As I show below, Libby has testified that he asked Addington about declassifying the NIE. I argue that his claim that he asked about the NIE (as opposed to, say, Plame’s identity) makes no sense. And most importantly, I will show that at the same meeting he was asking about declassifying something, he was also asking about Joe Wilson’s 1999 trip to Niger on behalf of the CIA. At the very least, this is proof that on July 8, at the same time as he was asking Addington about declassifying something so he could leak it to Judy, Libby knew well that Wilson had a wife–or rather, that Plame had a husband. This is an amazing smoking gun for Fitzgerald’s perjury case against Libby. And it strongly supports my argument that it was Plame’s identity (or at least the trip report) that Libby and Cheney insta-declassified, not the NIE.
I get teased in my own land for being so obsessed with the details of the Plame Leak, the Niger Forgeries, and the vicissitudes of the notes, documents, and timelines. But I’m a rank rookie compared to the greats like emptywheel [above] and eriposte.
In this post, emptywheel, master of the feuilleton, has found the true epicenter of this whole affair. It makes no sense that Libby would run around like a chicken with his head cut off worrying about 
whether Cheney could declassify the NIE. They’re even willing to admit they did it. He was worrying if Cheney could "declassify" Valerie Plame so they could skewer her to debunk her husband. They knew she was covert, and did it anyway. Libby’s taking the hit because his boss thought he could do anything he wanted to do – like unilaterally declassify a C.I.A. Agent. But, in the light of day, he’s too much of a coward to say he did it [or should I say IT!].
A big Southern Hat Tip to emptywheel, A.K.A. Marcy Wheeler…
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