The trial of Scooter Libby, and why we should care

We should care because this goes straight to the top. We should care because this will be the first time in history that a sitting Vice President will be called to testify. We should care because, depending on what evidence comes to light during this trial, Cheney could get a little bit of it on him. We should care because it’s fun to watch roaches scurry when a little light is shed.

We should care because this is better than any reality show on TV.

Ok, here’s a quick breakdown of the situation. I’ll not provide dates or links for every point, this is just a simple, brief summary.

Joseph Wilson was the US diplomat to the African Nations and Iraq, who wrote a scathing editorial in the New York Times back in 2003 entitled, “What I Didn’t Find in Africa”. In this editorial, Wilson documents his February 2002 trip investigating whether Iraq purchased or attempted to purchase yellowcake from Niger in the late 1990s and accuses the Bush administration of "exaggerating the Iraqi threat" in order to justify war.

Remember, yellowcake is used in nuclear weapons, and was one of the main reason we had to invade Iraq.

Wilson is married to Valerie Plame who, at the time, was a super-secret undercover agent for the CIA.

In order to get even with Wilson for blowing the lid off the HUGE lie told by the WH, someone in the WH leaked to the press the identy of super-secret undercover agent Plame, thereby costing her her job and putting her life in danger.

This trial is about who exactly leaked that information to the press and the coverup that followed. The leak came from Cheney’s office. President Bush promised "to fire whomever was responsible".

Seeeee, I told you you should care!

Scooter Libby is actually the one on trial for leaking Plame’s identy. Libby was Cheney’s top aide. Libby blames Karl Rove for the leak. Rove is Bush’s chief political adviser and part-time Porky Pig lookalike. And just so’s ya know, Rove and Cheney are the evil masterminds who are really running the WH, the war, and the country. Just so’s ya know.

Most likely, Cheney and Rove got together and told Scooter to leak Plame’s identity to the press and are now throwing him under the bus. That’s pretty much their M.O. and I would imagine Scooter learned of Plame through Rove and/or Cheney, and lied about learning it from the press to cover for them.

Patrick Fitzgerald is the Special Prosecutor for the trial, which started yesterday.

Theodore Wells is Scooter’s attorney.

So those are all the players. Now on to today’s news.

There are actually two different plots going on here. The first is the plot to leak Plames’ identity to the press. The second is the plot to cover up who did the leaking. But the bottom line is, Rove and Cheney are in this up to their necks. Crimes were commited, such as perjury and obstruction of justice, which is what Scooter is charged with for lying to investigators when they started investigating the leak.

Scooter said he learned about Wilson and his wife from reporters, not the vice president. He says he learned of her identity from NBC News reporter and host of the Sunday morning talk show "Meet The Press", Tim Russert. Russert says "Nu-uh" and will testify against Libby. For this reason, MSNBC will probably be covering the trial closer than anyone and will be a good source to follow.

Attorneys for Scooter Libby said yesterday that the Bush administration officials tried to blame him for the leak of Plame's identity to cover up for Karl Rove's own disclosures.

Libby has said, "They're trying to set me up. They want me to be the sacrificial lamb. I will not be sacrificed so Karl Rove can be protected."

Stay tuned. It's going to be a bumpy trial...

MSNBC

Crooks and Liars will have periodic posts, live from the courtroom.