A U.S. federal judge dismissed on Thursday a lawsuit by former CIA agent Valerie Plame against Vice President Dick Cheney and other top Bush administration officials for leaking her identity.
U.S. District Judge John Bates said although the lawsuit raises "important questions relating to the propriety of actions undertaken by our highest government officials" but he found Plame failed to show the case belongs in federal court.
Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former White House aide I. Lewis Libby.
U.S. media said Plame and her husband could not be reached for comments at the moment.
Plame's identity as a CIA operative was exposed in July 2003 after her husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson, publicly challenged a key argument in the Bush administration's case for the invasion of Iraq.
The exposure led to a criminal probe that led to the conviction in March of Libby, on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to federal agents investigating the leak.
He was sentenced to 30 months in jail on June 5, plus two years on probation and a fine of 250,000 U.S. dollars.
U.S. President Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year prison term on July 2, but left in effect the fine and two years of probation. He did not rule out a pardon in the future.
Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said Bush's decision to commute Libby's sentence "was clearly an effort to protect the White House."
In a July 12 speech, Bush admitted publicly for the first time that administration officials might have leaked the identity of Plame.
Source: Xinhua
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