Prosecutor asks up to 3 years in jail for Libby

Fri May 25, 2007 11:11PM EDT
By Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney's unremorseful former top aide should be sentenced to 2 1/2 to 3 years in prison for perjury and obstruction of justice in a case linked to the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war, the special prosecutor in the case said on Friday.

Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, was convicted in March on four of five counts in the investigation into who blew the cover of CIA analyst Valerie Plame, whose husband was an outspoken Iraq war critic.

"Mr. Libby, a high-ranking public official and experienced lawyer, lied repeatedly and blatantly about matters at the heart of a criminal investigation concerning the disclosure of a covert intelligence officer's identity," Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald wrote in court documents.

"He has expressed no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility, and no recognition that there is anything he should have done differently -- either with respect to his false statements and testimony, or his role in providing reporters with classified information about Ms. Wilson's affiliation with the CIA," Fitzgerald added.