Libby's Vendetta

Much, or most, of the speculation, analysis, and condemnation in the Plame leak has fallen on Rove's shoulders. Today, we are reminded just how much the VP's office had in the affair.

Matt Cooper tells us that indeed Lewis "Scooter" Libby confirmed Plame's identity when Cooper sought the information from him. This is involvement that the White House has denied since the leak in 2003, along with Rove's involvement. So we have official involvement of at least two high-level Administration officials, both of whom are on the record as denying any involvement whatsoever in the case.

And it also has become more evident that Rove and Libby were actively involved in the Wilson affair after Wilson published his editorial questioning Bush's claims of Iraqi saught Nigerian Yellowcake uranium.

Prosecutors investigating whether administration officials illegally leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, a CIA officer who had worked undercover, have been told that Bush's top political strategist, Karl Rove, and Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were especially intent on undercutting Wilson's credibility, according to people familiar with the inquiry.

Although lower-level White House staffers typically handle most contacts with the media, Rove and Libby began personally communicating with reporters about Wilson, prosecutors were told.

A source directly familiar with information provided to prosecutors said Rove's interest was so strong that it prompted questions in the White House. When asked at one point why he was pursuing the diplomat so aggressively, Rove reportedly responded: "He's a Democrat." Rove then cited Wilson's campaign donations, which leaned toward Democrats, the person familiar with the case said.

This kind of dirty work is normally reserved for low-level staffers, but Rove [in the President's office] and Libby [in the Vice President's Office] were so offended by Wilson's editorial that they began to raise the issue themselves, deliberately and frequently. Much speculation has circuled around an earlier 2003 State Department memo that names Plame as a CIA agent as being the source of the information; but it's time that the speculation returned to this question of why Libby and Rove were so intent on talking about that information.

We must also remember that The Administration wasn't particularly concerned with Wilson or even his editorial- it was concerned with the effect of Wilson talking about this subject. Having a US Ambassador who was sent to investigate Iraq's supposed interest in attaining uranium from Niger discount one of the key justifications the President has just presented as reasons to Invade this country could have been disastrous to their argument. They had to attack it before it derailed their cause.

And contrary to what they want you to believe, they attacked Wilson through divisive partisan politics as well as treasonous disclosure: they called him a "Democrat," and therefore anti-Administration.

Unity: American Sloganeering Since December, 1999.