If this goes up as high as Libby claims, my reading is it is game over for Fitz. The intelligence services -- CIA -- report to Bush, not the other way around. Bush is pretty much bound only by the Constitution. It doesn't matter that a federal statute states that people can't leak out a CIA agent's name or disclose certain secrets. Bush is the president, and nobody on the federal judiciary, particularly one packed with Republicans, is going to rule in any way against Bush or let any case go forward against him. It may be politically damaging to Bush, but considering how low his ratings are, I doubt it will matter much.
Posted by Brian Bell at April 6, 2006 10:43 AMAnd as we all have seen lately it doesn't appear the Bush is bound by the Constitution...
Posted by John B. at April 6, 2006 10:56 AMOuting an undercover CIA agent working on nuclear weapons during time of war, for political reasons to promote lies to justify the bogus war in the first place. Bush was so cute pretending not to know who leaked on TV. That should infuriate any honest person, left or right.
General Washington would assemble a firing squad.
Posted by TIKI AL at April 6, 2006 11:58 AMDidn't Fitzgerald even say at his news conference when the indictments first came down that he wasn't charging anyone with leaking classified material because that goes on all the time? So basically, it's ok to leak classified material if it will help your cause, and is apparently commonplace in Washington. Leaking a CIA agent's identity is different, but it sounded like simply leaking classified material is no biggie.
Posted by CG at April 6, 2006 12:00 PMIs it not a good reason to impeach this all administration! This is worst than Nixon.
Like Steve Clemons write: BIG BUSH NEWS: Does the President Plan to Fire Himself?
The Raw story have and article about “Three indicted for 'fixing' sample count to avoid expensive full recount.” And more to come!!!!!!!
Scooter-pie's endless litany of non-defenses seems to be generating some unhappy headlines for Nero Jr and DeadEye. I suppose they both can legally reveal our most prized classified information, but do you think that looks okie-dokie to the ordinary person?
Can these stories really be sanctioned by Ugly Karl? At what point does Scootsie jeopardize his pardon?
Posted by euzoius at April 6, 2006 12:17 PM
So junior does exactly the opposite of what his dad intended for his law (personal recommendation) to do...how fucking ironic is that!
Posted by bbtb at April 6, 2006 12:27 PMUmmm....folks. The president has the right to declassify anything he wants. Another non-story.
Posted by dipshit at April 6, 2006 12:58 PMUmmm....folks. The president has the right to declassify anything he wants. Another non-story.
Posted by dipshit at April 6, 2006 12:58 PM
*****
Kool-aid must be extra-spiked today.
Posted by God Of War at April 6, 2006 01:03 PMFitzgerald is avoiding the inner circle for one very big reason: the graymail. See this diary at dailykos. I do think he is going to indict Rove and Hadley.
Posted by seesdifferent at April 6, 2006 01:04 PMUmmm....folks. The president has the right to declassify anything he wants. Another non-story.
Posted by dipshit at April 6, 2006 12:58 PM
*****
Kool-aid must be extra-spiked today.
Posted by God Of War at April 6, 2006 01:03 PM
***
Instead of your usual inanities, show some evidence to the contrary of what I wrote.
Posted by dipshit at April 6, 2006 01:06 PMUmmm....folks. The president has the right to declassify anything he wants. Another non-story.
bu$h breaking his oath to the constitution is the continuous "non-story", dipshit.
Posted by bbtb at April 6, 2006 01:09 PMLeaking of the exsistance of NSA spying program- Bad
Leaking of National security information- Good
IOKIYAR
Redstate.org leads with Meredith Viera taking over for Katie Couric. Nothing about the Scooter story. And the Viera story has been posted since the Scooter story came out, so it's not like they've been to busy to update over there.
Posted by CG at April 6, 2006 01:35 PMFitzgerald is avoiding the inner circle for one very big reason: the graymail.
What's graymail?
Posted by CG at April 6, 2006 01:39 PMUmmm....folks. The president has the right to declassify anything he wants. Another non-story.
In other words, if the president does it, it's not illegal. The Nixon defense.
Waxman's on top of this one. I thought Bush was having a pretty tame week for him....this little "it ain't secret if I can use it for political gain" issue could have legs. Takes the heat off DeLay quitting unfortunately. I was enjoying that.
Posted by T2 at April 6, 2006 02:12 PMI mentioned this at firedoglake. I do not practice much Federal Law. But it seems to me that Libby basically admitted to at the very least disclosing classified info. and possibly Plame's name, the substantive crime in the investigation. His unknowingly defense seems weak if he is saying he was authorized. In other words he is asserting an affirmative defense, which he must prove beyond a reasonable doubt, (at least in a Texas State Court). So he has to prove the Pres. did authorize it, could authorize it and did authoize before it was disclosed by Libby or whoever Leaker Zero is. Eventhough the Pres. might be able to declassify anything, there has to be some kind of memo, E.O., letter, something to let the rest of the government it has been declassified. ie. evidence. If there is it would have a date and its very existence shows Bush once again as a liar. If it does not or no longer exsists then I think the conversation Fitz had with the Pres. was very interesting and that is why we only got perjury and obstruction charges.
Makes all those "oh it's not a substantive crime" and therefore a political thing or a media thing still B.S.
Posted by txexspeedy at April 6, 2006 02:15 PMhttp://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2003_cr/h072103.html
Tex, Notice the date is after Libby told Miller.
Posted by goose1 at April 6, 2006 02:23 PMWhat's graymail?
When lawyers makes a request for so much material that the prosecutors are overwhelmed by the volume. Libby's lawyers tried this recently, requesting the entirety of white house emails for a three-month preriod, IIRC.
Posted by benjoya at April 6, 2006 02:27 PMI'm just an average guy, but I don't think that the identity of a covert operative would qualify as normal classified/declassified information. I doubt that there is a process to look at names of agents and mark them classified or not.
Further to the point, there is a federal law making it a crime to identify a covert agent. I've never seen any mention that there may be classified or non-classified covert agents.
Under the Constitution, the president's job is to uphold the Constitution and the laws enacted under its authority, so again, it would seem that revealing a covert agent's identity is still illegal because it does not apper that the president has the authority to simply ignore an inconvenient law--despite what this administration claims with its signing statements and warrantless surveillance.
Having said all that, there is still no indication that the president or the vice president "authorized" the identification of Ms. Plame as a covert "operative"...yet. Identifying her as an employee of the CIA may have raised questions and eyebrows to those that didn't know this, but how she came to be identified specifically as an operative vs. just an employee has still not been made clear.
Posted by Dale at April 6, 2006 02:30 PMIf it was legal for Bush to declassify this information, then there would have been no need for Scooter to leak it to the press. The WH could have issued a press release and held a press conference. Obviously there's more to it than just the President deciding he can declassify some information.
Posted by ann at April 6, 2006 02:52 PMThe big story continues to be!
Crimes Committed By A Criminal Administration To Initiate An Illegal Invasion Of A Foreign Nation That Wasn't Capabable of Threatening The U.S.
Posted by smooth at April 6, 2006 06:06 PMGood article on whether or not Bush illegally released classified information.
http://leiterreports.typepad.com/
Posted by Judith at April 6, 2006 07:56 PMRemember this:
Bush: “If There Is A Leak Out Of My Administration, I Want To Know Who It Is. And If The Person Has Violated Law, The Person Will Be Taken Care Of”... [9/30/03]
"The president has the right.." If he wanted to dig up your grandmother and have his way with her mouldering corpse, you'd probobly click your heels to that too. You authoritarian p.o.s.
Posted by jondee at April 6, 2006 08:28 PMUmmm....folks. The president has the right to declassify anything he wants. Another non-story.
Do you have the slightest shred of evidence that the president actually did declassify the NIE? Of course even a shill like you must know the difference between official declassification and an illegal leak, even if "authorised" (whatever that weasel word is supposed to mean) by the president.
Non-story. Whatever, shill.
Posted by KM at April 7, 2006 04:06 AM