Did Bush Lie to Fitzgerald?
By Robert Parry
Consortium News
Friday 07 April 2006

Lewis Libby's testimony identifying George W. Bush as the top official who authorized the leaking of intelligence about Iraq's alleged nuclear weapons program raises two key questions: What did the President tell the special prosecutor about this issue in 2004 and what is Bush's legal status in the federal criminal probe?

Bush's legal danger came into clearer focus with the release of a court document citing testimony from Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff who claimed that Bush approved the selective release of intelligence in July 2003 to counter growing complaints that Bush had hyped evidence on Iraq's pursuit of enriched uranium...

...While some experts believe Bush has the legal authority to unilaterally declassify secrets, Libby's testimony - along with other evidence from this so-called Valerie Plame leak investigation - leaves little doubt that Bush and White House aides repeatedly misled the public about the role of senior officials in disseminating secret information to deflect criticism about the Iraq invasion.

Bush even vowed to fire anyone who leaked classified material. "The President has set high standards, the highest of standards, for people in his administration," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said on Sept. 29, 2003. "If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration."

Yet, Bush never disclosed that he himself had a hand in planting information to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for accusing the administration of having "twisted" the pre-war intelligence to justify invading Iraq...http://tinyurl.com/qv946
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