Identity Of Official To Be Kept From Libby

by Toni Locy - February 25th, 2006 - The Wichita Eagle (kansas.com)

WASHINGTON - Former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, charged with perjury in the CIA leak case, cannot be told the identity of another government official who is said to have divulged a CIA operative's identity to reporters, a federal judge ruled Friday.

At the same time, U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton said Libby could have copies of notes he took during an 11-month period in 2003 and 2004 while serving as chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.

The judge also set the stage for a showdown in late April over the defense's plans to subpoena reporters and news organizations for notes and other documents in the leak of Valerie Plame's identity.

During a hearing Friday afternoon, Walton said Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald can keep secret the other government official's identity because that person has not been charged and has a right to privacy.

Excuse me? What did this judge say? Another government official did what Scooter Libby is charged with lying about but because he has not been charged, Scooter Libby cannot find out who he or she is, and therefore cannot determine if they are the source of the leak that the prosecutor is certain Libby was trying to cover up? And the reason according to the judge is that person has a right to privacy? Doesn't that mean that person also committed no crime? And therefore Scooter Libby committed no crime he needed to cover up? What happened to the right to confront your accuser?

I guess that only applies if you have really committed an offense and if, as Scooter Libby has learned, you are a Republican the rules do not apply. Prosecutors can charge you with perjury if you remember anything differently than a liberal remembers it. That is what this farce is proving to be. Scooter Libby remembers facts about a non crime differently than some liberal reporters and he thus must go to jail . . . for the crime of - being a Republican.

Our courts have not only become totally corrupt. They have become totally politicized. There is no justice in our courts. They are a joke.