The vice president told Libby that the president had waved his wand.

[radfringe]

Cheney's Call
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/0215nj1.htm
By Murray Waas, National Journal
National Journal | Thursday, Feb. 15, 2007

Early on the morning of June 20, 2002, then-Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Bob Graham, D-Fla., received a telephone call at home from a highly agitated Dick Cheney. Graham, who was in the middle of shaving, held a razor in one hand as he took the phone in the other.

The vice president got right to the point: A story in his morning newspaper reported that telephone calls intercepted by the National Security Agency on September 10, 2001, apparently warned that Al Qaeda was about to launch a major attack against the United States, possibly the next day. But the intercepts were not translated until September 12, 2001, the story said, the day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Because someone had leaked the highly classified information from the NSA intercepts, Cheney warned Graham, the Bush administration was considering ending all cooperation with the joint inquiry by the Senate and House Intelligence committees on the government's failure to predict and prevent the September 11 attacks. Classified records would no longer be turned over to the Hill, the vice president threatened, and administration witnesses would not be available for interviews or testimony.

Moreover, Graham recalled in an interview for this story, Cheney warned that unless the leaders of the Intelligence committees took action to discover who leaked the information about the intercepts -- and more importantly, to make sure that such leaks never happened again -- President Bush would directly make the case to the American people that Congress could not be trusted with vital national security secrets.

"Take control of the situation," Graham recalls Cheney instructing him.

---snip---

Graham said, "Looking back at it, I think we were clearly set up by Dick Cheney and the White House. They wanted to shut us down. And they wanted to shut down a legitimate congressional inquiry that might raise questions in part about whether their own people had aggressively pursued Al Qaeda in the days prior to the September 11 attacks. The vice president attempted to manipulate the situation, and he attempted to manipulate us." Graham added: "But if his goal was to get us to back off, he was unsuccessful."

Graham said that Goss shared his concerns. In 2003, according to Graham, he speculated to Goss that the White House had set them up in an effort to sabotage the joint September 11 congressional inquiry. Graham says that Goss responded: "I often wondered that myself."

---snip---

It was during that volatile time, on July 6, 2003, that Wilson wrote his New York Times op-ed alleging that the administration had distorted intelligence information about Iraq's purported attempt to procure uranium. When Cheney and Libby learned that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and might even have played a role in selecting him for the Niger mission, they perceived his allegations as one more effort by the CIA to shift blame away from the agency.

>Four days later, on July 10, 2003, Mary Matalin, a senior aide to Cheney at the time, warned Libby that Wilson was a "snake" and that his "story has legs," Deputy Special Prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg said in court at Libby's trial.

Matalin then suggested a course of action, according to Zeidenberg: "We need to address the Wilson motivation. We need to be able to get the cable out. Declassified. The president should wave his wand."

Two days later, on July 12, 2003, Cheney and Libby flew together to the Norfolk naval base in Virginia, where they attended ceremonies to christen the USS Ronald Reagan.

On the way home on Air Force Two, the two men sat alone in a front compartment as Cheney counseled Libby on what to say to the press. One bit of advice: Provide reporters with details of the CIA debriefing of Wilson's Niger mission.

The vice president told Libby that the president had waved his wand.

[PCIntern]

1. Whatever you do, don't let Tweety hear this...

He has a fixation with *'s codpiece you know...he'll get all hot and bothered.

[sam sarrha]

2. the white house got over 50 warning from other countries governments that year, they let it happen

[goforit]

3. let it happenned...Not. Made it happen!

[H2O Man]

4. At a time when

it becomes clear that the conspiracy within the Office of the Vice President was headed by none other than Dick Cheney, we see weasals like Victoria Toesing attempt to blame it on Joe Wilson (WaPo; 2-18; Trial In Error); Byron York blame the CIA (WaPo; 2-17; What the CIA Leak Case is About): and, of course, the cry babies will continue to blame Valerie Plame or Chris Matthews.

But that doesn't change the fact that Scooter will be convicted. Ha!

[madokie]

5. my worry is it will only be a symbolic conviction

I'm confortable in thinking I know that the shrub will pardon him before he see's the crossbar hotel, but thats just me thinking though

[H2O Man]

7. While I can

appreciate why people would be concerned that Bush might pardon Libby, there is no evidence that he is giving such an action any serious consideration.

[renate]

8. I've been wondering about that too

Once Libby has done his duty and kept his mouth shut, why would Bush risk any further damage to his own image? He and his advisors surely remember the Marc Rich pardon and what a sour note that was at the end of Clinton's presidency. If he personally has nothing to gain from granting a pardon, I doubt he'll do it.

And about the story in the OP... :wow:

[radfringe]

6. kick