Reply #14: A few points .... [View All]

that are perhaps important, and which both of you are likely to agree on ....

"Libby had three formal titles. He was chief of staff to Vice President Cheney; he was also national security advisor to the vice president; and he was finally an assistant to President Bush. It was a trifecta of positions probably never before held by a single person. Scooter was a power center unto himself, and accordingly, a force multiplier for Cheney's agenda and views."
--Bob Woodward; Plan of Attack; page 48.


"In 1992, when Wolfowitz was an assistant secretary of defense, a startling document leaked from his shop. Defense Planning Guidance had been prepared by Wolfowitz and his deputy, Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, for Secretary Richard Cheney. Barton Gellman of the Washington Post called it a 'classified blueprint intended to help "set the nation's direction for the next century.."..' ."
-- Patrick Buchanan; Where the Right Went Wrong; page 42.

"According to my sources, between March 2003 and the appearance of my article in July, the workup on me that turned up the information on Valerie was shared with Karl Rove, who then circulated it in administrative and neoconservative circles."
-- Joseph Wilson; The Politics of Truth; page 443.

Libby has, for many years, been intimately involved in formulating and advocating the neoconservative agenda that resulted in our nation invading Iraq. Karl Rove has no similar history of foreign policy experience.

Libby had three positions which involved access to and use of classified intelligence on defense matters. He went to CIA HQ several times, often with Cheney, to try to force the false interpretations of data required to support the WMD lies. There is no evidence that Karl Rove was ever involved in this. He lacked the background needed to be able to even carry on a conversation about WMD research.

The OVP ran the OSP and WHIG. OSP was the intelligence arm, while the WHIG did public relations. Libby's positions allowed him to function as an OVP representative (or a "force multiplier for Cheney's agenda and views") in both OSP and WHIG matters. Rove was limited to the WHIG.

Mr. Wilson's comments on the "frog march" were on target. Karl indeed should have legal consequences for his role in the operation to destroy Joseph and Valerie Wilson. We do not know, at this time, why Mr. Fitzgerald decided not to charge Rove.

We do know that Mr. Fitzgerald's pretrial documents show that he is aware that VP Cheney played a far more active, "hands on" role in the operation to discredit Ambassador Wilson than the White House wanted the public to know.

It is interesting to speculate on what may have happened with Rove in early May. It is clearly more valuable to focus on what we know for sure about the role of Libby and Cheney.