OMG - Newsweek - Plame was still covert!!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11179719/site/newsweek/

Very big deal. Very big. Many ramifications.

[berni_mccoy]

1. WOW! Right on the heals of Libby implicating Cheney TOO!

K&R

[Darkhawk32]

2. He did?? n/t

[emulatorloo]

6. see link above

<snip>

The new papers show Libby testified he was told about Plame by Cheney "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" in mid-June—before he talked about her with Miller and Time magazine's Matt Cooper.

<snip>

[berni_mccoy]

8. Yep, and it was reported out of the WASHINGTON TIMES (UPI)

Here's a link to mirror of the UPI article: http://news.monstersandcritics.com/northamerica/article_1094869.php/Report_Cheney_told_Libby_of_CIA_identity

[Generator]

10. That article linked said this:

The new papers show Libby testified he was told about Plame by Cheney "in an off sort of curiosity sort of fashion" in mid-June—before he talked about her with Miller and Time magazine's Matt Cooper.

Every freaking thing we suspect on DU seems to be true. Cheney is behind it all. ALL.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

3. Awesome To Finally Have A Main Source To Shut The Freepers Up.

But this comes as no surprise to us here. We all Knew she was covert at the time :)

I think this is big news though that it can finally be confirmed in the mainstream.

[emulatorloo]

7. don;t worry, they will still claim she wasn't - The Facts cannot dissuade

them from thier "truth."

[FreedomAngel82]

19. I'm glad too

Finally.

[Llewlladdwr]

4. Wow...

You mean there are still people around who believe in Fitzmas?

Edit: Speeling

[Generator]

12. Well we certainly believe in the truth, that's spelled: Cheney is scum

Guilty war mongering murdering reptilian hearted scum.

[FreedomAngel82]

20. And why don't you?

It's obvious Fitzgerald is still on his case.

[Llewlladdwr]

24. Because all I'm seeing is a whole lot o' nuthin'.

Libby's trial was just scheduled to begin in January 2007. Maybe that sounds encouraging to you but to me it sounds like a prosecutor without much of a case hoping like hell he'll turn something up before he finally has to go to trial. You can also write off any advantage that might have been gained here for the 2006 election cycle. Just seems like more of the usual daydreaming to me....

[MoJoWorkin]

28. DIdn't the Judge set the court date? Not the Prosecutor---

Something about a conflict of one of Libby's lawyers in another trial as one of the reasons for the late trial date. I think the Judge apologized (sort of) for the delay.

[journalist3072]

5. Kicked and recommended!!! Of course, this really is no shocker to those

of us who live in the reality-based community, and knew all along that Plame was covert.

IMPEACHMENT NOW, dammit!

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

13. The only shocker is that this is FINALLY being reported by MSM nt

[journalist3072]

17. Very true. And it makes you ask: what took them so long? eom

[FreedomAngel82]

21. Who knows

I wish we knew.

[seemslikeadream]

9. How nice of them to catch up on reality

maybe getting rid of Judy helped

[emulatorloo]

11. Real Good DU thread here on this stuff

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x315885

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

16. The best for analysis and breakdown and far better info than Newsweek. nt

[Canuckistanian]

14. They're just relasing this information now?

I mean this is a central question in the case. If she WASN'T covert, then how did the case get referred to the Justice Department in the first place?

And considering that the CIA started the ball rolling in the first place, why did they let this question hang in the air for so long? They could have cleared it up with a statement more than a year and a half ago, even BEFORE Porter Goss got his greasy hands all over the agency.

Well, anyways, I'm glad the "official" confirmation is out there. Now there's something to throw in Hannity or Limpbutt's face when they try the "Plame was just a desk jockey" theme.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. I know, I know, but that's just so . . so . .. logical.

But this whole thing has always been subject to a massive dis/mis/information program from all the righties like Hannity and Limbaugh and anyone and everyone. It's just so marvelous to see a mainstream American publication read by Joe Average in his dentist's waiting room finally just come out with the most basic fact of this whole incident/crime/scandal. This isn't Rawstory, this isn't DU, this isn't Kos, this is Newsweek!

Newsweek for cripes sake!! Whoo Hoo!

[electron_blue]

18. I thought this was already known that she was covert.

I know Libby would naturally claim that she wasn't to make it look not so bad what he did, but wasn't it originally stated that she was covert and that's why this was all a big deal in the first place?

[w13rd0]

23. It's the difference....

...between an ACTIVE covert agent, and someone who is covert but inactive whose status is still classified. It's a big deal either way, but exposing an ACTIVE covert agent is TREASON, no ifs ands or buts about it.

[electron_blue]

25. great, thanks for explaining that

[Harper_is_Bush]

22. BUT.....these are court docs from Fitz. Why then is he not charging Libby

with the counter-espionage or whatever?

I don't see how this is a big deal. Explain?

[Talismom]

26. I'm afraid that, no matter what laws they are proven to have

committed, we're gonna have to pry this country out of their cold dead hands...

I just don't see these thugs letting go without a real fight--as in in the streets with casualties. It's so frightening.

[emulatorloo]

27. See Also this Washington Post article - More Allegations of Libby Lies

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020406A.shtml

<snp>

More Allegations of Libby Lies Revealed
By Carol D. Leonnig
The Washington Post

Saturday 04 February 2006

Judge's report shows Cheney aide is accused of broad deception.
The special prosecutor in the CIA leak case alleged that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff was engaged in a broader web of deception than was previously known and repeatedly lied to conceal that he had been a key source for reporters about undercover operative Valerie Plame, according to court records released yesterday.

The records also show that by August 2004, early in his investigation of the disclosure of Plame's identity, Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald had concluded that he did not have much of a case against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby for illegally leaking classified information. Instead, Fitzgerald was focused on charging Cheney's top aide with perjury and making false statements, and knew he needed to question reporters to prove it.

The court records show that Libby denied to a grand jury that he ever mentioned Plame or her CIA job to then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer or then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller in separate conversations he had with each of them in early July 2003. The records also suggest that Libby did not disclose to investigators that he first spoke to Miller about Plame in June 2003, and that prosecutors learned of the nature of the conversation only when Miller finally testified late in the fall of 2005.

All three specific allegations are contained in previously redacted sections of a US Court of Appeals opinion that were released yesterday. The opinion analyzed Fitzgerald's secret evidence to determine whether his case warranted ordering reporters to testify about their confidential conversations with sources.

<snip>