The Plame Suit

FindLaw has a good piece (somewhat calmer than a lot of the initial columns) by Matthew R. Segal about Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson’s suit against Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, and Dick Cheney.  Segal’s conclusion:

In the end, though, who is at fault for those costs? Plame and Wilson surely have resorted to an imperfect method of learning the truth only because, for the past three years, Administration officials have decided not to reveal it. (The Administration’s secrecy must be particularly frustrating to those who believe that there was no vendetta to disclose Plame’s identity and, consequently, nothing to hide.)

President Bush said in September 2003 that he wanted “to know the truth.” And the public deserves to know it too–because Administration officials may have committed crimes, and, more fundamentally, because this case is connected to the justification for the war that costs us lives, and dominates our politics now….

* * *

In sum, there is indeed plenty to dislike about the lawsuit filed by Plame and Wilson. But there is also plenty to dislike about the conduct of the Administration officials whose failure to level with the public brought us to this point.