Posted on 10/28/2005 1:05:49 PM PDT by Congressman Billybob
This is a very curious press conference just conducted by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. With his machine-gun delivery. He repeatedly flopped back and forth between saying that the “outing” of Valerie Plame, wife of discredited Ambassador Joe Wilson was a “serious matter,” and saying that he “reached no conclusion” whether she had been outed, and if so, when and by whom.
The mood in the room among the reporters changed appreciably as the conference went on. Initially, the press was very interested in the charges made and reasons for them, and in the charges not made against other people, and the reasons why not. But by the end of the conference, the reporters were clearly puzzled by the wandering speech of Fitzgerald and his lame analogies about a baseball pitcher throwing at a batter’s head, and a bank robber with his fingerprint on the holdup note and a signed confession.
Again and again, Mr. Fitzgerald said that it was “vital” that he and his Grand Jury should get to the end of the process with a “clear understanding of all of the facts.” Yet, again and again, he replied to reporters’ questions by saying that he “had not reached a conclusion” about central facts of the matter concerning either Valerie Plame or Joe Wilson.
Source: this is written as the press conference is under way. The transcript will surely be posted on the Internet within minutes.
Toward the end of the conference, I realized what I was watching. Fitzgerald was offering the press and the nation a version of Humphrey Bogart’s star turn in his last film as Phillip Francis Queeg, the Captain of the USS Caine in The Caine Mutiny (1954). The turning point in that film came when the obsessive Captain comes apart on the stand while being cross-examined by the lawyer for the mutineers in their trial.
Beginning with the exposure of Captain Queeg as obsessive in the story about the missing strawberries from the mess hall, the Captain visibly unravels. As he does so, he takes two ball bearings from his pocket and begins to play with them in his hand.
Fitzgerald seems to be a similar person. He is wound far too tight. He is obsessing about a few conversations with reporters (where it might be the reporters, not Scooter Libby, who are either lying or maybe just poorly remembering what happened years ago). At the same time, Fitzgerald is deliberately ignoring the larger fact that a war is going on, and must be won. It was just like Captain Queeg.
Fitzgerald had everything except the strawberries, and the ball bearings. By the end, I think many of the reporters had reached the same conclusion.
John_Armor@aya.yale.edu
Old age... doh!
You are very right. While obsessing about Libby's "lying" by not telling a truth that normal classification rules would have forbid him from telling (even to a grand jury that was not specifically constituted to hear classified information), Fitz has missed the real crime in this, which is the conduct of a renegade op against the WH, and then trying to use classification laws to cover it up (which is, in fact illegal). Best would have been to state that this is a political tiff between the WH and an out of control agency (which would have been fine since it was pre Goss and no one in Congress could dispute what they had already concluded).
fascinating thread and hysterical picture!
Hey - it's all Libby's fault. He doesn't have perfect memory with total recall. Sounds fair to me!
"Sen Kerry : Libby Indictment Shows White House Corruption"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1511450/posts
Hanoi Kerry goes unpunished for treason and Libby and Delay get indicted.
Hanoi Kerry and Move On FReeper crowd 2
Real Americans 0
There is no need to impeach Hanoi Kerry from the US Senate
He is there illegally!
WAKEUP AMERICA!
For those who "forgot" what Hanoi Kerry
did in the past read on and learn the truth.
Hanoi Kerry was still a USNR officer while he:
gave false hearsay testimony to Congress
negotiated with the enemy
helped the US lose a war
abetted in the deaths of millions
created a hostile environment for all servicemen
Why is Kerry still in the US Senate?
This is in violation of
U.S. Constitution Amendment 14 Sec 3
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxiv.html
And the FBI has proof of his treason.
Hanoi Kerry Timeline of a traitor
includes FBI files
May 1970
Kerry and Julia traveled to Paris, France and met with Madame Nguyen Thi Binh, the Foreign Minister of the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam (PRG), the political wing of the Vietcong, and other Viet Cong and Communist Vietnamese representatives to the Paris peace talks, a trip he now calls a "fact-finding" mission.
(U.S. code 18 U.S.C. 953, declares it illegal for a U.S. citizen to go abroad and negotiate with a foreign power.)
http://www.archive-news.net/Kerry/JK_timeline.html
a) A person charged with absence without leave or missing movement in time of war,
or with any offense punishable by death,
may be tried at any time without limitation.
http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/ucmj.htm#*%20843.%20ART.%2043.%20STATUTE%20OF%20LIMITATIONS
In short, mystery solved. We have a motive.
No way Fitzgerald could ever get a conviction with those words as the starting point.
This was politics, not espionage.
I am not sure we will see anyone taking a hard stand at this point. It has been too quiet, too long. Have we heard anyone in Congress besides Peter King take such a strong stand? No
MSM is running the show. We know it. They know it. All someone has to do is speak up and MSM is ready. It will be "Not only did they punish Wilson then, they are trying to destroy him now. They are trying to ruin the reputation of a Federal Prosecutor who is above reproach."
I am sick of the bad guys walking. If Fitz believed in equal justice, he would have put Wilson under oath. Not relevant? Bullshit. Maybe not to the perjury charges, but certainly to the disclosure charges.
The bad guys walk because no one wants to take them on. Only a few here and there. I have no words to express my level of disgust.
The underlying crime be it USC18,793 or the other one really doesn't tell us anything. What we know is that other admin officials testified that Libby had knowledge from them. He had to know they would testify that way.
So to avoid being caught for a crime he could never be convicted of based on the clear wording and original intent of the laws involved he commits other crimes which he can be convicted of while still leaving exposure to the underlying crime?
I don't think so. Makes no sense. Tell the guyts at NRO about my neuronal dysfunction theory, it makes more sense. :-}
on my side of course!
We don't have to attack the prosecutor, folks. That's a Democrat tactic. Let's stay the course and root for a big public trial that puts Timmy, Joey and Valerie on the stand UNDER OATH.
Well, the crux of your argument is that Card had to know, that others would testify that Libby knew before he talked to any reporter. Is that so clear? Andy McCarthy is no dummy. An article of his from July about did the CIA and Plame is up on FR right now.
Card = Libby
"On or about May 29, 2003, in the White House, LIBBY asked an Under Secretary of State (“Under Secretary”) for information concerning the unnamed ambassador’s travel to Niger to investigate claims about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium yellowcake. The Under Secretary thereafter directed the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research to prepare a report concerning the ambassador and his trip. The Under Secretary provided LIBBY with interim oral reports in late May and early June 2003, and advised LIBBY that Wilson was the former ambassador who took the trip. 5. On or about June 9, 2003, a number of classified documents from the CIA were faxed to the Office of the Vice President to the personal attention of LIBBY and another person in the Office of the Vice President. The faxed documents, which were marked as classified, discussed, among other things, Wilson and his trip to Niger, but did not mention Wilson by name. After receiving these documents, LIBBY and one or more other persons in the Office of the Vice President handwrote the names “Wilson” and “Joe Wilson” on the documents.
6. On or about June 11 or 12, 2003, the Under Secretary of State orally advised LIBBY in the White House that, in sum and substance, Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA and that State Department personnel were saying that Wilson’s wife was involved in the planning of his trip.
7. On or about June 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke with a senior officer of the CIA to ask about the origin and circumstances of Wilson’s trip, and was advised by the CIA officer that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA and was believed to be responsible for sending Wilson on the trip.
8. Prior to June 12, 2003, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus contacted the Office of the Vice President in connection with a story he was writing about Wilson’s trip. LIBBY participated in discussions in the Office of the Vice President concerning how to respond to Pincus.
How many possible witnesses do you count in there who could testify that Libby knew of Plame prior to July whatever?
Prior to June 23 (that was the date of his chat with Russert). It appears that there are two witnesses, with the disclosures about Plame oral. I don't know obviously what was in Libby's mind, but I take your point.
Yeah I can tell you you about Libby. He's an Andover boy or is it Exeter? Draw your own conclusions on what goes on at those boarding schools.
See a need, and fill it: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1511666/posts
Congressman Billybob, I watched Fitzgerald from the beginning to the end of all the questions from the press. Which in itself amazed me--I think he took questions from everyone except the janitor (he presumably had left) and I wondered if he would ever stop.
From the minute Fitzgerald started speaking I was stunned by his rapid fire statement of all the charges and the fact that he didn't seem to take a breath. I was impressed by how articulate he was, how forceful his statements were and how seemingly clear-headed he was, and I thought I knew why he had been chosen.
Well, I am just a little old grandmother who has not had much experience watching prosecutors present their case, as you might have guessed. But at the end, after hearing him state over and over that Libby was innocent until proven guilty, I wondered why I had the feeling he had already been proven guilty, tried and was going to prison?
Reading your post has given me hope and an understanding of what actually happened. I did see thru Captain Queeg fairly early in the movie--of course I was much younger in those days, but now that you have mentioned it...
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