Lawyers say security worries impaired Libby's memory

[sabra]

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060223/REPOSITORY/602230330/1013/NEWS03

Lawyers say security worries impaired Libby's memory
They argue details of CIA leak forgotten


By CAROL D. LEONNIG
The Washington Post

Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff was so consumed with pressing national security concerns in 2003 and 2004 that he undoubtedly forgot details of conversations he had about undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame, his defense lawyers argue in new court filings.

Attorneys for I. Lewis "Scooter"Libby insist they need hundreds of pages of classified daily briefings prepared for President Bush to show that Libby did not intentionally lie about discussing Plame with reporters, as prosecutors allege. They contend that he was preoccupied with more serious matters when the conversations took place and when investigators questioned him months later.

Libby, 55, faces charges of committing perjury, making false statements and obstructing justice in the investigation of whether administration officials broke the law by disclosing Plame's identity to the media.

"One of the central themes of Mr. Libby's defense at trial will be that any misstatements he made during his FBI interviews or grand jury testimony were not intentional, but rather the result of confusion, mistake or faulty memory,"the attorneys wrote in a court document filed late Tuesday. "Given the urgent national security issues that commanded Mr. Libby's attention, it is understandable that he may have forgotten or misremembered relatively less significant events (such as) alleged snippets of conversations about Valerie Plame Wilson's employment status."

[Roland99]

1. AH HA HA HA HA HA HA!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:



I see this as a Jeopardy category in the near future:


"Uh, yes, I'll take 'Lamest Damn Excuses in History' for $1000, Alex"

[twaddler01]

17. That was my first response

:rofl:

[rodeodance]

2. this was his story a few days after he was indited--if he repeats it often

enough people will believe him.

[ClayZ]

3. Just shorten that headline to.... "Libby impaired Security"

Keep it simple!

[Cocoa]

4. he should have taken some Focus Factor

[unblock]

5. if they keep downplaying her "employment status", they're sunk

the average joe and jury member knows damn well that whether or not someone is an UNDERCOVER SPY is not at all a trivial matter and if libby was in fact focused on national security, he would damn well remember that sort of thing.

[H2O Man]

6. Sorry, Scooter ....

Mr. Fitzgerald will be able to document for the jury the extensive amount of time and energy you invested in the effort to discredit Wilson and expose Plame.

[midnight]

7. Security worries for him and his buddies? Worried that we would find out

that they have been illegally spying on us? Stealing from us? Certainly Libby's worries could not be about the ordinary folks that actually keep America moving along. If I was on that jury I would not be accepting that premise.

[1932]

8. had to check link, make sure it wasn't from The Onion

[Mithras61]

9. Ridiculous! Ludicrous, even...

Most definitely one of the lamest excuses eve. Who in their right mind would believe that Libby didn't review his own notes & call records before he went and spoke to the FBI and Grand Jury?


Oppsss.... sorry, I forgot... most of "middle america" doesn't think, they just accept whatever they see in print as the gospel Truth.

[H2O Man]

11. Good point.

More, while it is possible, in theory, for any person to forget things, it is not possible for people to remember things that never happened. Early in the investigation of the leak, before Fitzgerald was brought in, and at a time when the WHIG thought there was no threat posed by the DoJ's questions, Libby "remembered" a conversation with Russert that never happened. And he told the FBI investigators a detailed story about that conversation. Later, he would testify under oath to the grand jury about this conversation that never happened.

[catabryna]

15. This is rich!

I had completely forgotten about the concocted Russert conversation. Thank for the reminder... I'd wished I had this info on the tip of my tongue when I was having a heated e-mail exchange with someone last week about the "I was so busy that I merely forgot" defense. Hmmm... do I really want to restart that conversation with this little gem? Pondering...

[mahatmakanejeeves]

10. The Twinkie Defense

Don't blame me; it's....

[SillyGoose]

12. Haha...nice try. If this were true, then it could be argued Libby was

was not to be trusted to handle classified materials properly. If he "misremembered" got "confused" or had a "faulty memory" about sensitive classified material and accidentally leaked it because of this, it indicates incompetency.

Hope that made sense...I haven't had enough coffee yet this morning to write clear sentences.

:hangover:

[wordpix]

13. what a friggin joke these repukes are, now getting what they deserve.

[formercia]

14. I tried doing that....

Trying to forget the names of my co-workers in case I was captured.....had to stop when I began forgetting my own name.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

16. Security caused lack of security?

:crazy:

[gratuitous]

18. Scooter's a busy guy!

He can't remember each and every felony he committed, there were so gosh darn many. I'll bet you don't remember every beat your heart pumped in 2003 either, do you, you bunch of smarty-pantses?

[4dsc]

19. 10 to 25 year in prison

would also impair his memory!! LMAO!!

[BR_Parkway]

20. But your honor, Rush said anthrax and I forgot that I couldn't take a gun

into the bank - I swear!

[nickgutierrez]

21. Wow. The bullshit comes full circle.

He was so busy creating pressing national security concerns that he forgot about conversations that he had that created pressing national security concerns.

:puke:

[zann725]

22. Please! Worry of spending his life in prison with a name like "Scooter"

...is what "impaired" his memory.

Of course if he is convicted, he'd end up in a "Camp Cupcake"-type prison, so he wuldn't be "roughed up"...much.

Lucky for "Scooter" he has lots of rich friends who are stepping-up to pay for his Defense. Isn't nice how predictably un-imprisonable they usually are. And now with the courts more "stacked"...this will happen even more, no dobut.

[warrens]

23. Incompetence is no defense nt

[Buford Pusser]

24. The GOP evidently digs "frivolous" litigation. Laughable defense. n/t