Libby Trial: Will Ari Hang 'Em All

Could be...........

His testimony begins today, and by the time he's through the trial could be over, except for the rest of the witnesses Fitzgerald can crucify, as the rest of the trial drags on, gouging bigger and bigger holes in the administration's case for war and revealing more criminal slime.

"Bush Administration Is Focus of Leak Inquiry":

On the evening of September 27, 2003, Ari Fleischer logged onto a computer and read a story published on the Washington Post's web site - a story that would be printed above the fold on the front page of the paper the next morning.

'Bush Administration Is Focus of Leak Inquiry,' the headline read. 'CIA Agent's Identity Was Leaked to Media.'

The story, reported by the Washington Post's Mike Allen and Dana Priest, said that 'two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife' and that as a result the Justice Department was launching an informal inquiry to find out who leaked the name of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson to syndicated columnist Robert Novak two months earlier.

Fleischer cringed when he read the news. Worse, the story said that whoever was responsible for the leak might have violated an obscure 1982 federal law that carries a maximum punishment of 10 years in prison and tens of thousand of dollars in fines 'for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information.' (The law actually states that officials who 'knowingly' disclose information about an undercover agent could be prosecuted under this statute. The Washington Post incorrectly characterized the law.)