Cheney knew, Cheney knew!

According to this article on CNN from the AP (before I forget, nice picture of Libby with the story, eh--vintage MSM bias I'd say). "Cheney knew" was splashed on some of the message boards last night and this morning by hopeful libs. To that I say, "well I hope so."

Cheney probably knew well before June that Wilson's wife worked for the agency. Consider Wilson had gone in 2002, and Nic Kristoff's article in the Times came out in May. Maybe Cheney cross referenced her from Who's who. Or maybe he just asked Tenet.

Or maybe he already knew. Consider that Cheney was the Sec of Defense during the first Gulf War. It's not beyond belief to think that he might have remembered Wilson, since Bush 41 had called him a hero for his work as Charge D Affairs in Baghdad at the time. I'm not saying Cheney actually knew Wilson's subsequent marriage to Agent 99, but surely there was an immediate curiosity as soon as Wilson's trip report began hitting the MSM. He is the VP, and we should presume has some connections, no?

Now, the libs will say that Cheney probably directed Libby and his other staff to get the word out about Wilson. I don't doubt that's far off, but I do doubt it's easily provable. Chances are when the WH got wind the CIA had sent a partisan hack such as Wilson to Niger, they figured something nefarious was afoot. Naturally they'd want to know how Wilson got appointed. Naturally they'd put up a defense in the media.

The key here has always been Plame's covert status. If Plame was just an analyst at WINPAC, there is nothing wrong with pointing such a thing out to bring context to Wilson's pontifications. That's why I believe the whole thing was an elaborate trap. Wilson and friends knew the WH (mainly Cheney/Rove) would go after him. They knew the only way would be to undermine his credibility by charging nepotism. I can't see them not brainstorming this ahead of time.

But did the WH actually know about the trap? During Rove's testimony we learned that about an email he sent mentioning "not taking the bait" in his dealings with Cooper. It very well could be that Cheney's office and Rove knew his wife might be covert, or that disclosing her job might put them in jeopardy, and decided to use legal trickery to avoid putting themselves in danger. It worked fairly well, and it probably derailed Fitzgerald's case under the Intelligence Protection Act, but it backfired in the sense that the resulting investigation set them up for other crimes.

No one can reasonably say whether Wilson's allegations would have stayed in the headlines had the WH just left well enough alone. My guess is that the MSM would have continued to give Wilson top billing until the WH got fed up and ventured into the mouse trap. The Sunday pontificators would have demanded answers. I'm sure they would have gotten high kicks watching WH officials squirming in the interviewee's chair with deer-in-the-headlights faces, trying to refute Wilson's charges without bringing up Plame, when everyone on the set knew.

In the end-game, if indictments come down this week it may well be Martha Stewart redux-- crimes not related to the initial alleged crime. I really think Micheal Barone's comments on the Radio Blogger hit the nail, i.e., the advisors are in trouble for telling the truth about someone who was bending the truth. But perhaps that's just politics in the big city.