I have a question regarding the Plame case...

I may be a bit confused here, but I just got to thinking about it, after the recent goings on.

Fitzgerald is following the Plame thing to it's conclusion, but here's what I don't get. If I assume ( rightfully, I think ) that Goss is/was a loyalist ( and as likely his successor will be), and given that the CIA insisted on having the Plame outing investigated, can't Goss or his successor, or even Bush, for that matter, withdraw the case or nullify it or whatever? It makes no sense, if they want to push their agenda, to make the Plame outing an issue. They could make it a non-issue. Can the person who heads the CIA withdraw the request for investigation?

Starr was independent, but I don't think that Fitzgerald is, in what way do their respective positions differ?

Is it a cynical way of giving at least the appearance of being open? Those burned/scapegoated, will be rewarded later on?

That's how Fitzgerald got a hold of it. I don't think Goss was around yet.

Bush can fire Fitzgerald at any time. The CIA does not have a say in the investigation.

was notifying the justice department that an undercover agent's identity had been disclosed without authorisation. The CIA would HAVE to do at least that, or you could be damn sure that other undercover agents would have quit on the spot.

It's one thing to put your life on the line for your country - it's another thing to do it knowing that at any stage some political scumbag in the Whitehouse could expose you and get away with it.

So I have no doubt that CIA HAD to at least request an investigation. That doesnt mean they will have done anything to help with the investigation since then though.

Fitzgerald controls the case, not Goss or Gonzalez or Bush. To remove Fitzgerald personally they'd have to have a good reason and submit a report to Congress. To terminate the Office of the Special Counsel they'd have to make an application to the US District Court - otherwise only Fitzgerald can close the investigation unless Congress passes a new law.

Doing any of this is a political blunder of huge proportions.

Why hasn't it been done yet? heh...

I can see why they might have to at least let Fitzgerald do his work, but not actively support him. They have to do it, otherwise other NOC's could come out of the woodwork and they'd either lose their intelligence completely, or they could expose what sort of things the administration is trying to accomplish. I guess it would be a matter of knowing where the bodies are buried, sometimes literally, I would guess. Given that they've tried to pack the courts with their folks, I would be inclined to believe that they actually would be stupid enough to attempt it, frankly. I wonder what pressures have been brought to bear against Fitzgerald to whitewash it. Not that I believe he would, he seems honorable, but just out of curiousity, what they might be offering or threatening him with, to get him to see their version of the light.

K.

edit for misspelling