Instead, his indictment makes a relatively strong case that Libby lied repeatedly before the grand jury about when and how he first learned that Joseph Wilson, a critic of the administration's case for the Iraq war, was married to Valerie Plame, a CIA agent. Showing prosecutorial experience that Starr lacked, Fitzgerald at least brought a false statements indictment that is easy to understand.But the idea that Fitzgerald should be praised for the charges he didn't bring is absurd. Fitzgerald's main justification for bringing the perjury and obstruction charges was that Libby's alleged lies made it harder for the special prosecutor to know whether a crime had been committed. "What we have when someone charges obstruction of justice is the umpire gets sand thrown in his eyes," Fitzgerald said, using a labored baseball metaphor. "He's trying to figure out what happened, and somebody blocked their view."
The metaphor, however, is unconvincing: "It's more like criminalizing someone for arguing with the umpire's ball or strike call," says Harvard Law Professor and tnr contributor William J. Stuntz. Libby's alleged obstruction did not block Fitzgerald's ability to decide whether he violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act; Fitzgerald could have concluded months ago that there was no violation. To breach the meticulously drafted law, a person with access to classified material who learns the identity of a covert agent has to intentionally disclose information identifying the agent, knowing that this information will blow the agent's cover and that the United States is taking affirmative measures to conceal the agent's identity........And, even if you assume the worst about Libby, it's hardly obvious that the question of who first told him that Plame worked for the CIA--was it, in other words, his government colleagues or NBC's Tim Russert?--would cast much light on whether he broke national security law.
"...Libby lied ...about when and how he first learned that Joseph Wilson..... was married to Valerie Plame, a CIA agent."
Libby says he learned from Russert. Fitzgerald says he learned from colleagues.
Let's say that Fitzgerald is correct.
Does the fact that Libby learned from a colleague that Plame was the wife of Wilson mean that someone intentionally revealed the name of a covert agent in order to reveal her as a covert agent?
This strikes me as a sophomoric charge, and it does appear to be a CYOA thing after 2 years of investigation that led to a dead end.
Libby deserves whatever he gets, if it is proven he did that.