The court ruled Cheney and the others were acting within their official capacity when they revealed Plame's identity to reporters.

Government employees who engage in questionable acts, such as abusing prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay facility or engaging in defamatory speech, cannot be held individually liable if they are carrying out official duties, the court said.

"The conduct, then, was in the defendants' scope of employment regardless of whether it was unlawful or contrary to the national security of the United States," Appeals Court Chief Judge David Sentelle wrote in the opinion.

So it looks like if you can make it part of your job, you can get away with murder.....Notice that the court did not say that the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

;)

She never had a case, her husband has NO credibility I am sure they will be on Countdown tonight weeping.

The fact that the administration revealed her identity as an undercover agent of the CIA has nothing at all to do with her husband's credibility. If Cheney et.al. had stuck to arguing the issue of yellowcake from Niger, there would be no problem.....except they'd be wrong. Instead, because they didn't really have a leg to stand on, they resorted to talking off the record to reporters to create a distraction.

I'm amazed that you can't see that. Now, I'm sure that you will go to the kitchen and open up a can of red herring, but the fact is that they knew she was undercover, that is why they didn't just come out and say what they had to say at a press conference and instead tried to get away with blabbing "off the record".

I don't need to open up a can of anything. If I were so inclined to take any kind of action at all it would be to do what I have always had to do when it has come to this story which is put boots on and grab a shovel.

Instead, I will later on this evening crack a cold one and happily look forward to a time when the war between the CIA and this administration is written about objectively. Just don't say I did not warn you when it does not turn out the way you have already convinced yourself of.

(Poor Valerie and Joe.....at least Keith will openly weep with them later on this evening.)

There are some people who can justify the Bush administration's abuse of power. I guess they sleep better at night with their heads buried in the sand.

Why did the White House feel it necessary to tell the press that Plame worked for the CIA?

I don't beleive they did. I mean was it the White House? Fitz could not prove it was how much money and time did he spend investigating this? Meanwhile a gentleman at the State Department new the entire time that he told Novak who Wilson's wife was and who he thought she worked for, no one seems to care about that I mean why would they, it was Novak article that started this whole thing?

Answer me one question (because this is what bugs me and why it does not add up):

If your a covert agent and your concerned about your cover (as you should be ) why would you allow your spouse to write an op-ed attacking the White House, especially when that op-ed directly contradicts the briefing (of which you are familiar) your spouse gave to the CIA upon your return trip (which you sent your spouse on). Why would you allow him/her to do such a stupid thing?

All this boo hooing about her cover did not seem to factor into the equation then, it did not seem to factor into the equation when he husband was running around the country de-bunking documents he never saw......... funny Olberman never brings this stuff up.......

Thats what bugs me about the whole mess and thats why I have no sympathy for them what so ever. I think they went out of there way to embarass a White House that was already reeling from WMD in Iraq. I think it was a political hit job from begining to end and it worked.

1. In spite of the number of reporters who were told that Plame worked for the CIA by Libby, Rove, Fleischer and Armitage...you don't think that the White House had any part in revealing her identity.... 2. Your question is not relevant since nobody figured out that Plame worked for the CIA without White House help. Wilson had a history in the region, but somehow you think that eventually someone would have followed the trail to his wife. The fact is that it was Cheney who wanted to know more about Wilson and that is how it became public knowledge.

1. In spite of the number of reporters who were told that Plame worked for the CIA by Libby, Rove, Fleischer and Armitage...you don't think that the White House had any part in revealing her identity....

Fitz could not find anything could he? Is it so unreasonable that the White House was at least asking who Wilson was? Why he was claiming to de-bunk documents that the US goverment did not even have in there possesion until eight months after he returned? To paraphrase Stephen Hayes to talk of cover up and espisonage is alot more intriguing then pure incompotence. At the time this was taking place I don't need to tell you that the White House was reeling from Iraq. Again Novak's source was at the State Department not the White House.

2. Your question is not relevant since nobody figured out that Plame worked for the CIA without White House help. Wilson had a history in the region, but somehow you think that eventually someone would have followed the trail to his wife. The fact is that it was Cheney who wanted to know more about Wilson and that is how it became public knowledge.

I bolded the key phrase in your statement because its false. The fact of the matter is Novak after being told that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA ( BY THE STATE DEPARTMENT) stated that it took him all of about 5 seconds to determine that Plames front company set up by the CIA,,,,was in fact a front company.

In the age of 24 hour cable news, of tabloid journalism galore, he writes an op-ed blasting the President of the United States and you don't think anyone is ever going to ask questions about who he is? Especially when we have soldiers in combat etc.? Are we to believe they are that naive? Simple questions actually, who is this guy and who sent him on this trip, answer the CIA, well who at the CIA, blah blah blah blah...............all lead to his wife. So its not irrelevant, its actually utterly irresponsible if you are in fact concerned (which i don't buy in her case) about your cover. Especially when your front company does not even have working telephones, which she had to have been aware of!

.

While Novak wrote the article, there were 4 sources who told 6 different reporters that Plame worked for the CIA. It just happens that Novak was the first one to tell the rest of the world. That fact, all by itself, is inescapable and inexcusable for me.

Armitage found out about Plame because he was told to look into it by the White House.

Novak might have been able to discover that her cover was flimsy, but he only looked into it after he'd already been told about her by both Armitage and Rove.

They told reporters about her and they knew that the information that they were putting out was secret and you continue to defend them.

I'm amazed.

Novak should have gone to jail for reporting it...

And speaking of Chenney, have anyone seem him lately??

Lets not let facts get in the way of nonsense.

Facts: Novak broke fedreral law. He should go to prison.

Cheney's Chief of Staff was convicted of Obstruction of Justice in this matter and was about to spill the beans when the President gave him a partial pardon by preventing him from going to prison.

The President stated that he was going to get to the bottom of this matter (who outed a CIA undercover operative) and "take care of them". Most Americans though that taking care of them meant punishing them. What he did, by taking care of them, was to give them a get out of jail free card.

The misinformation created by the yellowcake misinformation was critical in "proving" that Saddam was trying to get nuclear weapons. The President's speech about a "nuclear cloud over an American city" was the turning point in American public opinion about invading and occupying Iraq.

The truth was squashed and misinformation put in its place. Those who got us into this unwinnable civil war will not be brought to justice. This is sad indeed.

The Justice Dept was then and is presently just another extention of the White House. Historically, the Dept of Justice was an independent arm of government. The last two directors of the Dept of Justice are lackeys for Dick Cheney and Bush43. The recent appeals court throwing out the Valarie Plame lawsuit is just more proof that selecting specific judges that follow the neo-conservative point of view can distroy the neutrality of the court system. This is why the Justice Dept stated that although laws were broken "crimes were not committed". Two wrongs don't make a right so to speak. Thats fine except the hand picking of Federal Judges creates a mochery of the Constitution and stears legitimate claims away from neutral courts. Between the use of Executive Privilege and placing Federal Judges in strategic places (and putting political cases in their court), there is no impartiality. The game is fixed.

I cannot understand how anyone who loves this country still supports the misinformation and outright lies used by the White House. When the Constitution tries to step in, illegial tactics are used to stop the inquiries.

This is a sad time for America. History will not treat this Adminsitration well.

Respectfully,

wdp

I am amazed that you keep bouncing back and fourth between the facts and pure speculation and using mainly speculation to hang these people. In the end Fitz could prove nothing and Plame as it turns out did not even have a civil case.

I respect your position I do, I just simply do not agree with it. On a side note I honestly think the Plame affair is probably the best debates we have ever had and I have enjoyed them.

(On a all together different side note are you going to the convention?)

I haven't been ask.

wdp