Meanwhile, back in Fitzville...

[Loge23]

"A good investigation unravels mysteries. A bad investigation multiplies mysteries. Patrick Fitzgerald's probe into the Valerie Plame leak is looking like a bad investigation. It isn't over yet, and why it isn't over yet is one of the new mysteries."

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/opinion/content/opinion/epaper/2006/09/16/a12a_Armitage_edit_0916.html

From the "What ever happened to....?" file.

[panader0]

1. I don't get it either. Everyone knows that a crime was commited.

Why has no one been charged with it? Libby is charged with lying about it. Who actually did it? I can only hope that the charges are made right before the midterms.

[Demit]

3. The nut of it is PROVING that a crime was committed.

That's what Fitzgerald meant when he talked about the dust being thrown up in his eyes, or whatever his sports analogy was. They all stonewalled, and obfuscated, so he couldn't get enough to prove who knew the salient fact of Plame being undercover and passed it on to the press. He was able to catch Libby in a provable lie. Whether he can penetrate all the deniability they made for themselves, well, we'll have to wait and see. Bushco are masters at what they do in this regard, and so much of the press has their backs.

[Igel]

6. No, not everybody knows it.

A lot of people suspect it. The law requires conditions be met for a crime to have occurred. Fitz hasn't proven that anybody's met all the conditions. Neither has anybody else.

We have assumptions, we have speculation, and we have people ignoring what the laws actually say.

Hell, we even have one person saying that Ms. Plame met with dem senators in May '03--I wonder what she said her occupation was? And another saying that when she was 'outed' she was retooling for an HR job, presumably since her Iraqi-oriented group was downsized to the point of meaninglessness.

Everybody knows that a regulation was broken. A CIA agent's identity was exposed by somebody who knew she was a CIA agent. But that's a broken regulation, not a law. It can get your security clearance revoked, not your freedom.

[eomer]

2. .

[Poppyseedman]

4. If that is the case why isn't Libby charged with a "process crime"

rather than a leaker charge?

I'm beginning to think Fitz is faced with an embarrassing fact, that his investigation is come to an end and pretty much has caught a net fill of worms rather than the big mouth bass and is looking for a way out without having to do lots of 'plaining why he wasted a ton of money and time.

The likely answer for the extended probe is that, although Mr. Armitage says he was Mr. Novak's primary source, Mr. Fitzgerald set out to identify all the leakers. In fact, he has said that Mr. Libby leaked Ms. Plame's identity to Ms. Miller before Mr. Armitage talked to Mr. Novak. The Novak column simply was the first evidence that the leaks had been successful.

[exlrrp]

5. When's it going to be Fitzmas??

We sure have heard a lot about it, Fitz was supposed to be the 2d coming. Gee and here I went out and bought all kind of Fitzmas decorations, learned all the Fitzmas carols.
This story sure died quick when Armitage had his say--but didn't Armitage commit a crime? I thought revealing Plames indentity was a crime no matter who did it.
Whether he was in or not, Fitzgerald always ran this investigation just the way the Republicans wanted--very slow and very secretive, with nothing substantial to hinder the Republicans in this election or the last. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED FITZ!! Now you better get started preparing on the Libby prosecution, its only 7 months away but don't try too hard--Bush will only pardon him on the last day