This Week You Need To Know
Vice President Dick Cheney, visibly and increasingly in the target zone in the criminal investigation of the Valerie Plame obstruction-of-justice case, is desperately trying to orchestrate the coverup around the National Security Agency domestic spying scandal. Informed sources indicate that it was Cheney, not President Bush, who was behind the illegal surveillance of Americans, and thus it is Cheney who is also most vulnerable in this case, if and when the true scope of the spying operation becomes known.
It is openly acknowledged that it was the Vice President and his legal counsel, now chief of staff, David Addington, who ordered that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refuse to answer any pertinent questions, during his embarrassing appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 6.
Lyndon LaRouche pointed out that Gonzales was, in effect, "taking the Fifth" in refusing to testify. "Gonzales is refusing to honor his Constitutional obligations to report to the Senate," LaRouche said, "and it's particularly dangerous at this time," pointing to the British-orchestrated confrontation brewing between the United States and Iran.
Continuing the pattern of stonewalling and concealment which has characterized the Administration's dealings with Congress, especially on national security matters, Cheney and his mouthpiece Gonzales were adamant that the full membership of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees could not be briefed on the NSA program. But within 48 hours, the stone wall that Cheney had built began to crumble; the Administration reversed course, and provided briefings to the full committees.
Cheney's biggest vulnerability, is his exposure in the Valerie Plame case. First, therefore, we review developments there, to provide the necessary backdrop for his role in the NSA scandal....
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