Not Tim Russert. Not Judith Miller. Not the Tooth Fairy. Libby’s notes of a June 12, 2003 meeting with his boss, the Vice President of the United States, show that it is Dick Cheney who told Libby that Joe Wilson’s wife was a CIA agent. What the New York Times does not say is what else those notes show. What, if anything, did Cheney tell his Chief of Staff to do about Wilson? If Libby doesn’t pretend that outing Plame was all his own idea, and plead guilty, then it will lead to the indictment and/or resignation of Dick Cheney. I can’t view it any other way.
Here is what Cheney said about Wilson Meet the Press in September 2003:
VICE PRES. CHENEY: No. I don’t know Joe Wilson. I’ve never met Joe Wilson. A question had arisen. I’d heard a report that the Iraqis had been trying to acquire uranium in Africa, Niger in particular. I get a daily brief on my own each day before I meet with the president to go through the intel. And I ask lots of question. One of the questions I asked at that particular time about this, I said, “What do we know about this?†They take the question. He came back within a day or two and said, “This is all we know. There’s a lot we don’t know,†end of statement. And Joe Wilson—I don’t who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back.
I guess the intriguing thing, Tim, on the whole thing, this question of whether or not the Iraqis were trying to acquire uranium in Africa. In the British report, this week, the Committee of the British Parliament, which just spent 90 days investigating all of this, revalidated their British claim that Saddam was, in fact, trying to acquire uranium in Africa. What was in the State of the Union speech and what was in the original British White papers. So there may be difference of opinion there. I don’t know what the truth is on the ground with respect to that, but I guess—like I say, I don’t know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn’t judge him. I have no idea who hired him and it never came…
MR. RUSSERT: The CIA did.
VICE PRES. CHENEY:Who in the CIA, I don’t know.
This was three months after his meeting with Libby, in which he told his Chief of Staff that Wilson’s wife was involved in the investigative trip to Niger. Cheney knew that Wilson’s wife was not responsible for the trip, and thought it was fine that his aides were telling everyone in the press the opposite. And on the issue of “who hired him,” he had already had George Tenet check it out and report back to him on that question. Cheney was lying to the American people.
The unmitigated gall – On the same day, Cheney hands torture victim John McCain a plan to exempt the CIA from torture bans. The Washington Post laudably calls this “The Cheney Plan.” Anything with his name on it from this day forward is not worth the paper it’s written on.
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