Plame: silly, contorted thought.

I just had a very twisted thought.

Let's say that Judy Miller is the plant many of us believe her to be, and has a high security clearance. Entertain that for a bit and bear with me.

Like say clearance high enough to be able to view a certain contentious memo.

That would mean A) you cannot leak to Judy because she's cleared and B) If Judy leaks she's in legal jeopardy.

Now say Judy is also considered something like a NOC -- different agency, but undercover anyway.

If so, then revealing Judy's status would also be a prosecutable offense.

Wouldn't charging her with a leak be revealing her status, because only government employees can be charged? Or for that matter, not charging the person who showed her even though it somehow became known that that occured? Or just to put it in more general terms, wouldn't the legal system be obliged not to blow her cover?

Not that there probably isn't a way around it legally. But it would gum up the works and require a whole lot of shufflefoot.

Just an idle thought. I wonder how much of the trial will be in judges chambers and redacted.

this investigation by the special prosecutor. They wouldnp't have done that to one of their own!

They should all be exposed! I want my free-democratic America back! And if what you say is possible, wouldn't that make her a traitor, not your average, run-of-the-mill sincere agent protecting "us!?!"

Under your theory, an NOC who is acting as a spy couldn't be tried in a federal court because charging said spy would be "exposing" said spy's NOC status. That is, of course, absurd. Needless to say, if an NOC endangers national security by revealing secret information, that NOC automatically loses his or her status, and can be charged and convicted like anybody else. Even if Ms. Miller were an NOC (which she clearly is not), she would still have to have been involved in a larger conspiracy here, since many people knew information they should not have known, and acted affirmatively to spread that information in the press.

"The Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions!"

to be(worst than the worst crime/conspiracy novel I have ever read)I can't say your thought is out there. I just wouldn't doubt it is a possibility. It could even be more sinister than your thought.

It angers me to recognize, for a while now, that Fitzgerald might have found a very tight plot here that can't be brought to justice. Even if the credibility and trust damage has been done to B admin, the idea that Rove is cleverer than the cleverest man, saddens me 'cause then evil would prevail for a while longer...Evil and sinister...

is the history of the current players, and their 'faith-based' logic approach to their bumbling forays across legal & moral lines. :toast: to dominoes falling...one by one