CIA agent's spouse says Bush aide must go

WASHINGTON - The husband of a CIA agent whose identity was exposed during the fierce debate over the Iraq war accused the White House on Thursday of being involved in a giant "cover-up" involving top aide Karl Rove.

Federal investigators are looking into who leaked the identity of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, whose name appeared in a newspaper column exactly two years ago, on July 14, 2003. Rove, who orchestrated Bush's presidential campaigns, has emerged as a source for at least one other media report on the case.

"What this thing has been for the past two years has been a cover-up, a cover-up of the ... web of lies that underpin the justification for going to war in Iraq," said Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, a career foreign service officer who served in the Clinton White House.

"And to a certain extent, this cover-up is becoming unraveled. That's why you see the White House stonewalling," Wilson told NBC's "Today" show.

Bush, whose approval ratings have fallen in recent months, has had no public words of support for his longtime adviser. He said he would withhold judgment and ordered his staff to cooperate with investigators.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan, traveling with Bush to Indiana, declined to comment on Wilson's charges. "We'll let the investigation continue and come to a conclusion," he said.

It is a federal offense to knowingly reveal the identity of a US undercover agent, and Bush said in 2003 he would fire whoever leaked the classified information about Plame. The special prosecutor investigating the case could also be considering charges of obstruction of justice or perjury.

Wilson, who briefly served as an adviser to the campaign of Bush's 2004 presidential opponent, Sen. John Kerry but also served in the first Bush administration, added his voice to Democrats calling for Rove to be fired.

Wilson has said repeatedly the leak was aimed at discrediting him for criticizing Bush's Iraq policy in 2003, after a CIA-funded trip in 2002 to investigate whether Niger helped supply nuclear materials to Baghdad.

ROVE SAYS DID NOTHING WRONG

Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff, was named by a Time magazine reporter as a source who identified the agent.

While Bush has declined to come to Rove's defence publicly, he showed some support on Thursday, walking side by side with Rove from the Oval Office to his helicopter en route to Indiana. The two men chatted and smiled.

About 100 protesters picketed outside the White House later, chanting "Hey, hey, ho ho, Karl Rove has got to go." They were organized by the liberal group MoveOn.org, which provided signs that read: "Stop the Cover-up: Fire Karl Rove."

On Capitol Hill, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi renewed the call for congressional hearings on the case.

"Today is the two-year anniversary of the printing of the article in the newspaper," Pelosi said. "For two years I believe that this White House has not fully cooperated in the investigation."

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, proposed an amendment to a Homeland Security funding bill under consideration that would strip any federal employee who disclosed classified information, including the identity of a covert CIA agent, of their access to sensitive information.

A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll showed the percentage of Americans who believed Bush was "honest and straightforward" fell to 41 per cent from 50 per cent in January, and those who said they doubted his veracity climbed to 45 per cent from 36 per cent.

Democratic National Committee chief Howard Dean said he thought the president was losing credibility over Rove.

"The president must demonstrate that he values protecting CIA operatives fighting on the front lines in the war on terror over protecting his political operatives," said Dean.

The Republican National Committee countered with a list of what it said were Wilson's "Top Ten worst inaccuracies and misstatements," ranging from claims he was victim of a partisan smear campaign to information about his Niger visit.

Plame returned to the CIA this month after a year's absence and Wilson said his family had not enjoyed the attention brought by the case. The couple have 5-year-old twins.

The case led to the jailing last week of New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who refused to testify about sources she spoke to on the story.

Time reporter Matt Cooper avoided the same fate after Rove waived their agreement to keep his comments confidential. Cooper testified before the investigating grand jury on Wednesday.

- REUTERS