Saturday, February 17, 2007

Indict Fitzgerald, Wilson, and Plame - Free Libby

What a breath of fresh air Victoria Toensing (Trial in Error) brings to the Fitzgerald Farce!

Way back in October, 2005, in a post I titled, "Keeping it Simple," I wondered:

What am I missing? Back in March (2005) the NY Times, Washington Post, ABC, CBS and about 32 other major news organizations filed a "friend of the court" brief to protect Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper against a charge of concealing the identity of a source responsible for compromising the identity of a covert agent. In essence, when the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 was reviewed, it became readily apparent that no violation of law had occurred. Simply, Valerie Plame had not meet the criteria to be a covert agent, since she had a CIA desk job at Langley for over five years, and the CIA had not even taken the reasonable minimum steps to maintain her in a "covert" status.

So the question is, how can these news agencies be pursuing "Plamegate" so breathlessly when they already concluded there was nothing there?

For two years since we have watched this drama unfold, like being trapped in an insane dream set in a room filled with 36 people. In the room is one hideous monster, that each of the 36 has previously identified and told you about. But when you point at the monster and scream, "There it is!" they look at you blankly and say, "There's no monster."

So it has been with Joe Wilson and Valerie Wilson/Plame. The media, having proved Plame was not covert, attacks the Bush administration for compromising a covert agent.

The media, having briefly reported that Joe Wilson had indeed found Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from Niger (confirmed by his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee), then immediately put this fact aside, and soon every story only mentioned that Joe Wilson “discredited” the Bush administration claims. Strangely, the media never completed the picture by adding what they already knew, that Wilson’s subsequent Senate testimony discredited his public statements about Iraq and Niger uranium.

Rather than this being an insane dream, it’s more like an insane comedy version of “Groundhog Day.” The media are in the bowels of the Earth gathering and assembling the facts, yet no matter what new and illuminating information they receive, the same erroneous story keeps popping out of the hole.

I want a new groundhog!

Please click on the label below to see all my articles on Plamegate.

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