12 MAR 07 / "The Scooter Libby Verdict"

Despite convicting the former chief of staff to the vice president of the United States, I. Lewis Libby, on charges of perjury, making false statements, and obstructing a federal investigation, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald doesn't appear to be bringing additional charges in the case; yet one wonders if the Washington, DC jury didn't convict Libby solely on the premise that someone higher up in the administration did something wrong. In other words, were the jurors judging Bush, Cheney, and Rove based on what they had been hearing in the media firestorm on the 'Plame Affair'?

If Libby had difficulty recalling how he had learned of Valerie Plame's identity, one also wonders why he simply didn't testify that he could not remember. Many of the witnesses for the prosecution had faulty memories, contradicting the information they gave the FBI investigators by giving different testimony in court. Tim Russert is just one such example.

Numerous questions remain unanswered: Why would Libby have been lying to protect the vice president when it was Richard Armitage, a deputy secretary of state, who leaked Plame's identity? Why isn't Patrick Fitzgerald now prosecuting the crime Libby was convicted of covering up? If Plame was a covert agent, why did she marry a high profile former ambassador, Joe Wilson? Why did she recommend him for the trip to Niger? If Wilson were so concerned with his wife's cover, why did he write an op/ed about his trip in the New York Times? And why wasn't there more media coverage of the fact that the Senate Intelligence Committee subsequently found many of Wilson's accusations in the New York Times op/ed to have been false?

While there has been a debate over whether Plame was a covert CIA agent, it appears she was an overseas intelligence officer specializing in weapons of mass destruction in the 1990's while posing as an energy analyst for a front company called Brewster Jennings & Associates. However, Plame hadn't been on an overseas assignment for more than 5 years when Bob Novak referenced her in his 2003 column. In addition, covert agents don't routinely drive into CIA headquarters every day to work in an office job.

The Left's desire to seize upon any apparent mistake by the Bush administration triggered a series of events that have led to a man being wrongfully convicted. Cheney and Libby may have discussed Plame in private, but there is no proof of any conspiracy in the administration to leak her status as a means of retribution against Joe Wilson for his New York Times article.

The Wilsons are now capitalizing on their new-found celebrity. With a $2.5 million book deal, an upcoming Warner Brothers movie, and their appearances on the cocktail circuit, they seem to be enjoying the publicity they had railed against at the outset.