The "NEW" CIA Helps Out Scooter Libby's Defense

Odd, isn't it. The American public couldn't get the list of who secretly met with Cheney to decide our nation's energy policy, but Scooter Libby gets summaries of the Vice President's security briefings from the CIA. Better to keep Scooter from perjuring himself again, we guess.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

Thursday, August 10, 2006 · Last updated 6:17 p.m. PT

CIA gives Libby overviews of briefings

By MATT APUZZO
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

WASHINGTON -- The CIA says it has provided short summaries of Vice President Dick Cheney's daily security briefings to defense attorneys for his indicted former chief of staff.

The documents, which were provided in response to a March court order, summarize a wide range of national security issues that consumed the working day of Cheney and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who is accused of five counts of perjury, obstruction and lying to the FBI.

In a document filed Wednesday in federal court, the CIA reported that it gave the material to Libby's lawyers in three batches starting in May. The final documents were turned over early this week.

Libby has been charged with making false statements about how he learned the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame and what he told reporters about her. Libby's discussions with reporters came shortly after Plame's husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of twisting prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat.

Libby's lawyers say he had many more important things on his mind and may have forgotten the details about his conversations about Plame. They believe the daily security briefings will document his overwhelming workload.

The briefing summaries cover the period in the summer of 2003 when Libby was allegedly discussing Plame's CIA identity with journalists.

They also cover several weeks in the fall of 2003 when Libby was questioned by the FBI and March 2004 when Libby testified before a federal grand jury. It was those FBI interviews and grand jury appearances that led to his indictment.

Hey, who was on that Cheney energy task force anyway? Perhaps some of the oil companies that are reaping windfall, record-breaking profits in the billions and billions of dollars. But we don't get to know that.

Scooter gets service with a smile, however, from the "new" CIA, the one totally under the thumb of the Busheviks.

For ongoing updates on the PlameGate investigation, please read http://www.buzzflash.com.