Since you're whining absurdly about how none of us are actually responding to your original post, I'm going to take the time to address it. After that, I'm through playing with you about this, it's too stupid of an argument even for me to spend time on. And that's saying something.
Somebody even claimed that it would be illegal to divulge the name of a CIA janitor!! That's an absurd thought.
What I claimed was that if a janitors association with the CIA was classified, it would be a crime to reveal it. Which is true, notwithstanding the fact that a janitor's identity is probably not classified.
- At some point, someone, presumably a highly placed official in the Bush administration, got upset that Joe Wilson was contributing to the "Bush lied/people died" campaign by claiming that he had information proving that Bush and MI-6 were wrong about Saddam trying to buy yellowcake.
Agreed.
In exposing Wilson's dissembling, it was disclosed that Wilson's wife works for the CIA
Agreed. This means, since you don't seem to be grasping the concept, that her identity as a CIA employee was revealed, which was a crime, since that relationship was classified.
Someone (doesn't matter who) cried "foul" over the disclosure mentioned
Agreed.
and Joe Wilson himself has since over-dramatized the effect of this dissemination
Irrelevent.
Considering that the two of them were on the cover of Vanity Fair and are now the toast of NY, it's a little hard to swallow that their lives are ruined or that they are in some danger. So the Wilson's have not been damaged.
Irrelevent. The point in criminalizing disclosure of classified information is primarily to protect the security of the nation.
Plame is not a covert agent and no one really cares that she works for the CIA
Irrelevent. She does not need to be a covert agent for her status to be classified. It matters nothing whether or not anyone cares that she works for the CIA, although I don't see how you've come to that conclusion, other than that you just made it up. Someone cared enough that they assigned a classified status to her association with the CIA.
A lot of people seemed to have known about Plame, including whoever told Robert Novak (as Fitz, you know who this person was, and it wasn't Scooter)
What people are you talking about? A lot of people with security clearances, presumably.
No secret information was released
Completely wrong. Her identity as a CIA employee was secret. It was released, as you've noted already.
Joe Wilson has written an op ed about his Niger trip and has - without proper authorization - revealed details about his mission that were not meant for public consumption.
"Not intended for public consumption" is not, as far as I know, the same thing as "classified."
Prosecute Wilson for leaking
For leaking what? Non-classified informartion that the Bush Administration didn't want the public to know? I don't think that's illegal.
Prosecute Judith Miller who reported the story but wouldn't divulge her source
What would the crime be?
Prosecute Novak for publishing the information
What would the crime be?
Prosecute a staffer in the VP's office because he makes a convenient scape-goat
A "staffer"? You mean the VP's chief of staff? OK. No, I wouldn't prosecute him because he makes a convenient scapegoat. I'd prosecute him because the grand jury found enough evidence that he lied under oath and to the investigators about an investigation into a crime- the disclosure of classified information.
Determining that no actual damage was done call "no harm, no foul,"
Nope. I don't know, in the first place, that no actual damage was done. I'm working under the assumption that if classified information is revealed, it has the potential to cause damage to national security. That's why information is classified, you know. Besides which, that isn't what I'm prosecuting him for- I'm prosecuting him for lying in an attempt to obstruct an investigation, which in and of itself is damaging to the pursuit of justice.
"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."
Somebody even claimed that it would be illegal to divulge the name of a CIA janitor!! That's an absurd thought.
What I claimed was that if a janitors association with the CIA was classified, it would be a crime to reveal it. Which is true, notwithstanding the fact that a janitor's identity is probably not classified.
- At some point, someone, presumably a highly placed official in the Bush administration, got upset that Joe Wilson was contributing to the "Bush lied/people died" campaign by claiming that he had information proving that Bush and MI-6 were wrong about Saddam trying to buy yellowcake.
Agreed.
In exposing Wilson's dissembling, it was disclosed that Wilson's wife works for the CIA
Agreed. This means, since you don't seem to be grasping the concept, that her identity as a CIA employee was revealed, which was a crime, since that relationship was classified.
Someone (doesn't matter who) cried "foul" over the disclosure mentioned
Agreed.
and Joe Wilson himself has since over-dramatized the effect of this dissemination
Irrelevent.
Considering that the two of them were on the cover of Vanity Fair and are now the toast of NY, it's a little hard to swallow that their lives are ruined or that they are in some danger. So the Wilson's have not been damaged.
Irrelevent. The point in criminalizing disclosure of classified information is primarily to protect the security of the nation.
Plame is not a covert agent and no one really cares that she works for the CIA
Irrelevent. She does not need to be a covert agent for her status to be classified. It matters nothing whether or not anyone cares that she works for the CIA, although I don't see how you've come to that conclusion, other than that you just made it up. Someone cared enough that they assigned a classified status to her association with the CIA.
A lot of people seemed to have known about Plame, including whoever told Robert Novak (as Fitz, you know who this person was, and it wasn't Scooter)
What people are you talking about? A lot of people with security clearances, presumably.
No secret information was released
Completely wrong. Her identity as a CIA employee was secret. It was released, as you've noted already.
Joe Wilson has written an op ed about his Niger trip and has - without proper authorization - revealed details about his mission that were not meant for public consumption.
"Not intended for public consumption" is not, as far as I know, the same thing as "classified."
Prosecute Wilson for leaking
For leaking what? Non-classified informartion that the Bush Administration didn't want the public to know? I don't think that's illegal.
Prosecute Judith Miller who reported the story but wouldn't divulge her source
What would the crime be?
Prosecute Novak for publishing the information
What would the crime be?
Prosecute a staffer in the VP's office because he makes a convenient scape-goat
A "staffer"? You mean the VP's chief of staff? OK. No, I wouldn't prosecute him because he makes a convenient scapegoat. I'd prosecute him because the grand jury found enough evidence that he lied under oath and to the investigators about an investigation into a crime- the disclosure of classified information.
Determining that no actual damage was done call "no harm, no foul,"
Nope. I don't know, in the first place, that no actual damage was done. I'm working under the assumption that if classified information is revealed, it has the potential to cause damage to national security. That's why information is classified, you know. Besides which, that isn't what I'm prosecuting him for- I'm prosecuting him for lying in an attempt to obstruct an investigation, which in and of itself is damaging to the pursuit of justice.
"People think it must be fun to be a super genius, but they don't realize how hard it is to put up with all the idiots in the world."