FILE STATUS: For public release.
FILE NAME: Libby Verdict: Fox News Fact Check.
FILE AUTHOR: B. J. Trotter, who has followed the Valerie Plame Wilson-CIA leak saga since its inception.
CONTENTS: Random notes.
FOX NEWS: Valerie Plame Wilson was NOT a covert CIA operative.
FACT: Well, yes, she was. Her status at the CIA was “classified.” The Washington Post editorial on the verdict points out that Ms. Wilson’s CIA status was not revealed at the trial. That’s because the judge would not allow it to be introduced. Ms. Wilson worked for a CIA front company, whose purpose was to investigate the proliferation of “non-conventional weapons,” including WMD in Iran. When her cover was blown, the front company and the intelligence it had gathered were compromised, and the lives of anyone working with the “company” or having contact with it were endangered.
FOX NEWS: Richard Armitage outed Valerie Plame Wilson.
FACT: The sources for Robert Novak’s column of 14 July 2003 were Armitage, the deputy secretary of state, and Karl Rove, Bush’s chief adviser. Nine government officials testified, under oath, that Vice President Cheney and Libby were obsessed with discussing Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, prior to Novak’s column outing her. Libby was talking with reporters about Ms. Wilson before Novak’s column appeared.
FOX NEWS: (In reference to the outing of Ms. Wilson) No crime was committed.
FACT: Yes, a CIA covert operative was outed. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said the investigation into that matter was hampered by Libby’s lies.
QUESTION: What does Fox News think the charge “obstruction of justice” means?
FOX NEWS’ BRiT HUME: Shortly after the verdict was read, Hume told an FNC anchor, “The jury felt sorry for Mr. Libby.”
FACT: The full statement: Juror Denis Collins said "a number of times" jurors asked themselves, "what is HE doing here? Where is Rove and all these other guys? ... I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells (Libby’s lawyer) put it, he was the fall guy." Collins said the jury believed Vice President Dick Cheney did “task him to talk to reporters.” Read juror Collins’ full comments in Editor & Publisher: LINK
CHRIS MATTHEWS, MSNBC: (paraphrasing) There’s a difference between “a fall guy,” which denotes a participant in a crime taking the fall, and “a scapegoat,” which denotes an innocent person charged wrongly.
FOX NEWS: In support of the possibility of Bush pardoning Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Fox News anchors and contributors have made many references to President Bill Clinton’s pardon of billionaire financier Marc Rich.
FACT: What they are not telling you is: Marc Rich’s lawyer was none other than Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who represented Rich dating back to 1985, but stopped working for him in the spring of 2000.
IN TESTIMONY BEFORE CONGRESS: Scooter Libby defended Marc Rich saying facts about him were “misconstrued.” CNN transcript of Libby’s testimony at that hearing: LINK
Smoke curls up from an ashtray as a sleepy-eyed woman hits "Publish Post."
“Mission Impossible” theme plays. Fade to black.
4 comments:
I hate,hate,hate conspiracy theories. However, given that fact, Frodo long ago predicted that Dick Cheney would not finish a full eight-year term as Vice President. It has been Frodo's belief that a deal was struck between George W. Bush and John McCain, that McCain's support would be rewarded with the advantage of the incumbency of a sitting Vice Presidency. Frodo, as a corollary, believes that Scooter Libby was guaranteed
lifetime employment by a private organization, once chaired by the current Vice President.
The result of all this being that once the pardon to Libby is made, and Cheney is gone, McCain will look like the guy holding things together in the closing days of the Bush Administration.
Sealed with a kiss on the forehead.
And the frat boy who played fly on a star ship under a banner "Mission Accomplished" looked like the cat that swallowed the canary when he expressed his sadness for Libby and his family. No sadness for the Wilsons, our troops-both dead and/or maimed for life, or those still in the killing fields--nor the Iraqi people.
I want to see if Act 2 of this play will be written by the new congress.
Frodo, you might be right about McCain, but I think he done blew his wad by sucking up to Jerry Falwell. Watching all of them sucked down (pun intended) the tube would be a great closing scene for Act 2. Then everyone could join hands and sing "Free at last, free at last, good God Almighty, we're free at last."
Impeach Cheney first! The dunce is just a puppet and is told by his masters what to say and what to do. And of course we all know he can barely even pull that off.
Post a Comment