I've just read the entire Response filed by Fitz - interesting items

[pdxmom]

This is my favorite portion:

"According to defendant, at the time of his conversations with Miller and Cooper, he understood that
only three people – the President, the Vice President and defendant – knew that the key judgments
of the NIE had been declassified. Defendant testified in the grand jury that he understood that even
in the days following his conversation with Ms. Miller, other key officials – including Cabinet level
officials – were not made aware of the earlier declassification even as those officials were pressed
to carry out a declassification of the NIE, the report about Wilson’s trip and another classified
document dated January 24, 2003."

So the declassification was like "Super-Secret Probation" in "Animal House". And it basically goes to show that Bush wanted to keep his "declassification" secret from everyone. If what he was doing was legitimate, then why not just release it straight out? He and Chney knew damn well that what they were doing was dead wrong.

I also found it interesting that Fitz doesn't intend to use Rove or Hadley as a witness. I think that should make Rove and Hadley very, very nervous.

[Beetwasher]

1. The Declassification Was Classified

n/t

[pdxmom]

5. And according to Fitz, that classification was consciously maintained

"As part of his effort to justify in essence “open file” discovery concerning the NIE, 8
defendant notes that “Mr. Hadley was active in discussions about the need to declassify and
disseminate the NIE . . . .” Defendant fails to mention, however, that he consciously decided not to
make Mr. Hadley aware of the fact that defendant himself had already been disseminating the NIE
by leaking it to reporters while Mr. Hadley sought to get it formally declassified."

[MissWaverly]

2. isn't it true you don't call witnesses if you are going to indict them

[Jersey Devil]

4. Yes, and that could be a hint

of what is yet to come.

[Jersey Devil]

3. Excellent review of Fitz's brief at Firedog Lake

http://www.firedoglake.com/

Read part I & II on the main page

[MissMillie]

6. I don't suppose you have a link to it, do you?

that would be nice.

I heard on the TV that the fact that Rove and Hadley are not being called as witnesses means it is likely that there will be some charges brought against them.

[pdxmom]

7. Here's the link from Smoking Gun

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/graphics/pdf/libbyplame.pdf

[Jersey Devil]

8. also see the links at firedoglake.com (nt)

x

[Warren Stupidity]

9. Fine. Then they should be able to produce the Declassification Guide

that predates the leak. Otherwise they can put on the orange jumpsuits.

[pdxmom]

10. Well, I'm not sure how any of them are going to look in orange.

They've evidently just decided that if Bush/Cheney says it isn't secret any more, then it isn't. They don't have to tell anyone, it just is.

[Warren Stupidity]

11. Well they can say that but Bush signed an Executive Order

that says otherwise. So unless they produce the Declassification Guide, as per Bush's executive order of 2003, they have broken their own laws.

[pdxmom]

14. I sincerely hope that we get to see all this in a court of law. n/t

[Jersey Devil]

16. Well, you see, it was Sunday and * didn't know where the 'Declassified"

stamp was. That's why it wasn't "officially" declassified until July 18, when Bush found the stamp under a pile of unread newspapers.

[flpoljunkie]

12. Waas: The key judgements of NIE specifically excluded the uranium claim!

http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003972.html

Furthermore, blogger eRiposte writes, "...The NY Sun is reporting that Libby had permission from Cheney and Bush to leak portions of the key judgments of the NIE because it bolstered the uranium claim. But as I have discussed before, the key judgments of the NIE specifically excluded the uranium claim. This is very interesting in terms of its implications. I’ve discussed this further here."

http://www.theleftcoaster.com/archives/007296.php

[pdxmom]

13. Another interesting section:

Can't really tell from this exactly who knew what, and when, but I'm reading it that at least Cheney knew what was going on while Bush was insisting that he would find the leaker.

"During this time, while the President was unaware of the role that the Vice President’s Chief
of Staff and National Security Adviser had in fact played in disclosing Ms. Wilson’s CIA
employment, defendant implored White House officials to have a public statement issued
exonerating him. When his initial efforts met with no success, defendant sought the assistance of the
Vice President in having his name cleared. Though defendant knew that another White House
official had spoken to Novak in advance of Novak’s column and that official had learned in advance
that Novak would be publishing information about Wilson’s wife, defendant did not disclose that
fact to other White House officials (including the Vice President) but instead prepared a handwritten
statement of what he wished White House Press Secretary McClellan would say to exonerate him:

People have made too much of the difference in
How I described Karl and Libby
I’ve talked to Libby.
I said it was ridiculous about Karl
And it is ridiculous about Libby.
Libby was not the source of the Novak story.
And he did not leak classified information.

As a result of defendant’s request, on October 4, 2003, White House Press Secretary
McClellan stated that he had spoken to Mr. Libby (as well as Mr. Rove and Elliot Abrams) and
“those individuals assured me that they were not involved in this.” Memo. Exhibit I.
Thus, as defendant approached his first FBI interview he knew that the White House had
publicly staked its credibility on there being no White House involvement in the leaking of
information about Ms. Wilson and that, at defendant’s specific request through the Vice President,
the White House had publicly proclaimed that defendant was “not involved in this.” The President
had vowed to fire anyone involved in leaking classified information. In that context, defendant
proceeded to tell the FBI that he had merely passed information from one reporter (Russert) to other
reporters while disclaiming any knowledge of whether the information he passed was true, and
certainly unaware that he knew this classified information from government channels. Once that die
was cast, defendant repeated the story in a subsequent interview and during two grand jury
appearances."

[caledesi]

15. * cannot declassify THIS information.

The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, for example. It has no exemption for the President.!

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Covert_Agent...

<read 'em and weep>

[sandnsea]

17. They declassified in order to leak

They outed a CIA agent for political purposes. We really should put aside our intellectual natures and just hammer away at this simple fact.

[Burried News]

18. The original document is well worth the read. It goes very fast

and uses almost no jargon. Straight and to the point.
Right about now the scooter looks like a moped that got hit by a cement truck.

[pdxmom]

19. Yes, Fitz seemed to write it knowing that the public would be

interested in reading it as well. I work for an attorney who does federal work, and this was one of the clearest, straightforward filings I've seen in quite a while.

[Beetwasher]

20. Scotty's Begging To Spend More Time W/ His Family At This Point

"Please fire me."

[Emit]

21. Or it was never really declassified

And they're (Libby, etc.) just saying it was now to cover their asses?

Does that make any sense?

[spanone]

22. Why let Judith Miller sit in jail?, why let Libby get indicted?

Why fuck over the American people with lie after lie after lie after lie? One can only conlude that this is JUST MORE BULLSHIT.