All of this goes back to the Office of the Vice President, Dick Cheney, specifically, to his Chief Of Staff, some fucker they call "Scooter" Libby. Apparently, Scoots was in a meeting with Cheney where the subject of the CIA came up, and Plame's identity was revealed. That was not supposed to be a big deal in and of itself, because dudes like Scoots are supposed to be in the loop and know who these people are as they are assumed to be trustworthy. However, the problem was that Scoots went and told a reporter this and that's how it was made public. So, now that it has all come out and been traced back to Scoots and he has been indicted, the first sitting White House official to be indicted in a very long time, he resigned his post yesterday and says that he is confident that he will be exonerated just like Michael Jackson was and all shall be well, except that he's now out of a job, for the time being anyway. People are wondering just why Scoots did this, as it was an egregious breach of trust, and that dude has been in Washington for decades and is no rookie, and certainly knew better. It could not possibly have been an accident like he says it was, his bullshit story is that he passed the information on from one reporter to another, not gave it to a reporter himself, but his own notes show that he did just that and that's why he is the fall guy. He sure did do it on purpose, and the reason was politics. Valerie Plame had a problem as far as the White House was concerned, and that was her husband, a dude named Joe Wilson. It seems that Wilson has not been a favorite of the White House for a long time, as he hates President Bush and has been a political enemy of his for a long time now. Ever since this Administration took office, Wilson has been a problem for them, and they apparently got tired of it and decided to do something about it. Scooter Libby has been a steadfastly loyal man to Bush and Cheney for a long time now, so he apparently took it upon himself to do this. When you work for this Administration, you are told that any enemy of Bush is an enemy of yours as well, so you have to fight them even if they have zero to do with you. Valerie Plame had zero to do with Scooter, as he was just an office dude working for Cheney, not a policymaker or a politician or any of that. The dude is just a lawyer, like everyone that has a fucking job in Washington seems to be, and he had no reason to hate either Plame or Wilson. However, his bosses did and that was why he went and dropped a name on a reporter, knowing exactly what it would do, torpedo Plame's career right away, and also that of her husband. Essentially, it was Scooter's way of trying to run them out of town once and for all, ridding his Bosses of enemies and making himself look even better in their eyes, as he gears up for his post-Washington career in the private sector, where he wants to make untold millions of dollars just like everyone else that is now in the White House intends to do after January 20, 2009. However, it seems that Scoots fucked up and might not make any real money now since his name has been brought into this and he has been indicted and may have to serve time in a Federal prison.
There is also a real question of whether or not what Scoots did was really damaging at all, or just being overblown by politicians anxious to score points before the next elections. Valerie Plame was not exactly one of these CIA operatives that go undercover in foreign lands trying to stir up dissent and ultimately overthrow a government. She did not travel with poison-tipped umbrellas or cyanide pills, she did not even carry a gun, and probably had never even fired one except on a target range. She had not put all sorts of foreign spies in prison and assassinated any political leaders or busted drug kingpins or done anything even remotely like that. She was a mere paper pusher that worked at a desk in an office in the CIA headquarters in Virginia, and that was about all she had ever been in that organization. She was about as much a spy as the cleaning ladies that kept the office clean or the dudes that cut the lawns there were. Yes, she had access to things that the cleaning crew and the lawn crew would not have had access to, but nothing that was that big a deal. She was not someone that worked in the top secret part of the compound and had access to the biggest and most secretive plans the CIA had going. At the very least, her marriage ensured that would not happen, because since she was married to an enemy of the White House, her career opportunities were limited. If her husband hated the White House so, no one would put her in a Place where she had access to top secret things, so she would not tell him that shit during sex play or whatever, and he then would have many things to attack the White House with. So, she was at best a mid level paper pusher that only was privy to things that were widely known in CIA circles. Since the CIA is widely known for its secrecy fetish, there is just no way that any information that employees of Plame's stature would be of the earthshaking kind. The last thing that the CIA needs is water cooler gossip going on among its employees about how this country is about to be invaded or what this superspy is doing or whatever. They just want their employees gossiping about shit like Desperate Housewives or football or whatever just like any other office. So Plame did not have any kind of Sensitive position at the CIA at all, and Scoots knew that and did what he did anyway. He knew that just telling a reporter that someone worked at the CIA would be enough, that the reporter would be sure that he had the identity of a top secret spy or operative and would make a huge fucking deal about it, and that's what happened. When the story came out, you'd Have thought that the cover of a top operative at the CIA was blown, and that this meant disaster for huge CIA projects, and imminent peril for all of its employees, and their identities would be compromised as well. It was made out like the entire organization and all that it does was now in ruins, and would never be the same again, and that's exactly what Scoots wanted. He knew that this would cause maximum embarrassment for both Plame and Wilson and hopefully cause them both to lose their jobs and leave town. That is pretty much what it has dome, although neither has lost a job as of yet, but their effectiveness at the jobs they do have has been severely compromised, and in Washington, that is a sin, and will ultimately lead to both of them losing their jobs Just like Scoots wanted, so he did exactly as he planned and the White House wanted. That was what this has all been about, pure personal hatreds and politics.
So what will happen to Scoots now that he has been designated as the fall guy? The media is freaking out, saying that he faces years and years in prison, and that this affair might not be over, because there might be others besides Scooter that are in on this, namely Bush's Chief Of Staff, Karl Rove. That Patrick Fitzgerald Pig that announced the indictments yesterday promises to do what he has to here and go after who he needs to and all that shit. However, he also said that Scooter was not about to be arrested and processed Tom DeLay style, not even given any kind of bond or any restrictions at all. Basically, he will be free to do as he pleases, except to have his old job back. That shows you exactly what is about to happen to Scooter and whoever else gets dragged into this, nothing. No one is about to go to any prison or pay any fine, just lawyer bills, and they'll probably have supporters help them with that, and it will all be a big game. Because Washington hated Plame and Wilson and are very glad to be rid of them. Putting them in charge of the investigation is not about to produce anything of substance as they'll whitewash it all. This case is not like that one a Few years ago where the one CIA operative was found out to have been a double agent for the USSR/Russia and compromised many, many secret operations and agents and really fucked things up for the CIA royally. That dude cost CIA agents their lives and ruined years of painstaking spy work so Washington was highly pissed off at him and was ready to give him the maximum. Here, we just have political and personal hatreds coming to the fore and they were blown out of proportion, so no one is about to make a name for themselves prosecuting this case. About the only thing that can be said here is that there should have been other ways found to do this political infighting because this one caused Washington to have to answer to the people. There were other ways to wreck things for Plame and Wilson other than go to the media, and Scooter missed the boat there, and that's why he's the fall guy. The White House loves what he did, but hates the way in which he did it, because it caused embarrassment for them, so they had to punish Scooter for that. Losing his job is about the worst punishment he'll get, because, in Washington, that is a bad punishment indeed. Scooter was one of the most powerful people in that town for a long time, and that is no easy feat to accomplish, and it generally ensures that you'll get a fat payday once it's all over, and Scoots was well on his way to that. Now he has lost that all, he no longer has the power he once had, many of his "friends" will treat him like a leper now as they fear for themselves and he'll find out just how much of that respect and admiration that he had all these years was just bullshit and fake and is now gone like the morning mist. That will also mean that he won't be able to pick and choose which cushy job and massive payday he gets when he leaves Washington, now most businesses will not hire him due to the scandal surrounding him. No, he won't go to prison or any of that, but he also won't go to multi millionaire land either and be on easy Street for the rest of his life. He'll now have to rely on one connection that he made that has not deserted him to employ him, and that connection won't Be the top notch ones he used to have, it will be a run of the mill type one. So he will have a rather ordinary job for a man that once enjoyed the stature that he did. He will also have to read history books for the rest of his life and see his name in there, not as a heroic figure or legendary American, but as a footnote to a scandal, a person like Monica Lewinsky or the strippers that were part of that ABSCAM shit in the 1970's, someone painted in a less than flattering light by history. In a place like Washington, where ego and prestige are worth more than gold, that is tantamount to a death sentence or a life in exile. So, Scooter will have a great punishment by Washington standards by falling out of the picture, but no punishment by real standards. He'll get some job ad continue to work, he won't End up on welfare or turn to crime or any of that, he'll live in a nice house in a nice neighborhood, just not a multi millionaire neighborhood, and his life will go on. The lives of Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson will go on as well, they will end up with a similar fate to Scooter's. In the end, no one will be irreparably damaged, except for prestige and ego shit, and this all will be forgotten in favor of far more important issues. Then, someday, for some political or personal reason, another leak of some kind will emerge and the entire process will start all over again, and the same type of resolution will be reached, for those that are part of leaks in Washington rarely get really punished, only those like that CIA operative that was a double agent actually do, and this kindergarten bullshit of leaks will go on and on as people try to do others in for purely self serving reasons and make themselves look good. Shit like this makes it hard for one to have faith in the government, but that seems to be of no concern, as it is good for careers and personal vendettas and the like and that seems to be top priority over the welfare of the country.