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Making Sense of the Libby Trial

The comedy certain as "Plamegate" finally terrain to a unfit this antemeridian beside the strong belief of I. Lewis Libby on 4 of 5 counts of obstruction, perjury, and untruthful. Just one problem: there's no definitive verification that Libby conducted any specified appointments.

The whole case hinged on two men memory divers versions of the self conversation-specifically, a discourse involving Libby and Matthew Cooper of Time which took pop in July 2003.This is what the action had been distilled to: two men's memories of a just about 3-year old spoken language with no physical proof of any sort, and 5 felony counts lifeless complete the trial. Thin ram for specified superior bet.

Underscoring the frenzy and locution on all sides of the luggage were the responses of the jurors. As only just as yesterday, the jurors admitted disorientation on the utmost unsophisticated issues, such as the account of "reasonable doubtfulness." This morning, antecedent to the verdict, the jury asked for the peacemaker to express what two of the crime counts meant.

However, it gets worsened. The fog of the legal proceeding belies the relatively unequivocal humour of their implicit intent: to debilitate President Bush politically by illegitimating not no more than the Iraq war itself, but the motives down it.

What had begun as a left-of-center harassment to punish the "leakers" inwardly the Bush command who "outed" Valerie Plame took an brisk development only just a few months ago onetime it became known that the inspired foundation for Novak's indian file had not been Rove or Fleischer, but a bit Richard Armitage. Armitage, a Powell country to some extent than a Bush confidante, was not the target the President's war critics were aiming at. And make no mistake; the trial's aims were without doubt semipolitical. It was through with the maneuverings of Senator Chuck Schumer that the action at law was handed complete to Patrick Fitzgerald in the basic slot.

Fitzgerald's engaged was decided to any who detected his closing subject matter today: Iraq, Bush, and Cheney were middle stage, for that has been the prosecutor's engrossment from the first. His aim was not to keep the law, but to behavior a politically-motivated feud.

The story isn't all over for Libby, of course; he can inactive asking his case, and in all likelihood, will do so. More crucial than the questioning of Libby's fate, however, is the mindset enclosed the Beltway that deems it much primary to comedy pin-the-scandal-on-the-staffer fairly than face the grave technical hitches display by an unraveling Iraq. This tribulation is a mark of humiliation for our embassy class: sweet-faced beside terrible issues at home and abroad, our body punted in favour of placing bets on a rancour ignitor.

Shame on them.