Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson spontaneously combust
What a week it's been for the super-duper-secret Vanity Fair cover couple:
| ...First, there was the sight of Richard Armitage -- Colin Powell's #2 man when Powell was Secretary of State -- being frog-marched out of his home by FBI agents and charged with exposing Valerie Plame's identity. Some cynics say that in the end, Armitage -- who had opposed the war in Iraq -- will not spend any time in jail, but instead get a slap on the wrist and become the butt of jokes -- much like former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, who stole and destroyed classified materials from the National Archives. Then Powell himself issued a statement through his attorney -- not even appearing in person -- saying that the former Secretary of State would have no comments on the matter while it was still pending before the courts. Then Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, got hit with a legal one-two. First, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney hit him with defamation lawsuits, then the New York Times went after him for fraud. Legal experts say the Rove and Cheney suits will most likely be dismissed, but the Times one is on firmer ground -- they published Wilson's account of his trip to Africa on behalf of the CIA, and in it he flatly contradicted his official report -- and that was under oath. Sources within the Times say the real motivation for the suit isn't the embarassment for publishing it, but revenge for starting the whole mess that sent the Times' Judith Miller to jail for almost three months. Miller herself is looking into suing Patrick Fitzgerald over the whole thing, as he apparently knew the real source was Armitage long before she was called in to testify -- and was locked up for refusing to cooperate... |
Would it be inappropriate to giggle at this juncture? I'll just say: Heh.
Wizbang: Plame-Wilson Story: Week that Was
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