:: NEWS COCKTAIL aka BlahBlahBlog ::

:: 11.03.2005 ::

:: "Libby pleads not guilty" ::

" ... as White House braces for scandal hearing"
Julian Borger in Washington
Guardian Unlimited

· Case will delve deeply into argument for Iraq war
· Vice president likely to be called as witness

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice presidential adviser who helped build the US case for the Iraq war, stood before a judge yesterday, then had his fingerprints and mugshot taken as a long-simmering intelligence leak scandal arrived in court.

Mr Libby pleaded not guilty to five counts in total, including lying to a grand jury, making false statements to federal investigators, and obstruction of justice. Later his lawyers vowed he would not strike a plea deal but would fight to clear his name. However, the appearance in court of a top neo-conservative who only a few days ago was one of the most powerful men in the White House marked an ominous milestone for the embattled Bush administration.

Mr Libby was the first White House official to be indicted while in office since Orville Babcock, President Ulysses Grant's secretary, who was charged 130 years ago for a whisky tax scam. High-placed miscreants since then, including the Watergate defendants, have chosen to resign before being charged.
Mr Libby stuck to his post as vice president Dick Cheney's chief of staff until last week's indictment, for lying about his role in the 2003 outing of a CIA agent, Valerie Plame, the wife of a critic of the Iraq war.

Yesterday, he stood in the same spot in the same Washington courtroom as Colonel Oliver North, the central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal that overshadowed the last years of the Reagan administration.

This affair is threatening to take as great a toll on the Bush White House. Karl Rove, President Bush's closest adviser, is still under active investigation by the special prosecutor in the case, Patrick Fitzgerald, and there were signs yesterday that the strain was beginning to show.

"Top White House aides" quoted in the Washington Post said Mr Rove's future was being privately discussed, and argued he may have become too heavy a burden on an already distracted administration.

Mr Cheney is almost certain to be a witness in Mr Libby's case and could be in legal jeopardy himself if he turns out to be one of the unnamed officials mentioned in the indictment who discussed Ms Plame on Air Force Two in June 2003.

The case will also delve deeply into the building of the White House case for war in Iraq, based largely on alleged weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to exist. It was an argument Mr Libby, a former lawyer himself, took a lead role in assembling on his boss's behalf.

The sensitivity of the coming trial was clear in yesterday's proceedings as lawyers discussed the declassifying of thousands of documents and seeking security clearance for defence lawyers to hear secret evidence, which will take up to six weeks. The next hearing will not be until February 3.

In a sign of its nervousness the White House has issued a memo to its staff ordering them not to communicate with Mr Libby. He limped into court ...

Read more here.

posted by me

:: 7:59:00 PM [+] ::
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