Thursday, January 25, 2007

Libby called eager to reveal CIA's role

Testimony centers on who sponsored critic's Africa trip

WASHINGTON -- Former vice presidential aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was eager to make public that the CIA, not Vice President Dick Cheney, sent a former ambassador to check on Iraq's efforts to obtain nuclear material, a former agency executive said yesterday.

Robert L. Grenier, former CIA Iraq mission manager, appeared as a government witness in Libby's trial on charges of obstruction and lying. He testified he told Libby that the idea of sending former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV to Niger was the brainchild of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame Wilson , who worked in the CIA office that sent him in 2002.

A year later, the former ambassador became a prominent critic of the war, based on what he found in the African nation.

Ultimately, Grenier's testimony could help prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald establish a motive for Libby to confirm Plame Wilson's identity and employer to reporters in 2003, which Libby denies doing.

But defense lawyer William Jeffress quickly questioned how Grenier's memory improved substantially since he talked to investigators in 2003-2005.

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