself from disparaging remarks about his motivations for enabling the biliions and billions in no bid contracts given to his friends and former employers, so what now what?

President Obama thinks its best to protect the office and the principle of executive privilege?

You never know when we might want to do similar things or worse in the future in the intersts of national security, right?

[Amunaka]

Who told you that....

[vinny]

1. waterboarding violates treaties against torture, therefore a crime.
2. perjury is definitely a crime
3. if Cheney was no where near Plame, then why keep the FBI interview under wraps?

[Polarcap]

uh - I note that HP swiped my response - must have been too much fact for the censors to handle

[vinny]

flossophy thinks the categories below are bunk... i think they are rather helpful in understanding obama's politics...

progressive communitarian, i.e socialist
conservative communitarian, i.e. republican
progressive liberal, i.e. liberal democrat
conservative liberal, i.e. libertarian

if you examine the rationale for obama's policies, they are mainly communitarian... in fact, you might be hard pressed to find a liberal justificat­ion/soluti­on... fisa, bank bailouts, proposed banking regulations, and the stimulus bill, for example, were all constructed on obama's presumptions about what would be good for all...

note that obama is sometimes conservative and sometimes progressive in his communitarianism, but rarely has he ever constructed policy on the basis of protecting and advancing the cause of individuals

the issue above is another case of obama ignoring the interests of citizens in having a transparent government and knowing what their elected representatives are doing... his argument is that is better for us all if an elected official can do his business behind closed doors...

[flossophy]

Obama is simply a statist, a central planner. I may go so far as to say a velvety-s0­ft-benevol­ent fasc|ist.

First off, conservative is a confusing term...

Today's Conservatives are the true liberals. Today's Liberals (Pr0gressives) are the true conservatives, clinging to 20th century statist policies and institutions. Today's Conservatives want to remove these regressive Pr0gressive policies and institutions and liberalize markets and individuals.

Today's Liberals seek to enlarge the scope of government and put restrictions on commerce and economic activity, otherwise known as restricting liberty.

Your categories don't work because you're associating Pr0gressive with progress and Conservative with conservative.

[Amunaka]

Wow...thats enough to make your head spin...

[vinny]

important to know... my categories are philosophical ones... don't confuse political parties and media labels with these ideal political categories.

i agree with you about today's Republicans - they are socially conservative, and conservative on national security, yet neoliberal on the economy (libertarian)

likewise with Democrats... (your observation only proves my thesis)... that Obama is not a philosophical liberal, but a communitarian that doesn't mind a big, socialist government and an unfettered banking system... (conservative liberalism, libertarian)

[vinny]

correction: Obama is not a philosphical liberal democrat

[Polarcap]

unfortunately, Bambam is hard on the road to fasc*sm, not socialism, otherwise why the need to appoint all those czars, who answer not to congress/the people, but only to Bambam - the govt takeover of business, the takeover of the financial sector, the takeover of major industry, the regulation of salaries, etc etc etc all point to fasc*sm - then the 'censorship doctrine' to eliminate dissenting opinion on the airwaves; the removal of secret ballot voting to determine union membership - see where you are going, folks?

[flossophy]

Good points.

The Obamatrons liked the pretty packaging.

[wijg]

You make good points. The problem is caring one way or the other what "flossophy" thinks.

[ReedYoung]

re: ["flossophy" thinks]

I'll be wiping tears of laughter from my eyes for days!

[lazercat2008]

Obama's own professor thought he was a Republican.

[wherriott2]

"In a court filing Wednesday, Acting Assistant Attorney General David Barron argued that [PARTS] of Cheney's interview should be kept secret because they involve confidential deliberations among White House officials."

How about releasing those parts that will not dissuade frank future deliberations? Come on O...stop splitting hairs. It's time to...or get off the stool.

[Heavy]

I'm convinced Ro ve has threatened to release all the dirt he's compliled on every dem in the book if this is pursued.

[beelzabubbleboy]

That makes sense. I'm convinced that corporate America chooses our candidates for their blackmail-ability with help from the Corporate Insurgency Agency.

[Derelict outlaw]

Cheney will go down as the biggest traitor in American history and Obama's worried about executive privilege?

So Cheney was SecDef when he took us into the first oil war on the side of the corrupt despotic regime that so alienated its patriots that ten years later they flew aircraft into our buildings in New York, then fabricated an excuse for another war, and suspended all of the constitutional guarantees we used to enjoy, and then committed treason by outing a working NOC CIA agent to protect hmself from disparaging remarks about his motivations for enabling the biliions and billions in no bid contracts given to his friends and former employers, so what now what?

President Obama thinks its best to protect the office and the principle of executive privilege?

You never know when we might want to do similar things or worse in the future in the intersts of national security, right?

[beelzabubbleboy]

Mr Obama, tear down this wall of deceit.

[whatthel]

Explain what that wall of deceit is, first.

[wherriott2]

The last 8 yrs of the Bush Admin.

[abouttime]

"No one is above the law"?
Obama's been exposed in the cover-up!
Get it yet?

[Heavy]

If Obama does not pursue the rule of law and the accountability of the previous admin, he will not get my vote in the next primaries.

[abouttime]

Voting is the last thing on my mind. How about organizing and demand change, Obama is just a pawn, apparently!
Hit the streets. Be the leader of the people!

[Heavy]

I'm all for it. Unfortunately our citizens don't have the type of resolve demonstrated by the Iranian people.

I have contacted the admin numerous times, signed petitions,etc etc, spoken to everyone I know.
Let me know when you're ready to march.

[flossophy]

Wow... it only took 6 months for the bl00m to fall off the r0se.

tsk tsk... the conservatives have been warning you of this for over a year. Too bad the budding pr0gressives weren't paying attention. Now the world has to suffer through Obama's economic policies.

Sorry world, our public education system is failing...

[Heavy]

Yeah, I'm tired of him protecting your treas0nous masters.
You really don't need to respond to my posts.

[foxistoofunny]

Hey flossie read Matt Taibi's scathing article in Rolling Stone regarding Goldman Sachs and WS and how deregulation has ruined us. He deserves a Pulitzer.

[Polarcap]

so what laws were broken and need to be pursued?

[rabrophy]

First, let me say that I would love to see the whole Bush/Cheney Gang brought to trial for treason and thrown into a Super-Max prison for the rest of their un-natural lives.

I would love to see the Wall Street Gang and all their enablers in and out of Government lashed to trees in Bear country with their genitals smeared with honey.

But at this time we should concentrate on keeping people employed, feed and sheltered with access to health care and education. We should concentrate on changing our economic structure from exploitation for the Rich to sustainability for all.

If we go after the bastards now, it will give the Republicans a rallying point to divert the people from real change. They have been trying to "Rove" the people and MSM with fear mongering, but so far it hasn't worked.

I think Obama is playing chess while the media and the Corporate lackey Republicans have been playing checkers.

America has been on the wrong track scene Ronnie Regan sold us on greed, war-mongering, selfishness, and contempt for the environment as "The American Way".

It's going to be a long hard road back to the real America.

[flossophy]

ResistanceisFutile I'm a Fan of ResistanceisFutile I'm a fan of this user permalink

"Conservsatives are shackels on the legs of progress. Always have been and always will be."

==========­==========­======

Pr0gressive Obama is becoming a shackle on the legs of pr0gress. Pr0gressives have always been and always will be.

[Heavy]

Sophomoric platitudinous drivel, as usual.

[flossophy]

Well think about it... it was Pr0gressive policies and institutions which led to the mark3t crash of '29, and which exacerbated and lengthened the great depression.

Think of the human devastation that resulted.

Obama is behaving eerily similar to FDR & Carter... with a little Wilson sprinkled in. We already know where these policies will lead.

Buckle up.

[flossophy]

This comment is pending approval and won't be displayed until it is approved.

Well think about it... it was Pr0gr3ssive po|icies and |nstitutions which led to the ma`rk3t cra`sh of '29, and which exac3rbated and |engthened the gr3at d3pression.

Think of the human d3vastation that resulted from this.

Obama is behaving eeri|y similar to F`D`R & C`a`r`t`e`r... with a little Wi|son sprinkled in. We already know where these policies will lead.

Buckle up.

[abouttime]

Obama is failing the progressives, who will rise and demand accoutability and transparency1
Mark my word!

[NWRICK]

This song was written for W.
I hope it does not end up fitting Obama!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xcjsGLNpqo

[Heavy]

Hey Coinyer, I have a theory I want to run by you.