For three
years, U.S. President George W. Bush has strongly denied
charges that his administration exaggerated the threat
posed by Saddam Hussein and that it illegally leaked
classified intelligence on Iraq to defend its decision
to go to war. Now, a former senior White House aide has
testified that Bush himself authorized that leaking. The
revelations, made in newly released court documents,
come as Bush's approval ratings plummet to an all-time
low in a sign that his Republican Party faces an uphill
battle to retain control of Congress in key elections
this fall.
Opposition
Democrats are seizing on the latest revelations,
accusing Bush of hypocrisy.
That's because Bush frequently denounces leaking
classified information to the media, often vowing to
punish officials who did so, as in this instance from
September 2003: "If there is a leak out of my
administration, I want to know who it is. If the person
has violated law, that person will be taken care of."
But in court documents released late on April 5, the
former top aide of Vice President Dick Cheney said that
Bush himself authorized the aide to give a reporter for
"The New York Times" top-secret intelligence about Iraq
in a bid to counter mounting criticism of the
president's decision to go to war.
The court papers quote Lewis "Scooter" Libby as saying
that Cheney told him that Bush had authorized him to
disclose that Iraq was "vigorously trying to procure"
uranium in a bid to build nuclear weapons.
The leak was intended, Libby alleged, to refute an
opinion piece in "The New York Times" by Joseph Wilson,
a former U.S. ambassador. In his article, Wilson said he
had traveled to Africa to investigate alleged nuclear
purchases by Iraq and found nothing. Wilson said he
concluded it was "highly doubtful" that Saddam Hussein
was trying to obtain uranium from Africa for nuclear
arms.
Libby's testimony is par of an investigation into
whether government officials may have illegally
disclosed the identity of Wilson's wife, who was an
undercover CIA agent, to punish him for his article.
Libby has been charged on five counts of perjury in the
case and now faces trial.
