Here is the statement of Joe & Valerie Wilson on today's Libby verdict:
March 6, 2007
Washington, DC – First, Valerie and Joseph Wilson would like to express their appreciation to Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald and the entire team of federal prosecutors for their professionalism and hard work. Their prosecution of a senior White House official illustrates that we are a nation of laws and that no man is above the law. The Wilsons respect the jury’s verdict and thank the jurors for their service. The entire Wilson team is pleased by today’s verdict and believes that justice has been served in this case.
cont'd.
The Wilsons will continue to pursue the civil case against Vice President Cheney, Mr. Libby, Mr. Rove and Mr. Armitage because it hinges on additional and different facts from those underlying the criminal case. The criminal trial was about whether or not Mr. Libby obstructed justice and committed perjury by lying to FBI agents and the grand jury about the fact that he had disclosed to reporters that Valerie Wilson worked for the CIA. The civil suit, on the other hand, hinges on whether or not the defendants violated the constitutional rights of Valerie and Joe Wilson by making those disclosures in a concerted effort to retaliate against Joe Wilson for revealing the falsity of the president’s rationale for the Iraq war.
Disturbing facts emerged from the criminal trial that are highly relevant to the civil case. For example, the American public learned details of how Vice President Cheney orchestrated the concerted White House effort to discredit and retaliate against Joe Wilson. Towards that end, the vice president enlisted the aid of other senior administration officials including former press secretary Ari Fleischer, vice presidential assistant Cathie Martin and presidential advisor Karl Rove. Testimony in the criminal case also confirmed that Mr. Libby spoke to numerous reporters in an effort to persuade at least one of them to publicly reveal Mrs. Wilson’s covert status.
Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director and counsel to the Wilsons stated, "The civil case may provide the American public with its only opportunity to hear directly from Vice President Cheney, Mr. Libby, Mr. Rove and Mr. Armitage about what really took place behind the scenes after Joe Wilson exposed the truth about the administration’s justification for the Iraq war."
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Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is a non-profit legal watchdog group dedicated to holding public officials accountable for their actions.
Here is the website of The Joe & Valerie Wilson Legal Support Trust where you can contribute to their defense and aid them in their fight.
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Now, on a personal note:
For the new and the moderately new and the old farts at Daily Kos:
I was recently involved in a three day tussle over the standards of proof and evidence in Daily Kos diaries with extraordinary claims. Day two was a bit of a flame war, but I wouldn't flame back. While I was busy, BTD bit the bullet. Neither one of these things is the reason I'm moving on... it's about standards for writing, commenting, and participating in this community.
It's not the first time I have written about keeping diaries accurate:
Breaking, Raw and Unverified is a meta from December when there was a flood of speculation diaries about Sen. Tim Johnson, with my suggestions as to how diarists should handle news that can't be verified. Speculation diaries always hover too close to the edge of compromised credibility, and are a whole different kettle of fish.
Why did I bother? Because I was a member of the Daily Kos community where the standard is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.
Daily Kos is Not What It Was
Daily Kos is not what it was, not what it should be, not what the guidelines say it must be... and Daily Kos Cannot Live Up To Itself. The site is too big, the volume of diaries is too great. There is no editorial or watchdog function, other than the stellar work of the Diary Rescue Rangers who find the best researched and written from the hundreds of diaries that are posted each day.
Too many diaries make the recommended list as a result of Reckless Recommending.
Unless there is a New Age at Daily Kos, where rigorous examination of diaries is practiced, and diarists are challenged always to present their facts; unless Daily Kos incorporates into itself skepticism first, makes of itself a testing ground, then makes a solid case with which to attack this corrupt administration, I can't see any purpose for a whole class of diaries at Daily Kos that calls itself Citizen Journalism.
The Diarist's Responsibility
Further, and more importantly, when you write a diary it is like offering a product for shipment. Daily Kos diaries get read and linked to, sometimes used as source documents. Quality control is the diarist's responsibility. When you publish a diary it should be ready to roll, with all the facts checked and ready to be verified by your readers. It should not take a reader hours to check your facts for you. If you make claims that cannot be backed up, it diminishes our credibility, not just your own. That is what I was told when I first got here, and it holds true today.
If it's not your best work, ask someone to edit it for you before posting. Don't clog up the diaries/recommends list with crap. Wait to go through the evidence before you recommend. Don't recommend something just because it's the news you want to be true -- find out if it is true.
I hope that all posters and diarists at Daily Kos, newcomers and old farts will keep to these guidelines. The burden on proof is on you, the diarist. The responsibility is on you to be accurate, to be thorough, to be as impartial as you can be when examining the evidence to support your claims.
I've been a long time here. All I learned about civility in comments is: Save your insults for your friends, be polite to your enemies, and when in doubt, be polite.
Which is not to say that some battles are not worth waging. But make it a battle for wanting what is right, not wanting to be right, or to appear to be right. Which brings me back to the Wilsons.
The introduction to Joe Wilson's "The Politics of Truth" is a quote from Dante's Divine Comedy:
The hottest places in Hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.
The case of Joe & Valerie Wilson is, in my opinion, one of the greatest moral crises of our time. If you agree with me, I hope you will contribute to their defense fund. And as John Bonifaz, the great attorney from Boston, signs off on all his letters:
Keep on Keepin On
Here's a well earned Pulitzer for the Daily Kos Diary Rescue Rangers.