Scooter Libby: President Bush Approved Leak of CIA Operative Plame to Press

Damning information in court documents. From The Times:

Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, I. Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorized the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorization led to the July 8, 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.

There was no indication in the filing that either Bush or Cheney authorized Libby to disclose Valerie Plame's CIA identity.

But the disclosure in documents filed Wednesday means that the president and the vice president put Libby in play as a secret provider of information to reporters about prewar intelligence on Iraq.

Then, of course, the Times spins is to say that Bush's opponents are "leaping" with joy on this information.

I don't see any joy in this. I may NOT like the CIA or the dirty stuff it pulls. But outing a CIA operative JUST to discredit her husband is beyond evil. Other lives were endangered by this. It also must be a CHILLING message to the CIA that the president will happily hang them out to dry for the slightest transgression. All of this just to make Bush and Cheney happy.

Joy? Horror from this Bush opponent. No matter how many times I've heard evidence of this, it still chills me to the core.