Libby trial: verdict imminent

Well, firedoglake, alas, is down, but Mandos has a quick summary of the verdict up at Politblogo already.

I'll do an update later, but just a fast observation: this is a great outcome for the prosecution. The experts at FDL have been speculating that count 3 was the soft count and was dispensable.

Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.

Next!...

Not to sound conspiratorial, but this was the "meat" fed to the proles to avoid having to have a real trial and investigation over Iraq.

It's the same when Key Lay got convicted. Instead of going after the entire industry for defrauding consumers, they gave up Enron...

...and one vote away from a sweep of 5 for 5 ......

"It appears there was only one holdout on Count Three that kept Libby from a 5 count grand slam."
(From Jane Hamsher on Firedoglake)

Patrick, that's possible, although I'm not so sure. If you read (for now -- I'll try to link to video as soon as possible) the liveblogged version of Fitz's statement to the press, you can see a number of windows left open for further action by someone, perhaps the prosecutors, perhaps Congress. Fitzgerald always speaks in a minimalist way, speaking only to the facts at hand, so no way is he going to predict further charges from the government or tell anyone else what to do. However, he affirmed that the statements he made in his closing argument about the "cloud over the OVP" and even the "cloud over the White House" stand. That could mean quite a lot.

For now, I'll just keep adding some useful links in the aftermath:

From Media Matters, a handy list of media myths and falsehoods to watch for.

A superb reflection by Glenn Greenwald in Salon.

A terrific essay by Michael Wolff in Vanity Fair, which I may come back to.

Partial video (from Crooks and Liars) of Fitzgerald's statement outside the courthouse yesterday. There are videos as well at Think Progress and the Washington Post, all filling in slightly different portions of the statement. You need to see the liveblogged text to put them all together.

Yesterday was such a fantastic day, that I'm still smiling about it! Woohoo!!!!

KiaRioGrl79, me too, mostly. But for anyone who wants to see how the counterspin is already going, here's a good dose of stupid: from the Washington Post editorial page, with errors too numerous to count. (Ok: I exaggerate, but why should any of us do these guys' work for them?)

It's heartening to see that comments on that Wash Post editorial are overwhelmingly negative--not just negative, indeed, but contemptuous.

Christy Hardin Smith is predictably fuming about the WaPo editorial at FDL, contrasting it with this leader from today's Guardian, which is right on.

Dan Froomkin, from yesterday's WaPo -- great column. And as a bonus -- or, depending on your pov, a minus -- you can click through there to Robert Novak's column on the same topic. ;-)

We have a breakthrough so major that I can't possibly write about it until tomorrow. Anyone else who wants to, please go ahead.

But: Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform, has announced that his committee will hold a hearing on "whether White House officials followed appropriate procedures for safeguarding the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson."

In addition, the Committee today sent a letter to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald commending him for his investigation and requesting a meeting to discuss testimony by Mr. Fitzgerald before the Committee.

I think this is the beginning of the end for Dick Cheney. See also this Salon article by Sidney Blumenthal, which fills in some of the background of the evidence the prosecutors have but were not able to use in Libby's trial because neither he nor Cheney testified.

Sorry to garble all this together so quickly right now, but I think that Cheney is on his way out. Cheney is above all the head warmonger, the man still intent on attacking Iran ... so this is turning into quite the perfect storm.

God bless Waxman and Fitz and all who sail in them. Stop the bastard if you can.

Yo skdadl:

Here is the text of the Waxman letter to Fitzgerald:

Waxman letter

It appears indeed, that he is going after tne animus behind the unpleasentness.

I apologize if you have it already.

Thanks, Croghan -- I had read the letter but not linked to it, so I've turned your URL into a link.