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-- It's official. Declassified CIA documents prove Plame was covert


Posted by occrider on May-30-2007 03:04:

It's official. Declassified CIA documents prove Plame was covert

quote:

Plame was �covert� agent at time of name leak

Newly released unclassified document details CIA employment

By Joel Seidman
Producer
NBC News
Updated: 4:24 p.m. ET May 29, 2007
WASHINGTON - An unclassified summary of outed CIA officer Valerie Plame's employment history at the spy agency, disclosed for the first time today in a court filing by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, indicates that Plame was "covert" when her name became public in July 2003.

The summary is part of an attachment to Fitzgerald's memorandum to the court supporting his recommendation that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former top aide, spend 2-1/2 to 3 years in prison for obstructing the CIA leak investigation.

The nature of Plame's CIA employment never came up in Libby's perjury and obstruction of justice trial.


Undercover travel
The unclassified summary of Plame's employment with the CIA at the time that syndicated columnist Robert Novak published her name on July 14, 2003 says, "Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for who the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

Plame worked as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations and was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) in January 2002 at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The employment history indicates that while she was assigned to CPD, Plame, "engaged in temporary duty travel overseas on official business." The report says, "she traveled at least seven times to more than ten times." When overseas Plame traveled undercover, "sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."

Criminal prosecution beat national security
After the Novak column was published and Plame's identity was widely reported in the media, and according to the document, "the CIA lifted Ms Wilson's cover" and then "rolled back her cover" effective to the date of the leak.

The CIA determined, "that the public interest in allowing the criminal prosecution to proceed outweighed the damage to national security that might reasonably be expected from the official disclosure of Ms. Wilson's employment and cover status."

The CIA has not divulged any other details of the nature of Plame's cover or the methods employed by the CIA to protect her cover nor the details of her classified intelligence activities. Plame resigned from the CIA in December 2005.

Plame and her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson have filed a lawsuit against four current or former top Bush administration officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career at the CIA.


'I felt like I had been hit in the gut'
In March at a House of Representatives hearing, Plame testified saying, "My name and identity were carelessly and recklessly abused by senior government officials in both the White house and the State Department"

She described how it felt to see her true identity exposed in the morning paper, her career destroyed she said.

"I felt like I had been hit in the gut, it was over in an instant, I immediately thought of my family's safety."

Plame's identity was leaked to reporters in 2003, after her husband began criticizing the Bush administration. She claims her constitutional rights were violated by the administration and is demanding compensation.

No leak charges
Several administration officials, including Libby, former State Department official Richard Armitage and Bush advisor Karl Rove, disclosed Plame's identity to reporters.

No one was ever charged with the leak of Plame's name itself, which would have been a crime only if someone knowingly gave our information about someone covered by a specific law protecting the identities of covert agents.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18924679/


Posted by Q5echo on May-30-2007 03:12:

Ritchard Armitage better get a lawyer...wait?


Posted by occrider on May-30-2007 03:21:

quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
Ritchard Armitage better get a lawyer...wait?


Yea. Everyone involved better get a lawyer, not just Armitage. Let's start with Cheney.


Posted by Q5echo on May-30-2007 04:08:

the fact her status, covert or not, was never intended to be an issue in Libby's trial, therefore my point being that Fitzgerald is pulling out all stops he deems necessary as a prosecutor in an effort to get the maximum in the penalty phase of the trial.

as far as this entire special prosecution is concerned her alleged "outing" has been a done deal for years now.

IOW you should expect nothing from this.


Posted by occrider on May-30-2007 04:28:

quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
the fact her status, covert or not, was never intended to be an issue in Libby's trial, therefore my point being that Fitzgerald is pulling out all stops he deems necessary as a prosecutor in an effort to get the maximum in the penalty phase of the trial.

as far as this entire special prosecution is concerned her alleged "outing" has been a done deal for years now.

IOW you should expect nothing from this.


Indeed nothing probably will happen out of this. Precisely because Libby has been so successful in his lies and his obstruction of justice that the guilty party (Cheney) will never be brought to justice. This latest disclosure simply validates the point that all parties who contributed to this leak broke the law and damaged national security. One can dance around the letter of the law as to what can be proved in a court but to do so is no more duplicitous than to debate what the definition of "is" is. The stink emanating ffom the Vice Presidant's role in the entire affair is obvious to everyone except Freepers.

quote:

Fitzgerald Again Points to Cheney

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Tuesday, May 29, 2007; 1:22 PM

Special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald has made it clearer than ever that he was hot on the trail of a coordinated campaign to out CIA agent Valerie Plame until that line of investigation was cut off by the repeated lies from Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Libby was convicted in February of perjury and obstruction of justice. Fitzgerald filed a memo on Friday asking U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, who will sentence Libby next week, to put him in prison for at least two and a half years.

Despite all the public interest in the case, Fitzgerald has repeatedly asserted that grand-jury secrecy rules prohibit him from being more forthcoming about either the course of his investigation or any findings beyond those he disclosed to make the case against Libby. But when his motives have been attacked during court proceedings, Fitzgerald has occasionally shown flashes of anger -- and has hinted that he and his investigative team suspected more malfeasance at higher levels of government than they were able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

In Friday's eminently readable court filing, Fitzgerald quotes the Libby defense calling his prosecution "unwarranted, unjust, and motivated by politics." In responding to that charge, the special counsel evidently felt obliged to put Libby's crime in context. And that context is Dick Cheney.

Libby's lies, Fitzgerald wrote, "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions."

It was established at trial that it was Cheney himself who first told Libby about Plame's identity as a CIA agent, in the course of complaining about criticisms of the administration's run-up to war leveled by her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. And, as Fitzgerald notes: "The evidence at trial further established that when the investigation began, Mr. Libby kept the Vice President apprised of his shifting accounts of how he claimed to have learned about Ms. Wilson's CIA employment."

The investigation, Fitzgerald writes, "was necessary to determine whether there was concerted action by any combination of the officials known to have disclosed the information about Ms. Plame to the media as anonymous sources, and also whether any of those who were involved acted at the direction of others. This was particularly important in light of Mr. Libby's statement to the FBI that he may have discussed Ms. Wilson's employment with reporters at the specific direction of the Vice President." (My italics.)

Not clear on the concept yet? Fitzgerald adds: "To accept the argument that Mr. Libby's prosecution is the inappropriate product of an investigation that should have been closed at an early stage, one must accept the proposition that the investigation should have been closed after at least three high-ranking government officials were identified as having disclosed to reporters classified information about covert agent Valerie Wilson, where the account of one of them was directly contradicted by other witnesses, where there was reason to believe that some of the relevant activity may have been coordinated, and where there was an indication from Mr. Libby himself that his disclosures to the press may have been personally sanctioned by the Vice President." (My italics.)

Up until now, Fitzgerald's most singeing attack on Cheney came during closing arguments at the Libby trial in February. Libby's lawyers had complained that Fitzgerald was trying to put a "cloud" over Cheney without evidence to back it up -- and that set Fitzgerald off. As I wrote in my Feb. 21 column, the special counsel responded with fire: "There is a cloud over what the Vice President did that week. . . . He had those meetings. He sent Libby off to [meet then-New York Times reporter] Judith Miller at the St. Regis Hotel. At that meeting, the two-hour meeting, the defendant talked about the wife. We didn't put that cloud there. That cloud remains because the defendant has obstructed justice and lied about what happened. . . .

"That's not something that we put there. That cloud is something that we just can't pretend isn't there."

To those of us watching the investigation and trial unfold, Cheney's presence behind the scenes has emerged in glimpses and hints. (The defense's decision not to call Cheney to the stand remains a massive bummer.) But I suspect that people looking back on this story will see it with greater clarity: As a blatant -- and thus far successful -- cover-up for the vice president.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...ml?hpid=topnews


Posted by Q5echo on May-30-2007 05:19:

quote:
Originally posted by occrider
Precisely because Libby has been so successful in his lies and his obstruction of justice that the guilty party (Cheney) will never be brought to justice.


you know theres actually a legal difference between wanting someone to get prosecuted for this and actual circumstances warranting as much.

Fitz obviously saw a difference. you'll have to ask him the $64,000 question as to why he didn't feel it necessary to prosecute Armitage.

as much as people like you love to read into the motives of this special prosecutor during the final phases of this ridiculous charade, the fact remains that Fitzgerald will no longer seek further years of investigation once the penalty phase is complete.

why? because there is nothing left to investigate.



quote:
This latest disclosure simply validates the point that all parties who contributed to this leak broke the law and damaged national security. One can dance around the letter of the law as to what can be proved in a court but to do so is no more duplicitous than to debate what the definition of "is" is. The stink emanating ffom the Vice Presidant's role in the entire affair is obvious to everyone except Freepers.


this latest disclosure is fitz making a very common legal distiction that "It�s more serious to obstruct a murder investigation than a shoplifting investigation." he's a prosecuter, a very thorough one. and that "the problem for Fitzgerald is that he never proved that a crime as defined by either the Intelligence Identities Protection Act or the Espionage Act, actually occurred."

theres really not much more to it unless you want to start reading tea leaves, and that leaves you at the mercy of your own wishfull thinking pretty much. hardly a sound legal judgement considering the seriousness of the allegations you are throwing around.

no, you're just wrong here.


Posted by MisterOpus1 on May-30-2007 17:52:

quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
you know theres actually a legal difference between wanting someone to get prosecuted for this and actual circumstances warranting as much.

Fitz obviously saw a difference. you'll have to ask him the $64,000 question as to why he didn't feel it necessary to prosecute Armitage.


It's a good question to ask, one that I've often wondered. According to Fitz, he didn't have enough evidence to determine that Armitage had knowledge or intent to expose a covert officer:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533384/site/newsweek/

Which as you allude to cannot be sufficient to prosecute under the IIPA. One might think that disclosing a CLASSIFIED document to the press might be enough to prosecute on its own, and I cannot say why Fitz decided not to go on that route.

quote:
as much as people like you love to read into the motives of this special prosecutor during the final phases of this ridiculous charade, the fact remains that Fitzgerald will no longer seek further years of investigation once the penalty phase is complete.

why? because there is nothing left to investigate.


Incorrect. The reason why Fitz cannot prosecute further is because Libby created a dead-end for him, NOT because there's nothing left as you imply. From the article on Fitz by Occ:

quote:
Libby's lies, Fitzgerald wrote, "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions."

It was established at trial that it was Cheney himself who first told Libby about Plame's identity as a CIA agent,
in the course of complaining about criticisms of the administration's run-up to war leveled by her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson. And, as Fitzgerald notes: "The evidence at trial further established that when the investigation began, Mr. Libby kept the Vice President apprised of his shifting accounts of how he claimed to have learned about Ms. Wilson's CIA employment."

The investigation, Fitzgerald writes, "was necessary to determine whether there was concerted action by any combination of the officials known to have disclosed the information about Ms. Plame to the media as anonymous sources, and also whether any of those who were involved acted at the direction of others. This was particularly important in light of Mr. Libby's statement to the FBI that he may have discussed Ms. Wilson's employment with reporters at the specific direction of the Vice President."

Not clear on the concept yet? Fitzgerald adds: "To accept the argument that Mr. Libby's prosecution is the inappropriate product of an investigation that should have been closed at an early stage, one must accept the proposition that the investigation should have been closed after at least three high-ranking government officials were identified as having disclosed to reporters classified information about covert agent Valerie Wilson, where the account of one of them was directly contradicted by other witnesses, where there was reason to believe that some of the relevant activity may have been coordinated, [/b]and where there was an indication from Mr. Libby himself that his disclosures to the press may have been personally sanctioned by the Vice President." [/b]


No, that doesn't sound like Fitz hinting at a larger picture involving Dick at all. Absolutely not. How silly of us to grab some delusional implication out of that.......


quote:
this latest disclosure is fitz making a very common legal distiction that "It�s more serious to obstruct a murder investigation than a shoplifting investigation." he's a prosecuter, a very thorough one. and that "the problem for Fitzgerald is that he never proved that a crime as defined by either the Intelligence Identities Protection Act or the Espionage Act, actually occurred."

theres really not much more to it unless you want to start reading tea leaves, and that leaves you at the mercy of your own wishfull thinking pretty much. hardly a sound legal judgement considering the seriousness of the allegations you are throwing around.

no, you're just wrong here.


You don't have to read anything beyond Fitz' own statements to see that he implies a larger context to Libby's obstruction, as I highlighted above. Clearly Fitz believes there's more to the story, but he is a good prosecutor and he will not under any circumstances file charges without substantial evidence for successful prosecution and conviction, which Libby is clearly blocking (and Fitz states as such).

Regardless, that's all fun talk, but what I really enjoy is seeing all the Freeper heads explode on the fact that the status of Plame has now been confirmed. Of course there will be no apologies on your side for stating deliberate lies and obfuscations about her status. It has been confirmed not just by Tenet and the CIA, not just by Bush's new CIA appointee Michael Hayden, not just by Fitz himself when he originally filed charges against Libby, but now we have full proof of that status with the unclassified documents.

Let's take a trip down memory lane and examine the idiots in Freeperland who claimed otherwise:

Tony Snow on O'Reilly last February:

quote:
Very quickly -- very quickly, you got this Valerie Plame case. Now, it turns out that [special counsel] Peter (sic: Patrick) Fitzgerald doesn't -- can't even identify any harm. She wasn't a covert agent. She wasn't compromised. . . She wasn't covert anymore.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200602060009


Shame, shame, Faux News Press Secretary.

Laura Ingraham on Hannity and Colmes last March:

quote:
This is bizarre that this case would have gone this far when they knew who leaked this information, and they knew that this was not a situation where Valerie Plame, at this point in time, at least, was a covert agent.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,257487,00.html


Faux News Mort Kondracke on Brit's show last September:

quote:
I don't think we know that Karl Rove knew and I assume that Scooter Libby may have known but he may have -- you know, she was not a covert officer, she was not a covert agent, and she was not covered by the intelligence agent's identities act. So, all of that is beside the point.


Count Novakula September 2003 on CNN's Crossfire:

quote:
According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives. So what is the fuss about? Pure Bush-bashing.


Barb Lerner on National Review last March:

quote:
The charge was false, and the CIA knew it was false from the get-go. Valerie Plame was their employee; they knew she was not a classified agent because she was not covert and had not worked abroad for more than five years

http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NGVjNTM0Y2Y2MzM5OTI5M2RkMzk0Y2Q3OTBmYzY5YzQ=


Hinderaker on his Powerline blog November 2005:

quote:
When CIA leaks hurt the administration, these papers have gleefully passed them on. It was only when Scooter Libby mentioned the name of a non-covert CIA employee, Valerie Plame, that the Post, the Times, and other MSM outlets suddenly developed a faux concern about lapses in security.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/012157.php


Glenn Reynolds on his Instapundit blog:

quote:
Since it seems as clear as anything in this affair that Valerie Plame was not a covert agent the day before Novak's column either, I think we can chalk this up to Joe Wilson's habitual disingenuousness. . .

Nobody ever said that she wasn't working for the CIA -- the question is whether she was a covert spy or a paperpusher, and the answer seems pretty clearly to be the latter.

http://instapundit.com/archives/024275.php


WaTimes editorial July 2005:

quote:
What is known thus far suggests that . . . In July 2003, when columnist Robert Novak first mentioned in passing that Mrs. Plame worked for the CIA, she was not functioning as a covert agent and her work for the CIA was common knowledge.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20050718-092253-3802r.htm


Mark Levin National Review July 2005:

quote:
Despite all the hype, it appears that Plame works a desk job at the CIA. That's an admirable and important line of work. But it doesn't make her a covert operative, and it didn't make her a covert operative when Bob Novak mentioned her in his July 14, 2003, column, or the five years preceding the column's publication, during which time she hadn't served overseas as a spy, either.

http://www.nationalreview.com/levin/levin200507181123.asp


And of course, DeGenova, Perino, and Toensing, who pimped out their bullshit lines both to the Press and Congress whenever they could:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uspard0618,0,467087.story?coll=ny-leadnationalnews-headlines

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A2305-2005Jan11.html

We all wait with baited breath for their apologies........


Posted by shaolin_Z on May-30-2007 18:29:


Posted by VAR on May-30-2007 19:17:


Posted by occrider on May-30-2007 21:41:

Ahh yes the whole this is a non-issue because either no laws were actually violated from a pure legality standpoint, or because the prosecutor is not seeking indictments. The bare fact of the case is that classified information was disseminated resulting in the outing of an undercover CIA damaging national security. Regardless of what that actual statute on treason is, I view that as treasonous behavior. Regardless of whether Fitzgerald can actually nail Cheney to a tree on what he can prove in court, what this administration did damaged national security, and while that may be ok to you because they have the �R� next to their names, I find their actions indefensible.

Your attempts to create noise with the Armitage comment failed because I don�t give a shit about political leanings. If I could prosecute Armitage I would despite him not knowing that she had undercover status. The fact of the matter remains that if elected or appointed officials are too incompetent to hold their positions and shut up about the classified information that they come across than they should be held liable for when they fuck up and damage national security. And while Armitage might be entitled to some leniency because his intent wasn�t malicious that�s more than I can say for Cheney, Libby, et al.


Posted by Q5echo on Jun-01-2007 06:13:

quote:
Originally posted by occrider
this is a non-issue because either no laws were actually violated from a pure legality standpoint, or because the prosecutor is not seeking indictments.


those are the facts. i didn't make them up. it's just something you are gonna have to f**king deal with. sorry.

quote:
The bare fact of the case is that classified information was disseminated resulting in the outing of an undercover CIA damaging national security. Regardless of what that actual statute on treason is, I view that as treasonous behavior. Regardless of whether Fitzgerald can actually nail Cheney to a tree on what he can prove in court, what this administration did damaged national security, and while that may be ok to you because they have the �R� next to their names, I find their actions indefensible.


ahh yes the whole if there was an investigation then Cheney, et al must be guilty of something...barf. you'd make a horrible lawyer...wait let me take that back, you'd be a horrible juror

to end, Libby's defence brief submitted to Judge Walton contesting Fitzgerald's assertion about someone LIBBY WAS NEVER ACCUSED OF OUTING

quote:
First, the government claims that its �investigators were given access to Ms. Wilson�s classified file.� This is tantamount to asking the Court and Mr. Libby to take the government�s word on Ms. Wilson�s status, based on secret evidence, without affording Mr. Libby an opportunity to rebut it. Such a request offends traditional notions of fairness and due process.

Second, the government relies on a terse two-and-a-half page summary of Valerie Wilson�s employment history that was generated by the CIA, which purports to establish that �Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States.� We have never been granted an opportunity to challenge this conclusory assertions or any of the other unsubstantiated claims in this document, nor permitted to investigate how it was created. If nothing else, the fact that the CIA�s spokesperson confirmed Ms. Wilson�s CIA employment to Mr. Novak calls into question whether the government was taking affirmative measures to conceal her identity.

The summary described above was provided to the defense along with a companion summary that defined a �covert� CIA employee as a �CIA employee whose employment is not publicly acknowledged by the CIA or the employee.�4 It is important to bear in mind that the IIPA defines �covert agent� differently. It states: �The term �covert agent� means� (A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency . . . (i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and (ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States.� The CIA summary of Ms. Wilson�s employment history claims that she �engaged in temporary duty (TDY) travel overseas on official business,� though it does not say whether such travel in fact occurred within the last five years. Further, it is not clear that engaging in temporary duty travel overseas would make a CIA employee who is based in Washington eligible for protection under the IIPA. In fact, it seems more likely that the CIA employee would have to have been stationed outside the United States to trigger the protection of the statute. To our knowledge, the meaning of the phrase �served outside the United States� in the IIPA has never been litigated. Thus, whether Ms. Wilson was covered by the IIPA remains very much in doubt, especially given the sparse nature of the record.


i love this part: If nothing else, the fact that the CIA�s spokesperson confirmed Ms. Wilson�s CIA employment to Mr. Novak calls into question whether the government was taking affirmative measures to conceal her identity.


Posted by Q5echo on Jun-01-2007 07:04:

quote:
Originally posted by MisterOpus1
Incorrect. The reason why Fitz cannot prosecute further is because Libby created a dead-end for him, NOT because there's nothing left as you imply.


there is no "dead end" in Federal investigations involving the highest ranks of the Executive branch and treason. now you are just making shit up.


quote:
You don't have to read anything beyond Fitz' own statements to see that he implies a larger context to Libby's obstruction, as I highlighted above. Clearly Fitz believes there's more to the story, but he is a good prosecutor and he will not under any circumstances file charges without substantial evidence for successful prosecution and conviction, which Libby is clearly blocking (and Fitz states as such).


again you are just making shit up to support your own speculations.

in addition, the highlighted stuff in Occrider's WaPo article by Dan Froomkin is misleading (dishonest IMO). it is Fitzgerald's response to the Judge to questions regarding "arguments either that the entire investigation should have been quickly terminated or that it was innappropriate that at the end of the investigation only Mr. Libby was charged".

you and Froomkin are being dishonest, frankly, when you assert that "Clearly Fitz believes there is more to the story". from Fitz's brief it clearly does not reflect that. in fact, it clearly rebukes your baseless assertion.

read it, don't make assumptions to pedal your BDS and expect us to believe that after three years Fitz decided to throw in the towel.

besides, how good would an excuse like your's and Froomkin's look to the Judge in a Federal investigation after 3 years "well, i think something happened but i can't prove it because Libby "dead-ended me". f**king absurd, dude. thats not what a good prosecuter would do.



quote:
Let's take a trip down memory lane and examine the idiots in Freeperland who claimed otherwise:

Tony Snow on O'Reilly last February:



Shame, shame, Faux News Press Secretary.

Laura Ingraham on Hannity and Colmes last March:



Faux News Mort Kondracke on Brit's show last September:



Count Novakula September 2003 on CNN's Crossfire:



Barb Lerner on National Review last March:



Hinderaker on his Powerline blog November 2005:



Glenn Reynolds on his Instapundit blog:



WaTimes editorial July 2005:



Mark Levin National Review July 2005:



And of course, DeGenova, Perino, and Toensing, who pimped out their bullshit lines both to the Press and Congress whenever they could:

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationw...lnews-headlines

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...-2005Jan11.html


i don't care what the press or the freepers or the moonbats have speculated for the last three years up to this point. it's irrelavent.

i'm going to say this to you for the last time. the only reason Fitz has submitted this brief confirming Plame's status is because he's trying to affect the Judge's sentence. this is a very common tactic. it's not exactly equitable given her status was immaterial to the case, but he'd be remiss as a prosecutor if he didn't at least try.


Posted by MisterOpus1 on Jun-03-2007 21:01:

My goodness, how'd I overlook these cute replies?:


quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
those are the facts. i didn't make them up. it's just something you are gonna have to f**king deal with. sorry.


Your "facts" are unsupported. Again when the prosecution comes out in their memo to the judge and states the following statements:

quote:
"To accept the argument that Mr. Libby's prosecution is the inappropriate product of an investigation that should have been closed at an early stage, one must accept the proposition that the investigation should have been closed after at least three high-ranking government officials were identified as having disclosed to reporters classified information about covert agent Valerie Wilson, where the account of one of them was directly contradicted by other witnesses, where there was reason to believe that some of the relevant activity may have been coordinated, and where there was an indication from Mr. Libby himself that his disclosures to the press may have been personally sanctioned by the Vice President."


and

quote:
"This was particularly important in light of Mr. Libby's statement to the FBI that he may have discussed Ms. Wilson's employment with reporters at the specific direction of the Vice President."


AND

quote:
Mr. Libby learned about Ms. Wilson�s CIA employment in June 2003 directly from the Vice President, as well as from senior government officials from both the State Department (Marc Grossman) and the CIA (Bob Grenier) and Cathie Martin, who handled public affairs for the Vice President.


And those are the indisputable facts that you're gonna have to fucking deal with, sorry. This is a DIRECT indication of Cheney's involvement, which is also indisputable. Cheney could not be charge AS A DIRECT RESULT of Libby's obstruction of justice (i.e. LYING to the grand jury and the FBI), as Fitz indicates here:

quote:
"made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions."


Please demonstrate a lack of involvement by the Vice President if you will, sir. Or are you going to tell me that ridiculous fucking excuse that the #1 man to the Vice President, a noteworthy attorney in his own right somehow had a "faulty memory" (something this Administration seemingly has nonstop lately)? Because strangely, 12 of his peers thought otherwise.

quote:
ahh yes the whole if there was an investigation then Cheney, et al must be guilty of something...barf. you'd make a horrible lawyer...wait let me take that back, you'd be a horrible juror


And you make a wonderful partisan hack in your own right. Again, given the known facts of the case, please demonstrate the lack of Cheney's involvement with the known statements above.


quote:
to end, Libby's defence brief submitted to Judge Walton contesting Fitzgerald's assertion about someone LIBBY WAS NEVER ACCUSED OF OUTING


Jesus, Q., you're not gonna roll out that bullshit line by his defense team AGAIN, are you?

Pertaining to his first two paragraphs on her covert status at the CIA, which is dealt DIRECTLY by the CIA release by Fitzgerald. Let's review that document:

quote:
On 1 January, 2002 Valerie Wilson was working for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations (DO). She was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) at CIA Headquarters, where she served as chief of a CPD component with responsibility for weapons proliferation issues related to Iraq.

While assigned to CPD, Ms. Wilson engaged in temporary duty (TDY) travel overseas on official business. She traveled at least seven times to more than ten countries. When travelling overseas, Ms. Wilson always travelled under a cover identity--sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias--but always using cover--whether official or non-official cover (NOC)--with no ostensible relationship to the CIA.

At the time of the initial unauthorized disclosure in the media of Ms. Wilson's employment relationship with the CIA on 14 July 2003, Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/s...employement.pdf


So there we have both the arguments that she was both covert and NOC by none other than the CIA itself. But if we're going to parse words on the status and definition of "covert" in accordance to the IIPA, let's do so (again):

quote:
(4) The term �covert agent� means:

(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence agency�

(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and
(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or

(B) a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information, and�

(i) who resides and acts outside the United States as an agent of, or informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency, or
(ii) who is at the time of the disclosure acting as an agent of, or informant to, the foreign counterintelligence or foreign counterterrorism components of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; or

(C) an individual, other than a United States citizen, whose past or present intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information and who is a present or former agent of, or a present or former informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency.

http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/...26----000-.html


Criterion A is met considering she is a member of the CIA, her member status was classified:

quote:
A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.

...The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...5072002517.html


and why the CIA sent a letter to the DOJ on July 30th, 2003 stating:

quote:
the CIA reported to the Criminal Division of DoJ a possible violation of criminal law concerning the unauthorized disclosure of classified information.


Now pertaining to section ii, not only do we have Plame's own testimony UNDER OATH, not only do we have the CIA memo pertaining to her employment status over the last 5 years, not only did we have fellow co-workers at the CIA such as CIA colleagues Jim Marcinkowski, Michael Grimaldi, Brent Cavan, and LC Johnson testify UNDER OATH on her status, not only do we have a Republican appointed prosecutor Fitzgerald stating as such, but we also have the Bush-appointed CIA director agreeing to the following statement in full:

quote:
Ms. Wilson served at various times overseas for the CIA. Without discussing the specifics of Ms. Wilson's classified work, it is accurate to say that she worked on the prevention of the development and use of weapons of mass destruction against the United States.


It was clear that she "serving" outside the U.S. on these points, and she does not have to have permanent status outside which pertains to point B in the IIPA statute because you notice a little word separating point A and point B? Here it is, just for you wingers:

or

Strange, ain't it? In layman's terms, that means you can have either A OR B. Funny how that works.

The sad part that you dance around horribly is that if Plame WAS NOT a covert employee for the CIA then Libby wouldn't have had to lie to the FBI agents because there wouldn't have been a fucking investigation in the first place! Oh, wait, that's right, he had a "faulty memory." Darn my own memory for forgetting that one.

But if we are to go with Libby's story about her status, that would entail the following people or entities are LYING:

1. the CIA to the DOJ
2. George Tenet
3. Michael Hayden
4. Jim Marcinkowski (under oath)
5. Michael Grimaldi (under oath)
6. Brent Cavan (under oath)
7. LC Johnson (under oath)
8. Fitzgerald (under oath)
9. Valerie Plame (under oath)

Also keep in mind that Ashcroft launched an investigation, then recused himself from that investigation because he knew right off the bat that it was nothing but a partisan lie about Plame's covert status.

So all these folks were lying, because Libby was all along telling the truth, despite the fact that Libby is a convicted felon because of lying on 3 counts. You bet, Q., I'm with ya.

But as you point out, this is somewhat irrelevant considering this was not the charge Fitz was after, although it is relevant pertaining to the seriousness of this case that Fitz is demonstrating in his memo and why Libby's obstruction is so damaging since his lies "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions." He couldn't have gone after it, as he pointed out in his memo to which you are conveniently skipping right over, as a direct result of Libby's obstruction. I'm good with that really, because the memo speaks for itself. I'm also good with the fact that Cheney's #1 man was convicted on 3 out of 4 charges of lying. How 'bout you?

quote:
i love this part: If nothing else, the fact that the CIA�s spokesperson confirmed Ms. Wilson�s CIA employment to Mr. Novak calls into question whether the government was taking affirmative measures to conceal her identity.


To which I actually agree to a slight extent. I can't say for certain what happened to this employee who leaked that info. to Novak. I hope they got fired for it, and even prosecuted for it. Does that somehow undermine that her status was any less than covert, however?


Posted by MisterOpus1 on Jun-03-2007 21:29:

quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
there is no "dead end" in Federal investigations involving the highest ranks of the Executive branch and treason. now you are just making shit up.


Yes, which was why Fitz stated:

quote:
Libby's lies "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions."


You bet.


quote:
again you are just making shit up to support your own speculations.


As always, I'm surely glad it's because you say so. Thanks, chief.

quote:
in addition, the highlighted stuff in Occrider's WaPo article by Dan Froomkin is misleading (dishonest IMO). it is Fitzgerald's response to the Judge to questions regarding "arguments either that the entire investigation should have been quickly terminated or that it was innappropriate that at the end of the investigation only Mr. Libby was charged".

you and Froomkin are being dishonest, frankly, when you assert that "Clearly Fitz believes there is more to the story". from Fitz's brief it clearly does not reflect that. in fact, it clearly rebukes your baseless assertion.

read it, don't make assumptions to pedal your BDS and expect us to believe that after three years Fitz decided to throw in the towel.


What part did you think I didn't read? I read it all:

http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-..._memo052507.pdf

How about you? Considering your quote is not entirely accurate, it might be easy to venture that you yourself didn't read it in full. As the quotes I've pulled from both Froomkin and the memo itself, it is clear that there was direct involvement by the VP, and that involvement could not be determined enough with intent to prosecute as a direct result of Libby's lies "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions." Especially when Fitz states:

quote:
"This was particularly important in light of Mr. Libby's statement to the FBI that he may have discussed Ms. Wilson's employment with reporters at the specific direction of the Vice President."

.....Mr. Libby learned about Ms. Wilson�s CIA employment in June 2003 directly from the Vice President, as well as from senior government officials from both the State Department (Marc Grossman) and the CIA (Bob Grenier) and Cathie Martin, who handled public affairs for the Vice President.


Now I will repeat what I stated earlier:

quote:
Please demonstrate a lack of involvement by the Vice President if you will, sir. Or are you going to tell me that ridiculous fucking excuse that the #1 man to the Vice President, a noteworthy attorney in his own right somehow had a "faulty memory" (something this Administration seemingly has nonstop lately)? Because strangely, 12 of his peers thought otherwise.



quote:
besides, how good would an excuse like your's and Froomkin's look to the Judge in a Federal investigation after 3 years "well, i think something happened but i can't prove it because Libby "dead-ended me". f**king absurd, dude. thats not what a good prosecuter would do.


I agree. Fitz uses less colorful language than I, but his language clearly demonstrates with anyone outside of Freeperland that there was direct involvement of Cheney but Libby's lies "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions."


quote:
i don't care what the press or the freepers or the moonbats have speculated for the last three years up to this point. it's irrelavent.


As are your words as well?:

quote:
Originally posted by Q5echo
second, Plame wasn't some covert NOC.

http://www.tranceaddict.com/forums/...2349&forumid=66


To which the CIA demonstrated with the memo released that this was clearly the case (as well as her NOC status that you alluded to).

However, the whole point of this entire thread created was to demonstrate Plame's status, to which the CIA clearly does (and which Hayden agrees to), as well as my point about the bullshit rhetoric of you Bush defenders in regards to this case. Granted it may not be directly relevant to the case of Libby's obstruction (i.e. not why Libby lied to the FBI and to the grand jury, but is relevant to the seriousness of the case itself as Fitz points out), but it is directly relevant to the point of this thread. Sorry.

But I do also find it interesting how you earlier posted to Occ about Libby's defense memo attempting to undermine the covert status (which could be kinda sorta be seen as an agreeance by you with Libby's defense accusation questioning her covert status), while breathlessly posting that irrelevance of her status just one post later to me.

Gosh, you wouldn't by chance be wanting to have it both ways now, would you?


quote:
i'm going to say this to you for the last time. the only reason Fitz has submitted this brief confirming Plame's status is because he's trying to affect the Judge's sentence. this is a very common tactic. it's not exactly equitable given her status was immaterial to the case, but he'd be remiss as a prosecutor if he didn't at least try.


You don't have to tell me any times - I'm fully aware of what he's doing. Plame's status is relevant as it demonstrates the seriousness of the crime of Libby lying, otherwise he would have nothing to lie about, would he? Oh wait, faulty memory. Dang, I keep forgetting that incredibly valid argument.

But of course Fitz is trying to sway the judge as any prosecutor does, just as the defense is doing:

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/n...ld/7780656.html

And this gawd-aweful, gut-wrenching note by Team Libby:

http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/th...encing_memo.pdf

As well as notes from his supporters that the judge is going to disclose.

This Administration knowingly and willingly allowed disclosed classified information about a covert CIA operative who's sole duty was to investigate WMD proliferation in Iraq and Iran to the press for what other fucking reason? To discredit Wilson? Regardless of his known trip to Niger, how the fuck would disclosing information about his wife somehow helped their defensive line against Wilson's trip? We've already covered the ridiculous bullshit line of her lack of involvement in sending him. Care to rehash that bullshit line again? What other reason for Cheney to do this other than to enact revenge against Wilson's claims, claims in which the WH had to concede the following day after his NYTimes op-ed in July 2003?

That's the utter pathetic shit about it all. I'll grant you and every other Freeper that Fitz did not charge anyone else a crime, including Rove, Cheney, Armitage, or anyone else because there was a lack of evidence to demonstrate intent or further involvement. But this was, as Fitz clearly states, because Libby's lies "made impossible an accurate evaluation of the role that Mr. Libby and those with whom he worked played in the disclosure of information regarding Ms. Wilson's CIA employment and about the motivations for their actions."

How pathetic for you and any other freeper to hang their hat on it. Outing a CIA covert operative who's job is to protect our fucking country from WMD proliferation, the very rationale Bush used for invading Iraq. What a wonderful fucking group you continue to defend.



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