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Another interesting view: New York Post July 21, 2007 -- Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson say they're not surprised that a federal judge threw out their lawsuit against four top Bush officials, vowing to prevail in "a higher court." Actually, Judge John Bates' 41-page decision shouldn't surprise anyone.
The former CIA operative and her ex-diplomat husband, who've become the darlings of the anti-war Bush-bashing crowd, sued Vice President Dick Cheney; his onetime chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby; White House political operative Karl Rove, and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage in connection with the leaking of Plame's name to columnist Robert Novak.
They claimed a political conspiracy was hatched at the top levels of the White House to discredit Wilson for his criticizing the administration's pre-war Iraq policy - and that "outing" Plame violated the couple's constitutional rights.
But the judge cited several reasons why the lawsuit shouldn't go forward - including the fact that these officials are legally immune from such suits, and that it was filed under an inapplicable act.
Judge Bates also made some substantive, non-technical points. Key among them: "Speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials."
In other words, none of those named in the suit violated the couple's privacy by discussing them with reporters.
Actually, there are reasons why Plame and Wilson took a legally dubious route with this lawsuit, instead of using the more applicable Privacy Law: Courts have ruled that the White House is exempt from that law, and Cheney & Co. were the couple's prime targets.
Plus, using that law would have left Armitage - who, it turns out, was the actual named leaker (though he was never charged) - as the only named defendant. And he opposed the Iraq war.
That, in turn, would have underscored the reality that the leak of Plame's name was not a White House vendetta, but rather an inadvertent, offhand remark.
In the end, Joseph Wilson, in his criticism of the administration, was guilty of exactly what he charged the White House of doing: politicizing intelligence.
The longer the issue remains alive, the more his credibility, and his wife's, will suffer. They'd do better to let the matter drop and just collect their book royalties.
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