Today, I. Lewis "Scooter Libby," former Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney, was fined $250,000 and sentenced to 30 months in prison after being convicted of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators (The Hill). Don't worry, it's just a federal prison, where the worst inmate fights erupt over use of the tennis courts.
The conviction stems from the Bush Administration's alleged blowing the cover of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, to discredit her husband after he wrote an op-ed about Bush in 2003. In part, Plame's husband wrote:
"Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq? Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
Evidence suggests that Dick Cheney and Karl Rove were in on the campaign to discredit Plame's husband (Washington Post). The big questions: who did what, and was blowing Plame's cover illegal? Cheney's lawyers recently argued that it was legal--just a normal part of engaging in public debate. Let's hope Libby's relocation to prison doesn't mark the investigation's end.
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