Spying, Denying, and Lying

[[S C A N D A L S]] * With the conclusion of special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald’s CIA leak investigation anticipated later this week--possibly amid a flurry of indictments of White House personnel--Media Matters for America, the progressive Web site charged with “monitor[ing] a cross-section of print, broadcast, cable, radio, and Internet media outlets for conservative misinformation,” has put together an analysis of the top nine falsehoods related to that scandal probe. Among the highlights:

• Falsehood: It is legally significant whether the leakers disclosed [CIA agent Valerie] Plame’s name in their conversations with reporters.
• Falsehood: Plame suggested [her husband, ambassador Joseph] Wilson for the trip to Niger.
• Falsehood: Fitzgerald must prove that Plame’s covert status was leaked.
• Falsehood: Leak investigation is the result of partisan motivations.

It’s worth reading the full analysis, since Bush apologists, right-wing talk-show yammerers, and other wingers will undoubtedly find their way onto your TV set and into newspaper reports later this week, in hopes of spreading bogus information that downplays the seriousness of this scandal, or is exculpatory of the Republican White House. Better to be forearmed with the facts, when the lies start flooding in.

READ MORE: “A Palpable Silence at the White House: Few Ready to Face Effects of Leak Case,” by Jim VandeHei and Peter Baker (The Washington Post); “Who Is Scooter Libby?: The Secretive Cheney Aide at the Heart of the CIA Leak Case,” by John Dickerson (Slate); “Karl and Scooter’s Excellent Adventure,” by Frank Rich (The New York Times); “Fitzgerald Is No Ken Starr,” by Joe Conason (Salon); “Leak Case Renews Questions on War’s Rationale,” by Richard W. Stevenson and Douglas Jehl (The New York Times); “Fitzgerald Expands Probe to Prewar Intel” (Antiwar.com); “Blix Says U.S. Misled Itself, the World on Iraq: WMD Reports, Satellite Photos Called Lacking,” by Russell Contreras (The Boston Globe).