TMCnet News
LEAD: Court papers says Bush authorized leak of Iraq intelligence: reports+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)WASHINGTON, April 6_(Kyodo) _ (EDS: MORE INFO) Former top aide to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney has testified that President George W. Bush authorized the leak of classified intelligence information about Iraq to the media, according to federal court papers filed by prosecutors and reported by U.S. media reports Thursday. Testifying before a federal grand jury before his indictment, Lewis Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, has also said Cheney told him to leak intelligence information after Bush had authorized him to do so, the Associated Press said, citing the documents filed by prosecutors investigating the leak of information from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. It is the first time for alleged Bush's involvement to surface as Libby had reportedly admitted only to Cheney's approval for leaking some information. The authorization led to the July 8, 2003 conversation between Libby and New York Times reporters Judith Miller, according to the documents, the AP said. But the documents included no indications that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent whose husband is Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador critical of Bush's Iraq policy, the AP said. Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice in related to the investigation into the leaking of Plame's identity to the media. |