Unmasked agent piles pressure on 'liability' Cheney

THE US vice-president, Dick Cheney, is expected to come under pressure over his role in the outing of Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent, when she testifies before Congress this week.

It was Plame’s exposure - after her husband Joseph Wilson accused the White House of manipulating prewar intelligence over the supposed sale of yellowcake uranium ore to Iraq - that led to the conviction last week of Lewis “Scooter†Libby, Cheney’s top aide, for lying and obstruction of justice.

Jurors felt they had punished only the “fall guy†for the affair after Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, said in his closing remarks that there was “a cloud over the vice-presidentâ€.

Plame is bringing a civil case against Cheney, Karl Rove, President George W Bush’s aide, and other officials for revealing her identity. It is a crime to leak the name of a covert CIA agent, although Plame’s precise status has never been revealed.

“This case doesn’t end with Mr Libby’s conviction,†said Maurice Hinchey, a Democratic congressman. “Testimony in the Libby trial made it even more clear that Vice-President Dick Cheney played a major role in Mrs Wilson’s outing.â€