Unmasked agent piles pressure on 'liability' Cheney

THE US vice-president, Dick Cheney, is expected to come under pressure over his role in the outing of Valerie Plame, the former CIA agent, when she testifies before Congress this week.

It was Plame’s exposure - after her husband Joseph Wilson accused the White House of manipulating prewar intelligence over the supposed sale of yellowcake uranium ore to Iraq - that led to the conviction last week of Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Cheney’s top aide, for lying and obstruction of justice.

Jurors felt they had punished only the “fall guy” for the affair after Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, said in his closing remarks that there was “a cloud over the vice-president”.