Update [2006-4-14 19:5:2 by kant]: Title change due to previous diary(ah).
This diary is an impressionistic commentary rather than a research piece. As such, I don't expect a lot of recommends. But I would like as many people as possible to see what I see about Fitz.
When he indicted Libby, there were a couple of very imprtant points he wanted to make... That he was indicting Libby on perjury and obstruction NOT treason or IIPA charges... That the leak had serious consequences for the Intelligence community... That his investigation would continue... That he would oppose the release of a report because it was not within his grant of authority... And that he was beholden to no politcal agenda on this - only to enforcing the laws of the U.S.A.
The way that the Libby trial is playing itself out is showing Fitz to be a genius, and I'll tell you why below the fold...
Fitz understands how time and politics work together in a corruption scandal... An analogy: A good demolition expert knows where to place the sticks of dynamite and how to time their blasts so that the building implodes on itself avoiding collateral damage and leaving the remaining debris in manageable and easily removable chunks. So it is with a smart corruption conspiracy prosecutor... He knows when and where to place his charges so that the conspiracy infrustructure implodes on itself.
As has been often stated, indicting Libby only on perjury and obstruction of justice limits his ability to invoke grey mail discovery requests... also, the facts are very strong against Libby in the perjury-related matters. These also happen to be the appropriate charges on which to hang the administration... Beyond their incompetence, and their ideological messianism, the most corrosive element of their formula for rule is their contempt for the rule of law and their responsibilities under the U.S. Constitution. By hanging Libby for lying and obstruction of justice, Fitz is actually getting at the Heart of the Bushco Darkness.
Although Fitz has not charged anyone on IIPA or Espionage Act charges, he holds the axe of that possibility in the air by commenting on the serious the consequences of the leak, and by continuing his investigation.
Also, by dividing the Bush team into self-preserving camps and by guiding them into the bunker of "we cannot comment on and on-going investigation" Fitzgerald has each of them on the defensive, and makes a pardon for Libby before Nov. 2008 politically impossible.
By opposing the release of a report, Fitz reasserted the apolitical nature of his investigation (learning lessons from the mistakes of Lawrence Walsh and Ken Starr) and reaffirmed the foundation of his authority and independence to conduct the investigation in the first place (Comey's letter authorizing Fitz's to investigate the leak and the subsequent extention of Fitz's investigation poweres to perjury and obstruction of justice related to the leak.)
Consequently, as Fitz releases politically damaging information as part of the discovery process, he has innoculated himself from accusations that he has become a poltically-motivated prosecutor. You know that he has had his intended effect when William Kristol, Fred Hiatt and Barbara Comstock try to float that balloon, and everyone in the previously sheep-like traditional media ignores it.
Where the Fitz genius has reached Einsteinian levels is in dealing with the Judge. The purity of his logic is made ever more clear when contrasted with the sewage that spews from the leak factory that is Barbara Comstock. As the folks at Firedoglake have pointed out, Judge Walton knows that Comstock has been mounting an under-the-radar leak offensive and he wants it stopped. Fitz on the otherhand is playing his game completely aboveboard, and unless Walton is deep in Cheney's pocket (which I doubt), he will look kindly and fairly in rewarding Fitz for playing by the book as he decides on the myriad of pe-trial motions.
So just as the crowd gathers behind the yellow police tape waiting forever for the old stadium to implode... We wait in eager anticipation for the House of Bush to collapse on itself. Meanwhile, Patrick Fitzgerald and his demolition team are planting their chages at strategic locations within the House of Bush.