Washington - The former top aide to US Vice President Dick
Cheney was sentenced Tuesday to 30 months in prison for obstructing
an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's name in the lead
up to the Iraq war.
I Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, will
spend 30 months in prison, will pay a 250,000 fine and spend two
years on probation.
Libby was found guilty in March of perjury, obstruction and lying
to investigators about the leak.
'Evidence in this case overwhelmingly indicated Mr Libby's
culpability,' US District Judge Reggie B Walton said ahead of
sentencing, the Washington Post reported online.
Following a June 14 hearing, the judge will decide whether Libby
should remain free pending appeal.
At issue was whether Libby, 56, lied to the grand jury and to FBI
investigators probing whether US administration officials
intentionally leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame to
retaliate for her husband's criticism of the Iraq war.
Plame's husband, former US diplomat Joseph Wilson, alleges that
the White House intentionally blew his wife's CIA cover.
Her name appeared in print on July 14, 2003, shortly after Wilson
wrote a newspaper article discounting one of the US administration's
war arguments - that Saddam Hussein's Iraq sought to obtain
yellowcake uranium from the African country of Niger.
Exposing the identity of a CIA official can be a crime. Libby was
not charged with leaking Plame's name to the media but with hampering
the probe into who did. He resigned in 2005 after being indicted.
White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters travelling with
Bush in Europe that the president 'felt terrible' for Libby's family,
but would not comment on whether the president would consider
pardoning Libby.
A statement issued by Cheney also expressed sympathy for the
decision's impact on the Libby family.
'The defence has indicated it plans to appeal the conviction in
the case,' Cheney said. 'Speaking as friends, we hope that our system
will return a final result consistent with what we know of this fine
man.'
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
USA
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