BREITBART.COM - Just The News

Looks like I missed quite a lot of excitement.

BREITBART.COM covers the indictment--and resignation--of VP Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

So far, it looks as though he's committed the tragic mistake many infused with hubris make: He covers up alleged wrong-doing. Should he be proven guilty, he'd join Martha Stewart and other assorted felons that broke more laws covering up their actions than those actions themselves. If he's proven guilty. I can't help noticing the glee that Reasonable AP writer John Solomon betrays in an allegedly factual report. Dare I say that he may be forcing the narrative ahead of the facts? But then again, what sells better than recycled Watergate? Think of the Cha-ching! in this: Corrupt Republicans in a secretive White House attack nobel Administration-attache dissenter of the Iraq invasion. Oh, can you smell the money! Not to mention the brickbat pounding this adds to a Foolish Administration that's already made far too many Foolable--and incompetant--moves.

Take a closer look:

Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff resigned Friday after he was indicted on charges of obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying about his actions that blew the CIA cover of an Iraq war critic's wife.

I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby became the first high-ranking White House official in decades to be criminally charged while still in office. A second key figure in the two-year CIA leak investigation, presidential strategist Karl Rove, was spared from criminal charges for the time being.

Libby wasn't indicted specifically for the leak, but special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald left little doubt that he believed Cheney's top aide learned Valerie Plame's classified identity from the CIA, State Department and his own boss and then revealed it to reporters.

"It's important that a CIA officer's identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer, but for the nation's security," the prosecutor said. "Mr. Libby was the first official known to have told a reporter."

Though Cheney was one of the top government officials to tell Libby about Plame's secret work for the CIA before it was leaked to reporters, Fitzgerald said there was nothing wrong with that contact. "We make no allegation that the vice president committed any criminal act," he said.

Libby promised to challenge the charges vigorously and said he was "confident that at the end of this process, I will be completely and totally exonerated."

Now, watch Mr. Solomon make these facts dance to the Conspiracy Tango:

Libby's indictment paves the way for a trial that could renew attention on the faulty rationale the administration used for going to war against Iraq _ the erroneous assertion that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction.

Libby is considered Cheney's alter ego, a chief architect of the war with Iraq. A trial would give the public a rare glimpse into Cheney's influential role in the West Wing and his behind-the-scenes lobbying for the war. The vice president, who prizes secrecy, could be called as a witness.

Democrats suggested the indictment was just the tip of the iceberg. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the case was "about how the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to discredit anyone who dared to challenge the president."

Yeah, yeah. "Manufactured and manipulated intelligence," yada-yada-yada. Yawn. Does anyone besides the Democratic Kool-Aide drinkers truly believe that the President used only information gathered during his administration? Or do the public statements of former President Clinton, UN security council resolutions, the pronouncements of the British Prime Minister and countless other assertions of Saddam's WOMD capability--all issued before Mr. Bush swore the oath--count for nothing.

The show must go on, however:

Bush ordered U.S. troops to war in March 2003, saying Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program posed a grave and immediate threat to the United States. When no such weapons were found, the administration came under increased criticism for using faulty intelligence to make its case for war.

It was during the height of that debate that Plame's identity as a covert CIA officer was leaked in July 2003.

Her name was published just a little over a week after her husband, a former ambassador, wrote a newspaper opinion piece suggesting the administration had twisted prewar intelligence, and describing how he had gone to Africa in 2002 to check on claims Saddam had tried to buy nuclear materials.

Wilson couldn't validate the uranium claim but Bush later used it anyway.

Wilson alleged that the leak of his wife's name was retaliation for his criticism, and he said Friday, "When an indictment is delivered to the front door of the White House, the office of the president is defiled."

The indictment alleges Libby began digging for details about Wilson well before the former ambassador went public July 6, 2003.

Libby made his first inquiries about Wilson's travel to Niger in late May 2003, and by June 11, Libby was told by a CIA official that Wilson's wife worked for the agency and might have sent him on the trip. Libby also heard it from Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, the indictment said.

On June 12, 2003, the indictment alleged, Libby heard directly from Cheney that Plame worked for the spy agency.

"Libby was advised by the vice president of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA in the counterproliferation division. Libby understood that the vice president had learned this information from the CIA," Fitzgerald said.

A short time later, the indictment said, Libby began spreading information to reporters, starting with The New York Times' Judith Miller on June 23.

The indictment said a substantial number of people in the White House knew about Plame's CIA status before the publication of Robert Novak's column on July 14, 2003 _ the first public mention _ including former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, who was mentioned by title but not by name in the legal filing.

Among the false statements Libby is accused of making is that he learned of Plame's identity from NBC reporter Tim Russert. In fact, Fitzgerald said, Libby knew it long before that conversation and Russert didn't even discuss it with him.

Sorry, this juxtaposition of "facts" from the indictment is just a little too convenient. Mr. Solomon's presentation misses only a Marlboro chain-smoking Deep Throat hanging out in a public garage. Among Mr. Solomon's convenient forget-to-mentions? The Senate Committee on Intelligence had already discredited Mr. Wilson's investigation in Niger, noting inconsistencies between his statements to officials in debriefings, and reports based on previous debriefings (report p. 54). How nice. Plus, Mrs. Wilson had not performed non-official cover work in at least six years. Granted, the revelation of her identity could place her former contacts at risk, and she no longer can engage in NOC fieldwork. But to say, as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid once said, that Ms. Wilson's life was placed at risk reaks of irresponsibility that only a Reasonable politician would love.

That's why the Reasonable love this indictment. It provides them with yet another brickbat to bring to the President's skull. The Administration, already reeling from post-Katrina criticism and the outrage of the conservative base over the Miers fiasco, can ill-afford to have the VP's Chief-of-Staff indicted for any reason. The President can ill-afford to have senior officials so closely tied to the Iraq War also bear the stain of corruption. Reasonable far-left mouth-foamers will use it to poison any public discourse on the wall.

Unfortunately for the nation, The Beltway Perfect Storm continues. If the Administration can't right the ship soon...