Rove, Libby identified CIA officer

[brettdale]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2005-07-17-libby-cooper_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA


WASHINGTON — White House strategist Karl Rove was the first person to tell a Time magazine reporter that the wife of an administration critic worked for the CIA, the reporter said Sunday. Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, then confirmed that fact to the reporter.

[Fridays Child]

1. Shouldn't Rove and Libby be held to a higher standard?

Remember when the right wing advanced the meme that Clinton should be held to a higher standard of behavior than average citizens? Could holding government officials to a higher standard be more important than in this instance?

[me b zola]

2. When you've got Libby Libby Libby...

...in your cross-hairs, cross-hairs, cross-hairs

He'll take cheney with him to GITMO, GITMO, GITMO

[shraby]

3. And Rove, Rove, Rove your boat

gently up the stream.
Gitmo Gitmo Gitmo Gitmo can we only dream.

[wli]

4. Not Guantanamo! To the Hague with them!

[AndyTiedye]

5. The International Criminal Court Awaits Them!

The one court from which there is NO pardon.

[freedomburn]

6. They can have a cell right next to Slobodan Milosevic .

[Beetwasher]

7. Is This Front Page Print Edition? I Like The Headline, Concise and

easily digestible.

[Norquist Nemesis]

8. This is a different account than other articles

I've seen this morning. And from USAToday :wow:

The others are spinning the "Rove was contacted by reporters" and Cooper contacted Rove. Also, that it was ROVE, not Libby, who is credited with "I've heard that, too" ...as he was on his way out the door to go on vacation, of course. :eyes: This is also the first article I've seen putting a finger directly on Libby.

I can't wait to see either 1) indictments handed down or 2) Fitzgerald's report should there be no indictments. This thing has been twisted, spun, washed, rinsed, and repeated so many times it's difficult to keep the story straight and know what's what. All I really know at this point is, when Ken Mehlman or any other of the anti-Democratic dogs start singing that it's all delusional fairy tales.

[Matilda]

11. I'm still trying to figure out why on earth any reporter would tell Rove

information he could easily get for himself.

Nope, it just won't fly.

[Pryderi]

9. What did the president know, and when did he know it?

[longship]

10. Looks, smells, sounds like a duck.

Can you say, *conspiracy*?

Sure, you can.

[janetle]

12. It's beginning to look a lot like.....

.....watergate! Yep, folks. I lived through those times and the MSM coverage is beginning to pick up on this one.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that Bush lied to the entire country with those few words in his State of the Union Address. And that is what this is about. Bush knew it was a lie and Rove was tring to take down anybody who questioned it. It is simple enough for everyone to get.

[Straight Shooter]

13. bush knew what rove did; cheney knew what libby did.

They've probably all been yukking it up the last couple years how they got what they wanted, the War on Iraq.

Do you think they're laughing now? I sure don't.

[JRob]

14. The fact that this is still in "question" simply baffles my imagination...

[buddha8]

15. get ready

I would get ready for the first major action soon by our newly empowered National Security Service under the infamous John Negroponte. They now have the power to use the U.S. Military inside the U.S.. They can arrest anyone on order of the Executive if they are a perceived threat to 'security'. Are people taking this seriously? I hope so. What this amounts to is a new American Gestapo. Please read Whitney's article on this quiet and incredibly dangerous development over at thesmirkingchimp.com

If treasongate gets too close to bush there is no question in my mind that he will fire the special prosecutor and suspend the law, perhaps declaring martial law or staging an 'event' to create mass hysteria and then suspend the law. Once the NSS begins to fill the street what we will have is Germany 38'. I know it sounds way too hard to beleive. I don't think people are paying attention. The executive 'branch' now has the power to deploy the U.S. military in the streets of America and arrest any dissident,partisan,writer or internet poster they want to. Essentially this is the final step in the neofacist consolidation puzzle and it just passed thru Congress quietly last week. I would hope that people come out of the deep denial they are in and take this seriously. We are no longer living in a representative Republic with recourse to justice.

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Your scenario of firing the prosecutor & rolling out the tanks

is what I thought was going to happen in October 1973. Nixon (via Robert Bork) did fire Cox, but his replacement, Leon Jaworski, proved to be just as tough and (SO IT IS SAID) Alexander Haig, of all people, put out the order for the Nat'l Gard to refuse any illegal orders from the WH.

This time we won't be so lucky, methinks.

[Zorra]

16. Bu*h/Cheney are looking complicit by not convincing Rove/Libby to resign,

like yesterday.

It is becoming increasingly clear that they not only knew about the retaliatory actions of Rove/Libby/? against Ambassador Wilson, but that they also condoned them.

We can confidently consider that their silence and non-punitive action at the time of, and after, these retaliatory acts perpetrated by Rove/Libby/? took place pretty much proves beyond a reasonable doubt that they consented to these actions and that they deliberately covered them up because they consented to these actions, because they knew that these actions were illegal, and because they feared prosecution for their crimes.

As superior officials consenting to actions taken by subordinate officials, this consent implies approval. Therefore, under the circumstances, we can believe with confidence that this approval indicates that Bu*h and Cheney are fully responsible for the deliberate exposition of a covert agent.

Plain and simple, it is impossible that Bu*h and Cheney did not know, and it is highly probable that the subordinates working for them perpetrated illegal actions with their consent and "blessing", whether this consent and "blessing" was spoken or not.

Anything else would be beyond believable.

Further, there are other ramifications to these actions, that indicate that subordinates of Bu*h and Cheney are given free license to target critics of administration policies as fair game for retaliatory actions, and that any retaliatory action taken by these subordinates, legal or illegal, is not only acceptable to, but actually expected by, Bu*h and Cheney.

If a CEO doesn't fire her/his employees when they are caught stealing from the company, the BOD is definitely going to assume (they're gonna know) that the CEO was in on the heist, and pink slips will be issued directly.

It is time for Congress to do its duty and begin impeachment proceedings.

[defiant1]

17. Well, no shat.....

This is now beyond ridiculous.

I have a problem with this "I heard that, too" response.

So let's assume that Rove is completely innocent in this debacle. The next day, he gets on the phone with Novak (after having read the memo from July 7, 2003 explaining to top administration officials who Plame was), who says "I heard that Wilson's wife works for the CIA".

Having read the memo identifying Plame(and if you think Rove didn't read that memo, plz remove your head from your ass), his response is :

"I heard that, too."

Hmmmm.

Not "That's a matter of national security."

Not "No comment."

Not "How exactly did you come across this classified information?"

"I heard that, too."

And then my personal favorite...

"I've already said too much."

Well, if you've said too much, you were well aware of the place where you needed to stop talking.

Bottom line, as we all know it, the only thing left to do is prove it in a court of law.

But instead of the burden of proof laying on the prosecution, how about we lay it on the feet of Bush's Brain, and let him prove to us just how innocent he really is.