[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[Senate]
[Pages 26068-26069]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         LEWIS LIBBY INDICTMENT

  Mr. DURBIN. The third issue is one which everyone is aware of; that 
is, the fact that for the first time in over a century, some high-level 
staffer in the White House has been indicted. Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby 
was indicted a few weeks ago, charged with perjury and obstruction of 
justice related to the Valerie Plame affair. Everyone is aware of it 
now. Joe Wilson, former

[[Page 26069]]

Ambassador, sent to Africa to determine whether assertions by the 
administration about yellow cake uranium coming from Africa to Iraq 
were true, reached the conclusion they were not. When he published that 
conclusion, he was attacked in the press by Robert Novak in a column 
where Mr. Novak said two White House sources had told him that Joseph 
Wilson's wife Valerie Plame was a CIA agent.
  In fact, she was an undercover agent whose identity was being 
protected. But the White House, in an effort to discredit its critics 
and to silence them, attacked Joe Wilson's wife Valerie Plame and, in 
the process, disclosed the identity of a CIA agent. There is a question 
raised as to whether that violates the law. The fact that people work 
in covert activities and risk their lives for America is something we 
should never take for granted. The law is designed to protect them. But 
the White House decided, for political reasons and in order to protect 
against the disclosure that they were manufacturing intelligence to 
justify the war, they would attack Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie Plame. 
For that action and for the statements he made to the FBI and the grand 
jury, Mr. Libby was indicted. The investigation continues.

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