Heh, heh, heh. Let em squirm an sweat. Then impeach. indict, convict, incarcerate, execute. By the numbers. RULL OF LAW!

Steve - Could you specify which essentials you've confirmed? Because there's something puzzling about that story and what we know. Here's what Fitzgerald wrote in his letter to Libby's defense on January 23:

We are aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against defendant Libby which has been destroyed. In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system.

The White House then turned over 250 pages of newly recovered emails to Fitzgerald, apparently on February 6. Now, the Rawstory hangs together as long as the deleted emails and so on have nothing to do with the charges against Libby; or if somehow Fitzgerald knew about the emails at that point, but didn't know about their content, and it has turned out to be damning of Libby. Otherwise, I don't see how Rove could have led Fitzgerald to those emails.

Also, Steve, I posted a request for clarification on your previous Plame-related post here and I was hoping I might get a reply on that. I think you were traveling and there seemed to be server problems that day, so you might have missed it. Thanks.

I am hellaciously addicted to this story. I calmly go about my job every day and then Bam! some new speck, rumor, fact, whiff, pleading comes out and, well, it isn't dignified.

Thanks, Steve. Maybe.

Jeff -- thanks for your note and query. Sorry I had not seen your earlier item. You are watching this in great detail, and that's great. What I confirmed through a source close to Rove is that he was cooperating enthusiastically with Fitzgerald -- and my source says that Rove did help unravel the previoiusly undisclosed email communication in the VP's office. I don't have any information, however, that those emails further indict Libby. That's speculation on my part -- and as I noted, I suggested that the provision of many more communications, partly at the hand of Rove, must be causing the Libby defense team grief.

But the key issue I was interested in was whether Rove was connected at all to these previous emails that had not been provided earlier. I don't have any evidence that Libby or anyone on the VP's team tried to destroy evidence -- but as has already been reported -- some of the recovered emails were deleted. They could have been deleted, however, as part of routine operations, though I have always been under the impression that "nothing" is deleted any longer in the EOP. But who knows.

On the subject of the Dana Priest/Mike Allen source, I have to go back and see what I wrote exactly. But I ran over a roster of potential sources for them -- and had included Armitage. There is more to this story that I'd rather not publicly write, but perhaps another time. I also speculated in that first post, that whomever was their "friendly source" was probably also known to Fitzgerald. The reason for my speculation was that neither Priest nor Mike Allen had been called before the grand jury -- and thus I speculated that the source was known to Fitzgerald. That doesn't necessarily mean that Fitzgerald's insider source is the same person; it just suggested that whomever was the Priest/Allen source was probably known to Fitzgerald. It may or may not be the same person as Fitzgerald's alleged insider. I suspect it is.

Then you raise Walter Pincus. Again, I'm traveling, and I don't recall what I wrote exactly -- and should go back to my blog and check carefully.

I'm not sure that I mentioned Pincus's name -- so I won't now. But I was told by a senior Washington Post writer that the reason the source may have disappeared from later stories is that the source, in this writer's view, went wobbly.

That's all I should say right now before checking my notes. Write to me privately if we can go further on this.

All the best,

Steve

Thanks a lot, Steve. I'll just say this: the fact that

Rove was connected at all to these previous emails that had not been provided earlier

is big news in itself, regardless of what is actually in the emails, at least because it means at the least that Fitzgerald's comment in his January 23 letter to Team Libby was as loaded as some thought. So I take what we know, then, to be the following: sometime between November 2005 and January 23, 2006, Fitzgerald became aware, thanks to Rove, that there were missing emails, and he told Team Libby that on January 23. Presumably, Fitzgerald did not have those emails at the time (which was a subject of some dispute when the news of Fitzgerald's January 23 letter first broke). But he got 250 pages of emails from the White House on February 6. On February 24, the defense had not yet received those from Fitzgerald, but one of Libby's lawyers said in court he had been led to believe there was nothing startling in them. Who knows if that's actually the case. But presumably Fitzgerald may (or may not) have changed his mind as to whether he is aware of any evidence pertinent to the case that has been destroyed. Maybe there's nothing pertinent to the Libby case, but maybe there's something pertinent to a potential case against someone else in the OVP.

Jeff, are you the guy that fights the wingbats at justoneminute? You're my hero. And I just wanted to tell ya that.

Steve, thanks. I suggest a NYT headline:

"TWN sources say Rove cooperating 'enthusiastically' with Fitzgerald"

"We are aware of no evidence pertinent to the charges against defendant Libby which has been destroyed"

TRANSLATION: "That evidence your guy thought he destroyed is in my hands and he is toast."

"In an abundance of caution, we advise you that we have learned that not all email of the Office of the Vice President and the Executive Office of President for certain time periods in 2003 was preserved through the normal archiving process on the White House computer system."

TRANSLATION: "Please caution your client that we found this damning e-mail evidence preserved on some mail server other than the normal archival machine, and although he thought he had deleted them, he failed."

rove is teflon. this is like what mcguyver or bond would do if they were being investigated. hillarious.

Jeff:

I think the RAW story indicates that the WH has a real-time back-up system, and that notes destroyed on the individual computer would still be available on that system. As Jerry says, nothing has been destroyed (despite any attempts).

After Fitz put the screws to someone, this was just a matter of time, technically speaking. The White House email system is Lotus Notes, which is famous for replicating the contents of local mail databases in so many different directions that it's a practical impossibility to get rid of all copies of anything!

Who is Rove serving in all this? Himself? I'm not sure how except to make nice with Fitz by helping him out. I don't think Rove had any legal resposibility in regard to producing Libby's Emails so why do it. Making nice with Fitz isn't going to stop him from going after Rove if there is a case.

Causing more problems for Libby certainly doesn't serve the President or the administration in any way I can imagine.

I might conclude Rove wants to hurt Cheney and his gang so even more power flows to himself. That seems kind of crazy however. Then again, we can never be certain of motivation and that goes triple for borderline sociopathic manipulators like Rove.

Who is Rove serving in all this? Himself?

Who else? He's almost certainly "enthusiastically" co-operating because he hopes to get a reduced sentence. The first rat who rats out his fellow conspirators always gets the best deal in the plea bargain.

Rove wants to save his own skin. He's got no loyalty to Cheney: why should he have any?

What you have to remember is, nobody in the Bush Admin expected there's be a real investigation by a competent prosecutor. They were expecting Ashcroft to name some easily-bamboozled or compromised hack. When they got Fitzgerald instead, they clearly didn't know what that meant, and kept on playing as if they were facing the hack they expected. So they were careless with what they said, and to whom.

By the time they realized their error, it was too late. Rove and Libby had already given false testimony under oath. They had to back and fill like crazy to reconcile their statements, do quick-n-dirty purges of the email, and hope they'd covered their asses enough to introduce reasonable doubt.

They still have no idea what they're dealing with. I think it dawned on Rove last year that he can't intimidate or confuse Fitzgerald, and that the only way to escape an indictment of his own was to offer Fitzgerald something better. Like Cheney.

Who is Rove serving? He's serving Bush.

Rove giving up emails from Cheney's office tarnishes nonbody, since the traila into Cheney's office already stops at Libby. Libby won't turn on Cheney, and Rove, it seems, has directed Fitz's gaze right back to the VP's office.

Rove gets off, Bush gets off, Cheney gets off, Libby gets convicted and pardoned in 2008.

rove is teflon.

Like a carcinogen on the Presidency.

He will learn that "fair game" works both ways after the Wilsons' civil suit hangs him by his heels and shakes his pockets empty. Recall that in a civil suit he will be forced to testify under oath. God may have a lightning bolt yet to chunk at that bastard.
-

This is an obvious ploy: Rove saves his own ass by 'cooperating'. But the fact is that Libby is, and never will, serve a day in prison.

The defense of Libby will stall and delay as long as possible. If convicted, he'll be free on appeal(if necessary given the amount they'll delay this) until Libby is pardoned just prior to Bush leaving office.

Libby gets off via pardon, Rove gets off thru 'cooperation'.

Don't wait for anything to come of this, there will be no justice until a civil suit is begun.

It's all about Karl, always has been. The next best thing to being the president is being the hand in the sock-puppet-president that is George Bush. Karl doesn't like to share, and he probably would like Cheney gone anyway so that someone with better numbers (presumably the nominee in '08) can replace him. And if he can somehow beat the rap by ratting out as many in the VP's office as he can, so much the better, though he probably can count on a pardon when Bush leaves anyway.

For god's sake can we please drop the ruse about it was all done to get joe w? His wife's covert cia GIG was sniffin out Iran's WMD....Brewster Jenning's....come on, most of us know this...nobody in the WH is stupid enough to commit a crime punishable by death, (treason during "war")just to "get back at somebody"...they were just 5 steps ahead, planning to invade Tehran now that we got em surrounded, look at the map

For god's sake can we please drop the ruse about it was all done to get joe w? His wife's covert cia GIG was sniffin out Iran's WMD....Brewster Jenning's....come on, most of us know this...nobody in the WH is stupid enough to commit a crime punishable by death, (treason during "war")just to "get back at somebody"...they were just 5 steps ahead, planning to invade Tehran now that we got em surrounded, look at the map

sorry for the duplicate......kinda new to this online show....love the free flow of information, lets all admit, we need a complete revolution. the problem is capitalism, our fragile planet cannot sustain it indefinitely.

All Republocrats should be outlawed. But at least 5 other party's should be represented on all ballots....MINIMUm.......THIS 2 PARTY CORPORATE BULLSHIT must end.

ok...one more tirade before bed.....9/11 was an inside job....its freakin obvious if u ask questions with an open mind. Chuck Hagel is a good bet 4 next Prez cause he works for the rigged vote stealin computer company, check out his first victory......first time in HISTORY the exit polls were WAY off the "result"...by coincidence the first time touch screen voting was ever used , anywhere and hmmmmmmm...the victor worked for the same company that made the machine......how stupid do they think we are, come on, lets fight back....fuck the pussy democrats...we need men whom are pissed off...who's with me?
ok.....i'm not really a wacko....frustrated poet, special ed teacher, past my bed time...amzed by new computer, beautiful woman upstairs asleep, warming my bed up....new puppy, weekend musician....happy personally, but......WTF????
How will the future talkm about us? We know...we see....take back our airwaves....peaceful revolution....as Dec of Indpndnc says....if gov don't cut it, people should, "ALTER OR ABOLISH" IT

Yer (you are OK. Maybe fine tune the meds a little. Hey, I wear my tinfoil proudly.

Agnostic more than convinced. Guess it's the lawyer in me.

But yeah -- WAS 9/11 the Reichstag Fire?

Can't convince me it was not.

I distrust BushCo that much.

The trouble with being a scumbag is that you invariably end up in bed with scumbags. Anything is possible with these creeps, and Bush and Cheney's downfall, if it ever comes, will be that some worm like Rove, or some other such lowlife, will start squeeking to high heaven in an attempt to weasel out of an indictment.

History ain't going to be kind to these dirtbags.

BTW, things in Iraq just got decidedly worse. We will be lucky if these God damned idiots haven't lit the spark that will incinerate the Middle East, and beyond.....

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-03-27T191932Z_01_L27605414_RTRUKOC_0_UK-IRAQ.xml

An excerpt....

"While U.S. officials refused to acknowledge that the targets of the operation were Shi'ites, and the sectarian affiliations of the Iraqi troops involved was unclear, the State Department official said the incident underlined what he called the need for Iraq's security forces to be free of sectarian bias.

One thing was certain: Shi'ite leaders were up in arms against the U.S. forces who effectively brought them to power by overthrowing Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated Baathist regime.

"The Alliance calls for a rapid restoration of (control of) security matters to the Iraqi government," Jawad al-Maliki, a senior spokesman of the Shi'ite Islamist Alliance and ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told a news conference.

The United States handed over formal sovereignty in 2004 but 133,000 troops in the country give it the main say in security.

Government-run television repeated lengthy footage of the bodies of men in civilian clothes with no weapons in sight.

Baghdad provincial governor Hussein al-Tahan said he would halt all cooperation with U.S. forces."

Noticed that Ambassador De Sade and Republican moneyman Mel Sembler is the chair of the defense fund.

See what Mr. Sembler, star Republican is all about here:

http://www.alternet.org/story/27725/

But where Melvin Sembler, 74, demands attention is as an object lesson in how cruelty can be redeemed by the transformative power of political donations. For 16 years, Sembler, with his wife Betty, directed the leading juvenile rehab business in America, STRAIGHT, Inc., before seeing it dismantled by a breathtaking array of institutional abuse claims by mid-1993. Just one of many survivors is Samantha Monroe, now a travel agent in Pennsylvania, who told The Montel Williams show this year about overcoming beatings, rape by a counselor, forced hunger, and the confinement to a janitor's closet in "humble pants" -- which contained weeks of her own urine, feces and menstrual blood. During this "timeout," she gnawed her cheek and spat blood at her overseers. "I refused to let them take my mind," she says of the program. The abuse took years to overcome.

Someone above asked, "Who is Rove serving?" I say, only himself.

At some point the vice president perhaps using his health as an excuse will resign, thereby effectively killing the investigation.

Thank you for the opportunity to view. Can't you please fit into the page as al other sites do. Scrolling across to see both sides of the screen is frustrating.

Published by lima:
'At some point the vice president perhaps using his health as an excuse will resign, thereby effectively killing the investigation.'
Keep in mind - Scooter Libby resigned after he was indicted; and his investigation and trial still goes on......the indictment does not follow the office held, but rather the individual. We still get to 'Fitz' these guys!

Libby won't turn on Cheney, but Libby's lawyers will.

"dpf"

right on.

rove is loyal to no one but himself.

rather, he uses others to achieve his ends.

president george w. bush is the most famous of rove's manipulations.

Bastardization by a Bastard

Speaking of Rove. March 31st, 2006

Here is a nice tidbit on how much scum and spin Rove can do. AP News item:

At a Republican fundraiser in Pensacola, Fla., Friday night, Bush political adviser Karl Rove said, "How ridiculous in a time of war is it to have concern about Osama bin Laden's civil liberties over the security interests of the United states of America?"

This guy is so insidious, so dangerous, so corrupt, so putrid...he would spin American's concern for the right to privacy and the rule of law, into insinuation that anyone against illegal wiretapping is attempting to protect Bin Laden's civil rights!!!!

How can people not see how this bastardization of the real issue is a ploy straight from the Third Reich propoganda handbook?

Americans concerned with the right to privacy and illegal search and seizure have just been linked to supporting terrorists. Rove is not even coy about it. Were it not so dangerous, it would be hilarious.

Jessica Delain
Dallas, Texas

Classic Nixonian mistake of coverup. Unlike Bush Sr. intelligence people, we have amateurs.
Dubya will lose a large part of his staff only
because he's loyal to schemers and thiefs like
Cheney, Rumsfield, Bolton etc. instead of leaders
and chiefs like Powell, Gen. Shinseki and Franks (400,000 to control Iraq). The altered WMD intel
will destroy his party and presidency.