(no subject)
Jun. 13th, 2006 02:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaKarl Rove will not be indicted in the Plame leak case.
Essentially, what has come out in the last few months is that the so-called "leaking" of Plame Wilson's status as an undercover CIA agent was actually a selective de-classifying and release of sensitive information in a way engineered to look like a leak. The signs point to President Bush, who has the legal authority to do such a thing. Therefore the release of this information was not a crime. A despicable and spiteful machiavellian trick, but not a crime.
Though it was not a crime, it was done in such a way as to make it look like one. At the time, Bush himself fostered the impression of it as a crime by vowing to fire anyone found responsible. A prosecutor was appointed to investigate it as though it was a crime.
That the prosecution shifted gears away from holding someone responsible for the leak, to holding Scooter Libby responsible for obstructing the investigation, should have been our first clue. Libby was caught in a lie, hence the indictment of him.
We can surmise that Rove was not caught in a lie, and since the release of information itself turned out to be not a crime, there was more or less nothing Fitzgerald could really do.
Of course, the American public should ask itself what it says about the Administration that it would do such a thing to discredit a dissident. The whole maneuver invites all sorts of questions, too. Certain critics of the Administration have wondered, for example, whether the real target of the "leak" was Plame Wilson herself, and not her husband. In case you are unaware, Plame Wilson's work for the CIA involved learning what she could about Iran's nuclear aspirations. The leak destroyed her efforts and left us more or less in the dark regarding Iran's nuclear program. It's not entirely clear why the White House would do such a thing, but there's lots of room for speculation.
Essentially, what has come out in the last few months is that the so-called "leaking" of Plame Wilson's status as an undercover CIA agent was actually a selective de-classifying and release of sensitive information in a way engineered to look like a leak. The signs point to President Bush, who has the legal authority to do such a thing. Therefore the release of this information was not a crime. A despicable and spiteful machiavellian trick, but not a crime.
Though it was not a crime, it was done in such a way as to make it look like one. At the time, Bush himself fostered the impression of it as a crime by vowing to fire anyone found responsible. A prosecutor was appointed to investigate it as though it was a crime.
That the prosecution shifted gears away from holding someone responsible for the leak, to holding Scooter Libby responsible for obstructing the investigation, should have been our first clue. Libby was caught in a lie, hence the indictment of him.
We can surmise that Rove was not caught in a lie, and since the release of information itself turned out to be not a crime, there was more or less nothing Fitzgerald could really do.
Of course, the American public should ask itself what it says about the Administration that it would do such a thing to discredit a dissident. The whole maneuver invites all sorts of questions, too. Certain critics of the Administration have wondered, for example, whether the real target of the "leak" was Plame Wilson herself, and not her husband. In case you are unaware, Plame Wilson's work for the CIA involved learning what she could about Iran's nuclear aspirations. The leak destroyed her efforts and left us more or less in the dark regarding Iran's nuclear program. It's not entirely clear why the White House would do such a thing, but there's lots of room for speculation.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-06-13 07:58 pm (UTC)It's not a crime if the puppeteer with his hand up the president's ass does it.
no subject
Date: 2006-06-15 08:37 pm (UTC)I don't think that this says anything that hasn't been said about this administration that hasn't been said in spades already. I guess the nice thing about courting a special interest group that self-selects for insularity and denial of reality is that once you're backed by their leaders, you no longer have to CARE about what anybody else says.