Closing arguments begin in CIA leak case

Prosecutors have just three hours left to convince US jurors in the Washington CIA leak case.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, who led the investigation, wanted more time to argue that former White House aide Lewis “Scooter” Libby lied to the FBI, then blamed his lies on a faulty memory.

Defence lawyer Theodore Wells said he needed about four hours to argue that Libby never lied, but rather honestly forgot his conversations with reporters regarding outed CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Such a schedule would have pushed closing arguments into tomorrow, something US District Judge Reggie Walton did not want.

Judge Walton, who has tried to keep the month-long trial from debating the war in Iraq, the science of memory and the scruples of the mass media, held firm to three hours.

Prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg will go first, recounting for jurors that in mid-2003, Plame’s husband Joseph Wilson angered the White House by accusing the Bush administration of doctoring pre-war intelligence on Iraq. While trying to publicly discredit Mr Wilson, prosecutors say, Mr Libby told reporters that Ms Plame worked for the CIA.

Plame was outed publicly by reporter Robert Novak, who touched off an FBI investigation with a July 2003 syndicated column. Though Mr Libby was not the source, prosecutors say he feared he would be charged with discussing classified information with other reporters.

Mr Wells will follow Mr Zeidenberg with a much different story. He argues Mr Libby was swamped with national security issues and honestly forgot that Vice President Dick Cheney told him about Ms Plame.