A judge has dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit accusing members of the Bush administration of leaking her identity.

Interesting.

Ed W.

"IN GOD WE still TRUST - ALL OTHERS, WE used to MONITOR"

Better for whom?

The full story:


Valerie Plame's Lawsuit Dismissed

Jul 19, 3:51 PM (ET)

By MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal judge dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration Thursday, eliminating one of the last courtroom remnants of the leak scandal.

Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her identity in 2003. Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband's criticism of the administration.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove, former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle. Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.

Plame's identity was revealed in a syndicated newspaper column in 2003, shortly after Wilson began criticizing the administration's march to war in Iraq. Plame believes the leak was retribution and that it violated their constitutional rights.

Armitage and Rove were the sources for that article, which touched off a lengthy leak investigation. Nobody was charged with leaking but Libby was convicted of lying and obstruction the investigation. Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2-year prison term before the former aide served any time.

"This just dragged on the character assassination that had gone on for years," said Alex Bourelly, one of Libby's lawyers. "To have the case dismissed is a big relief."

Plame's attorneys said they were reading the opinion and had no immediate comment.

While Bates did not address the constitutional questions, he seemed to side with administration officials who said they were acting within their job duties. Plame had argued that what they did was illegal and outside the scope of their government jobs.

"The alleged means by which defendants chose to rebut Mr. Wilson's comments and attack his credibility may have been highly unsavory, " Bates wrote. "But there can be no serious dispute that the act of rebutting public criticism, such as that levied by Mr. Wilson against the Bush administration's handling of prewar foreign intelligence, by speaking with members of the press is within the scope of defendants' duties as high-level Executive Branch officials."

Shelly

Thanks, that had not been released when the first reports were coming out.

Ed W.

"IN GOD WE still TRUST - ALL OTHERS, WE used to MONITOR"

I just saw her attorney on TV. They are taking it to the Court of Appeals

Shelly

Bush will pardon everyone!

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History will not pardon him.

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No, BobW, but I do have one of these:

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Yeah it will. Long after you're gone Bush will go down as one of the greatest presidents ever.

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Shelly

Don't hurt yourself.

Is it not historically possible for a president who is not highly regarded in his time, be highly regarded many years after?

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Yes that would be possible but not for a buffoon, a total failure. It worked for Truman, that was a rare case. It did not work for

Nixon
Carter
Hoover
Harding
Cleveland
Johnson
Grant

I could make a longer list, but I think that is enough to get the idea across. The fact is that we have had a bunch of duds in the White House, some decent ones, but very few great Presidents.

This nation has not survived because of most of its leaders, but in spite of most of them. It has survived because, in their wisdom, the Founders installed safeguards to save us from ourselves.

Shelly

Wasn't' Lincoln another president who wasn't favored in his time, but is now up there in the top 3?

And saying Bush is a total failure is a stretch isn't it?

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You are much too kind, Jason.

I've actually thought for a long time that Bush, by himself, is merely incompetent. The people he surrounds himself with, however, take that incompetence and raise it to levels of sheer maliciousness.

Take, for example, Dick Cheney's recent assertions that he can't be forced to comply with an Executive Branch order because he's actually part of the Legislative Branch. Turns out he was questioned by an interviewer a year or so ago about refusing to cooperate with Congressional subpoenas. He answered that he can't be ordered to comply with those because he's part of the Executive Branch. (The Daily Show highlighted this fact. Unfortunately, it looks like Comedy Central already taken that segment off of their website to make way for newer segments.) So if he's not part of yet not part of the Executive Branch and part of yet not part of the Legislative Branch, where is he exactly? (Note the pixelation.)

There, and also in the catbird seat.

Tomorrow Cheney will become President for a few hours when Bush is under anesthesia for a colonoscopy. Sleep well folks!

Hmm... how will they know when the anesthesia wears off?

Shelly

I read about that. Why in the hell would this be publicized? Gross.

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Just what is gross about it?

Shelly

Maybe it's not so gross to those who have had it done.

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She's hot.

In an old way.

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You would need sedation because it first would require major surgery to get your head out of there.

Sorry, I just couldn't resist.

VILE!

But very funny!

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Damn...They found your head first. The brown nose was the initial clue.

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Damn, they are going to find Stephen Harper in there

Grogan

Possibly John Howard as well - he wouldn't take up much room.

Tone
Tone

Not after the prep for the procedure.

Shelly

Tone
Tone

Shelly

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There were enough to make the point. I left out more than I listed.

Shelly

However, history (media) did improve the FDR and Kennedy administrations from whence they were governing.

I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean. FDR was probably the most popular President in our history. He won the Presidency four times by landslides. Three of them before we entered WWII.

Shelly

Not True

Harry S Truman went out of office as one of most disliked Presidents in history. Harry S is now considered on of our greatest.
He was disliked for blunt speaking doing what was best as he saw it for the country not making decisions based on polls or what the party thought he should do.

Harry Truman did what he thought was good for the country. Bush does what he thinks will further his insane messianic mission, America and the world be damned.

Sorry, Whippersnapper -- this argument continued past my bedtime. I would now, if I may, like to add to Shelly's enlightened commentary:

As far as I am aware, Presidential pardons don't apply to non-criminal cases - in other words, to civil suits, which this suit is, or was, or may be again.

Jim.

I don't know, Jim. But since the buffoon you're stuck with now is dangerously delusional and conducts himself as if endowed with the divine right of kings, instead of the temp-civil-service worker he actually is, who the hell knows what he thinks his limitations are -- if any.

Cross your fingers and hold your breath -- sixteen months to go before history begins to award this crazy son-of-a-%*&^# his well-deserved place among the greats.

regardless of who wins or loses this case, we are all losers. If Plame loses, it will be a little harder for the US to recruit spys if they can be outted by other government officials just doing their job.
If Plame wins (some of you will disagree with this as a loss) the US proves to the world once more that we have elected a bunch of folks (who outted one of our own spies for personal gain) a little short on the brain power to think things through.

What was Richard Armitage's personal gain? http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/30/leak.armitage/index.html

I was trying to be nice.
How about - they are all a bunch of doo-doo heads who seem to have a hard time reflecting on the consequences of their actions.
Perhaps Armitage will write a nice book about it, since (I hope) his public career is over.

A little off topic but.....



Valerie Plame is hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Hey....This is the off-topic lounge. Valerie Plame is a looker alright.

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.

You are nothing if not consistent! If Faux Noise is not handy, you go to the New York Post, a fish wrapper also owned and controlled by Rupert Murdoch.

Have you ever used any news source where they are not told what to think and say by one sleazy old man.

Shelly

If Rupert Murdoch knew your views/opinions he probably wouldn't think much of you either.

Your daily fix.

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Your house number is missing.

Shelly

What's wrong with a difference of opinions? Just because News Corp doesn't fit into what you believe to be the truth why is it wrong?

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Because it is a propaganda mill. It has no regard for journalistic integrity.

I live in a very conservative part of the country, the majority here do not agree with me politically. Our one daily newpaper is also very conservative and owned by Morris Communications, an extreme right wing company who own a number of newspapers and radio stations in the deep south. I respect, and have that paper delivered seven days a week, because they confine their views to the editorial page, as is their right. They do not allow their philosophy to affect any other part of the paper. They report the news, not the publishers opinions.

Shelly