Comments on: "If I did it, I don't remember." by I. Lewis Libby

"If I did it, I don't remember." by I. Lewis Libby

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:08:48 -0800

The coverup is always bigger than the crime. No matter what your political leanings, the Scooter Libby obstruction of justice trial has something for everyone, including testimony by memory experts, an all-star witness lineup, including the Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of State, phone calls to the press from the bowels of Air Force Two, the first high-profile Federal court proceeding where bloggers have been given press credentials, some interesting Voir Dire questioning of potential jurors [pdf ] - and the interesting responses thereof, a book largely culled from research done by the Citizen Press, an unpopular war, an unpopular president, and an even more unpopular Vice-President, full-frontal assaults on the credibility of the press, scrubbed newspaper archives, at least one witness (a former White House Official?) who has been granted immunity, an earlier leak of the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq regarding WMD, and quite possibly substantial insight into the who, what, when, and where of the selling of the Invasion of Iraq.

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:08:59 -0800

Some Background:Yesterday marked the first day of the trial of Scooter Libby for obstruction of justice regarding his testimony before an enpaneled Grand Jury investigating the alleged-leak of an undercover CIA operative, Valerie Plame, a covert-agent working on counterproliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction on Iraq and Iran. The leak is somewhat difficult to explain (although this diary at dKos does a pretty good job with pictures ). The impetus for the leak was an op-ed piece from July 6th in the NYTimes titled "What I Didn't Find In Iraq" by former Iraq Ambassador Joe Wilson, taking the Administration to task regard a 16-word phrase in the President's 2003 State of the Union Address, which eventually became one of the catalysts bolstering the urgency for an Iraq invasion. The very next day, the leaking commenced. The determination as to whether a crime (the leak) was committed and specifically, the time table that Plame's status became public knowledge and disseminated was the domain of the Grand Jury, with prosection by US District Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, whom some describe as "relentless" and "a machine".

By: peacay

peacay — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:20:56 -0800

Could ya just point me towards something that's cool and neat on the web and not known by most Mefites among that lot thanks. And here....have a few fullstops for your next advertorial.

By: fet

fet — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:23:51 -0800

Double.

By: Mike D

Mike D — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:37:46 -0800

"and quite possibly substantial insight into the who, what, when, and where of the selling of the Invasion of Iraq." ...and fairies and elves live in the forest.

By: H. Roark

H. Roark — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 07:43:24 -0800

In many ways, this *is* the best of the web. Do you see this story mentioned in any detail at cnn.com? or msnbc.com? No. One of the greatest gifts of the web is increased depth and breadth of news stories, and democratization of how stories are presented. Just because you think the 'best of the web' is a flickr set or another flash game does not mean that everyone agrees with you. just my .02

By: bhouston

bhouston — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:00:37 -0800

Some facts: - (1) the book promoted in this book, "Anatomy of Deceit" is written by Marcy Wheeler. - (2) the blog linked 4 times in this post, "The Next Hurrah", is authored by emptywheel. - (3) The Amazon page for "Anatomy of Deceit" mentions that Marcy Wheeler runs a popular blog using the pseudonym emptywheel. I see a pattern here. A pattern of massive self-linking. Heh.

By: twsf

twsf — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:01:01 -0800

Great post, rzklkng - I especially appreciate the link titles...

By: bhouston

bhouston — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:01:29 -0800

Correction: "the book promoted in this book" should have read "the book promoted in this post".

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:14:36 -0800

bhouston: It's not self-linking, rzlkng isn't emptywheel as far as I know (and has been around here longer than you have). The fact is that Wheeler blogged extensively -- even exhaustively -- about the case, then compiled almost two years of material into book form. rzlking might have called attention to this, but it isn't underhanded if you've been following any of these blogs, because it's no secret.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:19:52 -0800

In many ways, this *is* the best of the web. Do you see this story mentioned in any detail at cnn.com? or msnbc.com? It's a bit too moronic for them to print, really not best of web, or best of anything.

By: The Card Cheat

The Card Cheat — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:24:15 -0800

This post/trial is an awful lot of bother to go to for someone Bush is just going to pardon anyway. *sigh*

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:28:00 -0800

Excellent Thanks.

By: bhouston

bhouston — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:28:29 -0800

dhartung, okay, it probably isn't self-linking.

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:35:31 -0800

bhouston, it isn't self-linking. As far as links are concerned, if the secondary (blog) sources provided better context than the primary sources content, than I linked to the former. Wheeler is at the trial in VA (I believe), I am not.

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 08:48:43 -0800

This post/trial is an awful lot of bother to go to for someone Bush is just going to pardon anyway. *sigh* That was a dynamite comment. Napolean Dynamite that is.

By: Kirth Gerson

Kirth Gerson — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:04:59 -0800

Do you see this story mentioned in any detail at cnn.com? or msnbc.com? It's a bit too moronic for them to print Stop it, you're killing me!

By: kirkaracha

kirkaracha — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:05:02 -0800

If Bush were going to pardon him, why not pardon him before the trial?

By: boo_radley

boo_radley — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:12:05 -0800

kirkaracha: Increased feelings of hopelessness amongst the people.

By: caddis

caddis — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:20:40 -0800

Stop it, you're killing me! oops, whose the moronic one now? I thought that original comment about msnbc was in a different thread; I guess I had too many tabs open. My bad.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:36:08 -0800

I want a pony.

By: Brak

Brak — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:49:12 -0800

If Bush were going to pardon him, why not pardon him before the trial? Can you pardon someone who hasn't yet been convicted?

By: stopgap

stopgap — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:00:13 -0800

Can you pardon someone who hasn't yet been convicted? See: Nixon, Richard M.

By: matteo

matteo — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:23:10 -0800

add me to the list of those who think that Bush should pardon him now and save everybody a lof of trouble

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 10:41:16 -0800

Pardon me? I think pardons are harmful to the Bush legacy - if anything, someone needs to maintain a Do-Not-Pardon-List. Despite the history-laundering that went on during the Gerry Ford internment last month, with the press calling him a hero for pardoning Richard Nixon and sparing the country the truth, a significant majority will remember (and dislike) him for that single, solitary action. ~~If Bush were a reasonable man, he would realize this, find a scapegoat, and push them off the cliff.~~ PS. Previous Cheney leakage...

By: pax digita

pax digita — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 12:09:55 -0800

I've wondered if Bush is ever going to pardon Cheney "in the interest of national security" -- does a pardon guarantee immunity from consequences for refusing to testify?

By: fourcheesemac

fourcheesemac — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:10:22 -0800

Yah, why would he pardon Cheney when, apparently, he has the power to fire Patrick Fitzgerald? Watch out for these boys. They play hardball.

By: rzklkng

rzklkng — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 13:27:40 -0800

pax, it's my understanding is that he's testifying FOR Libby, not as a "hostile witness". FYI, IANAL.

By: Goofyy

Goofyy — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 05:59:01 -0800

Darth Cheney testifies for the defense? Oh, goodie. Another perjury trial, comming up!