Fitz Update?

[BlueStater]

I'm sorry but, goddamn, what is taking him so long? I don't know how much more I can take of these crooked creeps leading our country into the sewer.

[napi21]

1. The most recent info I heard was this AM when there was a

report that Libby's atty's are trying to get Fitz to step down! I'm sure this is yet another "try anything long shot" on their part, but that's the kind of stuff that's going on now.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

2. The legal proces at this level is slow at best....it's not for the....

...faint of heart, and/or those that become easily agitated.

No offense intended, but none of us have any control over Fitz's investigation.

[BlueStater]

3. I like to think of myself as a patient person

But I can't deny that I'm getting a little worried about the lack of activity lately.

[H2O Man]

7. There is no lack of activity.

You can follow the case by using "google."

[Warpy]

6. I've resigned myself to the possibility that he's aiding the

administration in providing damage control to shield the two top traitors.

If this proves not to be the case, I'll be delighted.

I just don't think I'm wrong.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Oh, come on. Produce some evidence to prove your point.

[Warpy]

21. They're still in office

they're uncharged and they're acting as though they're immune.

What's your evidence?

[Media_Lies_Daily]

25. Libby indicted for lying; Rove still under the gun;....

...and Card's resignation for starters.

The falsified reasons for going to war in Iraq are also tied to the findings of Fitz's investigation. Plame was outed and her organization destroyed not only to get back at Wilson, but also because of Plame's network's mission of tracking WMDs and WMD materials around the world. Plame's area of expertise was Iraq and Iran.

There is also open warfare going on between the staffs of Herr Busch and Big Dick, each trying to get the other side implicated in the Plame investigation. Cheney and his staff are losing that battle for the moment, but they may pull Bush down with them.

The MSM has not been immune to the fallout from this case, for instance:

*Judy Miller's jailing, her grand jury testimony, and subsequent dismissal from the NY Times which I applauded loudly.

*Bob Woodward's public embarrassment for making statements along the lines that Fitz wasn't going to indict anyone. Woodward has also come under fire for his very close association with the NeoCons and the Bush family. Woodward is allegedly a FORMER Office of Naval Intelligence agent, but I personally believe he was planted at the post as part of the Navy's equivalent of Operation Mockingbird.

*Robert Novak's public embarrassment for being the first to out Valerie Plame and the CIA-front company for whom she worked.

The MSM has begun to cover a wide variety of stories that are extremely negative towards the NeoCon Junta, and public opinion has shifted against the NeoCons in rather dramatic fashion. The failures of the NeoCon Junta are catching up with them, and Fitz's investigation has been the catalyst.

That's the short version...there's a lot more, but you'll have to find them on your own.

[H2O Man]

4. Two things:

First, of course, is the Libby case is moving forward. Friday, the defense filed a motion claiming that Fitzgerald lacked the authority to prosecute Libby, etc. They claim Comey's appointment of Fitzgerald was unconstitutional. They want the case dismissed.

I don't think this is likely. The 12-30-03 letter appointing him, along withthe 2-6-04 response to Fitzgerald's request for expanded authority (to go after people who lied to investigators and/or the grand jury), along with Comey's 8-12-05 letter to Margolis, are quite clear. Also, both Fitzgerald and Comey have filed further information with the court.

Second, it has been reported that Fitzgerald is presenting summaries to the grand jury, apparently scheduled for the end of this month, which may result in two more people being indicted.

While the case may appear to be moving slowly, there are reasons for it. They include things like Judith Miller's dragging her feet for a year on appeal, and the secretive nature of the administration. Were Fitzgerald investigating any other group involved in high-level organized crime, it would not seem as drawn out as this does. People understandably want results. Those results are coming.

[wordpix2]

12. thanks as always, H2Oman

[wordpix2]

5. there was a thread about this on Fri.---Libby's lawyers trying to get

Fitz off the case

[Neil Lisst]

8. Now I know why they picked him.

He's so painfully slow, he'll never get anyone to trial before December of 2008, when Bush pardons everyone who might have been involved.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. He hasn't been the problem...foot-dragging and attempts to hide....

...information pertinent to the case by the NeoCons has been the real problem.

[Neil Lisst]

14. He is the problem. He's too slow, and too tentative.

It's the administration that is throwing up roadblocks, but he's the one who won't indict. He'll still be fiddling around at glacial speed when Bush pardons everyone.

[H2O Man]

22. I think it is

understandable that people feel frustrated by the slow pace, and that they question why there have not been further indictments. Yet it is important to remember that Rove narrowly escaped indictment in October '05, and that there are reports that Fitzgerald has rejected the arguments that Libby's attorney put forth then. It's a slow process, but I think by mid-May, you will be pleasantly surprised. I think you may even find yourself thinking, "I really would like to buy that strange Mr. Water Man a beer."

[Neil Lisst]

24. He may eventually get around to charging others, but he'll never

get the case to trial in time to avoid Bush's Christmas 2008 pardons.

He blew that chance 5 months ago. They'll keep him busy swatting at flies until late 2008, then Bush will pardon all the perps and it will be over.

Does the name Cap Weinburger ring a bell?

[H2O Man]

29. Sure.

However, in terms of presidential scandals in modern times, meaning Watergate and Iran-Contra, pardons are in the minority. In Watergate, there was only one. Most people were convicted, and many incarcerated.

And, in case you have forgotten, Bush1 pardoned people after losing his bid for re-election. Bush2 is not seeking re-election. Hence, were he likely to grant pardons, there is no reason for him to wait. He would get the most benefit -- in terms of lessening damage -- by having granted a blanket pardon after he was re-elected ..... back when he had all that there capital to spend. Ring a bell?

[Neil Lisst]

30. I disagree. Bush would be foolish to pardon before trial is imminent.

It's not hurting him right now. As long as Fitz is moving at glacial speeds, and as long as only Libby has been indicted, Bush would be stupid to pardon now.

He has to wait at least until the Nov 2006 elections are past. Then he can do as poppy did.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

26. You're welcome to your own opinions. Just curious, but....

...how would you have conducted this investigation knowing what you were up against?

Is it possible for you to understand that moving too quickly, without ironclad reasons for indictments, opens the way for the NeoCon Junta to defend itself in their usual way? This investigation has to be VERY deliberate, and the evidence has to be completely unimpeachable. In short, Fitz's investigation has to result in a spear thrust through the heart of the NeoCon Junta, or it's not going to be successful in any way.

[Neil Lisst]

28. Divide and conquer. Indict Hadley, Rove, Libby, and an underling.

Then see who makes a deal.

Only indicting one guy played into the hands of the Bush administration, IMHO.

[H2O Man]

9. Fitzgerald update:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040206Y.shtml

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. I see that the quotes are from Libby's defense attorney.....

...have have been proven to not be very good at predicting how this case is being conducted. They have been thwarted by Fitz and the judges at every turn. I don't see where they will get Fitz dismissed either.

[H2O Man]

20. I don't see this

as among the more serious things they are doing. Perhaps an issue for appeal, in hopes of a sympathetic Supreme Court.

[Beelzebud]

15. It's a Rovian plot to destroy Fitzmas!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

16. Absolutely. More stalling tactics,

[Media_Lies_Daily]

19. ...but nothing that's going to stop the eventual findings.

[harpo]

17. keep his website bookmarked and check it often..LINK

he puts stuff up there

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/

[H2O Man]

18. Right.

Also use "google." Go to Libby's Defense Fund; there are court motions linked on it, too. Then google the case at: CR. NO. 05-394 (RBW) .

[MADem]

23. Not an update, but a Fitz fix, for those who enjoy detail

http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/printables/060207roco01?print=true

Mr. Fitz Goes to Washington
By DAVID MARGOLICK
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald is a crime-busting phenomenon, the scourge of al-Qaeda terrorists, corrupt Chicago political machines, former media tycoon Conrad Black, and—as special prosecutor in the Valerie Plame investigation—the West Wing. Meet Karl Rove's worst nightmare
For months he was the specter haunting Washington, rarely seen and even more rarely heard, incessantly discussed, psychoanalyzed, anticipated, criticized—and feared. Who, everyone wondered, was this guy Patrick Fitzgerald, and exactly what was he up to? What was taking him so long? Why was he seemingly letting columnist Robert Novak, the source of all the trouble, off the hook? And where would it all end, especially after he threw New York Times reporter Judith Miller in the clink for refusing to answer his questions? Critics labeled him a First Amendment scourge and compared him to Inspector Javert, the monomaniacal policeman in Les Misérables, a man without humanity or perspective. A "runaway Chicago prosecutor," columnist William Safire called him. A "junkyard-dog prosecutor," seconded The Washington Post's Bob Woodward. Fitzgerald's treatment of Miller, CNN anchor Lou Dobbs charged, was "an onerous, disgusting abuse of government power."

Then, on October 28, everything magically flipped when Pat Fitzgerald took his place on the television screen. The president of the United States was in one corner and the vice president in another, but they were each on mute; it was Fitzgerald—the 45-year-old son of an Irish-immigrant doorman, the man who'd questioned all of the president's men and the reporters to whom they liked to leak—that people really wanted to hear.

Officially, Fitzgerald's mission that day was to announce that a federal grand jury had charged Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, with five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to the F.B.I. But his agenda was actually more ambitious. He would explain why his investigation, designed to determine who had leaked the name of C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame to the press, had netted only someone who'd allegedly lied about it afterward, and why that mattered, and what accounted for the ferocity with which he'd handled it. He would lay out the legal issues involved. And mostly, after nearly two years of taking hits silently, he would finally introduce himself to America.

The face he showed that day looked a bit banged up, as if he'd just come out of a rugby game, though in fact it reflected only sleeplessness. There was a kind of wide-eyed, youthful sweetness to it. One easily understood why, when Fitzgerald and Andrew McCarthy, a fellow Irish-American, had prosecuted Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman in a Manhattan terror bombing and assassination conspiracy a decade ago, defense lawyers petitioned for a recess on Ash Wednesday: the blackened foreheads of the prosecutors would only accentuate their maddening altar-boy images. (The judge, incidentally, granted the request.).......(much, much more at link)

[ramblin_dave]

27. Firedoglake: Great Big Libby Case Update, Part I

Great Big Libby Case Update, Part I
By Christy Hardin Smith

I’ve been insanely busy the last few weeks, and Fitz and company haven’t exactly been standing still either. So I thought I would do a huge update on all those Libby things I’ve been trying to get to, but haven’t been able to hit because of pressing news issues or live-blogging needs or life in general. So for all the Traitorgate aficionados, this is your lucky day.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/02/great-big-libby-case-update-part-i/

[ramblin_dave]

31. Firedoglake: Great Big Libby Case Update, Part II

Great Big Libby Case Update, Part II
By Christy Hardin Smith

Team Libby’s valiant attempt at a Hail Mary Technicality Defense is amply padded, but it doesn’t pass the smell test for me for a couple of very good reasons: statutory interpretation and recitation of facts ought to be accurate when you are making this sort of argument, and I have to say that Team Libby fails on both counts in a number of places.

http://www.firedoglake.com/2006/04/03/great-big-libby-case-update-part-ii/