Move to resurrect CIA leak case

Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent was leaked to the press

Ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame has begun an attempt to resurrect a lawsuit against officials in the Bush administration, among them Vice-President Dick Cheney.

She accuses them of plotting to leak her identity in retaliation for her husband's criticism of Iraq war policy.

Last year, a US district judge threw out the case, saying the officials had had the right to respond to criticism.

Ms Plame's lawyers have now asked a federal appeals court to send the case back to a judge to consider its merits.

Ms Plame sued Mr Cheney and three other former senior officials in the Bush administration.

The others named in the case were Karl Rove, a senior adviser to President George W Bush at the time; former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage; and former White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Libby was convicted on perjury and obstruction of justice charges in March last year, but President Bush intervened earlier that year to spare him from going to jail.

Libby, Mr Armitage and Mr Rove have since left the Bush administration.

'Highly unsavoury'

Last July, District Judge john Bates dismissed Ms Plame's case against all the officials, saying the comments by her husband, former US ambassador Joseph Wilson, were relevant to the case.

"The alleged means by which defendants chose to rebut Mr Wilson's comments and attack his credibility may have been highly unsavoury," he said in the written ruling.

"But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism... by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties."

No-one has been charged with leaking Ms Plame's identity. It can be a crime to reveal the identity of an undercover CIA agent.