Scooter Libby Convicted
This is a story that has been getting a lot of coverage this week but I’d like to just give a brief summary for those who don’t know about it. During the run up to the Iraq war there was a lot of noise being made about Saddam Hussein supposedly purchasing Yellowcake Uranium from Niger. The CIA among others asserted that this intelligence was faulty and probably bogus, but even so Vice-President Dick Cheney believed it and wanted it included front and center as a justification for war with Iraq.
Senator Joseph Wilson was sent to Niger to investigate these claims. He found nothing, came back and reported his findings, which were swiftly dismissed by Cheney and his cohorts. Wilson subsequently wrote an Op-Ed article for the New York Times entitled, “What I didn’t find in Niger.” This ruffled Cheney’s feathers to say the least. Exactly what happened next is still under investigation, but somehow the fact that Wilson’s wife was an undercover CIA operative was leaked to the press.
It is a federal offense to unmask a CIA operative, so once this information hit the newspaper an investigation was started by US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald. His investigation led him to Libby as one of the sources for the leaked info. Libby denied being the leaker and tried instead to mislead Fitzgerald in his investigations. This led to Libby’s conviction for obstruction of justice, not the leak itself. The bigger question now is who orchestrated the leak. The common practice when trying to solve a crime is to look for who had the motive, in this case all fingers point to Cheney himself. This thinking is also shared by Fitzgerald who is reportedly preparing a case against Cheney. If this case goes to trial it will be very interesting indeed and may sound the death knell for Bush’s shaky administration.
For more insight into this issue read former CIA analyst Ray McGovern’s column : Why Cheney Lost it When Joe Wilson Spoke Out
By John Scott