I have avoided this particular bit of legal/political theater until the final verdict came down, out of respect for the process. Now that Lewis Libby has been convicted on four of five counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice, I think it is fascinating to watch the way administration apologists' heads are spinning as they try anything and everything to somehow make this entire episode into something it is not. Should one be interested, Think Progress and Crooks and Liars have numerous examples of right-wing journalists and politicians stretching reality to the breaking point as they try to nullify the conviction of the VP former chief of staff.
I will only say this once, and will not respond to comments that either take umbrage with my views, or question the facts of the matter. You can comment all you want, but the facts of the matter - now not just matters of fact but matters of law because they are a part of the entire prosecution's now successful case against Libby - are now indisputable (of course, they always were; it is sad it took a legal case to ensure they are enshrined as legal truths forever more):
1. Valerie Plame was the head of the desk at the CIA investigating Iraq WMDs. One would have thought that an administration devoted to proving that such existed as a casus belli would ensure that under no circumstances would her person or position be compromised; instead, they gave information on her person and positions, past and future, to a political columnist who placed them before the public. Had this been the Clinton Administration, what might the reaction have been?
2. The Office of the Vice-President, not content with the information Plame's desk at the CIA was sending - that the Iraqis had no WMDs, had not had any for close to a decade, and while they intended to at some point in the future reconstitute such programs, were in no position to do so for the foreseeable future - set up an "Office of Special Plans" in which various unsourced, unfiltered intelligence was put together to construct a phony argument concerning Iraqi WMDs. This is kindergarten-type stuff - I don't like what you're telling me so I am going to find some way to prove you wrong - but the consequences - just consider what Plame's known contacts must have gone through in countries as varied as the former Soviet Union and China, or even Iraq and Iran. We are talking real life and death stuff here, because the VP didn't like the fact he was being proven wrong.
3. Libby did what he did as part of a larger plan to discredit any and all nay-sayers within and without the administration. Porter Goss' assignment to be DCI was also part of that. The fact Goss left less than a year after his initial appointment, under a huge cloud of controversy, with CIA morale about as low as it has been since the Church Hearings of the 1970's should tell us something about what Cheney's little "outing" has done.
4. We are less secure, less safe, and our ability to analyze and deal with threats has been irreparably harmed by what the administration, in the person of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby did to Valerie Plame. The right loves to trot out the name of John Walker Lindh as an example of treasonous behavior. I would disagree - this is a clear undermining of the security, integrity, adn yes, the sovereignty of the United States. As someone who is not a huge booster of sovereignty in general, the danger posed by such actions as Libby's and Cheney's is almost incalculable.
5. All the phony, disgusting talk about what a nice guy Libby is, how awful this is for his family makes me want to retch. This isn't about whether Libby walks his dog and plays with his kids; it's about whether, through a deliberate policy of leaking classified information, including the identity of a classified analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, the security of the United States was damaged. Of course, the answer is yes, and any sympathy Libby may be getting from jurors is based upon their own conviction that the true culprit behind this entire affairs resides at the National Observatory on Massachusetts Ave., NW in Washington, DC. They want to get Cheney, in other words.
