'JUSTICE' AT ITS WORST ...(Plame was outed by Richard Armitage)

NY Post ^ | January 18, 2007

[IrishMike]

Former vice presidential chief of staff Lewis "Scooter" Libby is finally going on trial - after three years of investigations by a run-amok prosecutor, costing millions of taxpayer dollars - for a case in which, it is now conceded, no crime was committed.

And that's the important point to remember, as a who's who of prominent witnesses - including "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert and even Vice President Dick Cheney - testifies at the trial.

To repeat: The crime that was ostensibly under investigation never occurred.

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald had set out to uncover who leaked FBI agent Valerie Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak, a possible felony.

Back then, conventional wisdom had it that the Bush White House deliberately "outed" Plame to discredit her already-less-than-credible husband, Joseph Wilson, who'd accused the president of lying about Iraq's nuclear ambitions.

But it turns out that there was no White House conspiracy - as the left-wing bloggers had insisted, causing some Democrats to start making impeachment plans.

In fact, Plame was outed by Richard Armitage, a former deputy secretary of state (who opposed the Iraq war) in an offhand remark.

Indeed, Armitage acknowledged his role to the FBI as early as October 2003. So why wasn't it until last September that this news was made public - and then only through a book by two Washington journalists?

Libby is the only person indicted by Fitzgerald's grand jury - for allegedly lying to investigators, though not directly about the Plame leak. And it's far from clear that his statement constitutes perjury.

Yet Fitzgerald zealously expanded his investigation, deliberately allowing it to envelop the White House when he knew how the leak had actually happened.

[late bloomer]

What did I miss ???
The last I paid any attention a year or so ago, Madame La plame was not a covert agent and hadn't been for a couple of years. She and hubby are both no more than minor fellow travelers in that heaving, incestuous, parasitic slug of the cia bureaucracy which feeds from academia through the public trough directly to the taxpayers lifeblood of the Federal civil service system.
Until someone can show me that the fact was established beyond doubt, that she was a covered employee, [anonymity required under the law] at the time when she was NOT "OUTED" by anyone in the administration, I can only conclude;The administrative system is totally inept and mired in error and incompetence or the administration had its own reasons for not clarifying this one critical point.

[buck61]

Thou shall not bear false witness. This doesn't resonate with democrats.

[piytar]

The administrative system is totally inept and mired in error and incompetence or the administration had its own reasons for not clarifying this one critical point.

Oh, they tried. That's why us in the blogosphere know the facts. The facts didn't meet the MSM (NYT, CNN, C-BS, PMSNBC, ABC, etc.) template, so they stuck to their "outing" mantra. Remember, repeat a lie enough time, and it becomes the "accepted" truth, the actual truth by ####ed. That's the libscum mantra, and it worked here.

[woofie]

Its the roots of the Aspens I tell ya

[Bringbackthedraft]

It doesn't have to be true, all it has to be is, it could have happened. Its a BS smear trial with a get Bush agenda.

[samadams2000]

R-U-S-S-E-R-T

[Howlin]

R-U-S-S-E-R-T

I hope you're right!

SCOOTER PING!!!

[STARWISE]

"conventional wisdom" = wishes, delusions + lies

[IrishMike]

Meanwhile in the never never land of Politics....

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1769501/posts

[FarRightFanatic]

Too bad we won't see a three-year investigation into Sandy Burgler's theft of sensitive and confidential documents from the National Archives....

[STARWISE]

Timmy sweating would be priceless, but I don't see him deciding to tell the truth now ... even under oath.

This courtroom is going to be filled with a lot of big "names" in media and government ... I wish to God Court TV was televising it. What a picnic it would be to watch these coached prima donnas struggle to construct their answers ... in front of each other.

[IrishMike]

wishes, delusions + lies
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Standard MSM tactics.

[art_rocks]

Does Fitz have disclosure laws like North Carolina?

Does Fitz have any disclosure to provide to the defense?

[justiceseeker93]

Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald = District Attorney Mike Nifong = DEMOCRAT presecutor = Overt Politicization of criminal justice (think Soviet Union, etc.) = INjustice for politcal opponents or perceived political opponents.

Since there is no merit to the charges, the Liddy trial is for Fitzgerald's ego, and only for Fitzgerald's ego.

[justiceseeker93]

CORRECTION: Make that LIBBY.

[IrishMike]

Does Fitz have disclosure laws like North Carolina?

Does Fitz have any disclosure to provide to the defense?

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I have no legal knowledge but I would assume DA's and special prosecutors, all being prosecutors of one type or another, have codes and standards....
OR am I being naive ?

[CutePuppy]

I hope judge will ask Fitzerald (after squirming reporters' testimonies) why he shouldn't be disbarred for wasting people's time and money and almost creating a political coup with his "investigation" of non-crime when he knew almost immediately there was no crime committed and who "committed" the non-crime... Why he deliberately lied during the press-conference when "the wild goose-chase" wasn't caused by Libby's testimony, but by his continuing "investigation" into a cut-and-dry incident where no law was broken by anyone. If that isn't a cause for severe judicial and/or adminstrative punishment, I don't know what is.

Hope also that defense team can somehow bring this up to attention of judge, jury and into media. Sunshine is the best disinfectant.