Murray Waas: If Libby convicted, Cheney next?

[npincus]

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/021907nj1.htm

Does Cheney have 'something' to worry about?

If Libby is found guilty, investigators are likely to probe further to determine if Libby devised what they consider a cover story in an effort to shield Cheney. They want to know whether Cheney might have known about the leaks ahead of time or had even encouraged Libby to provide information to reporters about Plame's CIA status, the same sources said.

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and defense attorneys for Libby are expected to begin their closing arguments in the case as early as Tuesday morning. Defense attorneys for Libby had said for months that they were going to call Cheney as a defense witness, but informed Federal District Court Judge Reggie Walton, who has presided over the Libby trial, at the last minute that they were not going to call him after all.

Had Cheney testified, he would have been questioned about whether he encouraged, or had knowledge of, the leaking of Plame's CIA status. Sources close to the case say that Cheney would have also been sharply questioned as to why, when presented by Libby with what prosecutors regarded as a cover story to explain away Libby's role in the leak, Cheney did nothing to discourage him.

<snip>

"If Cheney was merely showing surprise and interest at what Libby indicating to him he was going to tell investigators, then the vice president is innocent in the exchange," Richman said. "But if he had reason to believe, or personal knowledge, that what Libby was planning to say was untrue then there is good reason to view Cheney's conduct in an entirely different light -- an obstruction interpretation."

[leveymg]

1. Cheney already Obstructed Justice when he lied to Fitz in 2004.

The exact details of his testimony during that interview have never been released, but needless to say, it is probably every bit as inaccurate as Libby's statements were to the FBI made at the same time.

This trial has done nothing but build an airtight OOJ and conspiracy case against Cheney. He won't be Vice President in 2008.

[youngdem]

2. I doubt there is enough time left in office to do anything to Cheney

He will block the trial three hundred different ways, and if that doesn't work and Cheney even comes close to an indictment, Bush would just pardon him.

The only value in all of this is where it leads regarding the intentional fabrication of the Niger Yellow Cake Documents and what it shows about what our government knew about Iraq's capabilities.

from Wiki:

"In 2005, Vincent Cannistraro, the former head of counterterrorism operations at the CIA and the intelligence director at the National Security Council under Ronald Reagan, expressed the opinion that the documents had been produced in the United States and funneled through the Italians: "The documents were fabricated by supporters of the policy in the United States. The policy being that you had to invade Iraq in order to get rid of Saddam Hussein ...." <18>


I wish more attention were paid to the elephant in the room. Bushco created fake evidence to frame a foreign government so they could attack them. Cheney will never hang for the Plame Affair alone, but if the Libby trial revealed that the Bush Cabal created evidence to create cause for war, that would be huge, IMHO.


Obstruction or violation of some secrets act is nothing compared to a war crime.

[zestfolly]

3. Imus called Cheney a war criminal who should be hanged

When the Bushies have lost Imus, well, you know the rest.