Yes, thank you Ernest. These days my time online is limited only to short periods before and after work, and on weekends. But I can monitor FR on my breaks and at lunch via my cell phone. So I appreciate pings to subject matter that interests me. :)
GREAT work in putting this together. A few comments, not necessarily in chronological order......
1. It is pretty clear that the faceless drones within the CIA wanted to gather information that would represent both sides of the WMD issue. CYA at it's finest. What is simply astonishing is that factions within the CIA actually USED portions of this one-sided info to mount a covert, political attack on the president during a war for the purpose of weakening him.
2. Calling Valerie Plame an "CIA operative" is nowhere NEAR the level of outing that David Corn does. Had Joseph Wilson actually been concerned about his wife's outing, he would have tried to offhandedly explained away her role there. Instead, Wilson fully revealed the true nature of her employment to Corn.
3. Getting Novak on the stand is devastating to Fitzgerald's case. Novak reveals who leaked. This removes the reason for Libby to lie. Libby KNEW he wasn't the leaker. Novak confirmed to the jury that Libby wasn't the leaker. If Libby's lawyer is any good, he'll call Richard Armitage and ask him how often he had contact with Libby. When the jury find out that Libby and Armitage basically never communicated, then Libby is shown to:
a) not be the leaker
b) not be involved in any conspiracy with Armitage to leak
c) have no reason to lie to Fitzgerald about the leak.