The final thought on Karl Rove

OK, I think I am clear on this: If Karl Rove broke the law he needs to be prosecuted. I know the other side does not hold that standard on their own (Sandy Berger, Bill Clinton, John Kerry), but that is their problem.

So, did Rove break the law? Based on this Wikipedia article I am going to say that this issue is over.

In order to have broken the law (the Intelligence Identities Protection Act) there are a few criteria that must be met. All of them must be met for Rove to have broken the law.

1) Intentional disclosure of "any information identifying" an undercover operative. Well, the way I see it the GOP defense of "Rove did not mention her by name" is crap. Any information includes the fact that she is "Wilson's wife". That counts. Rove meets this, in my opinion.

2) Knowledge that the U.S. was making efforts to conceal Valerie Plame's intelligence identity. Again, the GOP spin machine is playing semantics on this. "Novak wrote 'operative' but he actually meant 'analyst'. It is just luck that Novak's mistake was accurate." The Spin Meter went off the charts. Rove meets this, in my opinion.

3) U.S. efforts to conceal Valerie Plame's intelligence identity. From what I understand there actually was an alter-ego or whatever. If that is true, then Rove qualifies still under this act.

4) That Valerie Plame was actually a covert agent. This is pretty clearly defined. This is from Wikipedia:

While there must be evidence that she served outside the U.S., a single official trip overseas within the previous five years (i.e. at any time from July, 1998, onward) might suffice. There are published reports that Plame served in London and Brussels in the early to mid-90s. However, this would not be sufficient to qualify Plame as a "covert agent" under the statutory definition as one "who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States."

Sorry, this failure to qualify ends the idea that Rove violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. End of story.

That you will not hear from the left or the media.

What you will not hear from the right:

f Plame's identity as a CIA employee was in fact classified -- and a CIA criminal referral combined with a long running grand jury investigation would suggest so -- Rove's leak may also have violated other U.S. laws, including the Espionage Act. Moreover, failure to protect classified information, criminal or not, is often grounds for the revocation of one's security clearance.

So, it is my hunch that Rove did violate the Espionage Act. If the typical penalty is a revocation of security clearance than that should happen to Rove. Whatever the typical penalty is should be the fate of Rove and John Kerry for his leaking of an undercover agent's name.

Spin city will continue at a disgusting pace.