There is nothing more coming. No more investigations, no more indictments.

I know why.

Like many others, I believed that a jury decision that Libby was LYING, would mean that the truth hangs Rove, Cheney, Armitage, Bush and even Hadley.

And that would be true, were it not for one bit of information that came out in Libby's trial, and which has largely been ignored by the press, the public, and even bloggers:

Cheney declassified Plame's identity on July 8th, 2003. Bush declassified Plame's identity July 20th, 2003.

That declassification order by Bush MUST have provided immunity from prosecution for the leak to Libby, Rove, Cheney and Armitage.

Apparently, there is some debate as to whether Cheney's declassification on July 8th was LEGAL, hence the declassification on July 20th by Bush.

As a matter of LAW, that stopped Fitz dead in his tracks from pursuing a leak investigation. So why did he go through with it and investigate it anyway?

Because, Bush's declassification of Plame's identity to immunize the leakers is a criminal, impeachable abuse of power.

Unless Fitz investigated the leak and found out EVERYTHING he possibly could about it, the whole gang would walk away scot-free.

As it is, the operating theory is that Fitz can't investigate whether Bush acted legally when he immunized the leakers. That's something CONGRESS has to decide.

We are actually lucky that the short-term political calculations of Bush and his gang led to Libby lying to the FBI and the Grand Jury. That opened the door to find out SO MUCH MORE about the leak conspiracy than we would have otherwise.

Think about what would have happened if Libby DIDN'T LIE. Suppose he went before the FBI and the GJ and said, "Sure! I leaked Plame's identity to Miller, Cooper and others. Just ask them. I'll release them from their confidentiality pledges."

Suppose, too, that Rove had done the same thing.

Then Fitz would have been done with his investigation in mid-2004. And NO ONE would have been indicted. The Republican House would have reviewed the matter, without hearings, and concluded that no law was broken. END OF STORY. Just another liberal conspiracy theory.