Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Cheney & Libby:Not Over By a Long Shot

Lost in the tsunami of commentary on the Libby perjury trial verdict is that a second trial looms that could be far more damaging to Vice President Cheney and the Bush administration.
That trial would be on the lawsuit that Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame have filed against Cheney, Libby, Karl Rove and Richard Armitage.
The lawsuit would have proceeded no matter the outcome of the criminal trial. That is because it is not about whether Libby obstructed justice and lied, but whether the high-profile defendants violated the constitutional rights of the former diplomat and his CIA agent wife by conspiring to retaliate against them after Wilson revealed that one of the key rationales used by the administration for going to war in Iraq was phony.

Plame and Wilson are asking for unspecified monetary damages for what they describe as a "gross invasion of privacy" that could jeopardize the safety of their children and target Plame for retribution by enemies of the U.S. They also allege that the incident has impaired their professional opportunities.
Conservatives have called the civil suit "an alternative version of reality" and worse, but it is not going to be wished away.
Although the analogy is less than perfect, the O.J. Simpson criminal and civil cases help explain why the suit could be so damaging.
Under the rules of criminal procedure, Simpson could be found guilty at his criminal trial only if the evidence showed beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the murderer. Largely because of an inept prosecution, the jury did have doubts and Simpson walked.

Under the rules of civil procedure, Simpson could be found guilty at his civil trial on a lawsuit brought by the families of the victims if there was merely a preponderance of evidence that he was responsible for the murders. The jury found there to be more than enough evidence, Simpson was found guilty and ordered to pay the families $33.5 million.

The same test will apply to a Wilson-Plame civil trial and the defendants, if found guilty, would have to pay the plaintiffs big bucks for violating their civil rights. No jail time would be involved.

'DISCOVERY WILL BE A BITCH'
But it will be the run-up to a civil trial that could be even more problematic for Cheney and his posse than the trial itself. I am fond of saying that "discovery will be a bitch" in my sometime role as a legal consultant and for good reason because that often is where the most blood is spilled.
Discovery is the process in which attorneys obtain information before trial through demands for documents, depositions of the plaintiffs and potential witnesses under oath and written interrogatories. Under the law, that process is pretty much wide open on the theory that both sides have a right to go to trial with as much knowledge as possible and that no side should be able to keep secrets from the other.
All of this begs the question of whether there will be a trial.

In November, the defendants filed a motion to dismiss the suit on the grounds that their positions as high-level government employees protect them from prosecution and, even more unbelievable, that outting Plame was within the scope of their responsibilities.
In other words, they were just doing their jobs. And besides which, they're above the law.
The motion is pending and I would not be so rash as to predict what the court will do.

But f
or what it is worth, my gut tells me that the suit will proceed to discovery and then to trial if there is not a whopper of an out-of-court settlement. That is if Wilson and Plame would even accept one.

The plaintiffs are not particularly sympathetic characters. Wilson has been especially self aggrandizing on the talk show circuit, but that won't matter when a jury is confronted with the spoils of discovery and the harsh reality of what rotten sons of bitches have run the U.S. for the last six-plus years.

It is beyond obvious that had Cheney let pass the kerfuffle over Wilson's disclosure that the Niger uranium story was false there would not have been a grand jury, a perjury trial and now the threat of a civil trial that will bring further shame to a presidency drenched in failure.
The vice president had been revealed as an extraordinary bully who has put the U.S. at grave risk. Or as Josh Marshall put it, "a screw-up and a moron of historic proportions."

I think that Josh let Cheney off easy. A civil court jury is likely to agree.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Chenny is not doing anything that politicians havent done for the last 200 years. If your political rivals go after you. Then you go after them back. Wilson went to Africa at the suggestion of his wife and in "HIS OPINION" not supported by hard evidence but supported by conjecture and hear say and speculation decided that there was no truth to the fact that Hussein was seeking fissile material.

Okay. Fine you throw his report in with the rest of the reports that are being used to work up a case for a war in Iraq. The fact is that the Bush Administration had evidence from the British that this had happened. Not hard evidence but certainly speculation, conjecture and hear say.

Wilson was a democrat and certainly not a bosom buddy of the White House. The fact is that Wilson most certainly had his own agenda which was "resisting the White Houses efforts to make a case for war" So the White House chose to accept the British Evidence over Wilson's evidence.

The real sin came when Wilson then went to the press and denounced the White House as lying scum for not believing him. Spinning his version of the truth and making it seem as if Joe Wilson had the Truth the Whole truth and Nothing but the truth so help him God. Its called spin and its also pretty much a guarantee that by doing something along the lines of what he did its gonna get him some repercussions.

That is how Washington works. Hillary will do it when she is elected. Obama will do it when he is elected. Tom Daschle, Joe Biden, Kennedy. Its done. They all do it. You must be willing to take the heat.

That being said its evident to me that Chenny did what many politicians have done over the years. Strike back at those that would strike at them.

Look at Clintons. They had their advesary KILLED for daring to strike at them.

You are just a typical "I hate everything Bush, Chenny and Republican. Fine. Thats your perogative and your right. I just laugh at people like you that are so full of hate for all things Republican that they forget 225 years of history so they can make a case and spin the truth to "GET" Chenny/Bush.

Anonymous said...

Hey, "Hawkishdove," it's people like you who shrug off these crimes that are the real danger to this country, not some loonies with guns. You better wipe the Kool-Aid off your lips and start smelling the coffee.

Anonymous said...

Oh stop with the silly koolaide and the left wing talking points. Can't you think for yourself? Come up with something original.

The facts are simple. Wilson said This is what I see. The British Said this is what we see. The Republican administration said okay we like what the British see better then what Wilson saw. Lets go with the British. Wilson said you Freakin morons Ill show you.

Now this really begs one giant question no ones ever even bothered to ask.

IF Intelligence work was this easy Why do we have this gigantic spy network set up? Why not just send Joe Wilson everywhere we want to know what the truth is and have him tell us what the truth is.

This is such a gigantic crock of Horse dung. One man goes to Africa, talks to a couple buddies and comes back and says nothing there and this is intelligence work?

Oh Im sorry. Of course your right. We should all believe that Joe Wilson in his infinite wisdom has the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

I'm sorry but you guys are trying so hard to make a case against the war in Iraq that you are making stuff up. Seeing goblins where they dont exist and if they dont exist then you are making some.

To your assertion that I shrugged off this crime. Which crime is that? Wilson was sent on a spy mission and then going to the newspapers and telling them what he found? That crime? Or the crime of trying to punish the moron for breaking a sacred trust in the intell community by going to the press in the first place and spinning his Laughable Intelligence report into the all knowing gospel of holy redemption for the anti war. That crime?

Just which crime are you pointing to here because I see more then one major crime emerging from the ashes of this trial.