WHY ONLY LIBBY?….On Monday the defense in the Scooter Libby trial called a string of reporters to the stand and asked them if Libby had ever told them about Valerie Plame’s identity. They all said no. Over at National Review, Byron York (or, rather, Byron York’s headline writer), asks a question:
If There Was a Conspiracy to Out Plame, How Come Libby Didn’t Tell Woodward? Or Novak? Or Pincus, Or…?
Answer: Who cares? Libby’s not on trial for outing Plame’s identity.
So here’s a more pointed question. As near as I can tell, everyone else that prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald talked to during the course of his investigation told him the truth. That includes Richard Armitage, who originally leaked Plame’s name to Robert Novak. It also appears to include Karl Rove (though only barely), Bob Woodward, Ari Fleischer, Novak himself, and dozens of others. So here’s my question: If everyone else told the truth, why did Libby lie? Repeatedly. Under oath. What was different about the vice president’s office that out of the entire mountain of people Fitzgerald interviewed, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff was the only one who felt he had to lie?
