Leak Case Prosecutor Raises Questions That Demand Answers
Who knew what when in the Bush administration's effort to disclose the identity of a CIA official whose husband had become a principal critic of the Iraq war?
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the case, knows a great deal of the answer, judging by the indictment he unveiled Friday against I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff. But he isn't telling much.
Fitzgerald presented the information he felt he needed to reach a legal judgment in the case. But he withheld much of the information the country needs to reach a political judgment about the administration's actions.
Indeed, in his indictment, Fitzgerald repeatedly raises critical questions that he flatly refuses to answer. His cautious approach may be the appropriate strategy for a criminal prosecutor, but it leaves open important issues that are likely to be resolved only through congressional hearings, with the central figures testifying under oath.
The question most people wanted answered was who told syndicated columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA. She is the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador who became a critic of the Iraq war after undertaking a mission for the CIA to determine whether Saddam Hussein had sought to purchase uranium from the African country of Niger.
Fitzgerald knows the identity of one of Novak's sources, but he's not telling. In the indictment he describes Novak's source only as "a senior official in the White House," whom he designates, spy-novel style, as Official A.
Some news organizations reported over the weekend that the proverbial "sources close to the investigation" have identified Official A as Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff.
But the indictment, the sole official word in the case, states only that "on or about July 10 or July 11, 2003," Libby spoke with Official A, who informed him of "a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson's wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson's trip."
Then the paragraph, deadpan, adds a blockbuster revelation: "Libby was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson's wife."
In other words, the same White House official who provided Novak with information about Plame told Libby not only about the conversation but also about the impending article.
