Sidney Blumenthal: The liberation of Karl Rove

The special prosecutor's decision not to seek indictment of President Bush's chief political adviser and deputy chief of staff Karl Rove suggests two possibilities.

First, Patrick Fitzgerald's letter informing Rove that he will not be prosecuted concludes his responsibility as a witness. Rove was summoned before the grand jury five times for his actions arising from the smearing of former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who exposed that the rationale for the Iraq war was based on disinformation, and the outing of the identity of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame, his wife, in retribution. "Wilson's wife is fair game," Rove urged one TV commentator in a private conversation. Rove was compelled to explain, after an incriminating internal White House email surfaced that he revealed Plame's CIA background to Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper, just how it happened that he had forgotten about it in his initial interview with the FBI.

Perhaps Fitzgerald's release of Rove from further grand jury appearances is about the discrete matter of Rove himself. If Fitzgerald has repeatedly subpoenaed him for questioning only about his own tortuous story there may be no further reason for the prosecutor to continue his investigation. Then the letter to Rove's attorney ought to be swiftly followed by the grand jury's disbandment. And Fitzgerald can concentrate solely on I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice, and scheduled for trial in January 2007. (Libby, for his part, has declared his intention to call Rove as a witness in his trial.)

Second, Rove's escape from potential indictment may be the result of his extraordinary cooperation. "We've always said he did everything he could to cooperate," Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, told the Washington Post this morning. But the extent of Rove's cooperation about others remains unknown. Fitzgerald's filings in the Libby case document Cheney's initiation and direction of the attacks on and obsession with Wilson, and the "concerted action" by "multiple people in the White House" - abusing classified information - to "discredit, punish or seek revenge against" Wilson. If Fitzgerald's investigation has completely ended he should announce it soon and release the grand jury. Given his professionalism, if his probe is done he will not tarry in holding a grand jury. That would be the normal procedure. But if he makes no such statement, the inevitable conclusion would be that his investigation continues. In that case, it would be reasonable to assume that Rove has been a useful informant.

Freed from fear of indictment, Rove remains in character as unabashedly shameless. Before a Republican party gathering in New Hampshire yesterday, he launched his usual partisan fusillades. Though the Bush administration has run up the largest deficit in US history, Rove blamed the Democrats, the powerless minority party in the Congress: "They're for more spending. We're for less spending." On Iraq, he admitted no error: "We have no excuses to make for it."

cont'd...

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sidney_blumenthal/2006/06/the_liberation_of_karl_rove.html