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Tuesday, October 25, 2005

The Last chance to leak before Fizmas frenzy is getting extreme.
DAVID JOHNSTON, RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL report that
"Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show" in tomorrow's NY Times. The notes (written by Scooter Libby) imply that Cheney told Libby that "Wilson's wife" worked for the CIA on June 12, 2003. They further imply that Cheney learned from George Tenet.

Mega big. Obviously this means that there is proof that Libby lied to investigators and, thus, that he is a felon. The dramatic part is the direct link to Cheney.

It is reasonably clear that the source for this leak is Libby's lawyer, who, by the way refused to say anything about whether Libby just got a target letter.

I think one condition for the leak was that Johnston, Stevenson and Jehl had to write "Disclosing a covert agent’s identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent’s undercover status." Of course this is not true. The agent's identity is classified so disclosure is a violation of the espionage act. Knowledge is required only to violate the IIPA.

I'd say a small price for the info that Cheney was in on it from the beginning.

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