Text 1699, 149 rader
Skriven 2006-07-13 19:54:00 av BOB KLAHN (1:123/140)
Ärende: Lawsuits and the Truth.
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 Well, those of you who insisted you wanted to get Wilson under
 oath, under penalty of perjury, looks like you'll get your wish.

 Of course, the republicans could have had that any time they
 wanted, just call him before congress and require him to testify
 under oath.

 Since they chose not to, you'll have to settle for a lawsuit,
 filed by Joe and Valerie Wilson. And guess who gets named. How
 about Dick Cheney. And will he have to testify? Well, when it
 was Clinton, in a lawsuit the judge ruled was absolutely without
 merit, he had to testify anyway. Now that it's Cheney, he's only
 the VP, he has less of an excuse. Wanna see Cheney weasle?

 Karl Rove, your witness chair is waiting.

 I am lookng forward to this. Hope you are too.

 **************************************************************************

  Valerie Plame Wilson and Ambassador Joseph Wilson Initiate a Civil
  Action Against Vice President Cheney, Karl Rove, and Scooter Libby for
  Violations of their Constitutional and Other Legal Rights

 WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 13, 2006--Former CIA agent
 Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph
 Wilson, filed suit in federal court today against Vice
 President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff I. Lewis
 "Scooter" Libby, top Presidential advisor Karl Rove and other
 unnamed senior White House officials, for their role in the
 public disclosure of Valerie Wilson's classified CIA status.

 A copy of the Complaint as filed in court is attached, as is a
 page with excerpts from the Complaint.

 The suit accuses the defendants of violating the Wilsons'
 constitutional and other legal rights as a result of "a
 conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the
 White House" to "discredit, punish and seek revenge against"
 Mr. Wilson for publicly disputing statements made by President
 Bush in his 2003 State of the Union address justifying the war
 in Iraq.

 The suit was filed nearly three years after Washington
 columnist Robert Novak disclosed Valerie Wilson's classified CIA
 employment in a column he wrote on July 14, 2003, based on leaks
 from senior administration officials. It subsequently was
 confirmed, during Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's criminal
 investigation, that several top ranking officials in the White
 House leaked Wilson's name and status with the CIA to Novak and
 other reporters.

 The Complaint was filed in the United States District Court for
 the District of Columbia by the international law firm of
 Proskauer Rose LLP, whose team is headed by Washington, D.C.
 litigation partner and privacy law practitioner Christopher
 Wolf. Noted Constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, a
 professor of law at Duke University, is of counsel in the case.

 As a result of Cheney, Libby and Rove's conduct, the suit
 claims that the Wilsons have suffered violations of their
 rights guaranteed under the United States Constitution and by
 laws of the District of Columbia.

 The Complaint specifies that each of the Wilsons has been
 deprived of their First and Fifth Amendment rights; each has
 suffered a gross invasion of their privacy; each has been
 impaired in pursuing professional opportunities; and that they
 fear for their safety and the safety of their children as a
 result of the wrongful public disclosures. In addition, the
 Complaint alleges that Valerie Wilson was impaired in her
 ability to carry out her duties at the CIA, and to pursue her
 career at the agency in further service to her country, as she
 had planned. While no specific dollar amount is requested, the
 suit seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages and attorneys'
 fees and costs.

 Coinciding with the filing of the Complaint, the Joseph and
 Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust has been established. Funds
 from the trust will help the Wilsons pay the substantial legal
 costs forced upon them by the unlawful leaking of Mrs. Wilson's
 covert CIA status. The objectives of the trust include:

 -- Counseling them in connection with their potential witness
 testimony during the upcoming trial of Scooter Libby; and

 -- Helping them to prepare the civil suit that will uncover the
 truth surrounding the leak, ensure all relevant public
 officials are held accountable for actions depriving the Wilsons
 of their privacy and constitutional rights, and serve as a
 deterrent to similar wrongdoing being committed in the future.

 The Trust was established with the Wilsons' approval and
 provides that should the suit result in a payment to the Wilsons
 in excess of their legal costs, they will reimburse the Trust
 for all legal costs paid by the Trust. That money will then be
 distributed by the trustees to a charitable organization(s) that
 works to protect the rights of government whistleblowers.

 Contributions to the Joseph and Valerie Wilson Legal Support
 Trust can be given at www.wilsonsupport.org
 <http://www.wilsonsupport.org> or sent to P.O. Box 40918,
 Washington, D.C. 20016-0918.

 Neither the Wilsons nor their attorneys will comment on the
 civil suit today, but they will meet with the news media at
 10:00 a.m. Friday at the National Press Club, 14th and F Sts.

 Excerpts From the Complaint in Wilson v. Libby, et al.:

 "The lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by
 senior officials of the federal government of one such human
 source at the CIA, Valerie Plame Wilson, whose job it was to
 gather intelligence to make the nation safer, and who risked her
 life for her country."

 "The Defendants reached an agreement to discredit, punish, and
 seek revenge against the Plaintiffs . . . . Said agreement was
 motivated by an invidiously discriminatory animus towards those
 who had publicly criticized the administration's stated
 justifications for going to war with Iraq."

 "The Defendants chose not to address publicly, directly, and on
 the merits why they may have thought Mr. Wilson was wrong or
 unfair in his statements on the President's misstatements.
 Rather, they embarked on an anonymous 'whispering campaign'
 designed to discredit and injure the Plaintiffs and to deter
 other critics from publicly speaking out."

 "But for Mr. Wilson coming forward, it is unlikely that the
 Administration ever would have acknowledged its error. The fact
 that the administration had to admit its mistake is one likely
 reason why the Defendants chose to attack the Wilsons"

 "The Defendants fraudulently concealed the existence of the
 Plaintiffs' cause of action . . . by, among other things, giving
 false or misleading testimony to federal law enforcement
 personnel and/or the federal grand jury empanelled to
 investigate the unlawful publication of Plaintiff Valerie Plame
 Wilson's classified CIA employment . . . ."

 **************************************************************************

BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn

... George W. Bush, the most corrupt man to hold the presidency in my lifetime.
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