Editorial: Tapestry of deceit

Wednesday, March 7, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.

In so many respects, Bush administration officials have eluded accountability for their campaign of deception involving the Iraq war, but on Tuesday at least the vice president's former chief of staff couldn't escape a devastating verdict issued in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C.

It was there that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was found guilty of two counts of perjury, one count of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice for lying to federal investigators about his role in the leak that led to the disclosure of a CIA operative's identity.

The charges stemmed from a federal investigation into whether White House officials illegally revealed classified information in 2003 by telling some journalists that former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson IV was married to undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

In 2002 the CIA asked Wilson to review reports that Iraq had tried to buy nuclear weapons materials in Niger. Wilson found the reports to be false, and in 2003 wrote a newspaper opinion piece that accused the White House of distorting his conclusions and exaggerating the dangers posed by Iraq to justify the war. Prosecutors said that Libby tried to discredit Wilson by leaking his wife's identity to the press.

Libby remains the only person charged in this case, but it would be naive to think he acted alone. Libby was chief of staff to the United States' second-highest-ranking official.

Testimony revealed that Vice President Dick Cheney had helped select which journalists were to be contacted and had crafted the points that Libby and other staff members were to use in talking with reporters, as the officials sought to smear Wilson.

The fact that Libby now faces prison time offers little solace. This case strikes at the very core of the White House, and it reveals a culture of deceit that has permanently stained the Bush administration and further eroded the public's trust in government.