Subject: NEAL STATEMENT ON LIBBY INDICTMENT

NEWS FROM CONGRESSMAN RICHARD E. NEAL (D-MASSACHUSETTS)
Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Budget
2266 Rayburn Building
Washington, DC 20515

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - October 28, 2005
CONTACT: William Tranghese (202) 225-5601

NEAL STATEMENT ON LIBBY INDICTMENT
Vice-President's Chief-of-Staff charged with perjury, obstruction of justice

and making false statements to a grand jury

WASHINGTON - Congressman Richard E. Neal (D-Springfield) released the
following statement today after U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel
Patrick J. Fitzgerald announced that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the
Chief-of-Staff to Vice-President Dick Cheney, has been indicted for perjury,
obstruction of justice and making false statements to a grand jury.

"A federal grand jury today indicted one of the most senior members of the
Bush administration for making false and misleading statements. To put
today's developments into perspective, this is the first indictment of a
sitting White House official in 130 years.

These are serious charges with grave national security implications. Not
only was a covert CIA agent's identity exposed, but there is growing
evidence that the Bush administration was engaged in a campaign to silence
and undermine critics of the Iraq war.

Today's criminal charges also raise important questions about the
credibility of the White House and the case that was made to justify the
invasion of Iraq.

The Vice-President's office, and Mr. Libby in particular, played a central
role in making the case to Congress and the public to go to war. We now know
that there were no weapons of mass destruction, that Iraq was not an
imminent threat, and that much of the pre-war intelligence was flawed.

As a critic of the Iraq war from the beginning, I think it is imperative
that this important investigation continue. The American people deserve to
know why we went to war in Iraq."

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