The lunacy behind Libby

For most of the media, Scooter Libby's guilty verdict proved the "vast administration conspiracy" to discredit any Iraq War critic. For the hysterical Nancy Pelosi and equally clueless Harry Reid, the verdict served as "a clear repudiation of President Bush's foreign policy," particularly with regard to Iraq.

Say what? The Libby trial had barely more to do with the Iraq War than if it snows in Oklahoma next week. But there is a conspiracy involved. And the media played no small role in creating it.

It's funny (but sickingly typical) how when the media makes mention of the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame "scandal," it conveniently disregards facts. And these FACTS are not spun from the administration. There have been dozens of independent verifications on every single one. To wit:

Joe Wilson took a trip to Niger in 2002 (pre Iraq invasion) to "investigate" claims that Iraq had attempted to buy or bought yellowcake uranium for use in its weapons programs. His wife, Valerie Plame (then a CIA analyst who had previously held "non-official cover" status ... she wasn't then and never was any kind of undercover operative) suggested to her bosses that he be sent. But Wilson, upon returning, wrote an opinion piece for the New York Times debunking the Iraq-Niger connection (which later proved to be bunk) and stated falsely that Vice President Dick Cheney's office sent him on the mission.

Reporters, naturally, began asking questions, since the opinion piece was published four months after the Iraq invasion and the "Bush Lied!" campaign was well underway. The questions within the White House, meanwhile, consisted largely of "who is this Wilson guy?" and "who sent him to Africa?"

Well, the answers quickly were found. Syndicated columnist Robert Novak wrote the initial piece detailing Plame's role. The column, naturally, identified Plame as Wilson's wife and showed that through her job as a CIA employee, she was able to help arrange his trip. More reports followed, both about Plame's role and Wilson's credibility, seeing as how he brought back not a shred of evidence (or even notes!) supporting his claims.

Now I suppose those on the Left feel that the White House should have simply said, "Oh yeah, we sent him!" when in fact they didn't and "yes, he's right!" when he wasn't. Of course, for those of us who live in a reality-based world, that's not the way things work.

Wilson, of course, became an instant celebrity with the mainstream media, which has shown an unabashed eagerness to promote any Bush critic on any subject. And Wilson certainly wasn't shy about making the talk show circuit his home and having his and his wife's pictures splashed across magazine covers.

He also, it later was learned through a slew of people both inside and outside political circles, wasn't shy about bragging previous to all of this about who his wife was and who she worked for. Funny how that and a handful of other facts escaped attention when Wilson, attempting to save face, began screaming that his wife had been "outed" by the evil Bush administration.

The Libs followed suit with their favorite word: "INVESTIGAAAAAAATION!" And federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald began the witch hunt. The media breathlessly asked "Are they gonna get Bush?!" and then "Are they gonna get Cheney?!" and then "Are they gonna get Rove?!"

The answer, of course, was no. Why? In part because Wilson, a wanna-be diplomat whose claim to fame was a three-year ambassadorship to the African nations of Gabon, Sao Tome and Principe (no, I am not making those countries up) under President Clinton, all the while was being exposed as nothing but a liar, and his wife, it was learned, couldn't have been "outed" because she wasn't "in."

Enter Scooter Libby, an aide to Cheney, whose recollections of conversations two and three years previous didn't jibe with what others had told a grand jury. An investigation that had taken years and cost tens of millions of dollars ... well, they gotta get somebody, right?

So the Libby Lied Trial got underway, even though Fitzgerald by this point had learned that Plame's "outing" had originally come from Richard Armitage, the former deputy to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was anything BUT a Bush administration cronie.

Fitzgerald ignored this, though. He ignored a lot, as did the Libby trial judge, who didn't allow into evidence anything regarding Plame's CIA status or a Senate Intelligence Committee report exposing Wilson and his Niger trip as an overall fraud, along with a range of other documents that would have undercut the foundation of Fitzgerald's investigation.

So Libby was found guilty of perjury and obstruction, even though many prosecution witnesses couldn't even remember details of alleged conversations and even though Libby had little, if anything, to do with a "leak" that in the end wasn't one to begin with.

Someone 'splain to me how that qualifies as a "repudiation of Bush's Iraq policy." But the media started this with a theme and, by God, it's gotta end it that way. The facts? Mere stepchildren of inconvenience.

The media, of course, also continues its drumbeat of how this trial's outcome leaves open numerous questions about the Bush administration's role in a leak that wasn't.

But the questions I'd like answered (HA!) are:

Why, in four years, has Joe Wilson never once been called upon to testify under oath about any of this? Because he'd have to A) lie under oath; or B) expose himself as a fraud?

Why, after finding no actionable evidence after a three-year investigation, did Fitzgerald insist on wasting MORE time and money (OUR money) on a worthless trial. To justify his existence? (You know, the parallels between this and the bogus Duke lacrosse rape investigation are amazing!)

And what about the CIA's role in this from the beginning? Think they might have been just a teensy bit peeved about the egg on their collective face over perceived faulty pre-war intelligence or the heat they took over 9/11 OR the fact that under the Bush administration, overhauls to the agency had taken place?

I'd say all the answers are rather obvious.

(Imported from March 7, 2007)