WF Buckley Puts the Plame Outing in Prespective

Conservative Icon, NRO hero spanks those who think there is no underlying crime:

William F. Buckley on Patrick Fitzgerald's Investigation on National Review Online: "The importance of the law against revealing the true professional identity of an agent is advertised by the draconian punishment, under the federal code, for violating it. In the swirl of the Libby affair, one loses sight of the real offense, and it becomes almost inapprehensible what it is that Cheney/Libby/Rove got themselves into. But the sacredness of the law against betraying a clandestine soldier of the republic cannot be slighted."

Both Buckley and Fitzgerald, in his press conference last week, make it clear that the question of how covert Plame was is not an issue--identifying her in public as a CIA agent is a crime because that information is classified. And that this information would come from the White House should be particularly disturbing for all of us.