Posted on 07/10/2005 7:53:23 PM PDT by Names Ash Housewares
Much ado about nothing, but they will try of course.
From Powerline blog.......
"SCOTT adds: Hilail Gildin writes: "Andrea Mitchell was asked, on MSNBC, whether it was generally known to news people, before the hullabaloo, that Ms. Planme worked for the CIA. She answered, somewhat reluctantly, that it was. In the light of this, I don't understand the ensuing fuss."
I don't know what makes you think you have a better idea than me. Are you one of the prosecutors?
It's a time honored tradition for SP's to go after perjury when they don't have any other crime to prosecute. Yeah, sure the judges say they won't allow a fishing expedition. Why do you think they said that? Because they agree with me that it's headed in that direction.
I think it because I can tell I have a better and more comprehensive grasp on the facts surrounding the matter based on what you have posted.
So what were the pages and pages and pages and pages of redacted documents all about?
Just what witnesses have said and a proffer that the SP wanted to verify that the reporters would confirm or lie?
I don't think so.
And I'll add, one of the three judge panel said he definitely believes in a journalist privilege existing but that the prosecutor had demonstrated it would not apply in this case.
I do not believe it is fishing for perjury.
#80... If you think that to be the case, then show me one article in which the media explains the details of when Plame was covert, and when she stopped being covert.
They don't have a clue because it isn't public information. All they know is that there is a grand jury trying to determine if a crime was committed because someone reported that she's a covert operative. And from that they deduce that she must have been covert at one time.
Personally, I would say that's a pretty good deduction. I doubt that they would have convened a grand jury if it was clear that she was not covert during the applicable time period, and it seems that would be a very easy thing to determine. Afterall, it was George Tenet who asked for the investigation. Tenet was not the most competent CIA director, but I think even he could probably handle that one.
Agreed. But they don't get to first base.
I'm sure it started out as a genuine investigation into the merits of the allegations. He might even still be hoping to string up someone for leaking the info. But failing that, you can be certain that he'll settle for perjury, if he can prove it.
There were a lot of witnesses who testified already. Now he has some reporters who may or may not be able to contradict those stories.
The real question is this: Let's assume that Rove did say it was "Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson's wife, a covert CIA agent that sent him to Africa!"
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82... In your opinion. But who really knows what the facts are? This is a grand jury proceeding. And as some of the other posters have pointed out, the facts have been spun every which way to Sunday on this case. You're simply accepting the spin the way you want it to be.
But if you think about it, you realize that there are reasons why there are gaps in the facts. It's because the government knows stuff, but isn't talking about it.
The only other explanation is that the prosecutor has convened a grand jury to investigate something that was from the outset admittedly is not a crime, and he's so abusive that he went so far as to throw innocent reporters in jail because they won't talk about it. Not only that, but he convinced the judges (including the Supreme Court) to go along.
I'll grant you that SP's do tend to go out of control, but if those are the actual facts, then this guy takes the cake.
It's much more likely that he's accepted the conclusion that she was covert, and is now simply trying to determine if someone broke the law.
Its pretty clear she was not "covert". How covert was it for Joe Wilson to advertise she worked at the CIA on his website?
bttt
Plan ME???
Ay, yo, plan YOU!!!!
OK, I've thought about it (before you even suggested it, believe it or not).
What I realize is that the only people being held in contempt for refusing to talk are reporters. I don't seen any government people not talking.
If you're referring to grand jury secrecy by "not talking", that is false. Secrecy does not equal "not talking". The SP presented reams of documentation to the courts to buttress the grand jury subpoenas and the courts stated they were not abusive but necessary.
It's one thing to say she worked for the CIA, and another thing to say she was a covert operative for the CIA. On the other hand, I'd be the first to admit that Wilson was more interested in making political brownie points than in protecting his wife's identity. He went straight to the press after Novak ran his story.
Not only did she tell Wilson she was covert, she told him on their first date, while they were "undercover". And Wilson told us that in his book.
Oh, come on NathanBookman, coyotes have cute faces.
To me, it looks like you agree with me on more than you disagree. I never said that the SP was abusive, or tried to defend the reporters' actions.
The only thing we disagree on, as far as I can see, is the question of whether Plame was truly "covert." You say no, I say yes. And the only reason I say yes is that we would not have gotten this far if she hadn't been.
Fair enough.
ABC News admitted this very point tonight.
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