Jury scrutinised for Libby trial

By James Coomarasamy
BBC News, Washington

Lewis Libby was in the White House inner circle

Potential jurors are being screened for political bias at the start of the trial in Washington of a former key official in the Bush administration.

The vice-president's ex-chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, is accused of perjury and obstructing justice.

It follows an investigation into the disclosing of CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity.

Her diplomat husband had criticised the Bush administration's conduct in the run-up to the Iraq war.

The trial is not about the leak but about the cover-up.

Jurors will have to decide whether Mr Libby - a highly influential but, until his indictment at least, little-known member of the White House inner circle - lied to investigators examining the disclosure of Ms Plame's name.

Her husband, the former US ambassador Joe Wilson, was a vocal critic of the Bush administration's use of intelligence to justify the war in Iraq.

And a grand jury looked into claims that officials set out to discredit him, revealing his wife's identity in the process.

Cheney to testify?

Mr Libby stepped down as chief of staff to Vice-President Cheney after he was charged with perjury, accused of failing to accurately disclose dealings he had had with journalists.

The vice-president is expected to be among the witnesses.

He will testify on Mr Libby's behalf in a trial that will rake over some of the controversies surrounding the Bush administration's case for war.

The proceedings are expected to be long and highly politicised, with potential jurors being asked for their views on the Bush administration and on the Iraq conflict.

Much of the drama, though, has been sucked from the case after last year's confession by the former Assistant Secretary of State Richard Armitage, that it was he - no great supporter of the war - who had inadvertently leaked Valerie Plame's identity.