That was fast….
Valerie Plame’s Lawsuit Dismissed
WASHINGTON (AP) – A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame’s lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.
Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her identity in Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband’s criticism of the administration.
But yet it took a long time.
We now know that there was no attempt to smear Wilson -the infamous meeting took place before his NYT piece even ran- there was to administration figures shopping the story to 6 reporters – it was a single offhanded answer to a single reporter’s question.
In short, we know the whole thing was one large liberal fantasy.
Ironically Fitzgerald knew all this before the investigation even started but he held it anyway. It’s good to see this judge gave the case the respect it was due. None.
Update Later reports said he threw it our for jurisdictional reasons not on its merit… In other words, that’s a judge’s way of passing the buck. — He knows that unless the Plames can prove that Karl Rove had a time machine, the lawsuit has no chance.
Lorie adds: From the Washington Post via Noel Sheppard at Newsbusters:
U.S. District Judge John D. Bates said that Cheney and White House aides cannot be held liable for the disclosure of information about Plame in the summer of 2003 while they were trying to rebut criticism of the administration’s war efforts levied by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. The judge said such efforts were certainly part of the officials’ scope of normal duties.
I am really disappointed that we will not see Valerie Plame under oath again. Her previous statements have been a bit contradictory, to say the least. I was hoping we could get a third or fourth version of events out of her.
