World News 01-10-2003 White House Staff Face 10 Years In Jail who: George W Bush what: Orders staff to cooperate with inquiry into leaking of CIA agent`s identity where: Washington DC when: Yesterday snippet: The US Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation, reports The Financial Times this morning, after the name of a CIA secret agent was leaked to the media. "It is the first criminal investigation of the White House of President George W. Bush, who vowed in his election campaign to restore honesty to the Oval Office." "The White House fended off calls for an independent inquiry but urged its staff yesterday to cooperate," says The Guardian`s man in Washington, Julian Borger. FBI agents will question journalists and officials about claims that President Bush`s closest political adviser, Karl Rove, "deliberately blew the cover of Valerie Plame, a CIA expert on weapons of mass destruction". Ms Plame`s husband, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, "has accused the White House of orchestrating the leaks to punish him," says The Telegraph. Last year he went to Africa to investigate the rumour that Saddam Hussein had tried to purchase uranium from Niger. His contribution to discrediting that claim contributed to undermining the case for a war on Iraq. "Whoever was responsible for the leak violated a 1982 law making it a criminal offence to divulge the identity of an agent. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison," says The Independent`s Rupert Cornwell. "Democrats are demanding the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the leak." [... more]

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