Scooter Libby: A primer

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. He's the vice president's chief of staff, the gatekeeper. He's a neoconservative whose relationship with Vice President Cheney dates back to Cheney's days as Defense Secretary in the George H. W.
Bush Administration. You know that group: Cheney, Libby, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle.

He has an official government Web site bio.

Right Web has a profile.

Here's an excerpt from the Center for American Progress, a progressive Web site:

When historians finally lift the curtain on the Bush administration, they will discover that Irv Lewis "Scooter" Libby was one of the most important men pulling the levers. Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, has been center stage for every one of the administration's national security scandals – the Iraq intelligence debacle, secret meetings about Halliburton contracts in Iraq, and the leaking of a CIA's agent's identity to the press – and doubtless others we have not heard of yet.

The dossier goes on to say that Libby is "Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney." That says it all. But wait, there's more in this article from July 8, 2004:

There is speculation that Libby has already faced questioning by a special prosecutor in what may turn out to be the most damaging Bush scandal – the White House's leaking of a CIA operative's name. The operative – the wife of Joe Wilson, a former ambassador and Bush administration critic – was outed to journalists in an attempt to intimidate her husband, who had offered proof that the President was inflating evidence about Iraq search for nuclear materials.

Numerous press reports hold that Libby was closely involved in the incident (either as the leaker or someone who knew about and authorized the leak). And the New York Times has revealed that Cheney was specifically asked about Libby when prosecutors grilled him. A grand jury is currently investigating the case, which could carry a prison sentence of 10 years.

Oh yes, that's right. Libby is also the new eye of the storm surrounding whether a White House official leaked the name of a CIA covert operative. Attention has shifted from Karl Rove to someone far more insidious, Libby. And a liberal Web site puts the pieces together.

The American people are about to get to know Lewis "Scooter" Libby really well in the next few weeks, I suspect.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.