Guilty 'Till Proven Guilty

Seems like the big thing to talk about tonight has to be the Scooter Libby verdict. Guilty on four out of five charges. The big question, of course, is what this implies for the rest of the Bush administration. The jury apparently felt that Scooter was the fall guy, and if he was, the cover up was a success because they weren't really sure who or what he was the patsy for. For his part, Patrick Fitzgerald says that any further investigation is inactive, and he doesn't expect to bring any new indictments against anyone else unless new information comes to light. In that light, it's worth remembering, though, that we've now got a Democratic Congress which may decide it wants to investigate some of these or related matters about administration behavior. Six months ago, barring some new revelation from left field, the special counsel's investigation would've been over, but now there are several methods through which new information could come to light.

For his part, the Prez said through a spokesperson that he respected the jury's verdict, though it remains to be seen whether or not he respects it enough not to overturn it with a pardon at the most opportune time (or least inopportune, as the case may be). He's got to pretend that all this means nothing, because if we look too closely, it all starts coming back to his office and to the vice president's.

Glenn Greenwald has a great piece about the significance of all this over at Salon. As he puts it, "Dick Cheney's most trusted advisor is now a convicted felon." I hadn't been aware that Scooter was as much in the center of the neocon universe as he is. I didn't know that he was a signatory to the Statement of Principles for The Project for a New American Century ten years ago, the bedrock of neoconservativism and almost the blueprint of Bush foreign policy. As Greenwald explains:

There were few officials with greater influence or power during the first four years of the Bush administration than Libby. He was not only the vice president's chief of staff, but also assistant to the president himself in national security matters. But Libby's importance in the Bush administration is reflected by far more than his formal titles.

He has long been one of the most well-connected neoconservatives in the country.

This reaches into the heart of the neoconservative movement. The trial already shed some light on the behind-the-scenes workings of the White House. Now's the time to boost that into a spotlight on the neocons themselves.