Cheney: "My Bad," Part 2 --- Plame Status Declassified in 2003?

Apparently, for the last 2 1/2 years during DOJ investigating, Ashcroft feet-dragging, Special Prosecutor appointing, grand jury impaneling, reporter subpoenaing and jailing, Supreme Court arguing, and Chief of Staff perjuring, it's all been one big fucking mistake.

Is it possible that Cheney declassified Plame's identity as a CIA agent but was so concerned with how Joe Wilson felt, he forget to mention it to anybody?

Vice President Dick Cheney said Wednesday [February 15th, 2006] that an executive order gives him the authority to declassify secret documents, but he would not say whether he authorized an indicted former aide to release classified information. Associated Press

Now, is he just saying that to deflect stories about his bad aim, flex his muscles or did he actually declassify Plame's status?

Did he declassify the Plame Memo memo as well?

A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.

If he actually declassified this information "to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq", it is clear why he did so.

The implication from the disclosure that Mr. Libby had authority to discuss sensitive intelligence matters with the press "is that the White House -- the vice president -- has been using his declassification authority as a way to advance the administration's political agenda," said Steven Aftergood, director of the project on government secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists. "In other words, information that supports the administration's position on Iraq or whatever is selectively declassified and other information is not. That's not a criminal offense, but it's kind of sleazy." WSJ, 2/11/06

But if the information was declassified, why would Libby lie about a "non-leak" to the grand jury? (National Journal) A simple matter of habit?



If Cheney didn't declassify Plame's status or the memo, what did he declassify, if anything?

This question looks like it maybe answered in the Libby trial in 2007 because right now, it appears to be part of Libby's defense.

I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, told a grand jury that he was authorized by his "superiors" to disclose classified information to reporters about Iraq's weapons capability in June and July 2003, according to a document filed by a federal prosecutor. NYT, 2/10/06

How many "superiors does Libby have? Bush and Cheney seem to be it. Cheney has already indicated that he believes he will be called to testify at Libby's trial. It would be astounding if Cheney admits that late in the game that the Plame information was declassified and all of the legal proceeding were for naught.

Something about all of this smells worse than it did before and it's not the rotting carcass of a dead quail.