Perjury, disclosing identity of covert CIA agent: a molehill, says Richard Cohen

Richard Cohen says Prosecutor Fitzgerald made a mountain out of a molehill. Note that he did not cite a single fact or indeed present any argument whatsoever for this declaration. I guess we are supposed to take his declaration of what is important and what is not because he says so. He is, after all, Richard Cohen and we’re not.

Here’s what Richard Cohen thinks is a molehill. In his 2003 State of the Union address, Bush made a statement that was false. It helped convince Americans we needed to go to war. So someone finally stood up and told us what the President said was false. It was false. People responsible for the speech knew it was false. So the Bush administration decides to get back at the truth-teller by letting the world know that the person’s wife is an agent at the CIA. The CIA says she was a covert operative, which, in theory, makes the disclosure of her identity a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison. The person whose identity was exposed that prompted adoption of the statute was assassinated. Suppose she is correct that her identification "has jeopardized and even destroyed entire networks of foreign agents." Or do does Cohen just assume it’s a big lie?

And then, for whatever reason considering how paltry the whole thing is, Libby lied to the FBI and the grand jury. Maybe because having looked at what the law says, he was afraid he had broken it? Whatever, it’s perjury. Perjury to protect publicly revealing the name of a covert CIA agent. Which was revealed to get back at or undermine the credibility of someone who told the truth. About a false statement by the President that was important in getting us into a disastrous war. That’s a molehill, says Richard Cohen, important Washington columnist.

Should someone like that be a Washington columnist?