Time to shine light on the mythmaking of Libby's defenders

The Baltimore Sun

WASHINGTON -- Everyone is entitled to their own opinions," Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a New York Democrat, used to say, "but not their own facts." Sorry, Pat, but my e-mail box runneth over with misconceptions from readers who feel entitled to their own facts about President Bush's commutation of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby Jr.'s jail sentence.

The former aide to Vice President Dick Cheney had been sentenced to 30 months in jail and a $250,000 fine before President Bush commuted the prison term, calling it "excessive."

At first Mr. Bush sounded like he thought Mr. Libby deserved to be punished, just not so much. But the next day, the White House said a full pardon had not been ruled out. If their mail is like mine, I can see why. A lot of Mr. Bush's supporters are outraged about facts that are not really facts.

"Dear Clarence," reads one missive, "You have some of your facts confused. Libby was not found guilty of anything related to Valerie Plame. [Former Deputy Secretary of State] Richard Armitage was the one who leaked her name. She is not a 'covert' agent. ... Many like you who support bad things happening to this administration believe, wrongly, that she was."

Depending on whom you talk to, Mr. Libby is either a fine public servant or an evil co-conspirator in a plot to discredit former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, Ms. Plame's husband. Mr. Wilson blew the whistle on a claim Mr. Bush made about Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions that turned out to be bogus.

Contrary to the drumbeat of misinformation and disinformation that you may have heard on various talk shows, Valerie Plame was a covert agent under the relevant 1982 law that makes it a crime to disclose the identity of a covert intelligence officer. Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald cleared that up in a memorandum during the sentencing phase of Mr. Libby's trial. "It was clear from very early in the investigation," he wrote, "that Ms. Wilson qualified under [the 1982 law] as a covert agent whose identity had been disclosed by public officials, including Mr. Libby, to the press."

And, yes, Mr. Armitage did leak Ms. Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak, who was the first to report it to the public. But Mr. Armitage was not the first or the only leaker. Weeks before Mr. Novak reported Ms. Plame's name in his July 14, 2003, column, Mr. Libby revealed Ms. Plame's CIA job in meetings with then-New York Times reporter Judith Miller on June 23 and July 8. Mr. Novak also received confirmation of Mr. Armitage's tip from Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's senior political adviser.

Mr. Fitzgerald's critics wish he had ended his investigation immediately after learning that Mr. Armitage was the source of one leak, Mr. Novak's. To me, that's like telling police who have busted a teenager for marijuana that they need not bother to find out who the kid's suppliers are.

Alas, Mr. Libby was snagged by a version of the old Watergate rule: It was not the initial "crime" but the cover-up that got him. Mr. Fitzgerald could not find enough evidence to meet the law's high threshold of proof to prosecute the leak of Ms. Plame's identity. Mr. Libby's false statements did not help.

I sympathize with the public's confusion about this. I blame the drumbeat from Mr. Libby's supporters who don't let facts get in the way of a lively argument. I thank the researchers at Media Matters for America, the liberal media watchdog site, for their assistance in helping me collect examples. They include:

William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, on NBC's Today show: "I would remind Joe Wilson that Scooter Libby did not leak Valerie Plame's name. Richard Armitage told Robert Novak, we now know."

Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in a Republican presidential debate: "I think the sentence was way out of line ... grossly excessive in a situation in which, at the beginning, the prosecutor knew who the leak was, and he knew a crime wasn't committed."

Former Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee on ABC radio: "The leaking of Valerie Plame's name didn't constitute a crime because she was not a 'covered person' under the relative criminal statue."

No wonder much of the public is confused.

Clarence Page is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. His column appears Tuesdays and Fridays in The Sun. His e-mail is cptime@aol.com.

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