There is no legal standard by which these independent counsel investigations are conducted. This was a witch-hunt from jump street.
The paragraph..."And then came Libby".....I can't make heads or tails of what Byron is writing!! What didn't fit about Russert and Libby??
Imagine if they had been investigating definite organized crime figures we know were guilty as hell. We would applaud them for nailing one of the bad guys on incidental perjury. The analogy falls down completely because the investigators' prejudice in this case is based on a gross misunderstanding of the decision to invade Iraq.
It needs to be made clear that Fitz has made huge mistakes.
Powell/Armitage let MILLIONS and MILLIONS of DOLLARS be spent and a woman went to JAIL, Judith Miller, and Libby will go to prison after having to spend a million on lawyers, Rove and Cheney had to spebd TONS of money....all because Powell/Armitage didn't tell the truth right away!!
This is a hoax investigation. First, as the article makes clear, Fitz knew who the leaker was three years ago.
Secondly, the CIA confirmed her employment over the phone to a reporter. If the CIA confirms your employment over the phone, you are not covert.
The investigation was a hoax. Fitz should be brought up on charges.
And the people in the CIA and State Department who have purposefully harmed this administration are going to go unpunished, despite the fact that they are obligated by law to follow what the administration wants done. Disgusting traitors!
"...that the initial leak...came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone…”"
Because Plame had not been working undercover overseas in the preceding 5 years, the statute *did not apply.* It was meant to stop loons like Phillip Agee from outing people overseas and them getting killed by rebels/revolutionaries/etc. Everybody on both sides of this is smart enough to know this...I can't understand why the Adminisration didn't say "STFU we didn't break any laws."
This entire thing was an unmitigated crock of crapola and everyone knows it. This woman was not under cover and had been out of service for more than five years birthing a couple of kids. I find it difficult that no one had a pair of those spherical objects big enough to step up and say so.
I think the only thing that could bring justice to this crap is for Fitzgerald to be disbarred for prosecutorial misconduct. Now THAT would be justice. A ridiculous waste of taxpayer money over a scandal that never was.
David Corn is the first person to make the charge that the Bush administration deliberately leaked Plame's name in order to smear her husband. So Corn is being totally dishonest with the above statement.
Fitzgerald is a political hack's political hack.
Powell and Armitage cannot be trusted.
So many liberals telling so many lies to their fellow liberals that it has to raise leadership questions.
As a parody, the GOP should buy TV adds announcing that Carl Rove will be indited tomorrow, and play quotes from liberals condemning rove, maybe start each press release with "Rove to be indited in 48 hours".
Your tax dollars at work.
This entire investigation is a disgrace and a witch hunt, and the charge against Libby should be dropped immediately. The media has already dropped this story like a hot rock. You can bet they won't go after Armitage with the same drooling enthusiasm with which they went after Rove, Libby, Cheney, etc.
Fitz ain't gonna become AG.
[...And unlike the old independent counsels, who were required by law to issue a report on their investigation, Fitzgerald has no obligation to explain his actions to anyone...]
Sheesh. I think America's hard drive just fried.
Fitzmas seems like Halloween
This case is a prime example of how liberals and leftists can be totally, utterly wrong about something - and then just walk away from it when they've been proven to be wrong. Tomorrow, they'll be outraged about something else - maybe Katrina again.