"The Leak" (and the fall guy) Revealed... again.

So now "THE LEAK" has been revealed.

Actually there was more than one, but supposedly it was former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who first told CNN Robert Novak that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative, in violation of federal law.

Few quick thoughts...

First, if it was Armitage from the get-go, and he was supposedly on his own in doing it, then why all the dog-and-pony games from both the Special Prosecutor AND from the Bush Imperium? Armitage suppsoedly didn't "lawyer-up" like the others did because he supposedly KNEW that he did a bad thing. So why didn't he come forward earlier? This would have diffused the whole issue in a matter of SECONDS! It would have been a done deal and the media would have moved on.

If Novak was "cooperating" with the Special Prosecutor on this and he didn't give up Armitage, then he betrayed his trust. Any prosecutor worth his stones would have said "deal's off" and had Novak indicted.

I don't buy the idea that this was a lone-wolf operation. Armitage may have been the original leaker, but he didn't do this by himself. There was too much drama behind this for it to be a one-man criminal activity.

Second, PROSECUTE HIM! If Patrick Fitzgerald doesn't, then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales MUST! This man violated federal law. He needs to do the perp walk. He supposedly was ready for it, so why waste the opportunity? Let him do the time for doing the crime.

While we're at it, get Novak prosectued too. He's been a walking stool pigeon for too long and it didn't help move the case any further.

In short, Armitage is another fall-guy for the Imperium... a modern-day G. Gordon Liddy. And if we're going to make comparrisons to the Nixon crimes, then we need to TREAT the players just like we did in those days. They didn't get interviewed, they got indicted. They didn't get CNN, they got CONVICTED.