On the way to work this morning, NPR was yammering about jury selection for the Scooter Libby trial, and asserted that Wilson’s report on Niger concluded that Saddam had not attempted to obtain uranium. Untrue, but it makes for a more elegant plot-line. Strangely, they aver that as so often “it’s not the crime, but the cover-up,” even as they lie about Wilson’s lies.
In July 2003, columnist Robert Novak revealed that Plame was an undercover CIA operative. Plame is the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who in 2002 was sent to Niger on behalf of the CIA to determine if Iraq was seeking to illegally buy uranium to use in nuclear weapons.
Wilson determined that Iraq had not been doing that, and when President Bush alleged the opposite in his speech justifying the invasion of Iraq, Wilson went public. A week later, his wife’s CIA identity was revealed in Novak’s column.
“[T]hat” presumably refers to “seeking to buy.” I assume that if confronted they will state that “that” refers to actual purchasing.
Best-done radio in America.
It’s propaganda, yet oddly aesthetically pleasing it seems.
Well there wasn’t any “crime” to cover up. So I guess that makes NPR’s analogy a big fat lie.
What’s bloggergearstore, Geep?
Hey Dan,
Something we set up to sell LGF patches and mugs.
Oh, cool.
Unless I am mistaken, there is another mis-statement—er, lie—in the quote from NPR and that is the assertion that Novak revealed Plame’s undercover status. Seems to me it is a matter of some controversy—one might even say central to the controversy—whether or not A) she was undercover and 2) anybody knew it.
M
Mark Alger,
They surly must know that, right?
Gonna be a fun trial
Some will correct me if I am wrong (TimmyB) but I remember reading somewhere that the biggest problem with Fitzgerald’s case was the fact that the specific statute related to Plame stated that the subject had to actually be undercover in order for the law to have effect. Valerie was working in CIA headquarters at the time, hence no law breaking with regards to revealing an undercover operative.
Cue responses.
perjury and obstruction of justice have nothing do with whther mrs. Plame/Wilson was undercover or in Vanity Affair or headlining David Addington’s topless 2007 Valentine revue in the OEB.
I cannot obviously say whether “scooter” committed those crimes; only that’s what he’s charged with.
I thinkl Lewis’s lawyers will try to put Wilson on trial (you will like that part, BJ, especially how the trees in Aspen grow from a single root….Lewis is a poet!), but it’s not essential to Fitzgerald’s charges.
I wasn’t trying to imply that Scooter’s charges were based on the above. I was merely pointing out that the whole reason for this wideranging kerfuffle was the idea that someone in the Bush administration broke the law by “outing” Valerie Plame for “political payback” when in fact the specific statute had not benn violated.
If the best that Fitzgerald can come up with is the question to be debated by the jury as to whether or not Scooter actually perjured himself or has a faulty memory reminds me of opening a huge, bowed present on Christmas and finding a pair of cheap argyle socks inside.
Or the dead cat, as Jeff has posited.
I’m sure that progressives everywhere will be satisfied with argyle socks/Obstruction of Justice/perjury but, man, Rove and Cheney were THIS CLOSE to being indicted!
LOL, Timmy! We can but dream…
Well, as a progressive, I like the idea that discovery will be used to pry open the vault of possible secrets (Geraldo anbd Al Capone’s vault).
Fitzgerald lamented the fact that the statutes weren’t clear enough (you have to prove Libby knew she was undercover and released the information to endanger her…that’s a pretty difficult thing to prove)
I long ago came to the conclusion that what happended here was a moral wrong.
In regard to your question about her undercover status, I haven’t read the regulations or statutes. All I know is that the CIA referred it to the FBI. That may have been part of the bad blood between the CIA and the Vice President’s office or it may be because they believed she was really undercover. I tend to believe the latter.
PS I like throwing out the names of obscure power brokers and the word “topless.” Makes me hope it will turn up on a Google search! Imagine some haried, hung over ungrad trying to write a paper for Poly Sci and seeing “topless David Addington”…
Could be worse, I suppose. What if he came upon the phrase “bottomless Barney Frank…”?
Hope they have good counselors over at the Poly Sci department…
So, does Peyton give up the choke this weekend?
He’s on a roll…oh, wait a minute, he’s been terrible. I think this gameis still about the defense. If they tackle and get a pick or two, the Colts will win. If the Patriots run over them like they did in Foxboro…long day for Colts fan (seriously, the Colts won that game, but do you think Brady is going to throw 4 picks again?)
Maybe Pablo and I should bet? in a Colts victory, he has to listen to an entire Al Franken show OR donate $20 to the DNC. If the Colts lose, I have to go to the lobby of the AEI and compliment the various fellows and gals:
My, my, Mr. Kristol, doesn’t that tie look good on you. Yes, Mr. Bolton, my family had a two-toned station wagon in the ‘70’s and you and your mustache remind me of it: reliable, offensive to the senses, American, a throw back to a different time…”
Timmy’s real gripe…
Must be sad, having to play with this lump of coal you got for Fitzmas.
Heh
Make him post five supporting comments at HuffPo. You, on the other hand, have to write a positive letter of at least 2 pages to Ted Stevens expressing your contention that he is misunderstood and a “great public servant.”
The rest of us will just do side bets for money.
Have they gotten to discovery yet? I think Mr. Wilson’s not gonna like that part.
Patrick, unless Rove committed a crime, he shouldn’t have been indicted.
Actually, his indictment by history is better than anything Fitzgerald could have found. he will forever be known as the bumbling moron who squandered the electoral gift of an 80% approval rating….jeez, just thinking of what he could have had, from the defection of Jeffords to the his divisiveness re: his base. The man will be remembered as a clown. That’s justice enough for me.
PS Somehow I doubt history’s indictment will sting him too greatly, as he sits at his estate, smoking fine cigars and reading about Mark Hanna….but, it will make me happy
Have they gotten to discovery yet? I think Mr. Wilson’s not gonna like that part.
I think you’ve got it. What the people who want to hang Libby have seemed to have overlooked is that Wilson is going to have to testify under oath. Something he seems rather loathe to do.
Actually, Rusty, he seems pretty excited to do that for HIS lawsuit. He seems reluctant to be called to testify in this criminal proceeding, just so Mr. Libby’s lawyers can get a gratis preview of his testimony.