Cheney authorized Libby's leaks

According to a new article in the National Journal , Scooter Libby claims that Cheney and other "superiors" authorized his release of classified materials to bolster the Administration's case for war in Iraq. I don't have any knowledge of classified materials procedure, but I doubt that the rules allow the release of classified information for political gain. The article goes on to say that the defense that he was "authorized by superiors" to release the materials may be an attempt to undermine the prosecution. It was a tactic used by Oliver North in Iran-Contra (one of North's lawyers is working for Scooter Libby) where authorization by superiors is claimed and the government refuses to turn over classified materials that will confirm or deny this. It also doesn't seem to work well at protecting the Administration unless the tactic gets Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, to drop all charges. If it doesn't work to that degree, it may provide support for charges that the release of classified information, and Valerie Plame is not specifically mentioned, started much higher in the Administration and that there may have been a broader cover-up and conspiracy than just Scooter Libby and Karl Rove. The article points to some doubt about whether the tactic used by North will work as well with Libby: "A defendant can make a claim that he is just a victim of Washington politics or doing the bidding for someone else," said [professor of law at Fordham University Dan] Richman, the former prosecutor, "But there may be limits to a jury's sympathy when that defendant himself was so high-ranking. Given Libby's position in the White House, the jury is less likely to view him as a sacrificial lamb than as a sacrificial ram."