Submitted by George Bedway, Jul 12, 2007 20:19

Since SECSTATE and Justice knew who discussed Plame with the press before Fitzgerald got into the game, and since Plame was not a "protected person" within the meaning of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, there was no reason for Fitzgerald to conduct any investigation at all. Thus, Libby should not have been questioned by the FBI or called before a grand jury. Judge Walton is also at fault here; he stated early in the trial that he did not know whether Plame was covert or not and in any event, this matter was not germane to the trial. Why then did he permit Fitzgerald to refer to to Plame as covert on two to three occasions during his summation, which obviously was prejudicial to Libby and enflamed the jury. Justice demands this trial/verdict be overturned. Fitzgerald went hunting for a big name...possibly planning to be the next Attorney General. He should be called to account for investigating a "crime" when there was none and thus possibly contributing to the commission of another crime. If he wanted a big name why didn't he go for Sandy Berger? I do not hold with betraying real agents; Philip Agee, who caused the IIPA should have been executed, judicially or otherwise.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.