ROBERT PARRY
Parry, a former reporter for The Associated Press and Newsweek, has written a number of books about Washington politics including, most recently, Secrecy & Privilege: Rise of the Bush Dynasty from Watergate to Iraq.
He said today: “Criminal trials are imperfect vehicles for discovering the full truth about a political or a national security crime. The Libby case is an example. Special prosecutor Fitzgerald’s evidence offered only a glimpse at the larger picture of how the Bush administration fought relentlessly to protect its false story for invading Iraq and how the White House punished war critics who challenged that account.” Parry is the founder and editor of ConsortiumNews.com.
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ELIZABETH HOLTZMAN
Holtzman is a former Congresswoman and was the district attorney of Brooklyn; she was a member of the House panel that voted to impeach Richard Nixon. She is co-author with Cynthia L. Cooper of the book The Impeachment of George W. Bush: A Practical Guide for Concerned Citizens.
She said today: “Libby was involved in a cover-up of the attack against Valerie Plame to silence criticism of the Iraq war. Libby has been caught lying to the FBI and the Grand Jury about where he first heard of Valerie Plame’s name. But why was he lying about this? It was almost certainly to cover up for Cheney. We need to know what Cheney said to the prosecutor and what Bush said to the prosecutor.
“In this case, retaliation by Vice President Cheney against a covert government official not only might endanger that government official and those she came in contact with, and harm our national security for reasons unrelated to a legitimate government purpose, but it may also meet the constitutional criteria of high crimes and misdemeanors — specifically, gross abuse of executive power.”
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DAVID LINDORFF
Lindorff is an investigative reporter. He said today: “A crucial issue of this trial — beyond the leaks — is being missed. Why was the administration so concerned about Joseph Wilson’s criticism? It was largely because the real underlying issue was who was behind the forged documents that purported to prove Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium ore from Niger. Who was behind those forged documents? Who brought them to the attention of the administration and the media?” Lindorff is co-author of the book The Case for Impeachment: The Legal Argument for Removing President George W. Bush from Office.
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MICHAEL RATNER
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said today: “Libby’s conviction hopefully is a sign that those who lied us into the Iraq war — costing the lives of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and thousands of Americans — are finally beginning to be held to account.”
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LARRY JOHNSON
Johnson has worked as a CIA intelligence analyst and State Department counter-terrorism official. He has known Valerie Wilson since they trained together in 1985. He is now a member of the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Johnson said today: “Libby may eventually get pardoned for the criminal charges by Bush, but much of the evidence uncovered in this trial may feed a civil suit filed by Joe and Valerie Wilson. It’s now incumbent upon Congress to investigate if Dick Cheney committed impeachable offenses.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020, (202) 421-6858; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167
