WASHINGTON: I. Lewis `Scooter' Libby, former top aide to U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for lying and obstructing the CIA leak investigation. Libby stood calmly before a packed courtroom as a federal judge and said the evidence overwhelmingly proved his guilt.

The highest-ranking U.S. official convicted of a crime since the Iran-Contra affair in the mid-1980s, Libby was found guilty in March of lying to investigators about CIA operative Valerie Plame. Her identity was leaked to reporters in 2003 after her husband began criticizing the Bush administration's war policies. Neither Libby nor anyone else was charged for leaking Plame's name.

Prominent aide

``People who occupy these types of positions, where they have the welfare and security of nation in their hands, have a special obligation to not do anything that might create a problem,'' U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said.

Libby was little known outside Washington circles but was one of the most powerful figures in the White House, a major figure in helping shape President George W. Bush's war policies. Libby's indictment in 2005 was a blow to the Bush administration at a time when popular support for the Iraq war was waning and leading Republicans were immersed in congressional scandals.

``The president said he felt terrible for the family, especially for his wife and kids,'' spokeswoman Dana Perino said, but Bush wants to review Walton's decision before commenting further.

Walton did not set a date for Libby to report to prison. Maintained innocence

Libby has maintained his innocence of the lying and obstruction charges that brought him down.

With letters of support from several former military commanders and White House and State Department officials, Libby asked for no jail time. His supporters, including former Defence Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Marine Corps General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cited a government career in which Libby helped win the Cold War and the Persian Gulf War.

Walton fined Libby $250,000 and placed him on probation for two years after his release from prison.

``It is respectfully my hope that the court will consider, along with the jury verdict, my whole life,'' Libby said in brief remarks to the judge. — AP

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