GSFP demands that George Bush "deal" with himself.

[paineinthearse]

http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0406nj1.htm

Libby Says Bush Authorized Leaks
By Murray Waas, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Thursday, April 6, 2006

Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff has testified that President Bush authorized him to disclose the contents of a highly classified intelligence assessment to the media to defend the Bush administration's decision to go to war with Iraq, according to papers filed in federal court on Wednesday by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the CIA leak case.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby testified to a federal grand jury that he had received "approval from the President through the Vice President" to divulge portions of a National Intelligence Estimate regarding Saddam Hussein's purported efforts to develop nuclear weapons, according to the court papers. Libby was said to have testified that such presidential authorization to disclose classified information was "unique in his recollection," the court papers further said.

Libby also testified that an administration lawyer told him that Bush, by authorizing the disclosure of classified information, had in effect declassified the information. Legal experts disagree on whether the president has the authority to declassify information on his own.

The White House had no immediate reaction to the court filing.

Although not reflected in the court papers, two senior government officials said in interviews with National Journal in recent days that Libby has also asserted that Cheney authorized him to leak classified information to a number of journalists during the run-up to war with Iraq. In some instances, the information leaked was directly discussed with the Vice President, while in other instances Libby believed he had broad authority to release information that would make the case to go to war.

more.....

Reaction from Gold Star Families for Peace

by email

GSFP demands that George Bush "deal" with himself.

To: George Bush,

Due to the recent revelations by disgraced aide to Dick Cheney, L. "Scooter" Libby, that George Bush authorized the leak of CIA Valerie Plame's name to reporters, thus by compromising her safety, the safety of many Americans working undercover and reinforcing the lie that Saddam had WMD, the leadership and members of Gold Star Families for Peace call for the resignation of George Bush and Dick Cheney.

We have paid dearly and permanently for the lies of this administration. The "yellow cake uranium" lie was a lie of historic and nefarious proportions that led to the deaths of our loved ones in Iraq and the devastation of an innocent country and the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent citizens of Iraq.

George Bush said that the person who leaked the information would be "dealt with," and Scotty McClellan reiterated this position at a later press conference.

So, George, considering that this is just one of the many lies you told to justify the illegal and immoral occupation of iraq, the members of GSFP are calling on you to finally do the honorable thing and deal with yourself and resign and we also call for the resignation of anyone else in your administration who lied to America, our families, and the world about the reasons for killing our dear loved ones.

Our respect and best wishes also go out to the Plame/Wilson family for what they have also endured for doing the right thing to try and expose the lies to stop this regime's headlong rush to disaster in Iraq and by the attacks on their family by our own government.

Signed:
The Needlessly Devastated Families of Gold Star Families for Peace

[DoYouEverWonder]

1. Libby believed that Cheney authorized him to lie

and to reveal state secrets in order to make their case for war!

So if Cheney authorized Libby to murder people in order to remove obstacles in making their case for war, would that be okay too?

[Vickers]

2. 'authorization to disclose classified information was "unique"'

So, dipshit, did any red flags go up, or were you just a good Bush lapdog?

:eyes:

Fucking bunch of treasonous cocksuckers.

[NYC]

3. Unique like the Supreme Court decision giving Bush

the election, and saying that the decision would not apply to anything else ever. Unique.

[paineinthearse]

4. Waas 2/23/06: Did the Bush administration “authorize” the leak.....???

One from the archives. Got to love Murray!

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Did the Bush administration “authorize” the leak of classified information to Bob Woodward? And did those leaks damage national security?

The vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) made exactly that charge tonight in a letter to John Negroponte, the Director of National Intelligence. What prompted Rockefeller to write Negroponte was a recent op-ed in the New York Times by CIA director Porter Goss complaining that leaks of classified information were the fault of “misguided whistleblowers.”

Rockefeller charged in his letter that the most “damaging revelations of intelligence sources and methods are generated primarily by Executive Branch officials pushing a particular policy, and not by the rank-and-file employees of intelligence agencies.”

Later in the same letter, Rockefeller said: “Given the Administration’s continuing abuse of intelligence information for political purposes, its criticism of leaks is extraordinarily hypocritical. Preventing damage to intelligence sources and methods from media leaks will not be possible until the highest level of the Administration cease to disclose classified information on a selective basis for political purposes.”

Exhibit A for Rockefeller: Woodward’s book “Bush at War".

Here is what Rockefeller had to say:

In his 2002 book Bush at War, Bob Woodward described almost unfettered access to classified material of the most sensitive nature. According to his account, he was provided information related to sources and methods, extremely sensitive covert actions, and foreign intelligence liaison relationships. If it no wonder, as Director Goss wrote, “because of the number of recent news reports discussing our relationships with other intelligence services, some of these partners have even informed the C.I.A. that they are reconsidering their participation of some of our most important antiterrorism ventures.”

I wrote both former Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) George Tenet and Acting DCI John McLaughlin seeking to determine what steps were being taken to address the appalling disclosures contained in Bush at War. The only response I received was to indicate that the leaks had been authorized by the Administration. The CIA has still not responded to a follow-up letter I sent a year and half ago on September 1, 2004, trying to pin down which officials were authorized to meet with Mr. Woodward and by whom, and what intelligence information was conveyed during these authorized exchanges.

more.....

[Vidar]

5. Good to hear from some real patriots for a change.

[autorank]

6. Wow, "deal with himself"...that could take decades, lifetimes...great post

Recommended...Waas, my favorite reporter, right next to Sy Hersch in the pantheon of genius, and the Gold Star Families for Peace.

This is the devastating connection, he leaked the information in order to start the war...the leaking was selective. We don't know this yet but it will emerge. Bush leaded the material on nuclear potential that his very own "rump" group of security analysts created (the Rummy-Cambone group).


The GSFP also made the necessary connection between these leaks by el presidente and those of Plame. We're not far from meltdown folks. The clock is ticking.

Bush needs to recognize that he's not just defeated, he's devastated. He must "deal with himself" and get out of Dodge.

He will be impeached if he choses to avoid resigning to "spend more time with his family.

[paineinthearse]

7. "Waas, my favorite reporter"

Wish he posted more to his blog. There have been no new entries since February.

[DemReadingDU]

8. K&R