Plame was covert - Cheney is a jerk

By Libby

It's official. According to newly declassified employment records submitted by Patrick Fitzgerald in his sentencing memo on the Scooter Libby case, Plame was indeed a cover agent at the time of her outing and the CIA was actively trying to protect her status. That should put to rest all those complaints among the Bush loyalists that Libby shouldn't have been prosecuted because there was no underlying crime -- but don't hold your breath waiting for wingnuttia to admit they were wrong.

Meanwhile, Dan Froomkin puts it into context. It's clear that the investigation uncovered criminal wrongdoing in the highest levels of the White House. As Fitzgerald himself put it:

"To accept the argument that Mr. Libby's prosecution is the inappropriate product of an investigation that should have been closed at an early stage, one must accept the proposition that the investigation should have been closed after at least three high-ranking government officials were identified as having disclosed to reporters classified information about covert agent Valerie Wilson, where the account of one of them was directly contradicted by other witnesses, where there was reason to believe that some of the relevant activity may have been coordinated, and where there was an indication from Mr. Libby himself that his disclosures to the press may have been personally sanctioned by the Vice President."

In other words, evidence existed but criminality was unable to be proved specifically and only because Scooter lied to protect Cheney. Froomkin rightly points out that history is likely to read this story as a tale of one of the most successful cover-ups of criminal malfeasance in the history of our country.