A leak, then a cascade – washingtonpost.com Highlights – MSNBC.com
“Scooter” Libby knew what he was doing was wrong:
On July 8, Libby met Miller, the reporter, for breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel. Asking that she attribute the information to a “former Hill staffer” — he had once been legal adviser to a House select committee — Libby criticized CIA reporting of Wilson’s trip and “advised reporter Judith Miller of his belief that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA,” the indictment states.
He asked for his attribution to be of someone who no longer worked on Capitol Hill. Well, he was a bit prescient on that, eh? But why would someone who was hiding his tracks, who was normally known, in his Nom Anonyme, as a “Senior White House Staffer”, go to the silly trouble to change that if he wasn’t trying to hide his wrong-doing? Seems like he had a guilty conscience, even as he was doing wrong.
And poor Scott McClellan.
Three days later, White House spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters he had talked to three officials — Libby, Rove and Elliot Abrams — and “those individuals assured me they were not involved in this.”
I’m surprised ol’ Scotty-dog hasn’t swallowed his tongue with the barely supressed shame and apoplexy that crosses his face every time one of the White House Press Corps asks him why we should trust him to be telling us the truth. It must really suck to be him right about now.
The following Tuesday, Oct. 14, Libby reached a decision point. The FBI asked whether he had disclosed Plame’s job or identity to any reporter, and he said he had not learned of them until July 10 or 11. His source, he asserted, was NBC’s Tim Russert. According to the indictment, he said he passed Russert’s information as gossip to Cooper of Time. He told the FBI that he did not discuss Plame with Miller at all when they met on July 8.
Here’s the kicker. He knew he had done wrong, then tried to cover it up by claiming that he was just passing along idle gossip. Remember also at this time that the spin machine was, and still is, claiming that Plame’s identity among the DC cogniscenti was a well-known secret. So well known, in fact, that not even her neighbors knew.
According to the indictment, Libby and “Official A,” who we all know is “Turd Blossom” Rove, at least unofficially, disclosed the identity of a covert CIA operative to the press, endangered her, any of her contacts and associates, and the security of the United States as a result. Then, they lied about it to investigators and to the grand jury under oath.
They disclosed her identity to discredit her husband, and also to threaten others who might think of challenging them. That’s the behavior of thugs and bullies, and it’s ignoble and arrogant and reckless. They disclosed the information because they are blinded by their lust for power to the values that had made this country such an amazing, even if flawed, beacon.
Fitzgerald, in his humble yet straightforward way, has done so much to restore my trust in the government already. He is a shining example of what a public servant should be.
Comments on this entry are closed.