Do you think the outing of Valerie Plame by Scooter Libby was intentional. or was it a mistake?

Question

Did they mean to do what they did? Was it calculated?

Or was outing Valerie Plame just a mistake?

If it was intentional, isn't that just totally criminal!? Maybe even treasonous!?

Answer 1

Libby was never accused of outing her, he was convicted of obstruction of justice. She was outed by people higher up than, Libby, he just took the fall because they couldn't get Rove or Cheney, who are the real criminals in this case.

Answer 2

Libby didn't out Valerie Plame. He committed perjury to cover up the person who did. It was obviously intentional. It was for political gain. It did irreparable harm to the CIA. It was a breach of trust. It was definitely treasonous.
Bush vowed to get to the bottom of the matter and fire the person who did it. Instead he commuted the sentence of the person who lied to obstruct justice and protect the person who is probably still in Bush's administration.

Answer 3

As many things done by the Bush administration this is just another example of a course of action not well thought out. What they were trying to do was to discredit a former Bush team member who jumped the reservation. They know exactly what they were doing, but they never figured it would come back on them because of 'hubris'. As it turned out, it did come back on them. Now they say that someone else spilled the beans first, or Libby didn't lie, or 'Clinton lied' or 'it wasn't a crime' and all kinds of variations on the theme. Libby took the fall, thinking that the fix was in and he'd walk away clean and kosher.....imagine his surprise when he was convicted. His response was to warn his former 'friends' to save his @ss or he'd rat them out big time. So he got a commutation up front and a pardon down the line. The bodies stayed buried...for now! Stay tuned!

Answer 4

Well it's fortunate for you that they had a court case on this and already proved that cheney gave out the name on purpose to discredit plame's husband. Go read the news, then you will have far less of these questions to ask.

Answer 5

Libby didn't "out" Valerie; but he did lie through his teeth in front of a grand jury. That is why he got convicted for perjury, not for treason.

Answer 6

Are you libs STILL whining about this? It's done, over with, not a damn thing you can do about it, finished.

But get your facts straight. Libby did NOT out Valerie Plame. I think the reason some people are liberals is that they're afraid to listen to a news source that might tell them something they don't like hearing, like the truth.

Answer 7

The outing of Valerie Plame by the Bush Administration was calculated to discredit and attack Joseph Wilson for repudiating Cheney's reason for attacking Iraq.

Answer 8

The trial proved Scooter didn't out Plame. Her husband did via the press.

It did convict him of lying under oath. Same crime good ol' Billy Clinton was guilty for during the Lewinsky thing.

Next question.

Answer 9

I must admit that I do not understand why Ms. Plame could not have gone from covert to overt work . If we could have an answer to this then maybe it would be easier to answer the question.

Answer 10

it was on purpose. her husband critisized the admin.

I don't know if he was the offical 'outer', he was definatly involved. but I think he just passed the info around to others who made it public. (I might be wrong about this. its hrad to remember who did what, when there was a cover-up)

AL R - its not good to say you don't understand something and then keep your e-mail closed.
I think now that people know who she is, even if she wasn't spying she'd still be in danger and so would the people around her.
most people who work CIA don't advertise it. even when they just have desk jobs

Answer 11

Her outing was orchestrated by Dick Cheney. Cheney wanted to send a clear message that anyone who does not toe the admin line will be severely dealt with.

Cheney orchestrated the outing
Libby lied to cover it up
Bush protected Libby