[Mb-civic] Nicholas Kristof

[Mike Blaxill]

 What Did Cheney Know, and When Did He Know It?
    By Nicholas D. Kristof
    The New York Times

    Tuesday 01 November 2005

    Come on, Mr. Vice President, tell us what
happened.

    A federal indictment charges that criminality
swirled around your office, and it demeans this
administration and the entire country when you
hide in your bunker and refuse to say whether you
knew of any such activities.

    Five lawyers I've consulted all agree that
there is no compelling legal reason why you
should not discuss the situation. It's urgent
that you clear the air by answering these
questions in a televised news conference:

    Did you ask Scooter Libby to undertake his
inquiries about Ambassador Joseph Wilson? Mr.
Libby made such a concerted push to get
information, from both the State Department and
the C.I.A., that I suspect that you prodded him.
Is that right? If so, why?

    Why did you independently ask the C.I.A. for
information about the Wilsons? The indictment
states that on June 12, 2003, you advised Mr.
Libby that you had learned, apparently from the
C.I.A., that Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie, worked
in the agency. So did you ask George Tenet, then
the director, about Mr. and Mrs. Wilson? Did you
review the related documents that the C.I.A.
faxed to your office?

    Did you know that Mrs. Wilson was a covert
officer? The indictment states that you knew she
worked in the C.I.A.'s counterproliferation
division. You would think that anyone as steeped
in intelligence issues as you are would know that
meant she worked in the Directorate of Operations
and was perhaps a spook's spook.

    Did you advise Mr. Libby to leak information
about Mrs. Wilson's work in the C.I.A. to
journalists? Mr. Libby flew with you on Air Force
Two on July 12, 2003, and according to the
indictment, one of the issues Mr. Libby discussed
onboard the plane (with you?) was how to deal
with the news media. Within hours, the indictment
charges, Mr. Libby told two reporters that Mrs.
Wilson worked in the agency.

    When Mr. Libby made his statements in the
inquiry - allegedly committing perjury - were you
aware of what he was saying? Mr. Libby rode to
work with you almost every morning, but this
topic never came up?

    Was Mr. Libby fearful of disclosing something
about your behavior in the summer of 2003? Mr.
Libby is renowned for his caution, yet he is
alleged to have suddenly embarked upon a
high-risk campaign of leaks and lies. If he did
do that, was it a misguided attempt to protect
you? The alleged lies shielded you by indicating
that the information you gave him about Mrs.
Wilson instead came from reporters.

    Would the truth have been so potentially
damaging to your position that Mr. Libby chose
perjury instead?

    My guess is that there was no malevolent
conspiracy to "out" Mrs. Wilson. Rather, my hunch
is that you and Mr. Libby were enraged at what
you perceived as false suggestions that you had
been personally responsible for sending Mr.
Wilson to Niger and had then ignored his
findings.

    I'm speculating that you may have thought
that you were just knocking down unfair
exaggerations and rumors - and then Mrs. Wilson's
identity was disclosed to suggest that she was
more responsible for sending him to Niger than
you were.

    And once a criminal investigation began,
perhaps Mr. Libby didn't want to acknowledge that
you were knee-deep in actions that at a minimum
looked petty and unseemly.

    Whatever happened, Mr. Vice President, the
American public deserves some reassurance. If you
had nothing to do with any of this, then say so.
But don't cower behind your lawyers. As it is,
you're pleading "no contest" in the court of
public opinion, and that's painful for all of us
who want to believe in the integrity of our
government.

    When Richard Nixon was a candidate for vice
president and embroiled in scandal, he addressed
the charges in his Checkers speech: "The best and
only answer to a smear or to an honest
misunderstanding of the facts is to tell the
truth." (Mr. Vice President, any time a columnist
quotes Nixon to you in an exhortation to be
honest, you're in trouble.)

    Even when Spiro Agnew was embroiled in a
criminal investigation, he tried to explain
himself, repeatedly. Do you really want to be
less forthcoming than Dick Nixon and Spiro Agnew?

    We don't need to try to turn this into
Watergate, and we don't need gloating from the
Democrats. But we do need straight talk from you.
The indictment has left a cloud that impedes
governing, and if we're to move on, we need you
to clear the air.

    So, Mr. Cheney, tell us what happened. If
you're afraid to say what you knew, and when you
knew it, then you should resign.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/110105Z.shtml