Outed US spy loses court bid

2008-08-14 07:51

Washington - A federal court rejected ex-CIA spy Valerie Plame's bid to sue members of the administration of President George W Bush for blowing her cover in 2003, legal sources said on Wednesday.

Plame and her husband, former diplomat Joseph Wilson, tried to lodge a civil suit in 2006 against Vice President Dick Cheney and two senior Bush aides demanding retribution for alleged violation of their constitutional rights.

The pair alleged that Cheney and aides conspired to punish the couple for Wilson's statements that refuted White House allegations that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had tried to buy material for nuclear weapons from Africa, by outing Plame as a CIA agent.

May go to Supreme Court

Their lawsuit was rejected in July 2007, a decision upheld by the US court of appeals in Washington on Tuesday, sources said.

"We are going forward," said Plame's lawyer Erwin Chemerinsky, saying they may take the suit to the Supreme Court.

Bush advisors Karl Rove and Lewis "Scooter" Libby were also named in the suit. Libby was charged in the case and convicted of perjury and obstructing justice, but not of revealing Plame's identity, which would be a federal crime.

Bush critics say Plame's name was leaked to the media in July 2003 by White House officials to avenge criticism of the US administration's rationale for the war in Iraq by her husband.

Wilson, a former US ambassador to Gabon, was sent to Niger in February 2002 to investigate claims Saddam tried to buy uranium for nuclear bombs but concluded it was doubtful such transfers took place.

He wrote a July 2003 opinion piece in The New York Times criticising Bush's case for war against Iraq.

Plame, who has published a memoir of her ordeal, has always contended that White House officials deliberately leaked her name to the media to ruin her career, and punish her husband for his actions.

- AFP