IT'S CALLED COVER-UP

The prosecutor in the criminal case against U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff said in a Jan. 23 letter not all e-mail was archived in 2003, the year President George W. Bush's administration exposed the identity of undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame.

Lawyers for defendant Lewis (Scooter) Libby this week accused prosecutors of withholding evidence the Libby camp said it needs to mount a defence.

"We are aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against defendant Libby which has been destroyed," Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to the defence team.

But the prosecutor added: "In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all e-mail of the Office of Vice-President and the Executive Office of the President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system."

--SOURCE