Bush and Cheney Face Legal Jeopardy in Covert CIA Agent Outing Investigation

Interview with Robert Parry, investigative reporter, conducted by Scott Harris

In early April, special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald filed court documents revealing that indicted former chief of staff to the vice president, Lewis Libby, testified that Dick Cheney had told him that President Bush personally authorized the release of classified intelligence in July 2003 to refute critics of his administration's rationale for war.

Bush's admission that he declassified the CIA's National Intelligence Estimate to counter public doubts about White House assertions regarding Saddam Hussein's nuclear weapons program, contradicts the president's earlier statements. Bush had previously deplored the leaks and stated he did not know who in his administration had revealed the classified information.

Fitzgerald continues his investigation into who in the White House leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, wife of Joseph Wilson, a former Ambassadorawho had publicly challenged the president's assertion that Iraq had sought uranium from the African nation of Niger. Although the court documents do not allege that the president was directly involved in the outing of Plame, Bush's authorization to disclose the CIA's secret analysis to reporters set in motion Libby's disclosure of Plame's identity. Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with investigative reporter Robert Parry about the special prosecutor's investigation and the legal jeopardy that President Bush and Vice President Cheney may face as a result of their efforts to discredit Joseph Wilson.

Investigative journalist Robert Parry is winner of the George Polk award for national reporting. He is the author of "Secrecy and Privilege, Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq." Read his columns online at www.consortiumnews.com

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