Media Should Be More Careful

The media coverage of the I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr. indictment has been thoroughly frustrating.

It is extremely perplexing to see the media distort the true allegations and speculate about how this indictment is indicative of the way that the Bush Administration handles criticism on foreign policy issues.

The conjectures of the media are not warranted and are simply perpetuating misinformation to the general public.

Many would think that the investigation centers on Valerie Plame’s concealed identity and whether the Bush Administration intentionally released information on a covert operative in order to exact revenge on Joe Wilson, whose report allegedly debunked the Administration’s rationale for invading Iraq.

However, there are two major flaws with both of those assumptions.

First and foremost, Valerie Plame is in no way classified as a clandestine operative and therefore cannot claim protection under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. In other words, her status was not classified, her work was not top secret, and everyone knew that she reported to Langley every day for work.

The only reason her identity is an issue is because of Joe Wilson himself.

After his report was filed, he subsequently stated that his wife, Valerie Plame, had no influence in sending him to Niger in February of 2003. However, the bi-partisan Senate Select Committee reached a different conclusion.

In filing their final report, the committee indicated that Valerie Plame “had suggested his name for the trip.”

White House officials, by releasing this knowledge, were simply setting the record straight instead of obfuscating details to the point of absurdity.

Second, Joe Wilson’s report never discredited any intelligence used relevant to the invasion of Iraq. In fact, the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that the report he filed further verified previous data obtained in 1999 about a meeting between Niger’s prime minister and an Iraqi delegation. Besides adding new evidence to strengthen the argument of the international intelligence community about Saddam Hussein’s ambitions to secure nuclear material, Joe Wilson did not add any substantial information on his much-touted trip to that nation.

The famous ‘16 words’ in the 2003 State of the Union Address are valid, and have been confirmed again by the British government in their post-invasion review of intelligence – calling the statement “well-founded.”

The Libby indictment does not support ridiculous theories that have been circulating around in many political circles, nor invalidates any pre-war intelligence used to justify the invasion.

Libby is not charged with outing a covert CIA agent or endangering the safety and security of our intelligence community.

All Libby has been charged with is lying to FBI agents and the grand jury as to how he learned Valerie Plame worked for the CIA.

Correspondingly, perjury is a serious charge that warrants full litigation. But to compare this case to Watergate or any other more systematic government corruption investigation is superfluous and melodramatic. The evidence simply does not support those assertions.

The media needs to tell their audience the complete story pertaining to the investigation. Anything less is deceptive and neglectful of their duty to inform the public.