Joe Conason: Role of the Big Guys is Becoming Clear in the Plame Case (Truthdig)

[marmar]

Role of the Big Guys Is Becoming Clear in Plame Case


Posted on Feb 7, 2007
By Joe Conason

At long last, the fog of mystification generated by the Bush administration and the Washington media is lifting, so that everyone can see clearly why I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby is on trial and why his prosecution is important. Whether or not the jury eventually finds the former White House aide guilty of perjury, the evidence shows that his bosses, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, have misled the public from the very beginning about the vengeful leaking of Valerie Plame Wilson’s CIA identity.

The question that now hangs over the president and the vice president is whether they lied to special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald—the same crime for which their fall guy, Scooter, now faces possible imprisonment. According to published reports, the special counsel interviewed both Bush and Cheney during the summer of 2004. The only way for them to dispel the suspicion that they may have lied to him is to permit full disclosure of those interviews.

Doubts about the candor of Bush and Cheney date all the way back to September 2003, before the appointment of the special counsel, when the president supposedly declared his sincere determination to “get to the bottom of this.”

By “this” he meant the apparent conspiracy among administration officials to reveal that Wilson was an undercover CIA officer in an effort to discredit her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV. A former U.S. ambassador and national security official, he had incurred the wrath of the Bush White House by revealing what he knew about the dubious justifications for invading Iraq. ....(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070207_role_of_the_big_guys_is_becoming_clear_in_plame_case/

[Rob H.]

1. Looks like not being under oath will NOT protect them, either

From the article (emphasis mine):

When the special prosecutor interviewed the president and the vice president during the summer of 2004, Bush was accompanied by private counsel and wasn’t placed under oath. But even if neither he nor Cheney was sworn during those encounters, that wouldn’t excuse them from telling the truth. To do otherwise would expose them to prosecution for making false statements to federal investigators—a felony—as well as possible counts of conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

[Tellurian]

2. Joe Conason is my fave..

great article-

[Rob H.]

3. Conason is great

I've read Big Lies and loved it, and he has a new book called It Can Happen Here: Authoritarian Peril in the Age of Bush coming out on the 20th.

Yep, I love me some Joe Conason. :)

[snappyturtle]

4. Sorry I didn't see this yesterday! for a K&R--thanks

for the link!