New Questions About Inquiry in C.I.A. Leak

The New York Times ^ | September 2, 2006 | By DAVID JOHNSTON

[rightgrafix]

WASHINGTON, Sept. 1 — An enduring mystery of the C.I.A. leak case has been solved in recent days, but with a new twist: Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor, knew the identity of the leaker from his very first day in the special counsel’s chair, but kept the inquiry open for nearly two more years before indicting I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, on obstruction charges.

Now, the question of whether Mr. Fitzgerald properly exercised his prosecutorial discretion in continuing to pursue possible wrongdoing in the case has become the subject of rich debate on editorial pages and in legal and political circles.

Richard L. Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, first told the authorities in October 2003 that he had been the primary source for the July 14, 2003, column by Robert D. Novak that identified Valerie Wilson as a C.I.A. operative and set off the leak investigation.

[Txsleuth]

Charles Krauthammer said today that Bush should pardon Libby...but he can't do that unless Libby is convicted of something..

Personally, I want some kind of trial...because I want Joe Wilson, Timmy Russert, Matthew Cooper, Armitage and Powell, frog marched on to the stand to have to testify to what they have put the Bush Administration AND the country through for 3 years.

[A Citizen Reporter]

I have a question, did Artimage write this up himself, and phone it in to the NY Times? It sure sounds like it.

[The Electrician]

Ouch - double post, and their = they're...

[Darkwolf377]

P.S. You'll be shocked! Shocked! to know that the subject is NOWHERE to be found on their front page, which manages to include such breaking news as the Wal-Mart connection of a new hire at Labor, an Aussie WMD expert's bitching about the US, and several Lieberman hate threads (how quickly they forget Jeffords, eh?).

[Enterprise]

Remember that a reporter for the Times went to jail and Fitz knew all along who leaked the name, and let people twist in the wind. Even though these dimwits will continue to hate President Bush, and even though they still want to damage him, Rove, and Rumsfeld, at some level, somewhere, somehow, a lot of people are livid now about this stunt by Fitz. It has turned into one of the most arrogant, brutal, and abusive uses of prosecutorial discretion in a long long time, even including that dumbass in Durham.

[FlingWingFlyer]

This so-called "inquiry" had nothing to do with anyone revealing the name of a CIA desk jockey. It was all about politics and the Communists in the "DemocRATic" party attacking President Bush and the Republicans. Somebody needs to be taken out and shot.

[MNJohnnie]

And Voila, THAT was why he looked so sweaty and panic-y, at the press conference

A very good point. I will have to remember that fact. It did not click with me until you said it.

[P-40]

Ah but there is a story here if the Junk Media were not the Democrats plaything.

I'm trying to remember the usernames of the posters who were big on pushing the story, getting people to write and call their senators, reps, the media, etc to demand an investigation. I remember David Corn's name repeated quite often.

[MJY1288]

The mere fact that they are conceding that there was no conspiracy is a major concession IMHO. The NYT's will never publicly trash any Liberal, but this article is quite possibly as close as they will ever get

[bybybill]

Now if this makes the non Fox Sunday shows, with Schumers contribution featured, all pigs will fly

[MNJohnnie]

Excellent idea. I am currently keeping track on the "GOP will be destroyed in Nov elections" articles and posters. We need a Freeper Archivist or Historian. That how the Drive By Media gets away with it. Few people remember what they said more then a week or maybe month. We need an institutional memory bank

[A Citizen Reporter]

Well, I've been looking for an answer to that presser mystery for a while, and it didn't click for me until I read what you posted.

I think the NY Times is once again, an embarassment.

Last week I told my WSJ carrier that if they dropped a NYT's on my driveway "by mistake" one more time, I'd cancel my subscripton. I said I'd rather burn it, than read it.

[Perdogg]

Some one has to pay Libby's defense bill. I cannot see how perjury charges can even stick when the materiality of his testimony is in doubt.

[MJY1288]

The Wings are being prepared as we type :-)

[Libertarian444]

The mere fact that they are conceding that there was no conspiracy is a major concession IMHO. The NYT's will never publicly trash any Liberal, but this article is quite possibly as close as they will ever get

I guess, but also notice that the NYT chooses to publish this "concession" on their website at 11:54 pm on the Friday night of a Holiday weekend. They are burying it, and if anyone criticizes them not covering blowback, they can say "this is old news."

[okie01]

Yesterday the Wash ComPost trashed Joe Wilson and Fitzgerald, and now the NYT's...

Read the article more carefully.

At no time does the NYT trash Wilson. They even report the allegations he made in his July op-ed, then leave them hanging in the air...without noting that Wilson's allegations were totally discredited.

They're not even trashing Fitzgerald. They are simply raising questions about his behavior. I suspect, instead, they are in fact setting up a defense against the government prosecutor who calls them on their role in revealing the NSA and SWIFT intelligence gathering programs.

What a bunch of pansy-ass traitors.

[kcvl]

What a waste of taxpayer's money!

[MJY1288]

See Post #29

[AmeriBrit]

Hopefully that will happen and there'll be a very strong prosecutor that will make Joe 'slimeball' Wilson yell over and over again on the stand that he lied about Saddam and the yellowcake, and also that he was the one that 'outed' his non-covert wife.

If Plame valued her job so much and wanted to be covert why would she date, then marry someone like Joe Wilson who likes to be included in the 'Washington Circle' and can't stay away from camera's?

[cpdiii]

I remember Fitzgerald's first press conference when he ripped up Libby and went on a tirade of the terrible wrongs that he suspected Libby had perpetrated. At that very time he knew it was Armitage and not Libby. It this is not prosecutorial abuse I do not understand what prosecutorial abuse is!