Andrew Cohen sums up today’s Libby testimony and then gets to the point.
So far, Libby’s lawyers have not exactly blown away court observers with their first witnesses– and of course you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Pincus told the panel that it was former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer who first told him about Valerie Plame Wilson, the CIA agent and wife of Joseph Wilson, the administration critic. Last week, you may recall, Fleischer testified that he was told about Plame Wilson by Libby. Meanwhile, Bob Woodward told jurors that he learned about Plame Wilson from Richard Armitage, now known to the world as THE original (and repentent and unindicted and official) leaker to the media of Wilson’s identity. And Novak confirms Armitage as the leaker and says that Karl Rove confirmed the leak.
Interesting, sure. With gusts up to fascinating. But, you may resonably ask, what does any of this have to do with whether Libby lied to federal investigators and to jurors when questioned about Plame Wilson? And, so far, the answer is easy: not much.
Nope. Not a thing, actually. The only interesting thing to happen to today was that we learned that Ari Fleischer leaked Plame’s name to Walter Pincus on July 12th. That was the day after Novak wrote his column and two days before it appeared in the papers. Fleischer never told the grand jury about telling Pincus. Do they want to prosecute for that? Kinda doubtful, but we’ll see. It doesn’t do a thing for Libby. He’s the one that told Ari in the first place, and then lied about it.
To the editor:
The Lewis “Scooter” Libby trial is now going on in Washington, and is very revealing about the White House and the Vice President. This trial is about treason: someone in the White House revealed the identity of a CIA operative (Valerie Plame-Wilson) whose job lay in tracking down and identifying trafficking in weapons of mass destruction. In this trial, the prosecution presented much evidence that Mr. Libby revealed the name and occupation of this vital CIA operative. The defense is now contending that it was a different White House staffer who committed the act of treason. Ari Fleisher (former White House spokesman) has been indicated by the defense as the traitor, while Richard Armitage (White House staffer) and Karl Rove (dirty trickster and advisor to the president) have both said that they revealed the name of Plame. It is clear the Vice President Cheney is behind this, and his name has surfaced on a treasonous memo.
Oddly enough, no one claims that the name was not revealed by White House operatives. Rather, the issue appears to be that ALL of these traitors revealed Plame’s name, once or another. Thus, we have a White House which believes that it is legitimate and right to damage their political opponents by destroying important CIA operatives, and in which many high operatives have committed treason.
Traitors in a time of war should be shot. I believe that we should begin setting up the firing squads.
dataguy
Belleville, IL
618-myp-hone
Ari fessed up about Pincus, didn’t he?
Typical Agatha Christie fare. Focus on the inconsequential suspect to obscure the real criminal(s). Here’s the story we should be reading — the synthesis of the truth, not just the facts: the actual crime is the conspiracy and misuse of executive power by Bush and Cheney.
[I posted this today on DailyKos attached to the diary, Hiding in Plame Sight. . . by Swopa.]
The sad thing here is,
Libby or no Libby, the Neocons are continuing their efforts to remake the Middle East a safer place for Israel. Iranian WMD like evidence is mounting and carriers continue to head for the Straits of Hormus, while Cheney figures out a way to get around Congress. The Irans are undeterred by threats and are continuing their efforts, under IAE supervision, to enrich uranium.
Why is everyone underestimating the Persians? They will whack anyone in retaliation who attempts to invade their country by air or otherwise. Israel created the Iranian threat and it is time the US let them kill their own if they wish this time around, rather than Americans, in pursuit of their plans to remain the only nuclear power in the region and continue their project to annext the West Bank.
Yes, the US economy will dive subsequent to an attack on Iran, but so what. We have been through it before. Stay in the money market if you are worried.