Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) announced today that it is adding former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage to the lawsuit filed by Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph C. Wilson against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Karl Rove and Vice President Richard Cheney. CREW represents the Wilsons in the litigation. A new book by Michael Isikoff and David Corn, "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal and the Selling of the Iraq War," discloses that Armitage was the first administration official to reveal that Valerie Wilson worked for the CIA. Armitage told this information to reporters Bob Woodward and Robert Novak. Armitage has since confirmed his role and has admitted that he learned that Ms. Wilson worked for the CIA from classified documents. Novak has also confirmed Armitage as his initial source.As a result of Mr. Armitage’s disclosures of this information and the resulting publication of Mrs. Wilson’s CIA employment, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson suffered gross invasions of their privacy and Mrs. Wilson lost the ability to continue working as a covert CIA officer. Mr. Armitage is being sued for violating the Wilsons’ constitutional right to privacy, Mrs. Wilson’s constitutional right to property, and for committing the tort of publication of private facts.CREW’s executive director Melanie Sloan said today, "The addition of Armitage as a defendant in no way reduces the culpability of the three original defendants. Separate and apart from Armitage’s actions, Libby, Rove and Cheney engaged in an intentional and malicious conspiracy to expose Mrs. Wilson’s identity as a covert operative for the CIA in order to punish Mr. Wilson for his public statements about the President’s justifications for the war against Iraq." Sloan continued, "this case was and remains about one issue – the abuse of government power."
Armitage is a good egg for the Wilsons...
http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=154
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