Former Cheney aide guilty

WASHINGTON – The former top aide to Vice President Dick Cheney was found guilty on Tuesday of lying and obstructing a probe related to the Bush administration’s handling of the Iraq war and could face years in prison.

Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby was acquitted of just one of five counts in the investigation into who blew the cover of a CIA analyst. The Libby verdict came on the 10th day of jury deliberations and was hailed by Democrats as an appropriate rejection of the administration’s case for a war that has become widely unpopular with the US public.The guilty verdict was the latest in a series of setbacks growing out of the Bush administration’s Iraq war policy – including flawed intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, failure to commit enough troops to quell sectarian violence, prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib, and an outcry over treatment of US war wounded.Defence attorney Theodore Wells said Libby would seek a new trial, and if denied, would appeal the conviction.”We have every confidence that ultimately Mr.Libby will be vindicated,” Wells said.The trial stemmed from a probe into the leak of CIA analyst Valerie Plame’s identity in 2003 after her husband accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to build its case for war.Libby sat expressionless as the verdict was read in a packed Washington courtroom.His wife wept.Cheney said he was very disappointed.”Scooter served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service,” he said in a statement.No charges were brought for the actual leaking of Plame’s name.As Cheney’s chief of staff, Libby tried in conversations with reporters to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, by implying an overseas trip he made to determine whether Iraq sought nuclear material was a junket set up by his wife.Libby, who resigned when he was charged in October 2005, was found guilty of one count of obstructing the investigation into the Plame leak, two counts of perjury before a grand jury and one count of making false statements to the FBI.He was acquitted of a second count of making false statements.Nampa-ReutersThe Libby verdict came on the 10th day of jury deliberations and was hailed by Democrats as an appropriate rejection of the administration’s case for a war that has become widely unpopular with the US public.The guilty verdict was the latest in a series of setbacks growing out of the Bush administration’s Iraq war policy – including flawed intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, failure to commit enough troops to quell sectarian violence, prisoner abuses at Abu Ghraib, and an outcry over treatment of US war wounded.Defence attorney Theodore Wells said Libby would seek a new trial, and if denied, would appeal the conviction.”We have every confidence that ultimately Mr.Libby will be vindicated,” Wells said.The trial stemmed from a probe into the leak of CIA analyst Valerie Plame’s identity in 2003 after her husband accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction to build its case for war.Libby sat expressionless as the verdict was read in a packed Washington courtroom.His wife wept.Cheney said he was very disappointed.”Scooter served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service,” he said in a statement.No charges were brought for the actual leaking of Plame’s name.As Cheney’s chief of staff, Libby tried in conversations with reporters to discredit her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, by implying an overseas trip he made to determine whether Iraq sought nuclear material was a junket set up by his wife.Libby, who resigned when he was charged in October 2005, was found guilty of one count of obstructing the investigation into the Plame leak, two counts of perjury before a grand jury and one count of making false statements to the FBI.He was acquitted of a second count of making false statements.Nampa-Reuters