[Grovenet] Bush commutes Libby prison sentence - Yahoo! News

[Ed Davie]

Two words ... So What!
Ed
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Steven
  To: Forest Grove local interests list
  Sent: Monday, July 02, 2007 11:19 PM
  Subject: Re: [Grovenet] Bush commutes Libby 
prison sentence - Yahoo! News


  Does anyone here realize that Libby did NOT leak 
the name. It was
  Richard Armitage </wiki/Richard_Armitage>. Libby 
was convicted on four
  counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and 
making false statements.

  Armitage told Bob Woodward </wiki/Bob_Woodward> 
Plame's identity three
  weeks before talking to Novak, and Armitage 
himself was aggressively
  investigated by special counsel Patrick 
Fitzgerald, but was never
  charged because Fitzgerald found no evidence 
that Armitage knew of
  Plame's covert CIA status when he talked to 
Novak and Woodward.^

  Novak disputes Armitage's claim that the 
disclosure was "inadvertent."
  In a column titled /The real story behind the 
Armitage story/, Novak
  states: "First, Armitage did not, as he now 
indicates, merely pass on
  something he had heard and that he 'thought' 
might be so. Rather, he
  identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. 
Wilson worked, and said
  flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger 
by her husband, former
  Ambassador Joseph Wilson. Second, Armitage did 
not slip me this
  information as idle chitchat, as he now 
suggests. He made clear he
  considered it especially suited for my column . 
. . he noted that the
  story of Mrs. Wilson's role fit the style of the 
old Evans-Novak column
  — implying to me it continued reporting 
Washington inside information."

  Novak continues:

  “For nearly the entire time of his 
investigation, Fitzgerald knew —
  independent of me — the identity of the sources 
I used in my column of
  July 14, 2003. That Fitzgerald did not indict 
any of these sources may
  indicate his conclusion that none of them 
violated the Intelligence
  Identities Protection Act. . . . In my sworn 
testimony, I said what I
  have contended in my columns and on television: 
Joe Wilson's wife's role
  in instituting her husband's mission was 
revealed to me in the middle of
  a long interview with an official who I have 
previously said was not a
  political gunslinger. After the federal 
investigation was announced, he
  told me through a third party that the 
disclosure was inadvertent on his
  part. Following my interview with the primary 
source, I sought out the
  second administration official and the CIA 
spokesman for confirmation. I
  learned Valerie Plame's name from Joe Wilson's 
entry in "Who's Who in
  America."

  A member of the jury, Ann Redington
  </w/index.php?title=Ann_Redington&action=edit>, 
who broke down and cried
  as the verdict was being read, also told Chris 
Matthews
  </wiki/Hardball_with_Chris_Matthews>, in a March 
7 </wiki/March_7>, 2007
  </wiki/2007>, appearance on /Hardball/, that she 
hoped Libby would
  eventually be pardoned </wiki/Pardon> by 
President Bush; she told
  Matthews that she believed Libby "got caught in 
a difficult situation
  where he got caught in the initial lie, and it 
just snowballed" and
  added: "It kind of bothers me that there was 
this whole big crime being
  investigated and he got caught up in the 
investigation as opposed to in
  the actual crime that was supposedly 
committed."^

  End of history lesson.




  allnutt wrote:
  > Let's see if we can make sense of this:
  > Knowingly leaking her name was a crime because 
she was covered as an
  > undercover CIA operative who had traveled on 
official CIA business
  > within the time frame that the law was written 
to cover. We just don't
  > know exactly the thoughts of the people 
leaking her name and whether it
  > was knowingly done because they all 
conveniently got amnesia about how
  > they learned her name. The prosecutor didn't 
want to waste his time and
  > our money on stuff he likely wouldn't be able 
to prove beyond a
  > reasonable doubt. (Good for him for going 
after what he could prove.)
  > There was a very coordinated effort to smear 
Plame's husband through her
  > work and it was only the luck of the draw that 
Libby wasn't the first
  > leaker.
  >
  >
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