Scooter found guilty on 4/5 counts

[Berzerker]

the author's name?

[DinoDoc]

I don't agree with all of the points but this does seem to be a reasonable take on the sordid affair.

Lots of guilt to go around
In one sense, Tuesday's verdict in the long, strange trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby is a measure of justice. Ample evidence established that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff had lied to a grand jury, and so he was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.

But it is also a measure of how utterly foolish Washington investigations can become. Like other cases that mystified people outside the Beltway, this one was about a coverup without an underlying crime. And as the trial phase ends (Libby's lawyer is vowing an appeal), it leaves no one looking good:

The administration. The supposed crime under investigation was leaking the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame. At one point, President Bush said he'd fire anyone convicted of leaking. It turned out that the administration housed many culprits.

In their zeal to discredit Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson, administration officials leaked the name of his wife (Plame). The State Department's then-No. 2 man, Richard Armitage, disclosed Plame's identity in 2003 to columnist Robert Novak, setting off this costly and bizarre hunt. Meanwhile, trial testimony implicated other top officials — Cheney through Libby, White House aide Karl Rove and former press secretary Ari Fleischer — as sources of Plame's identity. Even if they didn't break the law by knowingly blowing her cover, it was irresponsible to identify her before finding out her status.

Wilson. The former ambassador initially denied that his wife had a role in an African trip that led to his charge that the administration twisted prewar intelligence. She did. And his outrage over his wife's unmasking rang hollow after the couple — Plame in sunglasses and a scarf — posed for Vanity Fair magazine.

The news media. The press has seldom looked worse or done as much harm to its ability to act as a government watchdog. Top Washington reporters, who should use grants of confidentiality carefully, gave them away like candy. Then several of them, and the huge media companies they worked for, allowed the prosecutor to bully them into revealing sources. The spectacle makes it tougher to win the confidence of true whistle-blowers.

Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. Libby lied under oath, and Fitzgerald had every reason to prosecute him. But no one was indicted for the leak Fitzgerald was hired to investigate, and from early on, the case appeared thin. Yet like special prosecutors before him, Fitzgerald kept his futile investigation running on fumes, ruining careers and ultimately making it easier for the government to hide information.

That fallout is worth remembering before the next clamor to turn a leak into a federal case pursued by a single-minded special prosecutor. About the best that can be said for the Plame investigation is that, except for the legal appeals, it's finally over.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2007/03/post_20.html#more

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Berzerker
the author's name?

Thier editorial board. You'd have figured that out if you'd have clicked the link.

[Berzerker]

I did click on it and I read the article, aint no one named "editorial board" signed it. So who wrote that gibberish?

[Drake Tungsten]

Are you really this stupid?

[KrazyHorse]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Op-ed_page

[KrazyHorse]

Actually, that wikipedia entry is slightly confusing...

Editorials are always printed without bylines. They are written as collaborations by the editorial board (which usually consists of 6-10 members).

Op-eds are opinion pieces written by individuals with attached bylines. These pieces appear OPposite the EDitorial page

[Berzerker]

Are you really this stupid?

FU

[The Mad Monk]

Anyway, the point is that the editorial is the official POV of one of most popular papers for reasonable liberals.

[Berzerker]

and the article is a retread of Repug smears

[Dinner]

The leak of a CIA agent's identity is not "a pointless Washington scandal". Plame really did used to be a field agent who worked for a CIA front company in a foreign country; even though she got reasigned in recent years to a desk job the law is specific about it being a felony to expose an agent's identity until at least 10 years had passed since the field work was completed. Plame was still in that 10 year period.

This was a deliberate leak designed to attack the family of a person who had the gaul to point out Bush had lied. There was no uranium from Niger, the CIA said there was no uranium from Niger, the White House deliberately decided to pretend Iraq was trying to buy uranium because they were desperate to justify their desire to go to war. Thus they were willing to commit a felony to keep their circus act going. The result of this felony was that CIA front companies were exposed, that CIA agents were identified, and that now fewer people will give the CIA information because they know their lives could be put at risk by political hacks in Washington. This has directly caused damage to the CIA and the nation's security.

Libby lied and attempted to obstruct justice in order to get his bosses out scot-free after they commited a felony. That's why he was found guilty. The shame is that no doubt others in the administration are also guilty but the people will never see justice done because the rich and powerful so often can thumb their noises at the legal system.

[DinoDoc]

Somehow I find it hard to believe that Armitage was a Admin stooge who was gung-ho on Iraq.

[Berzerker]

maybe he was, maybe he wasn't - it dont matter! The fact remains Scooter outed her to Novak (and God only knows who else) regardless of what Armitage did. You seem to be arguing Libby did nothing wrong because somebody else leaked her name before he did... That aint logical..

The leak of a CIA agent's identity is not "a pointless Washington scandal". Plame really did used to be a field agent who worked for a CIA front company in a foreign country; even though she got reasigned in recent years to a desk job the law is specific about it being a felony to expose an agent's identity until at least 10 years had passed since the field work was completed. Plame was still in that 10 year period.

This was a deliberate leak designed to attack the family of a person who had the gaul to point out Bush had lied. There was no uranium from Niger, the CIA said there was no uranium from Niger, the White House deliberately decided to pretend Iraq was trying to buy uranium because they were desperate to justify their desire to go to war. Thus they were willing to commit a felony to keep their circus act going. The result of this felony was that CIA front companies were exposed, that CIA agents were identified, and that now fewer people will give the CIA information because they know their lives could be put at risk by political hacks in Washington. This has directly caused damage to the CIA and the nation's security.

Libby lied and attempted to obstruct justice in order to get his bosses out scot-free after they commited a felony. That's why he was found guilty. The shame is that no doubt others in the administration are also guilty but the people will never see justice done because the rich and powerful so often can thumb their noises at the legal system.

Yup

[Dinner]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Somehow I find it hard to believe that Armitage was a Admin stooge who was gung-ho on Iraq.

In all likelihood Armitage was just the idiot who decided to repeat what he'd already heard rather then the person who started the whisper campaign.

[Drake Tungsten]

FU

I'll take that as a yes...