Time to clean house at White House

To the editor:

Vice President Cheney's chief of staff has been charged with obstructing an investigation into the White House coverup of the lies that led our nation to war in Iraq. Two senior White House officials outted CIA operative Valerie Plame as punishment for her husband's revelations about the administration's Iraq lies.

Karl Rove and Scooter Libby were part of the White House Iraq Group. This secretive team operated out of Cheney's office and was formed to sell the case for war. According to the New York Daily News, this group "morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims."

In 2002, Joe Wilson was sent by the CIA to Niger to investigate if Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials. He discovered those claims were a lie. He told the CIA, and they told the White House. President Bush made the discredited claim in his 2003 State of the Union Address. Why? This nuclear threat was the key to selling the war.

American people must know the truth about the indictment. The Bush White House will try to minimize the significance of the indictment.

We will not be able to trust our government until every one of the White House officials who conspired to mislead the American public into war with Iraq are out of the administration, and President Bush has an obligation to clean house of all the liars.

MARK BAKER, Jackson