The Big Lie of Richard Cohen
by Brent Budowsky
Richard Cohen repeats the big lie in todays Washington Post–i.e., Patrick Fitzgerald knew “that no law had been violated” when Valerie Plame’s identity was exposed.
The truth: Fitzgerald believed and has stated publicly that it has been impossible to know the full truth about what laws have been violated, because Scooter Libby’s lies threw sand into the legal procedures that search for truth.
First, Senator Lloyd Bentsen was the original sponsor of the Identities Law; I spent years of my life working on it; I worked on a related bill that provided death benefits to families of those killed in the line of duty, in part for identities exposures; and I was thanked and commended in writing, along with Senator Bentsen, at the level of Director of Central Intelligence.
So: unlike Mr. Cohen, I know what I am talking about, and unlike Mr. Cohen, when the lives of our covert officers are involved I have a sacred respect for truth, integrity and honor.
I will hold Mr. Cohen to the standard of being literate enough to read the news pages of the Washington Post. And I would assume that Mr. Cohen lowered himself to see or read the transcript of what Mr. Fitzerald publicly said.
Enough delusion, enough dishonesty, enough spin, enough waterboy for the defense of the perjurer, enough obsession and damn right, enough lies.
Here is another lie often told by the promoters of perjurers:
They parrot Cheney and say that Valeria Plame got her husband Joe Wilson the trip to Niger as a junket.
This is a lie. Valerie Plame did not suggest Wilson, others at the Agency did. She did not authorize the trip. She had no authority to authorize the trip. She did not provide money for the trip. She had no authority to provide money for the trip.
This argument, too, is a lie. Those who repeat it know it is a lie. Yet they persist in telling the lie nevertheless.
For the record, when Victoria Toensing wrote her fictional piece bannered in the Outlook section of the Post, as the case went to jury, and this lie intended to smear the wife, to smear the husband was repeated I was the only person permitted to answer her on the pages of the Post as the jury got the case.
I tried to set the record straight on this slander of Valerie Plame, but the truth was censored by the editor, while the lie was allowed to stand.
It is still said by some, that Valerie Plame was not covert. This, too, is a lie.
It is said by some that Valerie Plame did not do covert action abroad within the five years covered by the law. This, too, is a lie.
That these are lies, is not my personal opinion, it is verified, public, official, formally stated fact.
Yet they continue to lie.
As some continue to lie about WMD in Iraq.
As some continue to lie about Saddam having ties to Al Qaeda.
Again, this are public, verified, indisputable, clear, absolute facts from those who have the authority to know them, and have said them.
Again and again, it is public record of fact, versus the public attempt to propagate the lie.
Year after year, lie after lie, blunder after blunder, death after death, failure after failure, lie after lie.
The President publicly stated that he “decided” to surge and escalate after the commanders urged him to.
In this, the President lied.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff unanimously urged him not to escalate. The Iraq commanders urged him not to escalate. He ignored them, disrespected them, demeaned them, pressured them, tried to intimidate them, but they still opposed the surge.
Then the President lied about them, then the President replaced them.
Those who so obsessively and compulsively promoted this war have propagated lie after lie, year after year, from the initial lies about 9-11 and WMD to the latest lie on the editorial pages of the Washington Post today.
To Richard Cohen, I say this: the reason that the obsessive, compulsive security risks who call themselves neoconservatives, who reach the highest levels of our government, are so desperately pushing for a pardon is their deep, mortal fear that Scooter Libby will cop a plea before sentencing, and then we will know the truth, about whether a crime was truly committed.