[Mb-civic] the Da Libby Code

[Mike Blaxill]

The Da Libby 
By Bruce Kluger and David Slavin.

 "You went to jail in the summer. It is fall now.
You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections
and suicide bombers, biological threats and the
Iranian nuclear program. Out west, where you
vacation, the aspens will already be turning.
They turn in clusters, because their roots
connect them.  Come back to work -- and life." 
-- I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in jailhouse letter
to Judy Miller

Of all the mind-numbing details surrounding the
Valerie Plame-CIA leak investigation, the most
perplexing is a letter sent to jailed New York
Times reporter Judy Miller by Vice Presidential
Chief of Staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Tender,
picturesque and, at moments, downright poetic,
the text continues to be picked apart by
political pundits, who remain convinced that the
language is coded.

It is. As the millions of readers of Dan Brown's
bestseller, The Da Vinci Code, already know,
sometimes words carry deeper meaning when they're
unscrambled. And just like with any crime, an
anagram is at its most effective when it's
letter-perfect.

"You went to jail in the summer" = "Name me to
the jury? Not! Lie with us."
Clearly an appeal for Miller to remain mum about
revealing her source of the Plame leak, here
Libby is frank and unrepentant. He is also
clever, using a double-entendre ("lie") to
describe both the practice of deceit, and that of
lying down with dogs. Touché!

"You will have stories to cover" = "I serve
wealthy virtuoso. Cool!"
In a surprisingly audacious implication of his
boss, Libby appears glib in alluding to Vice
President Dick Cheney's wealth and cunning. Was
Halliburton involved in the Plame fiasco? Does
Libby's use of the word "cool" also implicate
Harriet Miers? Reporters swoon.

"Suicide bombers, biological threats" =
"Diabolical bores obscure mightiest."
A bombshell. One needn't be a Watergate historian
to know that scandals quickly unravel once the
mastermind is named. Here Libby not only
implicates President Bush as the brains behind
the Plame operation, but also acknowledges his
utter disdain for his colleagues. Witness for the
prosecution, perhaps?

"The Iranian nuclear program" = "Plame? An
Antiguan error."
At first blush, the implication seems
preposterous. And yet some of America's greatest
historical embarrassments boasted a Caribbean
connection. The slave trade. The Bay of Pigs.
Ricky Martin. The notion that the bungled Plame
operation originated off-shore sends
investigators into a frenzy as they "follow the
money." Tom DeLay immediately goes into hiding.

"Out west, where you vacation" = "He can't waver.
You owe it to us."
A blatant reference to the need for Karl Rove to
maintain his innocence, this Libby remark
encourages Miller to do the same. It also plays
on her guilt. Why does she "owe" them? Is it
because she was the only embedded reporter in
Iraq with 400-count sheets and a masseuse? The
questions, the questions...

"Aspens will already be turning" = "Willingness
and pure betrayal."
The two tenets of any undercover operation, this
mob-like slogan is rumored to be tattooed on
Libby's chest. But why taunt Miller with it? Was
she really involved? Has she seen the tattoo? How
deep does this thing go?!

"They turn in clusters" = "The scrutiny! Let's
run!"
Growing increasingly desperate, Libby reveals a
possible plot twist. Could his allusion to a
joint flight indicate a romantic relationship
between politico and prisoner? Us Weekly jumps on
the story.

"Their roots connect them" = "Them rich neo-cons
totter."
A skillful ploy: Is Libby revealing that the
Plame cover-up is falling apart -- or does he
just want to make her believe that it is? Either
way, the us-them tactic is inspired.

"Come back to work -- and life." = "No trace of
WMD. I leak, OK? (BC.)" 
Apparently under enormous pressure, Libby now
falls apart, confessing not only to his
involvement in Plamegate, but also to the events
that precipitated it. Sadly, the parenthetical at
the end of his message reveals the
Administration's standard operating procedure in
times of trouble: When in doubt, blame the guy
who came before you.

Bruce Kluger and David Slavin write satire for
National Public Radio's "All Things Considered."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-kluger/the-da-libby-code_b_9330.html