SCOOTERRRRR !!!!

The prosecution wrapped up its case today against Scooter Libby, former chief of staff to the vice president, who is charged with lying to a grand jury. If you watch Hardball you already know what’s happening. If you don’t, here’s a play-by-play:

* The president’s stated reason for going to war was that Hussein had, or almost had, nuclear weapons.
* A British intelligence report said that Hussein had tried to buy nuclear material from the African nation of Niger, but the CIA told the White House the story wasn’t true.
* Cheney then tells the CIA to send someone to Niger to check it out.
* The CIA sends Joe Wilson, a former ambassador familiar with the area. Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, happens to be an undercover CIA agent.
* Wilson discovers that the story is completely bogus.
* The president uses the story in his State of the Union speech anyway.
* Wilson writes an op-ed for the N. Y. Times, saying the story was bogus.

What happened next depends on who you believe. Here’s what the prosecutor believes.

* Cheney tells Scooter to carefully leak the fact that Valerie Plame (Mrs. Wilson) works at the CIA, and that she was the one who sent him to Niger.

This was an attempt to undermine Wilson’s credibility by making the trip look like a nepotistic “gimme”. They were perfectly willing to uncover an undercover agent in the process. How much Bush knew about any of this is up for grabs.

* An investigation is begun.
* Libby testifies to the grand jury that he didn’t know anything about Valerie Plame until reporters told him; among them, Tim Russert.
* Russert testified today that he did not tell Scooter about Valerie Plame, that he didn’t know who she was at that time.
* A number of other reporters have testified that Scooter told them about Mrs. Wilson.

If convicted, Scooter faces from two to twenty years, depending.

a foot on either side

Bartley B