I'm not blessed with the time to assemble exhaustive compilations of evidence complete with appropriate links, but there is an angle to the Libby-Cheney drama that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere in the blogosphere yet, and I think it deserves consideration. So please forgive me if I assume the reader is already fairly knowledgeable about the Plame investigation. (If you want to catch up, this
diary by imagine is a fine resource.)
Libby's indictment charges that Libby met with Cheney "and others" on Air Force Two on July 12, 2003. However, the WaPo reports that only three people were on that flight: Cheney, Libby, and Catherine Martin, Cheney's press aide.
Here's the big unasked question: Who was the WaPo's source?
(more below the fold)
A process-of-elimination game makes this a simple exercise. Cheney wouldn't be the WaPo's source because this information is potentially very incriminating of him. Libby wouldn't be the source, as his salvation, if there is any, is through Fitzgerald, not through the media. That leaves Martin.
I think it's a pretty fair guess to imagine that Catherine Martin has testified in front of the grand jury. Which of course means that Fitzgerald knows exactly what was discussed on that plane. He just needs a corroborating witness to make the case against Cheney airtight.
Hence, the squeeze on Scooter. Hence the wait to produce charges under IIPA or the Espionage Act: he's got a conspiracy on his hands of which Libby is only a part. (And a soldier's part at that.) Flip Scooter and Cheney becomes dead meat.
(Coming soon: my belief that Fitz is leaning on none other than Bush to slam the door shut on Rove.)