Contrary to what may be the views of some, I am not a knee-jerk apologist for this administration. Note, for example, my opposition to Miers, my copious disagreement with the administration over Terri Schiavo, my opposition to the recess appointment of John Bolton, my disdain for the President’s fiscal policies and so forth. I note this to ward off (maybe) the likely reaction (I usually get accused, in one way or another, of being an apologist whenever I state I don’t see a likely crime in Plamegate)to my endorsement of today’s column in WaPo by Richard Cohen (who is far less of a friend of this administration than am I, to put it mildly): Let This Leak Go.

Cohen’s column pretty much sums up my views on the Plame situation: it strikes me as highly unlikely that the crime of knowing revelation of an undercover CIA operative took place, and that if their are any indictments, they will be on ancillary issues not directly related to the crime that Fitzgerald is supposed to be investigating.

At best, there was innocent sharing of information and at worst there was typical Washington hardball being played here.

Either way, I have yet to see anything that convinces me that anyone should be indicted or sent to jail.

I hold out the very real possibility that information could be shared with the public that could change my mind, but as time passes, this seems less and less likely.

If this ends up to be some vague conspiracy charge, when no root crime was committed, I will find this unsatisfying, and potentially indicative of an abuse of this process.

Again: I reserve final judgment, but if the criminal act under investigation ends up not to have happened, then it seems fit of prosecutorial hubris, if not a fit a pique, to then find something to charge someone with.

Of course, some disagree.

Kevin Drum, while he thinks Cohen makes too many assumptions in some of his reasoning, ultimately agrees on the idea of Fitzgerald bringing perjury or conspiracy charges:

If Fitzgerald has evidence that White House officials leaked Plame’s name as part of their PR counteroffensive against Joe Wilson, then he should bring relevant charges. If he can’t make the case — either because he can’t prove the leak or because he can’t prove that Plame was truly covert — then he should go home. Like Cohen, I really don’t want to see him hand down indictments solely for perjury or conspiracy or some other consolation prize. I’d enjoy seeing Karl Rove frog marched out of the White House as much as anyone, but not at that price.

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6 Responses to “Cohen on Fitzgerald and Plame”

1. Jack Says:
   October 13th, 2005 at 1:53 pm

   No indictments have come out of the investigation yet, so I believe that Cohen is being a bit premature. If indictments come and appear to be based upon very thin grounds, then I would agree with your assertions here.

   As I repeately try to advocate on my own weblog, I believe that what is now termed “typical Washington hardball” is ultimately harmful to our nation, because instead of debate of the merits of the issues at hand it substitutes the tactics of personal destruction of those who promote particular stances.

   Can we not do better than we have seen in the past decade?

2. Dr. Steven Taylor Says:
   October 13th, 2005 at 2:32 pm

   I don’t disagree about “typical Washington hardball” –however, not liking something, and that something being criminal, are two very different things.

   I would radically prefer a more civil discourse, yes. But, I am not sure the hisroty of politics, forget the last decade, reveals that we are likely to get such.

3. campaign finance Says:
   October 13th, 2005 at 2:44 pm

   CIA Acquires New US Clandestine Leadership Role
   By REUTERS
   Published: October 13, 2005
   Filed at 12:09 p.m. ET

   WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The CIA will lead a new clandestine service designed to coordinate all traditional U.S. spying activities overseas, including those of the FBI and Pentagon, top intelligence officials said on Thursday.

   As part of an ambitious strategy to rebuild U.S. human intelligence after debilitating lapses over Iraq and the September 11, 2001, attacks, the new National Clandestine Service, or NCS, will operate out of the spy agency under a director reporting to CIA Director Porter Goss.

   After the White House blew an enormous and successful operation out of the water…
   They will all be spying on each other.
   Valerie | 10.13.05 - 1:57 pm | #

4. Steven L. Says:
   October 13th, 2005 at 5:34 pm

   Which enormous and successful operation are we talking about?

5. Terry Says:
   October 13th, 2005 at 8:40 pm

   Apparently he is talking about the WMD work, which is what Plame was involved in. If that is the case, I think the distance between his definition of “successful” and mine make our differences in the qualifications of a SC nominee look almost unmeasurable.

6. Don Surber Says:
   October 14th, 2005 at 12:34 am

   The Left’s Scandal Obsession

   PoliBlog: “Cohen’s column pretty much sums up my views on the Plame situation: it strikes me as highly unlikely that the crime of knowing revelation of an undercover CIA operative took place, and that if their are any indictments, they will be on anc…