"Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." (Justin Raimondo)

[hang a left]

October 24, 2005
Let Justice Be Done
Though the heavens fall…
by Justin Raimondo

Fiat justitia, ruat coelum.

"Let justice be done, though the heavens fall."

The above Latin quotation – usually attributed to Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a Roman statesman and Julius Caesar's father-in-law – succinctly summarizes both prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's view of the law and the possible consequences of its application in the case of the CIA leak investigation.

In Washington, D.C., the heavens will surely fall on the heads of several prominent players, including not only the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, but also the president's top national security adviser, Stephen J. Hadley; John Hannah, the vice president's chief national security adviser; and David Wurmser, the VP's chief of Middle Eastern affairs. The fate of the more high-profile Karl Rove is in some doubt: he's probably looking at obstruction of justice and/or perjury charges, but the others – including, perhaps, a number of unindicted co-conspirators – are looking at some real jail time. The number of the indicted is likely more than just these few, however, especially as rumors that Fitzgerald's investigation has widened considerably harden into near certainty. It wasn't for nothing that Fitzgerald's people posted on their brand-new Web site a letter <.pdf> from the Justice Department making clear that the special counsel has "the authority to investigate and prosecute violations of any federal criminal laws related to the underlying alleged unauthorized disclosure." This isn't just about the "outing" of deep cover CIA agent Valerie Plame anymore, if it ever truly was. Scooter-gate is about one of the biggest and most brazen lies used by this administration to drag us into an unjustified <.pdf> and reckless war: the Niger uranium forgeries.

No sooner had I written about this in my Wednesday column of last week than it was confirmed a couple of days later by MSNBC, which reported that Fitzgerald's investigation has led him to ask for the Italian parliamentary report on the Niger uranium forgeries, which, I am told, points directly at the identity of the forgers.

There are plenty of violations of federal law to be found around the Niger uranium forgeries, and I expect Fitzgerald has found most if not all of them by now. When the president made his 2003 State of the Union address, and referred to Iraq's efforts to procure uranium in "an African country," the source of his allegation was a cache of documents that had been turned over to the American embassy in Rome under mysterious circumstances. Less than a month after the president's speech, these documents were proved to be fakes, crude forgeries that could have been debunked by an amateur with a few hours to spend on Google.

Whoever forged these documents and introduced them into the American intelligence stream is guilty of violating this law:

snip>

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=7743

[shraby]

1. Just got through reading it. As usual, he's

good. I'm worried about Syria too. I read a few months ago that Syria and Iran had made a pact to protect each other in case of invasion. It was an announcement out of Iran. If that's true, if we go into Syria, we are in real deep do-do. Fitz better hurry up.

[hang a left]

2. Yea, terrifying, isn't it?

[shraby]

3. I've been worrying about the Syria thing

since they started beating the war drums. If Fitz indicts this week it just might derail them..permanently. Keep yer fingers crossed.

[texpatriot2004]

4. Ok, mine are crossed. All weekend I was trying to learn more

about this Syria thing and the UN report and Hariri and Kanaan...

[Just Me]

8. If the neoconsters move forward on PNAC before Fitz moves forward,...

,...on indictments, I shiver at the prospect of how the intentional creation of a world war can possible be contained. My boyfriend and I have had several conversations about this possibility and how we will handle protecting our boys.

Such dreadful propositions.

[wakeme2008]

5. I like the Latin version

Fiat iustitia ruat caelum

[hang a left]

6. lots of predictions about who will be indicted.....juicy

[enough]

7. Very interesting article. Nominating.

snip>

Everyone assumes Libby and his co-conspirators were really after Wilson, but this now seems unwarranted, especially in light of Fitzgerald's reported focus on the Niger uranium forgeries. If this question of the forgeries is now within Fitzgerald's purview, it opens up the possibility that the conspirators really were after Plame on her own account. If Plame and her associates were hot on the trail of whoever forged the Niger uranium documents, by neutralizing Brewster Jennings & Associates the Libby cabal closed one possible route to uncovering their schemes – and opened up another one.

This drama is playing out in two theaters, one domestic and the other overseas. In Washington, the heavens are falling even before Fitzgerald issues so much as a single indictment, but they're also threatening to take a tumble in the Middle East. The U.S. is ratcheting up its campaign against Syria, even as the principal proponents of confronting Damascus – Libby, Hadley, Hannah, Wurmser, et al. – find themselves in Fitzgerald's sights. In effect, the prosecutor is running a race with the War Party: can they provoke a war with Syria before he brings charges? For the sake of the country, I dearly hope Fitzgerald's staff has writer's cramp by now from furiously tapping out indictments.

The War Party has its own prosecutor, UN "investigator" Detlev Mehlis, currently trumping up charges against the next candidate for "regime change" in the Middle East: Syria. Mehlis operates under none of the constraints of the U.S. legal system that keep Fitzgerald's inquiries and the testimony before the grand jury under lock and key. The UN's grand inquisitor has published his findings midway through his investigation into the question of who killed Lebanese politician-entrepreneur Rafik Hariri. His report – here – is full of uncorroborated testimony from unknown witnesses of unknowable veracity, and in places reads more like a political polemic than a legal document. I defy anyone to read it and come to any definite conclusion other than that Lebanon is one vast snakepit we would do well to stay out of.

more>

[LizW]

9. I can't breathe.

This is truly terrifying. Justice and truth are in a death struggle with madmen.