Armitage
Added to the Wilson's Civil Lawsuit
September 13, 2006
CREW ANNOUNCES JOE WILSON AND VALERIE PLAME WILSON TO ADD ARMITAGE
TO CIVIL SUIT
Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics
in Washington (CREW) announced today that it is adding former Deputy
Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage to the lawsuit filed by
Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby,
Karl Rove and Vice President Richard Cheney. CREW represents the
Wilsons in the litigation.
A new book by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, "Hubris: The
Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War," discloses
that Armitage was the first administration official to reveal that
Valerie Wilson worked for the CIA. Armitage told this information
to reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Novak. Armitage has since
confirmed his role and has admitted that he learned that Ms. Wilson
worked for the CIA from classified documents. Novak has also confirmed
Armitage as his initial source.
As a result of Mr. Armitage’s disclosures of this information
and the resulting publication of Mrs. Wilson’s CIA employment,
Mr. and Mrs. Wilson suffered gross invasions of their privacy and
Mrs. Wilson lost the ability to continue working as a covert CIA
officer. Mr. Armitage is being sued for violating the Wilsons’ constitutional
right to privacy, Mrs. Wilson’s constitutional right to property,
and for committing the tort of publication of private facts.
CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan said today, "The
addition of Armitage as a defendant in no way reduces the culpability
of the three original defendants. Separate and apart from Armitage’s
actions, Libby, Rove and Cheney engaged in an intentional and malicious
conspiracy to expose Mrs. Wilson’s identity as a covert operative
for the CIA in order to punish Mr. Wilson for his public statements
about the President’s justifications for the war against
Iraq." Sloan continued, "this case was and remains about
one issue – the abuse of government power."
http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=154
For ongoing updates on the PlameGate investigation, please read
http://www.buzzflash.com.
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