ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="081609.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> <br /> Cheney&#39;s Zero Credibility</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Nov. 3, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span class="style1">&nbsp;</span></span><span class="style1">C</span>onvicted March 6, 2007 of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI, former Vice President Dick Cheney s Chief of Staff I. Lewis  Scooter Libby took the fall for his boss in the Valerie Plame affair.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Plame had her covert CIA identity outed by the late Chicago Sun Times columnist Robert Novak July 14, 2003, only four months after the Iraq War began March 20, 2003.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Less than two months earlier, former President George W. Bush told a national audience in the State-of-the-Union speech Jan. 28, 2009 that Saddam Hussein attempted to buy  yellowcake uranium from Niger, convincing viewers that Iraq was a threat to U.S. national security.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>In a New York Times op-ed July 6, 2003, Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV accused the Bush White House of deliberately distorting national security to justifying going to war.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Libby denied at the time that Plame was outed by the VP. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>U.S. Atty. in Chicago Patrick J. Fitzgerald revealed that Cheney, known for his photographic memory, failed to recall 72 times during an FBI interrogation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Most people believe that the vice president revealed Plame s identity to retaliate against Wilson s July 6, 2003 New York Times commentary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Fitzgerald tried to find out how Plame s CIA identity was revealed to Novak or any other members of the press.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>On 72 occasions in 26-page summary of a 2004 FBI interview, Cheney failed to recall specifics about the Plame controversy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>FBI agents, at the time of Cheney s interview, were trying to find out the source of leaks at the highest levels of the White House, including Cheney s former Chief of Staff I. Lewis  Scooter Libby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Libby s own handwritten note revealed that Cheney was the source of Plame s identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Libby indicated he acted without Cheney s expressed instructions.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Libby recalled telling the FBI he had a note-card revealing that he learned Plame s CIA from Cheney.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>  It turns out that I have a note that I had heard about Plame s CIA identity  from you [Cheney], Libby told FBI investigators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Libby was asked by Fitzgerald in front of a Washington, D.C. grand jury, what was Cheney s response?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> He didn t say much, replied Libby.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> You know, he said some about  from me? something like that, and tilted his head, something he does commonly and that was that, fingering the vice president.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Cheney insisted  cannot recall Scooter Libby tell him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson s employment form the vice president . . .but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation, revealing Cheney s masterful style of smoke blowing.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Before Libby s March 6, 2007 conviction, much speculation centered on what Fitzgerald would do about the federal law related to protecting the anonymity of covert U.S. agents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Cheney s position, at the time, was that no law was broken because the president and vice president have no restriction on classified information.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Republican talking points wending into broadcast and print revealed that Plame was not a covert agent because inside the Beltway, among Washington insiders, it was common knowledge that Plame worked for the agency.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If it s a matter of public record, so went the logic, then it s not possible to preserve Plame s secret CIA identity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite all the machinations, Fitzgerald didn t charge Libby with violating the federal law related to covert U.S. agents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Instead, Fitzgerald charged and convicted Libby of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal agents.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Cheney made headlines recently swiping at President Barack Obama for deliberating too slowly on U.S. Afghan Commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal s request for an additional 40,000 troops.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Recently declassified FBI files indicate Cheney was at the center of a carefully orchestrated attempt to discredit former Amb. Joe Wilson after he expressed his opinion in the New York Times July 6, 2003.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>After hyping Saddam s weapons of mass destruction before going to war in Iraq March 20, 2003, Cheney found it audacious that anyone questions the White House.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Going public with Plame s CIA identity helped discredit Wilson s findings that Saddam never tried to buy<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>  yellowcake from Niger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Cheney insisted there was no  push back to discredit Wilson by raising the  nepotism issue regarding Plame dispatching her husband to investigate Bush s State-of-the-Union claim.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Cheney s May 2004 FBI interview showing 72 instances of memory lapses reveals the former vice president s true character.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite begging Bush to pardon Libby before leaving office, it should have been Cheney, not Libby, standing trial for outing Valerie Plame.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>FBI transcripts reveal a pattern of deceit not seen since Watergate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Fitzgerald stopped short of fingering the right culprit responsible for a carefully planned dirty trick to retaliate against Wilson for telling the truth about the Iraq War.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Since neglecting Afghanistan after starting the Iraq War March 20, 2003, Cheney is the last person to give advice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When Bush commuted Libby s 30-month sentence July 2, 2003, he should have acknowledged he did so because of Cheney s outrageous misconduct.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Instead of allowing Cheney to speak for the GOP, he should go back to tending cattle in Jackson Hole.</p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma.</a></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homene.net" target="_blank">img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>