The Political Chase

Murray Waas on Cheney and Libby

Murray Waas has a piece in National Journal that is must reading. It’s all about cover up and related to information that Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame Wilson’s spouse, debunked.

Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, overruling advice from some White House political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, according to Bush administration and congressional sources.

The Intelligence Committee at the time was trying to determine whether the CIA and other intelligence agencies provided faulty or erroneous intelligence on Iraq to President Bush and other government officials. But the committee deferred the much more politically sensitive issue as to whether the president and the vice president themselves, or other administration officials, misrepresented intelligence information to bolster the case to go to war. An Intelligence Committee spokesperson says the panel is still working on this second phase of the investigation.

I have heard some rumblings about Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), chairman of the committee, being helpful to Cheney and possibly the president, by limiting what was included in the report the committee issued in April 2004 (campaign time). I say that based on rumors only; I do not know what is reality or fiction, but I’m looking around.  I would be glad to hear from anyone that could shed some light on the rumors. I’ll be happy to link to your site.