If Libby’s guilty, so is Cheney

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Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty!

Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald nailed Scooter Libby on four out of five counts. There's only one problem: He got the wrong guy.

There's no doubt Scooter Libby was guilty, as the jury decided. Remember: Libby's no innocent bystander who just happened to get caught up in somebody else's mess. He knows the law. He's a big-time Beltway defense lawyer. He was chief of staff to the Vice president of the United States and a member of President Bush's inner circle.

But as the Valerie Plame trial revealed, Libby was also a full, willing participant in a diabolical campaign to smear Joe Wilson and deceive the American people. When called upon to explain his role in that conspiracy, he lied to the FBI and to the grand jury. Libby got caught, and now he must pay the price.

The tragedy is that Scooter Libby alone must pay the price. He wasn't innocent, but he was also not the real culprit in this case. He only agreed to take the fall for his boss, Dick Cheney. As the jurors themselves acknowledged after their verdict was announced, they had no choice but to find Libby guilty, yet they regretted not being able to convict the ringleader himself.

Now, for the first time, we know the central role Cheney played in the whole Valerie Plame affair. It's no longer speculation; it's in the transcript. When Ambassador Wilson wrote his op-ed piece in the New York Times, challenging President Bush's assertion about Saddam Hussein's trying to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger, Cheney was furious. He scribbled notes on the article and handed it to Libby with instructions to get even.

Cheney told Libby that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. Cheney told Libby to pass this information along to reporters, implying that Wilson's mission to Africa was nothing but nepotism. Cheney told Libby which reporters to call. Cheney dictated talking points for Libby to use when talking to reporters. And Cheney asked for and received permission from President Bush for Libby to leak portions of a National Intelligence Estimate to reporters in order to rebut Wilson's charge that the White House knew, long before Bush referenced it in his 2002 State of the Union, that reports of Iraq's seeking to buy nuclear materials from Niger were phony.

The verdict is in, the evidence is clear: From beginning to end, Scooter Libby was merely the puppet in the White House campaign to discredit Joe Wilson by outing the identity of his wife, covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. Dick Cheney was the puppeteer. Dick Cheney, not Scooter Libby, should be going to jail.

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Bill_Press&otherweek=1173934800

"....There's only one problem: He got the wrong guy...."

you got that right--but its why Fitzgerald was appointed by Republicans to investigaate a Republican administration.. In over 3 and half years, he managed to keep the investigation/indictmennts/convictions down to one 2d tier player while completely ignoring the overwhelming evidence of Cheney, Bush's, Roves and other people's involvement. Its entirely possible that the only person that will have spent time in jail for this by the time its all over is Judith Wilson (not that she didn't deserve it)
All of Fitzgerald's work will not change one thing about the Bush administration other than Libby's departure. Its evidently not going to have any effect at all. Glad I didn't rename my holidays after him like many did.
Heckuva job, Fitz!!

What will Congress do if they win their civil suit and bring out more of the truth? Will it be too late, or will they finally be able to charge them with treason or some such?