The Libby conviction in the Valerie Plame case is a travesty.  He never initiated the "leak," she was never "under cover," and her husband lied about everything in the Niger yellowcake story.  What should have been investigated were the elements in the CIA, including Plame, who tried to undermine the policies of the duly elected president in wartime.  That is Bush's fault for not doing so.  The fact that Wilson was not required to sign a non-disclosure statement on his activities is further evidence of a plot within the CIA to discredit the president's policies.

This affair is reminiscent of the spin that turned loser Al Gore's cherrypicking "recount" with Democrats intuiting people's intent, which was nothing more than a slow-motion attempted coup, into a "stolen election."  But then, to use a comparison the Democrats are so prone to do (yet cry foul when used against them), if you follow the Hitler logic and repeat the Big Lie often enough, people start to believe you.  Bush helped by not engaging until the Democrats had already falsely defined him.  That's why a lie should never go unchallenged.

What we need in this country is a UCMJ for the CIA and State Department to ensure that civil servants follow the policies of the elected president.  Plame's and Wilson's conduct, along with their CIA helpers and enablers would have landed a soldier undermining the commander in chief in jail.  What's also needed is for Fitzgerald to be investigated for his role in this witch hunt.  The true leaker, Armitage, gets off Scott free, as does the liar, Wilson, and the underminers, Plame and her CIA cohorts.

Libby deserves not just a pardon but complete vindication.  That is not likely to come from this increasingly skittish administration.  Too bad.

Contributed by Shane Briscoe on March 6, 2007 at 05:12 PM in Shane Briscoe | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: John Van Laer

You are 100% right, Shane.  But your version of the Wilson-Plame affair, which is the plain truth, is destined to vanish into the Orwellian memory hole.  The New York Times has the gall today to publish an editorial accusing Rove, Cheney, and Libby of "whispering the name" of Mrs. Wilson to reporters, without ever mentioning the stark fact that it was an opponent of the White House, Richard Armitage, who leaked her name to Bob Novak and possibly others.  To make matters worse, here is their quotation of the day--

- QUOTATION OF THE DAY -

"The truth is what drives our judicial system. If people don't come forward and tell the truth, we have no hope of making the judicial system work."
- PATRICK J. FITZGERALD, the prosecutor in the Libby case.

Fitzgerald is the last person entitled to pontificate about truth and justice.  He knew at the outset that it was Armitage who blew Plame's nonexistent cover, and hid that fact from the public and from the grand jury, while the media had a picnic spreading vile rumors about Bush, Cheney, Rove, et. al.

Posted by: John Van Laer | Mar 7, 2007 3:49:27 AM