The delightful writer and model, Dan Renzi breaks down the entire Scooter Libby trial for his faithful and thoughtful readers. I think Scooter Libby knows he is taking the fall and is doing so happily while he retains his wealth sitting in prison. Read the following synopsis and let the evil that is George Bush and Dick Cheney wash over you.

Valerie Plame and Husband Joseph Wilson.

1) There's this guy Joe Wilson, who was a US ambassador to various countries in Africa. A few years ago, he wrote an article for The New York Times, criticizing George Bush's claims about those "weapons of mass destruction" that were supposedly in Iraq, and said that George was more-or-less making the whole thing up. He knew this because George claimed Iraq tried to buy some weapons material from a Niger (a country in Africa)--and Joe said he knew for a fact that it never happened. Because, he's an Ambassador for Africa, and he could investigate everything on his own.

Yes, we now know George lied about all of those WMD claims. Yes, George made it all up. That's old news. But back then, it was a scandalous assertation.

2) George Bush and his friends in the White House were really, really mad at Joe Wilson for spilling the beans like that.

3) So this guy Robert Armitage, who is Deputy Secretary of State, calls a reporter named Robert Novak, and tells him that Joe's wife Valerie Plame is really a spy for the CIA, who gave Joe some information. What's the big deal in that? Well, the White House knew if they printed her name in the paper, it would (a) ruin Valerie's career as a spy; and (b) stop Joe Wilson from reporting on Iraq anymore, because he won't be able to travel to these places and get information. It's against international law for an Ambassador to have any ties to espionage agencies like the CIA. So they did it to get even with Joe Wilson, basically. Take THAT, Joe Wilson. You can't say bad things about the President anymore. That'll shut you up.

Problem is: it is totally, totally illegal for the Feds to ever divulge the name of their spies. Obviously.

Another problem is: it also makes everyone want to kill Valerie Plame, since the various governments around the world now know she is a spy. Oops.

4) Robert Novak runs the story, and Joe Wilson says "Um, I never told you my wife is a spy, how did you hear that?" and Robert says "I'm not telling."

5) So there's all these investigations, and they ask Scooter Libby about it. Under oath, he says "No, I don't know anything about it." But everyone knows he's lying.

Problem is: Scooter Libby is Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff. As in, Vice President Dick Cheney. Which means, Vice President Cheney told Robert Armitage to talk to that reporter, and give the name of Valerie Plame, which would stop Joe Wilson from saying bad things about the President. And there's all sorts of evidence that Scooter knew all about it--and maybe was the one who gave Armitage the orders to begin with.

That is very, very bad.

6) There are trials, there are pointed fingers...and yesterday, the jury convicts Scooter Libby for "making false statements" when he was investigated about all of this. He's now going to go to jail. But the problem: this wasn't his idea. He didn't actually make the decision. It was Dick Cheney. So now are they going to go after him?

According to the law, they should.

Joe Wilson's and Valerie Plame's statement is here.