Libby Indictment: News Media Should Be Careful What They Wish For
Jim Kouri, CPP
October 29, 2005
For the stalwarts of the mainstream news media, Friday was both a day of celebration and a day of disappointment. Celebration that a key White House official, Lewis "Scooter" Libby faces serious charges as a result of a grand jury indictment and disappointment that their main target, Karl Rove, is not facing Libby's fate.
During the congenial press conference by the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame-CIA Leak Case, Patrick Fitzgerald, one sensed the only thing missing was the sound of corks popping from French champagne bottles. And the prosecutor knew how to play this crowd of the media's true elite: he made certain to keep their hopes up about the possibility that he would find something with which to indict Karl Rove.
But the media's celebratory feeding frenzy may be short-lived. When Libby unleashes his attorneys on Fitzgerald's investigation including his witnesses, reports and notes, the mainstream news media may end up with more than they bargained for.
In the Saturday Washington Post, on page 23 -- far from the page one headlines -- two Washington attorneys, David Rivkin and Lee Casey, analyzed the Plame Game. They wrote:
"It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law [against divulging the identity of a covert CIA agent] had not been violated. Plame was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters. Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished. Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai, once the sword is drawn it must taste blood."
In fact, during the prosecutor's press conference, he chose to use the term "classified" rather than "covert" during his performance. He is allowed to say whatever he wishes to say, but the fact of the matter is that this was not an espionage case dealing with classified material. One wishes Fitzgerald had been tapped to investigate Clinton crony Sandy "Pants" Berger's indiscretion in which he pilfered classified documents, going as far as destroying some. Berger got community service and a $50,000 fine, while Libby faces 30 years imprisonment.
As the Libby case progresses, there will be attempts by the mainstream media to demonize his attorneys and canonize the prosecution team, Joe Wilson and the martyr herself, Valerie Plame. It will be the polar opposite of the Clinton scandal days when whistleblowers were demonized, victims or witnesses were smeared, and the special prosecutor was vilified in order to help prop up a dishonest and corrupt liberal president. For, like it or not, we must acknowledge that the mainstream news media do choose sides while they cover the political battlefield.
But in this case, an extraordinary paradox has occurred: in their haste to "get" President Bush and his staff, the news media became part of the investigation. Valerie Plame would be an unknown Washington bureaucrat instead of a glamorous Vanity Fair heroine had the news people not run stories about her identity.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Newsweek's Matt Cooper and NBC News' Tim Russert all testified in front of the Fitzgerald grand jury. And be certain they will be called as witnesses during a Libby trial. Which means they will be subject to cross examination by some of the best trial lawyers in the business.
In addition, defense lawyers have their own weapon of mass destruction: subpoena power. I'm not saying they will use it to carpet bomb the Times, Newsweek and NBC, but they just may wish to subpoena their records. Therefore, investigators working for the Libby defense team will be empowered to search for evidence of collusion between the mainstream media and the Democrat Party. It's no secret that Senator Chuck Schumer has taken Joe Wilson under his wing. Plus, the news media suddenly decided to bury the overwhelming evidence that Wilson is a Democrat Party hack whose credibility was shot to hell during his time in the media limelight.
The mainstream media want Americans to forget, for instance, that Wilson served as presidential hopeful John Kerry's foreign policy adviser. Wilson's photograph and biography were placed on Kerry's campaign website and they mysteriously disappeared from the website when it was revealed that Joe Wilson is a liar. The mainstream media in turn backed off, at least until after the 2004 election. Then they resurrected Wilson.
If you read anything in the news about Wilson and Plame, you will not be told:
Wilson was recommended by his CIA wife for the job of going to Africa to investigate the allegation that Saddam Hussein tried to obtain yellow-cake uranium for his nuclear program. Wilson denied his wife had anything to do with his mission until a memorandum written by Plame recommending her husband surfaced.
Wilson has absolutely no experience in intelligence gathering or investigation. His experience consists of glad-handing other elites who know nothing about intelligence gathering and analysis or investigation.
Wilson never had to go through the usual CIA procedure of signing a nondisclosure agreement to prevent his blabbing to the press about his so-called fact finding mission. If he did, he wouldn't be blabbing like a lonely housewife to the mainstream media.
Wilson is very cozy with members of the elite media. They share the same friends in Washington and party at the same parties.
Wilson and Plame have visions of themselves as Mr. Steed and Mrs. Peel, the cartoonish spooks in the 1960s show "The Avengers." This may seem irrelevant, but it goes to the issue of their credibility as serious government employees.
There is so much more, but the reader gets my drift. The two-year grand jury investigation was a vehicle for discrediting the Bush Administration and its war against terrorists, especially actions against Iraq. It's purpose was not to protect a CIA agent, as is being touted by the liberal news people, because the CIA agent was not harmed. Her husband used the investigation to resurrect himself so he could be placed on a pedestal by the Democrats and their media stooges. He knows the media hate Bush as much as he does, so they won't reveal his lies, half-truths and left-wing politics.
It falls on the new media (and forget Fox News Channel, they've veered to the left) to expose Wilson, Plame and the news media in this public lynching of a career public servant. Just as the bloggers and internet websites brought down Dan Rather and CBS News -- who've still not recovered from being exposed as partisan hacks -- so too must the new media bring down these dishonest politician-journalists who take pages right out of the Stalinist playbook. The time is ripe for the news media to be exposed as the public relations arm of the Democrat National Committee. Perhaps the Lewis Libby trial will do just that.
During the congenial press conference by the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame-CIA Leak Case, Patrick Fitzgerald, one sensed the only thing missing was the sound of corks popping from French champagne bottles. And the prosecutor knew how to play this crowd of the media's true elite: he made certain to keep their hopes up about the possibility that he would find something with which to indict Karl Rove.
But the media's celebratory feeding frenzy may be short-lived. When Libby unleashes his attorneys on Fitzgerald's investigation including his witnesses, reports and notes, the mainstream news media may end up with more than they bargained for.
In the Saturday Washington Post, on page 23 -- far from the page one headlines -- two Washington attorneys, David Rivkin and Lee Casey, analyzed the Plame Game. They wrote:
"It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law [against divulging the identity of a covert CIA agent] had not been violated. Plame was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters. Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished. Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai, once the sword is drawn it must taste blood."
In fact, during the prosecutor's press conference, he chose to use the term "classified" rather than "covert" during his performance. He is allowed to say whatever he wishes to say, but the fact of the matter is that this was not an espionage case dealing with classified material. One wishes Fitzgerald had been tapped to investigate Clinton crony Sandy "Pants" Berger's indiscretion in which he pilfered classified documents, going as far as destroying some. Berger got community service and a $50,000 fine, while Libby faces 30 years imprisonment.
As the Libby case progresses, there will be attempts by the mainstream media to demonize his attorneys and canonize the prosecution team, Joe Wilson and the martyr herself, Valerie Plame. It will be the polar opposite of the Clinton scandal days when whistleblowers were demonized, victims or witnesses were smeared, and the special prosecutor was vilified in order to help prop up a dishonest and corrupt liberal president. For, like it or not, we must acknowledge that the mainstream news media do choose sides while they cover the political battlefield.
But in this case, an extraordinary paradox has occurred: in their haste to "get" President Bush and his staff, the news media became part of the investigation. Valerie Plame would be an unknown Washington bureaucrat instead of a glamorous Vanity Fair heroine had the news people not run stories about her identity.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Newsweek's Matt Cooper and NBC News' Tim Russert all testified in front of the Fitzgerald grand jury. And be certain they will be called as witnesses during a Libby trial. Which means they will be subject to cross examination by some of the best trial lawyers in the business.
In addition, defense lawyers have their own weapon of mass destruction: subpoena power. I'm not saying they will use it to carpet bomb the Times, Newsweek and NBC, but they just may wish to subpoena their records. Therefore, investigators working for the Libby defense team will be empowered to search for evidence of collusion between the mainstream media and the Democrat Party. It's no secret that Senator Chuck Schumer has taken Joe Wilson under his wing. Plus, the news media suddenly decided to bury the overwhelming evidence that Wilson is a Democrat Party hack whose credibility was shot to hell during his time in the media limelight.
The mainstream media want Americans to forget, for instance, that Wilson served as presidential hopeful John Kerry's foreign policy adviser. Wilson's photograph and biography were placed on Kerry's campaign website and they mysteriously disappeared from the website when it was revealed that Joe Wilson is a liar. The mainstream media in turn backed off, at least until after the 2004 election. Then they resurrected Wilson.
If you read anything in the news about Wilson and Plame, you will not be told:
Wilson was recommended by his CIA wife for the job of going to Africa to investigate the allegation that Saddam Hussein tried to obtain yellow-cake uranium for his nuclear program. Wilson denied his wife had anything to do with his mission until a memorandum written by Plame recommending her husband surfaced.
Wilson has absolutely no experience in intelligence gathering or investigation. His experience consists of glad-handing other elites who know nothing about intelligence gathering and analysis or investigation.
Wilson never had to go through the usual CIA procedure of signing a nondisclosure agreement to prevent his blabbing to the press about his so-called fact finding mission. If he did, he wouldn't be blabbing like a lonely housewife to the mainstream media.
Wilson is very cozy with members of the elite media. They share the same friends in Washington and party at the same parties.
Wilson and Plame have visions of themselves as Mr. Steed and Mrs. Peel, the cartoonish spooks in the 1960s show "The Avengers." This may seem irrelevant, but it goes to the issue of their credibility as serious government employees.
There is so much more, but the reader gets my drift. The two-year grand jury investigation was a vehicle for discrediting the Bush Administration and its war against terrorists, especially actions against Iraq. It's purpose was not to protect a CIA agent, as is being touted by the liberal news people, because the CIA agent was not harmed. Her husband used the investigation to resurrect himself so he could be placed on a pedestal by the Democrats and their media stooges. He knows the media hate Bush as much as he does, so they won't reveal his lies, half-truths and left-wing politics.
It falls on the new media (and forget Fox News Channel, they've veered to the left) to expose Wilson, Plame and the news media in this public lynching of a career public servant. Just as the bloggers and internet websites brought down Dan Rather and CBS News -- who've still not recovered from being exposed as partisan hacks -- so too must the new media bring down these dishonest politician-journalists who take pages right out of the Stalinist playbook. The time is ripe for the news media to be exposed as the public relations arm of the Democrat National Committee. Perhaps the Lewis Libby trial will do just that.
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