It's Always the Cover-Up (UPDATED)

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, has been indicted for obstruction of justice, perjury (two counts) and making false statements (two counts) in the Plame CIA leak investigation. All are felonies and Mr. Libby has already resigned from his post.

I’m sure that there are a lot of people out there who haven’t been following this investigation due to its extremely confusing nature, so I’ll attempt to give a synopsis. Feel free to correct any error, and/or add any pertinent info since I’m recounting much of the particulars off the top of my head.

During President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address, he mention the (in)famous ‘sixteen words’: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” The type of uranium, nicknamed ‘yellowcake,’ can be used to as a key component of nuclear weapons.

Before that, in 2002, retired Ambassador Joseph Wilson had been sent by the CIA to Niger, in central Africa, to attempt to corroborate the findings of the Brits. Upon his return, Wilson disputed the findings, deeming as forgeries some documents supporting those claims--document which he did not personally see, by the way--and, separate from that, accusing the Bush Administration of possibly misleading the nation in order to justify going to war in Iraq.

Undoubtedly, the White House wanted to know who it was that was calling the president a liar, so they began digging. After finding out that Mr. Wilson wasn’t a CIA employee, they wanted to know how he got the job of corroborating (or disputing) the claims made by the British (and the Italians).

It turns out that Mr. Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame (Wilson) worked for the CIA and recommended her husband for the assignment. Now here’s where things get strange. At some time in her career, Ms. Plame has been a covert agent for the CIA and, according to the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, it is illegal, under certain conditions to divulge the identity of a covert agent. One of those conditions includes whether the person in question is considered a covert agent or not (see 'definitions').

On July 12 2003, columnist Robert Novak wrote an op-ed piece regarding Mr. Wilson’s trip to Africa. In it, he identifies Ms. Plame as an ‘Agency operative’:

Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.

(Two senior administration officials: Libby and Karl Rove?)

That’s when all hell broke loose. Mr. Wilson began accusing the administration of deliberately publicizing his wife's name to get back at him for calling the ‘sixteen words’ bogus. (Later, before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he contradicted the claim that the information was bogus. Additionally, the British still stand by their intelligence report concerning Saddam, Niger and ‘yellowcake.’)

It appears that the information links as to how Ms. Plame’s employment with the CIA became public are nearly impossible to untangle. The media types say the members of the Bush Administration told them who Ms. Plame was or they don’t say at all how they found out. (New York Times reporter Judith Miller even went to jail for withholding the identity of a source—Lewis Libby—who had given her permission to divulge his name a year before she went to jail. However, that’s a separate and very strange story in and of itself. Additionally, there seems to be no investigation of Mr. Novak.) But when the question came to Mr. Libby, he claimed—several times—that he got the information from other reporters. However, his own notes show that he received the information from Vice President Cheney. This is the reason that Mr. Libby is looking at fifteen years in a federal prison.

(Question: how did Special Counel Patrick Fitzgerald get ahold of Mr. Libby's notes?)

Karl Rove has also been investigated regarding this case, but Mr. Fitzgerald did not indict him for anything. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Rove will continue to be investigated.

Does anyone notice that there are no charges against Mr. Libby (or anyone else) for divulging Ms. Plame’s identity? If he lied about this thing, then he deserves what he gets. If he lied about something that isn't even a crime (divulging Ms. Plame's identity) then his error was a foolish one born of...arrogance? unnecessary secretiveness? protectiveness?

If found guilty, Mr. Libby should pay for his crimes. However, other than that, I'm forced to wonder what has been accomplished. Weren't the two years of Grand Jury investigation supposed to uncover the person who exposed Valerie Plame's identity? And do we even know whether that exposure is a crime in the first place? (And what about the fact that the Brits still stand by their yellowcake report? Wouldn't that remove the motive for some sort of backlash against Mr. Wilson?)

If Mr. Libby had been indicted for the exposure, I'd say that all of this stuff made sense, but he wasn't. The indictments, while legitimate, strike me as peripheral and pointless.

See Jeff Goldstein for more thoughts.

UPDATE: Jeff points out that since neither Libby nor Rove were indicted for outing Plame, that neither could have been Novak's source (a big 'duh' on my part).

UPDATE: Ace of Spades:

The Threshhold Question: The first question Fitzgerald needed to answer was whether or not there was even a possible crime committed, even assuming the facts to be the most harmful to Libby. [SNIP]

This question could have been, and should have been, answered in the first month of legal investigation, using no greater investigative resources than a law library.

And yet, two years later, Fitzgerald apparently finds there was no violation of the [Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982], the Espionage Act, or any act involving the dissemination of classified information.

And during those two years he's had people in jail for contempt and questioned many witnesses before the grand jury.

Why was he doing all that when month's work of legal research should have told him there wasn't a crime committed?

Wasting time and money.

Comments

[justin]

I'm definitely not a fan of the indictments-for-the-coverup school of prosecuting. If these guys broke the law, prosecute them for breaking the law. But, in Libby's case, if what is in the indictment is true, he deliberately and consistently told flat out lies to the Grand Jury. So, wow, I guess I agree with you.

One thing, from listening to Fitzgerald's press conference I think the investigation ended up having to do with leaking classified information (which there is no specific statute prohibiting, but is criminal in certain ways which I don't quite understand). Plame's identity was definitely classified, even if she wasn't covert. Or, maybe I have that totally wrong.

I certainly think this deserved an investigation, but now it may be time to back off.

[Steve]

Fascinating in many ways. I feel that something else is always the real reason.

Sort of along the lines of--lets just say--your next door neighbors sometimes get in a fight. Nothing neccessarily serious but they fight. One day the husband of the couple mysteriously shows up and wants to watch a couple of DVDs and brings a twelve pack and falls asleep on the couch all night. This has never happened to me but if it did then you would figure that there are things that are not right back at home. Lets say that all you can find out is that he said he was going to take her clothes out of the wash while she was gone and put them in the dryer but he forgot.

Well, this story just seems to be something about a fight going on within the confines of walls we cannot see into and cannot hear through. It seems petty to us on the outside just as the hypothetical couple above but it actually indicates that there is a larger problem within the house and it is getting pretty nasty. The surface information about the clothes not getting in the dryer, or, about Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, is not the real issue.

Now for a little fun:

From what I understood the forged documents in themselves are not actually relevent to the original information concerning the case of Iraq's ambassador to the Vatican Wissam al-Zahawie's trip to Niger in February 1999.

Just a little conext around that date of February 1999. That is 6 weeks after Operation Desert Fox of December 1998. That was the last time there was any inspectors in Iraq even though the last effective inspections I believe were said to have last happened in the fall of 1997. It was in November 1997 that New York City had an extensive drill to prepare the city for a WMD attack.

It was just before Operation Desert Fox that Abu Nidal traveled from Libya to Egypt to Tehran then to Baghdad. According to Gerald Posner a security official from a Carribean nation said he had overheard that Libya had hired someone to use planes to attack the United States (curious if that could mean Curacao?).The United States and Great Britian continued to have run ins with Saddam in January of 1999 and it was in February of 1999 that Saddam murdered several clerics because Operation Desert Fox, if I remember right, left him unsure of what was going on in his country and he got paranoid.

Iraq's ambassador to Italy was a man named Mamouri. He was said to be Iraq's liason with the Afghans (Al Qaeda). The original leader of Ansar al-Islam was a man named Mala Krekar who's base of operations was originally Milan, Italy.

Mamouri I belive is the same name that was said in one story to be the other man at Salman Pak, besides Faruq Hijazi, that modified the Baluchi (relatives Youssef, Murad, Mohammed) brothers Operation Bojinka plot of January 1995 and make it into the 911 plot using the 707 fuselage stolen from Kuwait. January 1995 was the first time the United Nations sent inspectors out to take a look at Salman Pak according to Sabah Khodada. Ramzi Youssef used a stolen Kuwaiti passport to leave the United States back to Baghdad after the WTC1993. The passport was stolen and modifed during Iraq's occupation of Kuwait. Ahmed Hikmat Shakir was found with documents linking him to relatives of these Bojinka plotters.

Jean Marie-Benjamin was a preist who was the Vatican's ambassador to Iraq. While he was at a party just days before the 911 attacks he revealed to someone (I believe a judge at the party) that there was going to be a large terror attack against the United States.

Iraq's nuclear program in the 1980s had a large Italian component to it. That nuclear weapons program was advanced along by a British-Iraqi company with a subsidiary (or HQ?) in Cleveland, Ohio. It was Matrix Churchill that was part of the scandal involving the Atlanta branch (BNL-Atlanta) of Italy's main bank. This may not be relevent to this uranium in Niger case but interesting to keep in mind.

The forged documents have left me wondering (which I have a right to do) if it was possibly a set up to embarrass the United States. The set up coming from a cooperation among some Italians including Italian journalists on Iraq's (and possibly the UN's too) behalf. Just a thought. The Italian media seems to be way pro-Saddam and even the current Iraqi Baathist "insurgency". The Italian press was also grossly friendly to Arafat.

[don surber]

I have said all along that it was mental telepathy. Novak divined Plame's secret identity while he was channeling that ancient Lakota Indian Doangivafug ....

[don surber]

I have said all along that it was mental telepathy. Novak divined Plame's secret identity while he was channeling that ancient Lakota Indian Doangivafug ....

[Hank_]

I wonder just what Wilson’s trip to Niger was for. He wasn’t an intelligence agent but a former ambassador to the Niger.

My guess is he was sent there to give the Niger government a chance to “come clean” about any inappropriate activities, that may not even have involved Iraq. And of course, to promise them some low key assistance to get out of a bad situation. Basically sit down with old friends have a few drinks and ask off the record questions. Even his wife’s recommendation is routine, she was working WMD issues and knew he had the local contacts. Any serious investigtion would have been done by professional clandestine agents.

The thing is, if Niger was innocent or guilty as hell they would have told Wilson the same thing, they weren’t doing anything.

He came home and delivered a verbal report that Niger did not come clean, which proves nothing one way or the other, and maybe a rumor or two.

But there was nothing in that sort of mission that would provide the data for the kind of public charges he made.

[Yogimus]

Yes, a big waste of cash, but it could have been over last year had sparky just told the truth.

[Steve]

I believe it was the impression of the official of the government of Niger that Wissam al-Zahawie's trip to Niger was ultimately about future trade in uranium.

I am not sure what the whole picture looks like with respect to WMD in the Middle East. But at the time the A.Q. Kahn network looks to have been in the process of providing Libya with the means to enrich uranium. A.Q. Kahn had sent Saddam a letter offering Saddam assistance with the building of a nuclear device in early 1990 I believe it was. After the first Gulf War some portion of Saddam's WMD related program went to Libya and then on to Khartoum, Sudan. Many of the terrorists that had to leave Baghdad in accordance with the ceasefire resolutions went to Khartoum, Sudan after Gulf War I. The February 1993 World Trade Center bombing appears to have has officials of the Khartoum government involved.

Belarus was the only nation that wanted to reunite with Russia after having become independent. Belarus is the country that illegally sold Saddam sophisticated machine tools that are used for making missile parts and I think can also be used to make centrifuge components. Belarus also illegally sold Saddam plasma sprayers that are used on centrifuge parts to keep them from corroding. It was Belarus that was working on creating a free-trade zone between themselves and Iraq, Syria, and Libya. Belarus was one of a few countries that had begun flying direct uninspected flights into Baghdad which was unprecendented. The UN resolutions had prior to that been honored concerning no direct flights. It was Iraq's minister of military industrialization (or some such title) that bragged aloud after meeting with Belarussian trade officials that Iraq now had the latest in weapons technology (still do not know what that meant).

It was after the oil-for-food deal with the United Nations had begun that Iraq and Syria became closer. Iraq started pumping oil illegally through a pipeline to Syria. Then Iraq and Syria got together and opened up the railroad between Aleppo and Mosul. If I understand correctly those would each represent Jund al-Shams and Ansar al-Islam bases in the current war with Saddam's old loyalists. One of those loyalists name is Ibrahim al-Douri and his two sons. Ibrahim is a Sufi (Mammoud Abbas is too) and that would match with Aleppo large Sufi population. Quick note, Mohammed Atta did his German University urban planning project using the city of Aleppo and one other curious thing is that Aleppo is suppose to be the Muslim world's music capital and Atta liked to play his music loud. Ibrahim Al Douri's two sons had sworn fealty to Osama bin Laden back in the 1990s during one of Saddam's many annual terrorist conferences. Ibrahim al-Douri was a Tikriti and he had been with Saddam all the time since the 1950s. Ibrahim al-Douri was in charge of the Islamization of Iraqi society that had begun just before the first Gulf War and really got going after the first Gulf War was over. One of the main reasons this Islamization was needed was that al-Turabi of Khartoum (and of the Muslim Brotherhood) required it at the time because he was the only leader to remain loyal to Iraq even after Saddam's defeat in Gulf War I. Ibrahim al-Douri's base of operation was Mosul, I believe, after Gulf War II got started. That is the city that Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were killed in. Ibrahim al-Douri was said to have sworn fealty to Al-Zarqawi at the Ansar al-Islam base of Mosul.

It was before 911 that the Aleppo to Mosul railroad was opened and it was said in the article I read that such a thing would require cooperation between Iraqi and Syrian security services. Aleppo and Mosul together play an important role in Islamic history in repelling the "crusaders". Aleppo is also were the Muslim Brotherhood first went to after they were forced out of Egypt (formed there in 1928) in 1935. Aleppo became Sabri al-Banna's headquarters of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. He actually wrote and recieved letter from Adolf Hitler during World War II. Also during World War II the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem spent much of his time with the Nazis regime in Berlin. It was the bother of Egypt's leader, Nasser, that after World War II translated Main Kampf in to Arabic and it is still to this day the second largest selling book behind the Quran in many Arab countries.

Anyway, Aleppo was home to the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood and later its headquaters became Damascus. It was in Aleppo that the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood started a sequence of actions starting with the murdering of military students at a school for cadets in Aleppo in 1979. The murders were because the cadets were Alawite Shia (Brotherhood=Sunni) like the regime was and the Syrian regime backed the Christians in Lebanon in their war with Arafats "Palestinians" in Syria when they moved there in large numbers after the beating they took from Jordanian forces in Black September massacre in 1970. The muder of those cadets finally triggered a sequence of battles that ended with the Muslim Brotherhood getting wiped out of Syria in February 1982 in the Hama Massacre. After that the Syrian government started a religious plan of their own and started up a lot of Mosques and religious schools and this began a process that may be about to upset the current Syrian governments hold on power today.

Before 911 there was a Saudi preacher preaching Wahhabism in Aleppo. It was suspected by many in Syria that he was actually working for the government of Syria and it is also important to understand that Saudi Arabia is heavily invested financially in Syria. After 911 the FBI and CIA were allowed access to Aleppo to investigate its connections to 911. 6 of the 8 defendents on trial in Spain for involvement in 911 were from Aleppo, Syria. Mohammed Atta and one or two others visited a Toronto, Canada print shop before 911 to obtain false documents (which is a Brotherhood specialty). The Srian Muslim Brotherhood (in exile in Spain) religious activities and materials are funded by Saudi Arabia. Hamas has got a operational command center in Saudi Arabia and it is a spin off of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Abu Nidal spent much of his time in Baghdad and in fact his children went to school there. He trained the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood in the ways of terrorism at bases outside Baghdad in the late 1970s. It was Abu Nidal's group along with other radical Palestinian groups (inculding Abul Abbas) that helped Saddam secure Kuwait. This treachery of the Palestinian groups toward the Kuwaiti people during Saddam's occupation in 1990 caused the GCC states to rid themselves of their Palestinian populations after Gulf War I. 300,000 were kicked out of the GCC states and most of them went back to Jordan where they are a majority and the Muslim Brotherhood has had a majority representation in Jordans parliament.

The personal records of the Kuwaitis were stolen and it was those stolen records (reported first in the San Francisco Chronicle on August 14, 1990) that had already aroused concern that Saddam would use those to create false IDs for terror operations and sure enough Ramzi Yousef fit that perfectly. Those records from what I can tell were in the hands of Abu Nidal. And Abu Nidal would seem to be the person that Sabah Khodada is speaking of when he speaks of "The Ghost" of Salman Pak were the stolen 707 fuselage resides.

Abu Nidal seems to have been on the move at about the sametime that Al Qaeda and Al-Zawahiri's Egytian Islamic Jihad struck a deal in Baghdad in February of 1998 that included Saddam giving Al Zawahiri 300,000 dollars. Two weeks later is when Bill Clinton gave his famous speech at the Pentagon on February 17, 1998 concerning Iraq hooking up with criminal terror organizations. That was also the time referenced by the whited-out document concerning an invitation by Saddam's regime to a representative of Osama to meet in Baghdad. 1998 being a very active year that included Faruq Hijazi's trip to Pakistan and DeStefano's sighting of Osama in a hotel in Baghdad. It was on May 1, 1998 that Saddam's RCC made a long statement of threats against the United States and then came the twin African embassy bombings and then the Al Shifa plant bombing that could have included other more difficult to hit facilities suspected of carrying on WMD programs for Al Qaeda and contributed too by the Iraqi regime. There were reports that chemicals were used in southern Sudan and Iraqi pilots flew sorties in Sudan. Iraq also had missiles in Sudan pointed at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and a dam on the Nile in Egypt.

I'll stop here for now.

[Steve]

I should also mention that Aleppo is were Saddam's regime transfered billions of dollars to before Gulf War II. It is also the place where former Iraqi regime Baathists are residing along with some portion of Saddam's WMD programs. Aleppo is also the place that individuals looking to join the "jihad" in Iraq are going first before being shipped to Iraq. They receive some training first and if they should survive to return to Aleppo they are then being sent into Europe to set up terror cells there. These terror cells are part of Zarqawi's network called al-Tawhid (may be other names also). These terror cells are not only influenced by Zarqawi but also former Iraqi Baathists that are now with Zarqawi. Curious though and that is when Zarqawi left Herat, Afghanistan he was said to have met with Iran's IRGC (also with Hezbollah in South Lebanon) and that this Iranian group has connections to the European terror cell group Al Tawhid. Al Qaeda's top leadership (unless something has changed) resides now in Iran. It is curious that after the U.S.S. Cole bombing that Iraq allowed Iran direct over-flights over Iraq. In the battle for Fallujah, Iraq in November 2004 Syria sent their own government operatives in to help the "insurgents". Sami al-Arian's Islamic Jihad operates out of Damascus and is in contact with the Syrian government. The University in Florida where Sami was active was awfully near the center of the Florida hijacker activity.

If I remember correctly BCCI had its own intelligence agency and that was designed by Syrian Intelligence and BCCI operated in South Florida.
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This is seperate from above and more of just a bull session type thing:

One other longshot but curious thing and that is if it is true that there was help with 911 coming from within the U.S government and that GWB didn't know (as my poem analysis may show for those who've seen it) than who was responsible for him being in Sarasota Florida on September 11, 2001 (education department thing?) just a few miles from the Huffman Aviation flight school? Was it arranged that way so that it could be used cruelly against him? If so, who used it cruelly against him and who do they work for, and then who do they work for? Just a long shot like I said. Disney-Marimax-Michael Moore is right there too next to Sami Al Arian in that same area of Florida. You may object to that but anyone that dishes it has got to know that an all-around suspicion will naturally occur and that will include those first producing the suspicion.

[ownwomon]

What-the-? Today's journey into this Twilight Zone once known as America was that all of the "media" *gag*, prefaced its schpiel with "I’m sure that there are a lot of people out there who haven’t been following this investigation due to its extremely confusing nature". Followed by a recanting of the day's talking points.

"Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to have been correct; nor was any item of news, or any expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to remain on record. All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary." 1984

[Walter E. Wallis]

I read it, I watched it. Where's the beaf?
If a law was broken, which law?

[baldilocks]

Ownwomon (sic)

You are cordially invited to correct any errors, in case you missed that part.

But I doubt you'll take the time. Your sort usually only has just enough energy to drop in and provide your *own* standard talking points along with quotes that stem from the work of others.

Pleasantly surprise me. Otherwise I'll chalk you up as just another drive-by propagandist.

[Steve]

I need to make three corrections to what I said and they are:

1: Syrian regime backed the Christians in Lebanon in their war with Arafats "Palestinians" in Syria [should say: Lebanon] when they moved there in large numbers

2: Instead of Sabri Al-Banna it should be Hassan Al Banna.

3: Muslim Brotherhood does not have a majority of seats in the parliament in Jordan they have the largest single party representation.

[Tully]

Corrections? Commentary. As best as we can determine from the limited disclosures, Plame's CIA employment was classified, but she was NOT a "covert agent" for any statutory purpose, nor had she been one in the five years prior to Novak's column. There were no apparent violations of the IIPA or the Espionage Act. There is a potential violation of the National Security Act in disclosing classified information, but the bar for proof there is very high indeed, requiring a "willful" (malicious and knowing) disclosure. Fitz found no chargeable violations of any of the above.

Wilson's NYT op/ed was thoroughly "inaccurate." He confessed as much before the Senate Select Committee. He never saw the Italian forgeries, copies of the actual forgeries did not reach US intel for analysis until after his visit, and they were NOT the basis for the "Sixteen Words"* as Wilson claimed. Rumors about them were the basis for the CIA tasking Wilson to Niger as a doublecheck. But the "Sixteen Words" were accurate--and Wilson himself helped confirm them. Iraq approached Niger in 1998 and 1999 about acquiring yellowcake, which the Niger Prime Minsiter and the Niger Minister of Mining CONFIRMED to Wilson. Iraq was unsuccessful in doing so. Iraq approached other African nations as well, without apparent success--which was the basis for the 16 words. It's all in that Senate Select Intelligence Committee report that the conspiratorial wingers never bother to read.

Wilson's contention was that because the Italian documents (which claimed that Iraq and Niger had actually struck a deal on providing yellowcake) were forgeries, that Iraq had never tried to obtain yellowcake from Africa. And Wislon knew that was false, that Iraq had indeed tried to acquire yellowcake from Niger in particular. Anyone who can't figure out the difference between trying to buy from a lot of stores and actually buying from a particular store must never have tried to buy beer as a teenager on a Saturday night without an ID.

Wilson falsely smeared the administration (fill in your own motives) they in turn set out to discredit his smears in response, and administration opponents did their best to make it criminal to counter Wilson's lies. But the idea that Plame's employment and her role in the affair would somehow not come to light after Wilson came forward on the NYT op/ed page is ludicrous. Her "outing" was inevitable after Wilson hit the NYT. The dots were simply too easy to connect.

The Libby indictments claim that he intentionally lied to the grand jury about his conversations with reporters, and that he lied to the grand jury and investigators about when he became officially aware of Plame's employment. The first is somewhat "he said/he said", and can be real tough to make a case on. Who remembers every conversation they've had with accuracy, to the point of parsing out subtext? The second is something that should be clearly demonstrable, and Fitz certainly thinks it is and cites quite a few indicators. But all WE have to go on is what is cited in the indictments, so we lack the context of the entire testimonies. What is cited looks bad for Libby. Never try to tap dance with a prosecutor before a grand jury.

[*--Sixteen words: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."]

[Eric]

I don't see how Plame-Wilson's identity as a CIA spook would in itself hurt or help the credibility of Wilson's assertions - unless nepotism somehow affects the value of his findings.

If Plame's status was classified, then it was classified. Period. It looks to me that Libby made a mistake by mentioning any "classified" info (it could have been a cake recipe) to someone without the proper security clearance and need to know, and to media people to boot. Without delving into motive, that deserves punishment.

If Plame-Wilson's status doesn't discredit Wilson's assertions, was the intent by Libby to leak the info for punishment, to destroy Plame's CIA career? After the fact?

I guess that's possible, but just from reading the indictment, it looks to me that Libby simply let info slip that he shouldn't have - because it was classified. A mistake, not malicious intent. Would the media have found out anyway about his wife after Wilson's op/ed? Probably, but that doesn't let Libby off the hook for making the mistake he did, given his duty position.

If punishing Libby serves as an effective lesson for all government officials with special access to be more careful with InfoSec, it's worth the punishment. There are too many leaks from our goverment as is.

[Tully]

If Plame-Wilson's status doesn't discredit Wilson's assertions, was the intent by Libby to leak the info for punishment, to destroy Plame's CIA career? After the fact?

It does discredit Wilson. One of Wilson's assertions was that the assignment originated by Cheney's request--and it didn't. Cheney made no such request. He asked the CIA simply to report on status. In fact, Plame originated Wilson's assignment. Cheney's "update" inquiry made it to Plame's unit, where Plame then originated and bulldozed the idea of sending her husband to Niger to "ask around." Wilson also asserted that his report went to Cheney, when it didn't. He didn't make a written report, he was just debriefed, and the debriefing report did not go to the White House because it had nothing new in it. Wilson denied his wife had anything to do with his assignment, when she had everything to do with it.

We still don't know who originally leaked the Plame connection. But once it was out there, it was used to help discredit Wilson. In fact, it was almost impossible to challenge Wilson without that background info. It is otherwise inexplicable why the CIA would send a former ambassador to Niger on a non-secret intel mission and not require any non-disclosure or confidentiality agreement from him, if it wasn't a nepotistic favor not meant to actually produce anything. It seems an assignment meant to be news.

The CIA's actions are curious. Either they were incompetent in sending Wilson without any confidentiality attached, or they were intentional. I can't think of a better way to guarantee that Wilson's trip would end up all over the media, promoted by Wilson himself, than the way in which he was "tasked" for it. At the time State and the CIA were engaged in infighting with the White House over Iraq policy, and lo and behold, a State Dept man and admin critic is tasked out by his CIA admin critic wife....

That aspect aside, if Libby lied to the grand jury, his bad. Don't tap dance with prosecutors and grand juries. Either tell the truth, have a memory failure, or just shut the hell up. But don't tap dance.

[beaupeep]

As Tully, I think correctly, points out: ...the idea that Plame's employment and her role in the affair would somehow not come to light after Wilson came forward on the NYT op/ed page is ludicrous. Her "outing" was inevitable after Wilson hit the NYT. The dots were simply too easy to connect.

It says little for Wilson's/Plame's analytical abilities or honesty that they now profess to be surprised by this inevitability which they themselves brought about.

[Steve]

This article here is interesting. It appears that the whole affair may be part of a now transparent plan against GWB by the CIA with the New York Times playing the part of a knowing accomplice. In other words it was a pretty (I guess) sophisticated sting operation from the very beginning is how this article states it. The use of the CIA in this way seems to require and investigation because I would think that would be very illegal. Much more illegal than making bogus calls to the police or fire department for ulterior purposes of your own.

http://www.aim.org/special_report/4118_0_8_0_C/

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Valerie Plame was a contributor to Al Gore's 2000 campaign for president. At that time she revealed herself as Valerie Wislon. She also contributed to the organization called America Coming Together in the 2004 election cycle. America Coming Together is another of those Soros funded organizations.

Organization A.C.T.:

http://www.discoverthenetwork.com/
groupProfile.asp?grpid=6708
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It appears that the Italians are now investigating the possibility that it was a all a set-up. If the forgeries were so easy to spot as we've been told then this could be an obvious question to ask of Italian intelligence.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/
worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5369408,00.html

Artcle starts:
Nicolo Pollari, director of the SISMI intelligence agency, will be questioned on Nov. 3 by members of the commission overseeing secret services, said Micaela Panella, a commission spokeswoman.

She said Pollari asked to be questioned after reports Monday and Tuesday in the Rome daily La Repubblica claiming SISMI passed on to the CIA, U.S. government officials and Britain's MI6 intelligence services a dossier it knew was forged.

[oddybobo]

I seem to remember Novak saying that he found out about Plames identity from reading something Wilson himself wrote or said and that that identity was "confirmed" by the two senior officials.