Politics: USA: Plame-Wilson cell's bizarre civl suit against Cheney, Libby, Rove, Armitage

Washington Post carries a news report by Carol D. Leonnig, "Judge Told Leak Was Part of 'Policy Dispute'" (May18,2k7).

Attorneys for Vice President Cheney and top White House officials told a federal judge yesterday that they cannot be held liable for anything they disclosed to reporters about covert CIA officer Valerie Plame [Plame was no longer covert--P] or her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

The officials, who include senior White House adviser Karl Rove and Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, argued that the judge should dismiss a lawsuit filed by the couple that stemmed from the disclosure of Plame's identity to the media.

Joseph C. Wilson IV and Valerie Plame say revealing Plame's job endangered their family. They are suing administration officials.

The perjury trial of Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff calls up high-profile witnesses.

The suit claims that Cheney, Libby, Rove and former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage violated the couple's privacy and constitutional rights by publicly revealing Plame's identity in an effort to retaliate against Wilson. Plame's identity was disclosed in a syndicated column in July 2003, days after Wilson publicly accused the Bush administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate Iraq's nuclear threat and justify an invasion.

Libby was convicted in March of lying to a grand jury investigating the leak.

Valerie Plame was not undercover when she was exposed. The Plame-Wilson cell worked to advance John Kerry's campaign for President; after Kerry's defeat, the cell continued to use their positions in government to undermine the elected government.