It's Been a Long Time Comin'

It would be fair to say I have been obsessed with the Outing of Valerie Plame/Wilson from the time it happened. "Plame" made for my very first Google alert (still extant) back a good long time ago, and believe me that alert has furthered my political education no small amount through many hundreds if not thousands of instructive links it provided. And, yes indeed, as you can probably imagine, that Googalert has also supplied manifold links to outrageous rightwing propaganda impugning the Wilson/Plames and anyone even daring to question the rights and prerogatives of the "administration."

But now we have some new playwrights working at bringing us some entertainment. Mr. Libby is on trial, and jury selection began last week. It is a fascinating process, with Libby's defense team focused among other things from what I can tell on trying to find 36 good people who still think george and more particularly dick (duck? - why not?) walk on water - or at least talk on a daily basis directly with God. For the arithmetically inclined (sadly, as an enthusiast for the subject, I realize that might mean two of you), the numbers here I gather involve a total of 20 peremptory challenges, interestingly not evenly shared, leading to ideal 12 jurors and 4 alternates.

I strongly commend your attention to Firedoglake, a premier progressive website which has an inside track via in-court blogging. This is a big-time site in the sense that they have great connections (many of which you have already possibly been introduced to here) and a multitude of like-minded folks posting on the site throughout the day, but one of their key focuses, and possibly the original raisson d'etre for the site (stretching if not exhausting my linguistic ability - and spelling) has always been the Affaire Plame. The site strongly deserves your attention and support ($).

And in case you, like me and Mickey Rooney, experience that occasional memory lapse, you can find a terrific primer courtesy of Robert Parry on the whole gov-ugly Plame affair at Truthout

The trial of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is being billed by the Big Media as a case study of a favorite Washington cliché - "it's not the crime but the coverup" - a smugly delivered line suggesting that Libby committed no real offense beyond trimming a few facts when questioned by overzealous investigators.

But the major US news media is again missing the point. The real significance of the Libby trial is that it could demonstrate how far George W. Bush went in 2003 to shut down legitimate criticism of his Iraq War policies as well as questions about his personal honesty.

In that sense, the trial could be a kind of time machine for transporting America back to that earlier era of not so long ago when Bush and his team felt they controlled reality itself and were justified in tricking the American people into bloody adventures overseas.

It was a time when President Bush swaggered across the political landscape, a modern-day king fawned over by courtiers in the government and the press - and protected by legions of followers who bullied citizens who dared to dissent.

Libby may be going on trial for five felony counts of lying and obstructing justice, but the essence of his criminal behavior was his work as a top enforcer responsible for intimidating Americans who wouldn't stay in line behind the infallible Bush.

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