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Robert Novak, like Karl Rove, has now been told by Special Counsel
Patrick Fitzgerald that he is off the hook for the disastrous leak of the name
of a CIA covert agent and her non-official cover (NOC) cover company. It is
now time to focus on the politics being played by Fitzgerald. On Monday,
June 12, Fitzgerald participated in an afternoon hearing before Judge Reggie
Walton on the Scooter Libby perjury and obstruction of justice case (not the
Espionage Act violation involving the outing of CIA agents). That same morning,
Fitzgerald appeared before Chief Judge Thomas Hogan (who recently ruled that
it was legal for FBI agents to search the offices of Rep. William Jefferson
without restrictions). It was after that meeting that Fitzgerald, depending
on what news source one believes, faxed or sent a letter or phoned Rove attorney
Robert Luskin and told him he did not anticipate seeking criminal charges against
Rove. Now, Novak writes that he has been informed by Fitzgerald's office that
he is off the hook for the leak of the CIA information by the White House, although
he names Rove as one of the sources for the leak. Rove, through Luskin, said
Novak told Rove about Plame's work at the CIA. Luskin now says that Rove's and
Novak's accounts do not differ greatly. That is an astounding claim. Either
Rove told Novak or Novak told Rove -- there is nothing remotely similar about
those two actions. However, given Rove's past as a political manipulator and
master deceiver, this editor believes Novak is telling the truth. For years,
Novak was teamed with the late Rowland Evans, someone with close ties to the
U.S. intelligence community and someone who would have been livid about the
leak of covert CIA agents as a form of political retaliation. Rove has no such
background in prudent judgment nor has he been mentored by anyone who has had
an appreciation for the dangers involved with such leaks.
On Friday, May 12, Fitzgerald reportedly had a sealed indictment of Rove for
the CIA leak. That set in motion the most egregious White House interference
in a criminal case since Watergate. However, in this case, Fitzgerald was not
fired and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Deputy Attorney General Paul
McNulty did not resign in protest. Make no mistake about it -- Gonzales is not
Elliot Richardson and McNulty is no William Ruckelshaus. Richardson and Ruckelshaus
both resigned rather than fire Independent Special Counsel Archibald Cox. That
ignominious distinction went to Solicitor General Robert Bork. That previous
week, a cocky Rove was appearing at Republican events around the country, acting
like someone who knew he was immune from any prosecution. Rove's spokesman,
Mark Corallo, a former spokesman for Attorney General John Ashcroft, participated
as the middleman in a diversionary effort to criticize the only media that was
paying serious attention to the details of the backstage developments in the
Rove case. This week, Rove continues on the GOP political stump, acting as someone
who has no worries about any indictment, even with Novak's recent disclosures
that Rove was one of the sources of the CIA leak. These developments now put
the spotlight on Fitzgerald and his seemingly endless investigation. If Fitzgerald
were told by Addington and Gonzales that Bush intended to pardon Libby, the
prosecutor's case against Rove would have been dead on arrival. The indictment
would remained sealed. Was the pardon of Libby what Fitzgerald discussed with
Judge Hogan on the morning of June 12 just before he informed Luskin that he
had no plans to indict Rove? Was the afternoon hearing before Walton and Libby
and his attorneys an effort by Fitzgerald to put on a happy face and keep up
appearances that a case still existed?
It is clear that Fitzgerald, who was politically appointed by the Bush
administration as the U.S. Attorney for Northern Illinois in 2001 and, therefore,
had to pass a litmus test administered by the most extreme right-wing administration
in the history of the nation, has politically manipulated the investigation
of the CIA leak by dragging out the process with endless motions; sidebars with
judges; questionable meetings with Bush's, Rove's, Libby's, and Cheney's attorneys;
and the failure to nail Libby with Espionage Act violations. Fitzgerald
earned his "crime fighter" stripes by indicting the Republican Governor
of Illinois, George Ryan, for a bribery scandal committed while he was Secretary
of State, not anything he did while Governor. But one thing that Ryan did as
Governor was to commute the death sentences of Illinois' death row population.
The reason: law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct in Chicago and Illinois
-- in other words, Ryan was accusing Fitzgerald's pals in the Illinois and Chicago
police and the state prosecutors office of criminal malfeasance -- a criminal
act. So, Fitzgerald, who originally worked for death penalty fanatic, John Ashcroft,
decided to indict Ryan. Many knowledgeable sources saw that indictment as a
politically-motivated retaliatory move. Fitzgerald is now pursuing criminal
investigations of Illinois Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich and Chicago Democratic
Mayor Richard Daley, Jr. Of course, getting indictments in Illinois and Chicago
for bribery is much like shooting at fish in a barrel. That says more about
Illinois politics than it does Fitzgerald's prosecutorial skills. Anyone want
to indict a ham sandwich?
Fitzgerald has also been engaged in some fancy legal footwork in the case against
Hollinger neo-con former Chairman and media mogul Lord Conrad Black. The Canadian-born
member of the British House of Lords has the same circle of powerful Republican
and neo-con friends as does Scooter Libby. Even if Fitzgerald were an Independent
Special Counsel, he would likely face the same resistance as that experienced
by past independent prosecutors: Archibald Cox, Leon Jaworski, and Judge Lawrence
Walsh. Fitzgerald is clearly the kind of referee the Bush administration
prefers in his role as a politically-vulnerable Special Prosecutor and U.S.
Attorney -- primarily because he's someone who decided to run the clock on the
Libby trial until after the November election, thus eliminating the trial as
a campaign issue. But the trial, which is due to begin in January 2007,
is scheduled just after Bush is expected to issue an end-of-the-year pardon
for the Vice President's ex-Chief of Staff. By gaming the judicial process to
favor the White House, Fitzgerald, who has reportedly been pressured by Cheney's
uber-counsel and Chief of Staff David Addington and Attorney General, is giving
the Bush administration a number of escape routes in the CIA leak case -- postponing
the Libby trial until after the elections and after the expected Bush pardon
of Libby at the end of December; running out the clock on three-year statute
of limitations on a potential civil lawsuit by Ambassador Joseph Wilson and
Valerie Plame Wilson, starting from the dates of the original wrongful actions
by the Bush White House -- in July 2003, although there are indications that
the "work up" on Wilson and his wife may have commenced as early as
March 2003.
Fitzgerald, who has never served in the military or the intelligence community,
appears to think that the CIA leak case is on par with white collar criminal
and political corruption cases in Chicago. Nothing could be further from the
truth. In the Ryan case, people received state business for political payola.
In the Hollinger case, investors were defrauded. In the CIA leak case, agents
and informants were tortured and executed. No one died from Illinois corruption
and Hollinger rip-offs.
The original reason for the CIA leak was Ambassador Wilson calling Bush's major
reason for invading and occupying Iraq -- that nation's supposed desire to obtain
yellowcake uranium ore from Niger -- an outright misrepresentation of the truth.
That White House lie, which Wilson called them on, has resulted in the deaths
of over 2500 American military personnel, the wounding of 40,000 military members,
the deaths of nearly 150,000 Iraqis, and the transformation of Iraq, the Cradle
of Civilization, into a hell zone. That is not a case of mere political corruption
and corporate fraud. Mr. Fitzgerald especially owes an explanation for his molasses-like
investigation to the families of dead and wounded U.S. servicemen and women
about his failure to carry out justice is a timely and forthright manner. Fitzgerald
may be an honorable man. But he is dealing with the most dishonest and reprehensible
people to ever hold public office in this country. The Special Counsel should
stop giving the White House breaks or resign and provide a full explanation
of what has transpired to the American people. For it is the American people,
not Mr. Bush, not Mr. Cheney, not Mr. Rove, not Mr. Luskin, and not Bush's attorney
Jim Sharpe, to whom Mr. Fitzgerald is ultimately responsible for his actions.
____________
Read from Looking Glass News
The
Wreck of St. Patrick Fitzgerald: CIA LEAK COVERUP
The
Bush spinmeisters' Kabuki dance with Patrick Fitzgerald.
Go to Original Article >>>
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