I"m sorry, I just couldn't resist the Variety-speak. The Washington Post has some good insights into the CIA leak investigation, which is quickly resembling a frantic screwball comedy.
washingtonpost.com
Role of Rove, Libby in CIA Leak Case Clearer
Bush and Cheney Aides' Testimony Contradicts Earlier White House Statement
By Jim VandeHei and Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, October 2, 2005; A05
As the CIA leak investigation heads toward its expected conclusion this month, it has become increasingly clear that two of the most powerful men in the Bush administration were more involved in the unmasking of operative Valerie Plame than the White House originally indicated.
With New York Times reporter Judith Miller's release from jail Thursday and testimony Friday before a federal grand jury, the role of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, came into clearer focus. Libby, a central figure in the probe since its earliest days and the vice president's main counselor, discussed Plame with at least two reporters but testified that he never mentioned her name or her covert status at the CIA, according to lawyers in the case.
His story is similar to that of Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser. Rove, who was not an initial focus of the investigation, testified that he, too, talked with two reporters about Plame but never supplied her name or CIA role.
Here's my question about this whole "never mentioned her name" argument which we've heard many times during this whole discussion. It's been established that Joseph Wilson's wife Valerie didn't use her maiden name at CIA. However she's listed as Valerie Plame in her husband's entry in Who's Who, as that dogged reporter Robert Novak found out. (See the section in the Wiki entry called "Air Force One memo") So, isn't it enough to show a conspiracy, as this article implies the prosecutor is planning, if Wilson's wife is referred to as, say, "Wilson's wife?" Thus she is clearly identified without mentioning her name.
Their testimony seems to contradict what the White House was saying a few months after Plame's CIA job became public.
In October 2003, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that he personally asked Libby and Rove whether they were involved, "so I could come back to you and say they were not involved." Asked if that was a categorical denial of their involvement, he said, "That is correct."
Will little Scottie McClellan be named part of the conspiracy? Will Ari Fleischer? We can but hope. Early in this story, I enjoyed watching Scottie take questions about this and counting how many times he used the words "get to the bottom of this", as in "No one wants to get to the bottom of this more than the President." Well, I guess they're about to hit bottom now.
What remains a central mystery in the case is whether special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has accumulated evidence during his two-year investigation that any crime was committed. His investigation has White House aides and congressional Republicans on edge as they await Fitzgerald's announcement of an indictment or the conclusion of the probe with no charges. The grand jury is scheduled to expire Oct. 28, and lawyers in the case expect Fitzgerald to signal his intentions as early as this week.
Thank goodness for special prosecutors. Since the demise of the Independent Counsel Act, they're all we've got. Who else can hold Republican administrations' feet to the fire? Thank you, Lawrence Walsh, Archibald Cox and now Patrick Fitzgerald. I'll skip down a bit now, but do read the entire Post story...
But a new theory about Fitzgerald's aim has emerged in recent weeks from two lawyers who have had extensive conversations with the prosecutor while representing witnesses in the case. They surmise that Fitzgerald is considering whether he can bring charges of a criminal conspiracy perpetrated by a group of senior Bush administration officials. Under this legal tactic, Fitzgerald would attempt to establish that at least two or more officials agreed to take affirmative steps to discredit and retaliate against Wilson and leak sensitive government information about his wife. To prove a criminal conspiracy, the actions need not have been criminal, but conspirators must have had a criminal purpose.
I have a long and checkered history with conspiracy theorists,
but in this case I think the word is justified. It's just the sort of
thing the Bush Admnistration would do, put the word out that there was
something fishy about Wilson and his wife. The question is: did it
stop with Libby and Rove or were there bigger players in this frat-boy game?
Lawyers involved in the case interviewed for this report agreed to talk only if their names were not used, citing Fitzgerald's request for secrecy.
One source briefed on Miller's account of conversations with Libby said it is doubtful her testimony would on its own lead to charges against any government officials. But, the source said, her account could establish a piece of a web of actions taken by officials that had an underlying criminal purpose.
What does Judith Miller know? Who did she talk to besides Libby?
Mythtaken politics had a daring theory about this months ago, to which I subscribe. Wouldn't it make sense that the White House would reward Miller for her Chalabi-fed WMD stories with an off the record sit down with POTUS or VPOTUS? I''ll skip some more of this article and get to the nice new information about the Veep.
Cheney's staff was looking into Wilson as early as May 2003, nearly two months before columnist Robert D. Novak identified Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, according to administration sources familiar with the effort. What stirred the interest of the vice president's office was a May 6 New York Times column by Nicholas D. Kristof in which the mission to Niger was described without using Wilson's name. Kristof's column said Cheney had authorized the trip.
According to former senior CIA officials, the vice president's office pressed the CIA to find out how the trip was arranged, because Cheney did not know that a query he made much earlier to a CIA briefer about a report alleging Iraq was seeking Niger uranium had triggered Wilson's trip. "They were very uptight about the vice president being tagged that way," a former senior CIA official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation. "They asked questions that set [off] a chain of inquiries."
Aha! We've established more motive! Cheney was mad that he got tagged for being responsible for the Wilson visit. His guys started the whispering campaign to save face with the Bushies. Just like I imagine he does every day at lunch, when Bush says "Have a cheeseburger, Dick!"
Does the man look like he's leading a heart-healthy life? You know, they refuse to release his cholesterol numbers, and during the aftermath of 9/11 that raucous wit Mary Matalin said his "undisclosed location" was the basement of the Palm...
I'm still taking bets on my earlier prediction, but now I'm also figuring that the CIA leak case is about to go bang! Should be fun.
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