Looks like Patrick Fitzgerald, the U.S. attorney charged with investigating
the leak of that identified Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA officer, has hit a
real nerve and is on the verge of dropping a new legal bomb on the Bush
Administration. How else to explain the sudden surge of criticism directed
against Mr. Fitzgerald? A story in today’s New York Times by David Johnston is the latest salvo in what
looks like a coordinated assault on the steely-eyed prosecutor.
Plameologist EmptyWheel has a terrific post at The Next Hurrah dissecting
Johnston’s shoddy attempt at journalism. His piece, at best, is
speculative analysis. Unfortunately, it is uninformed analysis.
Now, I’m up front about my bias in this case. Valerie Wilson is an old
friend and colleague who was an excellent case officer until Robert Novak,
citing Bush Administration sources, flagged her as a CIA employee. Until
that day in July 2003, her husband and her friends (who were witting of her true
employment status) protected her cover. She was in the process of
shifting from “non-official cover” status to “official cover”. Both types
of cover are protected under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
It was the Bush Administration–Richard Armitage, Scooter Libby, and Karl
Rove–who spread the lie that Valerie sent her husband, Joe Wilson, to Africa as
part of an elaborate conspiracy to damage the credibility of the Bush
Administration. In 2003 there was publicly speculation that the Bush
Administration lied to the American people about the case for going to war in
Iraq. Today, the evidence of the lies is overwhelming. The question
about Iraq’s alleged efforts to buy uranium from Niger was one of the critical
foundations of the Administration’s effort to rally public support for the
war. When Joe Wilson started contacting Journalists in early 2003, after
the President lied in the State of the Union Address about Iraq’s efforts, Dick
Cheney and his minions began collecting ammunition to attack Wilson and try to
destroy his credibility.
Which brings me to Patrick Fitzgerald.
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald came to this case with no bias. He is
a man above repute and unafraid to take on politically sensitive cases. On
the eve of the indictment of Scooter Libby last October (2005) there was a weak
attempt by Republican operatives to smear Fitzgerald. They encountered
several obstacles:
- Unlike Kenneth Starr, who investigated President Bill Clinton, Fitzgerald
has not played politics with his investigation, by leaking stories to buddies
in the media;
- Unlike Starr, who spent millions of dollars in the pursuit of Clinton,
Fitzgerald is a tightwad.
It is tought to tar a prosecutor who is frugal, focused, and aplotical.
Nonetheless, the Bush/Cheney defenders and their media buddies are ramping up a
campaign to smear Fitzgerald. The Johnston NY Times piece is prima facie
evidence. Johnston notes that in the wake of a report that Richard
Armitage was one of Novak sources that:
the question of whether Mr. Fitzgerald properly exercised his prosecutorial
discretion in continuing to pursue possible wrongdoing in the case has become
the subject of rich debate on editorial pages and in legal and political
circles.
So, attention to detail, a refusal to try the case in the news media, and
insistence on bringing charges based on evidence suggest improper “prosecutorial
discretion”? Nope. I don’t buy that. The facts show that
Fitzgerald is keeping his cards close to his vest, which certainly has Dick
Cheney and Stephen Hadley crapping their pants. Their role, particularly
Cheney’s, in directing the campaign to discredit Ambassador Wilson, has become
clearer in the last year thanks to court filings in the case against Scooter
Libby. For example, we now have Cheney’s notes that became the basis for
RNC talking points in attacking Ambassador Wilson.
I am not privy to Fitgerald’s plans or thinking; but, given the nature of the
offensive now directed against the Wilsons and Fitzgerald, it appears that Mr.
Fitzgerald may be on the verge of asking the Grand Jury to indict Dick Cheney
and Stephen Hadley. Karl Rove is no dummy and would be derelict and
incompetent to not prepare for this contingency. He know that if Fitz
drops a new legal bomb before the November elections on someone in the
Administration that the Republican ship of state will sunder. When
it comes to hanging on to power in Washington all is fair, regardless of job
performance and competence. And, when it comes to poltical survival for
the discredited Bush Administration, trashing a courageous, honest prosecutor is
okay.
……………………………………………………..
Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder
of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm
that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by
terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously
with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s
Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized
expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk
management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety
of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio,
ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News,
and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for
publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York
Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and
aviation security around the world. Further bio
details.
Personal Blog: No Quarter
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BoomanTribune Posts
“above repute” should probably be “above reproach.”
I certainly hope the smearing is an attempt to spike something Fitzgerald is about to , and not just pointless nastiness.
I hope something is happening- it seems like the case vanished after saying Rove was in the clear. I thought it was going to be like all other major events- down the black hole.
I wish but doubt that Fitzgerald will issue anymore indictments (especially BEFORE the election). I do think the trial next year is what is worrying most people in the White House. Cheney and Co. will be forced to testify under oath.
had a dem house and dem senate and they could USE whatever came out in court!
But I am worried about Fitz. It felt as if he were being given ultimatums that he could go no futher. The thing with Rove for instance. Yes, Rove has testified over and over and over, but didn’t he lie his pointy little ass off at the beginning too???
That’s right. Fitzgerald might ruin the elections with an indictment against the Bush White House.
The most absurd comment was that Wilson outed his own wife.
Read the Human Events trash here
This article continue to push the story that Saddam did have WMDs.
“The entire international intelligence community had evidenced which suggested that Saddam indeed possessed weapons of mass destruction. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice testified to the Senate that yellowcake or no yellowcake, the uranium shopping by Iraq in Niger was a minor part of the intelligence of Saddam. The idea that Wilson was somehow smeared to make the case for war is another instance in the alternative reality in which Democrats reside.”
Au contraire- the yellow cake uranium shopping story was the central piece in Rice’s lead up to the war.
You can’t scare us into a war without the WMDs being nuclear and on the tip of a missile that can hit the U.S.
It is really a Republican noise machine. Link this “hurricane” of misinformation with the sudden change in “stay the course” Iraq mantra that the White House is now denying because it isn’t working on the American public.
There is bound to be a Cat4 or 5 storm around the Plame case as Fitzgerald gets closer to wrapping up. Add in several attorneys, hired by the Wilsons, denying these ridiculous stories.
Neither did we buy that Armitage was careless and let slip Plame’s identity by accident to Novak. Either way it makes the White House look really bad- and right before elections.
I’ve said it before and will say it again, time to take the fight to Libby’s supporters.
Except for the indictment against Scooter Libby, all of the information about the case has come either from witnesses telling what they said or defense lawyers trying to bias any potential jury.
The information about Armitage likely did not come from Fitzgerald or the investigation, but from someone else, even Armitage’s lawyer.
Fitzgerald has not said anything. Besides, if the White House did nothing wrong because Armitage admitted he was the source when he approached the investigation in October 2003, why did Attorney General John Ashcroft recuse himself in December 2003. Two months after the fact.
Of course, with so many people coming forward to offer their interpretation of events, any potential juror now could honestly and legitimately say that they come to the case with an open mind because of all the conflicting information. When only one person is playing this noxious game, the juror pool can be tainted. When everybody is playing, the uncertainty guarantees that anybody could honestly and fairly serve. The players have ruined the game for themselves.
For crying out loud folks- now we are seeing dem defenders of Fitz? ENOUGH! We have plenty on out plate. After watching casey get his ass handed to him today, the dems are already -1 so lets try and focus! What the hell has fitz done yet? I don’t see him showing any gumption and all i see is a brilliant stalling approach and i think that when he reports it probably will come sometime in Oct and it will be a gop whitewash.
Remember Brewster Jennings! No one else appears to. How many unknown NOCs bought the farm and we will never know. And one last point- I could care less about the indictments- the chimp said right out loud that he would not tolerate any even questionable act by any member of his admin!
WELL? billjpa@aol.com