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To: swilhelm73

As the worm squirms. Tune in manana.


24 posted on 03/25/2005 4:53:29 PM PST by Waco
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To: Waco

well quite frankly I think it is a valid point and remember kiddies, if they win this motion, the Dems will be crying, Wilson will be further discredited and the leakers will be safe....

I remember it well - when this brouhahaha first come to light, Mr. Wilson drudged it up again in time for his book promotion tour and in time for the middle of the Presidential campaign,

that most of the legal pundits didn't think, even if the leakers were found, that a crime had been committed with the way the particular statute is written, it was written to cover a very different set of circumstances and has a mens rea requirement ie. intent that would be difficult to prove because:

I also recall that Bob Novak claimed that the fact Ms. Plame was a CIA operative was the worst kept secret in Washington and in fact I also recall a few Washington columnists backed up Novak on that supposition...I think, now my memory fails me here, but I think Novak says he knew she was in the CIA before he was told that that she was the one that volunteered her husband Joe Wilson for the mission to Niger to check out the uranium claim.

so if you didn't think it was a secret to begin with, you haven't met the mens rea requirement of the statute

Given the Wilson-Plame cover story and photo shoot for Vanity Fair to promote Wilson's book and given Wilson was totally discredited later by the Senate Intelligence Committee on Iraq on the very issue of the uranium claim, I'm inclined to give Novak the benefit of the doubt

more puzzling however is why old Novak's butt on the line too, did he fess up?


25 posted on 03/25/2005 6:45:49 PM PST by llama hunter
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