The GOP Talking Points on Libby Debunked (WAPO)

[kpete]

5 Myths About Scooter and the Slammer

By Carol D. Leonnig
Sunday, June 10, 2007; B03

1. Valerie Plame wasn't a covert operative.

Wrong. She was.

The CIA isn't famous for its clarity, but it's being pretty blunt on this issue: Langley says she was covert. Which other spook bureaucracy do you need to ask?

2. Karl Rove would have been indicted in the Plame case if it hadn't been for all the destroyed evidence.

You'll find this conspiracy theory all over left-wing blogs. The main cause of the hyperventilating is a series of missing White House e-mails, supposedly containing marching orders from President Bush's top political adviser in which Rove told his troops to out Plame and punish her husband, former ambassador Joseph I. Wilson IV, for having poured cold water over reports that Saddam Hussein had sought uranium in Africa.

Those e-mails may contain interesting stuff, but for now, it's rank speculation to suggest that they hold information about the Plame case or would have pushed Fitzgerald to charge Rove with perjury. Fitzgerald told the court just that. He was exercising standard prosecutorial discretion when he decided not to charge Rove, according to sources close to the investigation. He didn't think he had a strong enough case to prove that Rove had intentionally lied to investigators (though some FBI agents disagreed).


3. Libby didn't leak Plame's identity.

Oh, brother, am I tired of this one. Libby wasn't charged with the crime of knowingly leaking classified information about Plame; he was charged with lying to investigators. But the overwhelming weight of the evidence at the trial -- including reporters' notes of their interviews with Libby -- showed that Libby had indeed leaked classified information about Plame's identity, even though that wasn't what put him in the dock. The jury agreed that Libby lied when he said that he'd been telling reporters only what other reporters had told him about Plame's role at the CIA.

What is unclear is whether Libby knew she was a covert CIA agent at the time he discussed her with reporters -- a key point in determining whether this was an illegal leak. But Walton said that Libby "had a unique and special obligation" to keep such secrets, well, secret.

.............

much more at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060802478_pf.html

[still_one]

1. too bad most people will not even read or hear those points /nt

[freesqueeze]

2. Great Article

Very concise in explaining why the neo-con zombies have now resorted to changing the subject each time this comes up. The Plame case is example one (anyone got a better one?) of this administration's willingness to stomp on the law for their own dark, miguided reasons.

Use kpete's link to check out myth number five (LMAO).

"The White House would fire any administration official who leaked classified information about Plame."

[KoKo]

3. Marcy (EmptyWheel) said Carol Leonnig was one of the best when

Marcy was live blogging from Libby Trial. She gave her an "A" and said Leonnig probably could even do more if her Editor's let her.

It's good to see her "fact check list."

[Captain Hilts]

4. Example #4,537 that Broder doesn't read his own paper. nt