Novak: Real story behind Armitage's role Novak: Real story behind Armitage's role

Novak: Real story behind Armitage's role questions Armitage's story about how he leaked to Novak. The leak doesn't appear from this to be nearly as inadvertant or on the side as claimed by Armitage.

What is becoming apparent is that the leak of Plame's CIA employment, etc. didn't originally come from the White House, and it doesn't appear to have been a result of a vendetta against Wilson. Rather, it looks more like a turf fight between the CIA and the State Department.

The other facet that is interesting is the Wilson's civil case against Cheney, Rove, and Libby. At a minimum, this knocks out their damage claim against them (which was highly questionable in the first place). They are now making noises about including Armitage. But the problem there is that they end up with two conspiracies, not one: 1) Cheney/ Rove/ Libby, and 2) Armitage/ Powell. The problem though is that conspiracy #1 has no damages and conspiracy #2 has no intent to harm. Of course, a very good attorney would try to confuse the jury as to this, but I have no doubt that all the defendants will have attorneys who are as good, if not better. It should be interesting.