Libby prepares request for new trial

Unanswered questions
The case offered a glimpse into the inner workings of the administration, its policies on talking to reporters and its strategies for dealing with a crisis.

But the trial failed to answer all the lingering questions. It offered little new information about whether Bush was involved or whether he authorized any leaks. Defense attorneys never delivered Cheney or Libby to the witness stand as promised to discuss the White House effort to undermine the credibility of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a campaign that resulted in the disclosure of his wife Valerie Plame's job at the CIA.

Libby's attorneys offered few details about a supposed White House conspiracy to protect Bush adviser Karl Rove from prosecution.

It also was never explained why former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, who originally leaked Plame's identity, was never charged.

Now that Fitzgerald says his investigation is complete, those questions are likely to go unanswered.

"The results are actually sad," Fitzgerald told reporters after the federal jury's verdict. "It's sad that we had a situation where a high-level official person who worked in the office of the vice president obstructed justice and lied under oath. We wish that it had not happened, but it did."

Jurors decided Libby could simply not be believed. It was not plausible, they said, that Libby forgot nine conversations about Plame.

Collins said he was intrigued when Wells raised the idea that Libby was being made a scapegoat for Rove.

"There was a tremendous amount of sympathy for Mr. Libby on the jury. It was said a number of times, 'What are we doing with this guy here? Where's Rove? Where are these other guys?'" Collins said. "I'm not saying we didn't think Mr. Libby was guilty of the things we found him guilty of. It seemed like he was, as Mr. Wells put it, he was the fall guy."

Another juror, Jeff Comer, said he can only recall that idea coming up once.

Though the criminal case is over, Wilson and Plame have a civil lawsuit pending against Libby, Cheney, Armitage and others. Wilson praised the Libby verdict.

"Convicting him of perjury was like convicting Al Capone of tax evasion or Alger Hiss of perjury," Wilson said. "It doesn't mean they were not guilty of other crimes."

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