'Scooter' Libby, White House Drama Unfolds [Analysis] Will the leak probe extend into a Congressional investigation? The unfolding saga of the latest scandal to hit the White House in the U.S. continues. With the formal indictment of I. Lewis Libby, known as "Scooter" Libby, on Oct. 28 by the Special Council Patrick Fitzgerald, the investigation into the probe of the CIA leak is taking on a new dimension. The essence of the prosecutor's case in indicting Libby is that the obstruction of the investigation and the lies told to those doing the investigation hampered the chance to get a clear picture of the crimes committed and the guilty parties. That is why obstruction of justice and lying to the investigators are serious offenses. (1) There are other aspects of the indictment, which is publicly posted(PDF) on the Internet, which provide a window into the activities at the White House during the period when the faulty intelligence used to justify the war against Iraq was being publicly questioned. *Related Articles* Heat Is On for CIA Leak Probe Prosecutor The Internet and White House Leak Inquiry The indictment charges that on May 29, 2003, Libby asked an under Secretary of State for Information about the then unnamed Ambassador (Joseph Wilson) and his trip to Niger. What is interesting about this detail is that it wasn't that Libby was trying to determine whether the intelligence information about Iraq trying to buy yellowcake from Niger was true or false. Instead he was seeking information about the person who was challenging the intelligence. The indictment then describes how documents were faxed to Libby which made it possible for him to identify the person who took the trip to Niger as Joseph Wilson. By June 11 or 12, the indictment explains, Libby spoke with an unnamed CIA officer about the circumstances leading to Wilson's trip to Niger, and from that conversation Libby was able to learn that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and could have had some connection with Wilson's being sent to Niger. Again, the portrait of Libby's activities being described here is a portrait that presents him as interested in gathering information about Wilson, rather than his gathering information about the reliability of the intelligence used to justify the war. The picture presented in the indictment is one which shows there was a considerable amount of activity among the White House staff who were trying to determine who Wilson was and to gather information about him. Wilson is essentially being treated as a target, rather than the information he is providing being treated in a serious way. There is currently speculation in the media about the identity of the unnamed members of the White House and State Department staff that are referred to in the indictment. (2) While this speculation is helpful in unraveling the actual activities and relationships that led to the crime, it is secondary to coming to understand the nature of the White House activity that the indictment exposes. Intelligence information for Libby, as demonstrated in the indictment, is not to be held to standards of accuracy. Instead, it becomes a political weapon by which to campaign for a desired policy and to use to attack others who may disagree. Another observation from the details enumerated in the indictment is that a large number of people on the White House and State Department staff were brought into the activity of setting Wilson up as a target to be attacked. White House activity, then, is not to ascertain that the accuracy of intelligence being used for matters as serious as taking the U.S. and other countries into a war in Iraq. Instead the time and efforts of numerous members on the White House and State Department staff were expended on creating a web to encircle someone who asked for the serious consideration of the accuracy of intelligence. The indictment documents how members of the U.S. press were also brought into this web of deceit. Hence, not only are a number of members of the U.S. government involved in these illegitimate activities, but also several journalists are similarly pulled into the fold. The apparent intention is that they will help to change the focus of the critique that Wilson is providing of intelligence used by the White House, into setting Wilson, himself, and soon his wife, up as the focus of public attention. A serious question not treated in the indictment is what President Bush knew about these activities by a number of people on the White House staff. While the indictment states that Vice President Cheney knew of Wilson's identity and told Libby at some point that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA, it is silent on what Bush knew and who he may have spoken with about the targeting of Wilson and his wife. While Prosecutor Fitzgerald continues his investigation, it would seem an obligation of the Congress to conduct an investigation into how the intelligence used to justify the war was falsified, and the process by which the White House and State Department became embroiled in a scheme to target Wilson, rather than to seeking to deal with the serious problem of faulty intelligence becoming the basis for important policy decisions. Several Congressmen have indicated they want such a legislative investigation. Democratic Senator Jay Rockefeller of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence describes how he has been requesting such an investigation over a long period of time, but the request has been ignored by the Republican Chairman of the Committee. Finally, on Nov. 1, 2005, the Democratic Minority Leader of the Senate, Harry Reid, invoked a little used rule -- Rule 21 -- to close the Senate to the public and to demand that the Republican leadership agree to an investigation of how the White House became involved in presenting and protecting fraudulent intelligence as the pretext for the Iraq war. After a two-hour session, the Senate came out of their closed session announcing that there would be an investigation and that there would be a public report made available by Nov. 14, 2005. Not only is the White House continuing to protect the fraudulent intelligence, but leaders of the Republican Party, like Senator Roberts and Senator Bill Frist, make it necessary to take extraordinary measures like invoking Rule 21 before they will agree to a Senate investigation of the fraudulent intelligence. Similarly, in the House of Representatives, Henry Waxman has been trying to have an investigation conducted by the House. He has sent numerous letters and made numerous requests for information. But the needed investigation is stymied in the House as well as in the Senate. (3) Other congressmen like John Conyers are calling for action on the part of Congress. Conyers has directed the Judiciary Committee staff to conduct an investigation. (4) Another congressman, Dennis Kucinich, introduced a Resolution of Inquiry demanding that documents relevant to an investigation of the White House activities be turned over to Congress. (5) His demand was that the White House turn over "all white papers, minutes, notes, emails or other communications kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG) to the Congress." Action is to be taken on his demand in 14 legislative days from the date it was introduced. Waxman and five other congressmen have been calling for enforcement of Executive Order 12958 whereby unauthorized disclosure of classified information is grounds for losing one's security clearance. (6) Not only were members of the staff of the White House, the State Department and the U.S. press involved in actions to present faulty intelligence as the basis for the Iraq war, but even afterwards they have been part of the process of targeting critics challenging that intelligence. The intelligence agencies in other countries like Italy also appear to have become parties to this crime. Fitzgerald is continuing his investigation for criminal violations of the law. An investigation into the role by the Italian intelligence agency into the creation of the forged documents about Iraq seeking to buy yellowcake from Niger is being carried out in Italy. Discussion continues online on Web sites, blogs, and Usenet newsgroups, exploring the serious questions raised by these revelations about White House activities. What activities took place to create the faulty intelligence, to bring it to the U.S. Congress in order to get a vote authorizing a war against Iraq, and then to take this faulty intelligence to the American people and to the U.N., to seek domestic and international support for the war? How were these activities carried out? Who was involved and what role did they play? What are the implications of finding out that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction, that they were falsely accused, and that a serious set of activities were set in motion to create this fraudulent picture? And then when the fraud was challenged, why was the messenger challenging the lies targeted? The U.S. government claimed it was invading Iraq to bring democracy to the Iraqi people. But don't these revelations demonstrate that the U.S. government has failed to act in a democratic way toward its own citizens or even toward Congress? Similarly, people in other countries who are following these revelations about the activities carried out by the occupants of the White House, and witnessing the lengths they will go to in order to cover up their deeds, are seriously concerned about the spread of such corruption to government officials in their countries who try to model themselves on the activities of the U.S. government. Whether or not the U.S. Congress can find a way to conduct the needed investigation remains to be seen. However, if no thorough investigation leading to indictments occurs, illusions that the U.S. government is a model of democratic practice will be shattered. Notes: (1) Libby indictment(PDF). (2) Larisa Alexandrovna and Jason Leopold, "Bolton's chief of staff gave information on outed agent to Libby, lawyers involved in leak case say." *Rawstory*, Nov. 2, 2005 (3) Henry Waxman, "Rep. Waxman Renews Request for Hearing on Leak Case " (4) http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1028-12.htm (5) http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/1020-03.htm "A Resolution of Inquiry is a rare House procedure used to obtain documents from the Executive Branch. Under House rules, Kucinich's resolution is referred to committee, and action must be taken in committee within 14 legislative days." (6) Jonathan Alter, "Is Rove a Security Risk?" *Newsweek*, Nov. 2, 2005 mail to ohmynews --