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

January 17, 2007 7:08 AM

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.
posted by rzklkng (28 comments total)

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 timetable 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".
posted by rzklkng at 7:08 AM on January 17, 2007

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.
posted by peacay at 7:20 AM on January 17, 2007

Double.
posted by fet at 7:23 AM on January 17, 2007

"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.
posted by Mike D at 7:37 AM on January 17, 2007

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
posted by H. Roark at 7:43 AM on January 17, 2007 [5 favorites]

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.
posted by bhouston at 8:00 AM on January 17, 2007

Great post, rzklkng - I especially appreciate the link titles...
posted by twsf at 8:01 AM on January 17, 2007

Correction: "the book promoted in this book" should have read "the book promoted in this post".
posted by bhouston at 8:01 AM on January 17, 2007

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.
posted by dhartung at 8:14 AM on January 17, 2007

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.
posted by caddis at 8:19 AM on January 17, 2007

This post/trial is an awful lot of bother to go to for someone Bush is just going to pardon anyway. *sigh*
posted by The Card Cheat at 8:24 AM on January 17, 2007

Excellent Thanks.
posted by tkchrist at 8:28 AM on January 17, 2007

dhartung, okay, it probably isn't self-linking.
posted by bhouston at 8:28 AM on January 17, 2007

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.
posted by rzklkng at 8:35 AM on January 17, 2007

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.
posted by srboisvert at 8:48 AM on January 17, 2007

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!
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:04 AM on January 17, 2007

If Bush were going to pardon him, why not pardon him before the trial?
posted by kirkaracha at 9:05 AM on January 17, 2007

kirkaracha: Increased feelings of hopelessness amongst the people.
posted by boo_radley at 9:12 AM on January 17, 2007

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.
posted by caddis at 9:20 AM on January 17, 2007

I want a pony.
posted by LordSludge at 9:36 AM on January 17, 2007

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

Can you pardon someone who hasn't yet been convicted?
posted by Brak at 9:49 AM on January 17, 2007

Can you pardon someone who hasn't yet been convicted?

See: Nixon, Richard M.
posted by stopgap at 10:00 AM on January 17, 2007

add me to the list of those who think that Bush should pardon him now and save everybody a lof of trouble
posted by matteo at 10:23 AM on January 17, 2007

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...
posted by rzklkng at 10:41 AM on January 17, 2007

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?
posted by pax digita at 12:09 PM on January 17, 2007

Yah, why would he pardon Cheney when, apparently, he has the power to fire Patrick Fitzgerald? Watch out for these boys. They play hardball.
posted by fourcheesemac at 1:10 PM on January 17, 2007

pax, it's my understanding is that he's testifying FOR Libby, not as a "hostile witness". FYI, IANAL.
posted by rzklkng at 1:27 PM on January 17, 2007

Darth Cheney testifies for the defense? Oh, goodie. Another perjury trial, comming up!
posted by Goofyy at 5:59 AM on January 18, 2007