WP: 5 Myths About Scooter And The Slammer

[Hissyspit]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/08/AR2007060802478.html

5 Myths About Scooter and the Slammer

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

...

But even now, four years after Valerie Plame's name hit the papers, the public still has some startling misconceptions about this fascinating, thorny case.

1. Valerie Plame wasn't a covert operative.

Wrong. She was.

- snip -

When Libby was convicted, some conservative pundits complained that Fitzgerald had presented no compelling evidence at trial that Plame was covert. But that wasn't for lack of evidence; it was because Libby's lawyers convinced the court to bar any mention of her status during the trial, arguing that evidence suggesting that her job was classified would have been "unfairly prejudicial" to their client. 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 (But NOT mythology. - H'spit) 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.

- snip -

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

When the investigation began, the president said he hated leaks and would hold leakers of classified information accountable. But he has not sacked anyone over the case.

MORE

[pacalo]

1. I just read this via FireDogLake.

K & R!

[hootinholler]

2. Good to see this in the pest. R'd n/t

[DURHAM D]

3. Failed to address the biggest myth -

"No underlying crime..."

[Hissyspit]

4. Good point, although she does kind of touch on it a bit in some of the edited-out parts

but, you're right, it should be listed separately.

I cut it out of my post, but she starts the article, in an effort to claim lack-of-bias, by saying the right and left have cariacatured the case, but then most of her essay supports that the mythology comes almost completely from the right.

[bleever]

5. K&R, and thank you Hissyspit

for all the work you do to keep DU informed.

:thumbsup:

[Hissyspit]

6. Same to you, Bleever. Happy Birthday!

[bleever]

7. A nice treat

I'll save for my actual birthday, along with remembering good news like this.

[Hamlette]

8. finaly, the WP tells the truth. What took so long?

or mostly the truth.

amazing what ownership does, during Watergate the WP was willing to talk truth to power. Now? Not so much.

This is refreshing.

[Berry Cool]

9. A copy of this needs to be sent to every rightwinger

who keeps repeating "but she wasn't covert, she wasn't covert, she was appearing in Vanity Fair, she WASN'T COVERT!" every two seconds.

Asshats. She didn't appear in ANY magazines until AFTER her cover was blown.