Scooter Libby Verdict: There's Still a Scandal Here

March 8, 2007 — -- Remember the controversy over President Bush's Vietnam-era military service in the 2004 campaign? That controversy came to an abrupt end thanks to "memogate" -- the revelation that forged documents about Bush's National Guard service had been cited in a CBS report on the issue.

Memogate cut short Dan Rather's career at CBS, and also effectively ended media discussion of how Bush ended up in a "champagne unit" of the National Guard that was virtually guaranteed to keep him out of Southeast Asia. The furor about the apparently false documents ended up inoculating the president from further questions about the very real underlying controversy of his military service.

Is a similar diversion happening to us now with the Scooter Libby trial?

The sturm und drang about Libby has focused on the question of who leaked Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA identity. Who disclosed her status, to whom, and when? Once those questions were being investigated, who lied and obstructed the investigation?

The outing of Plame is a huge story -- it was essentially a national security breach for political purposes. The obstruction of the investigation into the Plame outing is also a very big deal.

But there's a bigger story at the root of this: Why did they out Valerie Plame Wilson in the first place? The short answer, the easy answer is that they were trying to smear her husband, Joseph Wilson, who had criticized the rationale for the war. Follow that one more step -- because now you're getting closer to what I think is the real story, the real bombshell, the thing that mysteriously hasn't been part of the Libby furor at all.

How did Joe Wilson criticize the rationale for the war? He went to Niger after the vice president's office said allegations that Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Africa should be investigated. The CIA dispatched Joe Wilson -- a former ambassador to Gabon who had worked on the Africa desk at the National Security Council. The Saddam-uranium allegation arose in part from documentation that indicated that Saddam wanted 400 tons of uranium from Niger. That documentation, according to everyone who assessed it, was obviously forged.

Rachel Maddow is the host of "The Rachel Maddow Show," which airs nationwide on Air America Radio affiliate stations from 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. ET.