Cheney suspicions of Iraq WMD probe, CIA spy outed in legal documents

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060514/pl_afp/usmediairaqcia_060514183540;_ylt=AvKVQiKHcbYhpTtz4Xe4rW2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MjBwMWtkBHNlYwM3MTg-

Cheney suspicions of Iraq WMD probe, CIA spy outed in legal documents

Sun May 14, 2:37 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Vice President Richard Cheney was deeply suspicious of a 2002 probe into whether Iraq had tried to purchase uranium ore from Niger, as well as of a CIA operative's personal role in the effort, newly released legal documents show.


The documents, filed by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in federal court here, contain direct evidence that Cheney believed
Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative at the time, might have helped engineer a trip to Niger by her husband, retired ambassador Joseph Wilson, on a mission not authorized by the White House.

The trip, undertaken on behalf of the CIA, helped dispel suspicions that the government of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had tried to procure the ore known as "yellowcake" from the African nation as part of a secret effort to reconstitute a nuclear weapons program.

Charges that Saddam was trying to build an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction served as the prime rationale for the launch the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. No such weapons have subsequently been found......

(Murray Waas reported this some time ago.)

Tenet in June apparently had the CIA revisit the issue and review their stuff since Cheney/Libby had been asking so many questions about Wilson etc. Remember Cheney/Libby's focus on Wilson in June was not a result of Wilson's July 6 op ed, but due to his previous public criticism and his being an anon source for Kristof's article in May and Pincus' article in June.

Cheney/Libby were preparing a smear campaign against Wilson at minimim weeks before his July 6 op ed if not even well before that. Libby was chatting up Judy Miller about the CIA and Wilson's wife on June 23.

Libby/Cheney want to focus on July to portray their activities as just a response to Wilson's op ed. But it wasn't and it began weeks if not months before.