Indicting Libby ... and the war

Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, walks from the White House on crutches, Friday. Libby resigned after being indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, perjury and making false statements in the CIA leak investigation. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Whether this is the end or the beginning of a new episode, the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, at first glance, turns out to be not as serious as it might have been for the Bush administration but quite serious for Mr. Libby. Other issues may arise, and the whole imbroglio may eventually discredit further the case for going to war with Iraq.

That’s so because the case revolves around the aftermath of a 2003 op-ed by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, in which he claimed that a trip he made to Niger on behalf of the CIA turned up no evidence of Saddam Hussein obtaining "yellowcake" uranium for a nuclear-weapons program. That, Mr. Wilson wrote, invalidated President Bush’s mention in his State of the Union address earlier that year of Saddam’s efforts to obtain uranium in Africa and showed that much of the case for war was based on incorrect or misinterpreted intelligence.

Subsequently, administration officials, in what seems to have been an attempt to discredit Mr. Wilson, are said to have told reporters that Mr. Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, worked for the CIA and arranged the trip to Niger, apparently suggesting the trip was something of a boondoggle that produced no information of value. One concern was whether, by publicizing Mrs. Wilson’s employment at the CIA, officials had broken a federal law prohibiting the release of the names of undercover operatives, a serious offense that could threaten their lives. It remains unclear in this case the precise scope of the threat to national security or to Mrs. Plame’s well-being represented in the leak of her name to reporters. The prosecutor, when questioned by reporters Friday, declined to elaborate.

As we understand it from listening to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald’s news conference and reading the 22-page indictment, this is the case against Mr. Libby:

When he was questioned by FBI agents on two occasions, and later during two grand jury appearances, Mr. Libby allegedly lied. Specifically, he told them that when he talked to other reporters he mentioned only that he had heard Valerie Wilson was a CIA agent from other reporters, when, in fact, he had confirmed it himself earlier with CIA personnel and the vice president. According to Mr. Fitzgerald, these untruths obstructed the investigation.

Like all people accused of a crime, Mr. Libby must be presumed innocent until proved guilty to the satisfaction of a jury. If he did lie, however, the question is why a presumably intelligent man would do such a stupid thing.

Some will insist that the only explanation is that he was covering for someone or something, perhaps having to do with forged documents that suggested a Saddam-Niger connection. It is worth remembering, however, that a presumably intelligent former president, Bill Clinton, lied under oath to a grand jury. Perhaps he thought he could get away with it, or perhaps, as people do sometimes, he did a stupid thing and decided to try to brazen it out.

Mr. Libby’s personal fate is now in the hands of the court system. As for the shaky case for war on Iraq, historians, journalists, congressional committees and other citizens do not need this case to continue investigating and publicizing what they find.