Guilty

UPDATED

Libby Found Guilty in CIA Leak Case

Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted Tuesday of obstruction, perjury and lying to the FBI in an investigation into the leak of a CIA operative's identity.

Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was accused of lying and obstructing the investigation into the 2003 leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity to reporters.

He was acquitted of one count of lying to the FBI.

The reaction from the right wing will be that the conviction of Libby is a travesty due to the fact that nobody was ever indicted for leaking Valerie Wilson's name to the media. Let us hope that the press can keep one thing in mind: the fact that nobody was indicted for leaking Valerie Wilson's name is a meaningless Bush administration talking point.

As I have written previously:

The charges against Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice are not mitigated by the fact that nobody was indicted for leaking Valerie Wilson's name to the news media. They are validated by that fact. The rest of it is just a Bush administration talking point designed to distract people from the real issue.

Scooter Libby was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice precisely because his lies to federal investigators made it impossible to discover who directed and participated in the leak. This is not difficult to understand. Fitzgerald contends that Libby's lies kept justice from being carried out in the investigation to determine who exposed the undercover identity of a CIA operative. This is why Libby was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice, while nobody was indicted for the leak. He lied in order to keep administration officials (read: Dick Cheney) from being indicted.

Supporters of the Bush administration will, as they have done before, argue that President Bush should pardon Scooter Libby. Part of that argument will hinge on the fact that nobody was ever indicted for the crime of leaking Valerie Wilson's name. That argument is nonsense and everyone should disregard it as such.

UPDATE

From Fox "News" Channel, reaction from the White House:

Watching from the Oval Office, President Bush was saddened by the news but respected the verdict, said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. She said Bush has not spoken with Cheney yet as Cheney was on his way to a Senate policy lunch.

Dang. The poor sap is on his way to prison for Cheney, and Deadeye Dick can't pause long enough to be a few minutes late for lunch. That's cold.

UPDATE II

From Andrew Cohen, legal columnist for the Washington Post:

Indeed, even more than Libby, who is looking at prison time, Cheney gets my vote for the biggest loser in all of this.

Why? Before the trial, his adversaries considered him a ruthless, nasty politician who was the big-picture dark architect of the Bush Administration's most vital policies, foreign and domestic. After the trial, added as a layer upon that ugly perception, Cheney's friends and opponents alike now have to concede that he was also in this instance at least a meddling, petty bureaucrat who spent time at his undisclosed secure location worrying about how the White House would get back at Wilson, a penny-ante operator in the high-stakes game of politics over Iraq.

Nah. I don't think so.

A felony conviction and imprisonment for Libby trumps Cheney's loss of mystique as Dark Lord of the Sith. As noted above, Cheney is already over it. The bastard couldn't spare any time to talk about the verdict with the president if it meant being late for drinks and appetizers.

UPDATE III

Fox "News" flapping gums Fred Barnes, via TPM:

I would stop short of calling it politically devastating, however, because no one was charged with an underlying crime here of actually having illegally leaked the name of Valerie Plame Wilson to the press. We know who the original leaker was - Richard Armitage at the State Department - but he wasn't charged, nor was anyone else. So this is not quite as devastating as it could be if there was some underlying crime.

Fred is correct. Politically, it is not as devastating as if someone had been charged with the underlying crime of leaking Valerie Wilson's name to the press. Therein lies the significance of the trial, conviction and pending imprisonment of Scooter Libby. He lied in order to limit the political damage to the Bush administration. In that effort, he was successful. He just didn't get away with it.

UPDATE IV

Cheney, back from lunch:

"I am very disappointed with the verdict," Cheney said in a statement. "Scooter served our nation tirelessly and with great distinction through many years of public service."