Cheney and Rove sued over CIA leak

WASHINGTON, July 13 (UPI) -- Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband filed a lawsuit Thursday against U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove.

The suit claims that Cheney and Rove were involved in "the intentional and malicious exposure" of Plame's identity as a CIA operative, in retaliation for an op-ed piece that Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, wrote for The New York Times. The article debunked the Bush administration's claim that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Niger.

Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- who has been charged with perjury in connection with a federal investigation of the leak -- is also a named defendant, and there are 10 defendants who were not named in the suit.

Columnist Robert Novak was the first person to identify Plame publicly, although several other reporters were approached. In their complaint, Plame and Wilson accuse the defendants of a "whispering campaign" was aimed at discrediting them and silencing other critics.

Novak this week revealed that Rove and a CIA press officer had confirmed Plame's identity, although he still refused to name his primary source.