Valerie Plame was not a covert CIA agent and her identity was not protected by law, which is why nobody was ever indicted for saying her name. Joe Wilson's claims about the White House assertions about Iraq's search for nuclear materials were debunked by a bi-partisan Senate committee, a special British Government inquiry and the CIA itself. Lewis Libby was convicted for telling a grand jury that he learned of Plame's involvement in sending her husband on the Niger trip on Thursday rather than on Monday.

The case and verdict say nothing about supposed intelligence manipulation or analyst intimidation, both of which a special bi-partisan committee deemed to be unfounded allegations. The case was all about policy differences and the right of liberals to question a Republican administration's claims without those liberals having their own credibility questioned. The case and verdict had nothing to do with national security.

Now people are talking about a potential pardon. While even a former counsel to the Senate Democrats during the Watergate hearings says Libby deserves a pardon, many Democrats demand President Bush to forswear one. All I have to say is that in the world of Presidential pardons, Lewis Libby is no Marc Rich or Roger Clinton.