Scooter Libby gives his top 9 reasons... [View All]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16038973/

Libby defense: Too preoccupied with Iraq
Defense seeks to disclose nine areas with classified information

WASHINGTON - I Lewis "Scooter" Libby - Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, says he was too preoccupied with terrorist threats, Iraq's new government and emerging nuclear programs in Iran, Pakistan and North Korea to remember details of his conversations three years ago about a CIA operative, Valerie Plame.

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National Security concerns
The nine areas that focused Libby's attention during the time that he was speaking with reporters are:

1. Threatened attacks on American and American interests by Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups
2. Enhancing the United States defenses for Homeland Security
3. Nuclear proliferation by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan and efforts by the United States to stop his activities
4. The development of nuclear weapons by North Korea
5. Iran's development of nuclear weapons, its arrest and potential harboring of Al Qaeda members, and its involvement in Iraq
6. The proper size and role of the Iraqi military and security forces in the months following the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and the proper composition of the governing entity in Iraq
7. The Israeli-Palestinian relationship, including the emergence of Mohmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as an alternative to Yasser Arafat and the threat that Hamas posed to peace and security
8. A tense diplomatic crisis that arose during the first half of July 2003 resulting from the arrest of Turkish soldiers in Iraq by the Uniteds States military
9. The unrest in Liberia in June and July 2003, culminating in the ousting of President Charles Taylor from office in early July 2003, the danger to the United States Embassy and it s occupants in Monrovia, Liberia, and the United States' role in protecting civilians caught in the middle of the conflict in Liberia.