In a March 7 editorial on former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby's March 6 conviction on charges of perjury, obstruction of justice, and lying to federal investigators, USA Today noted that "[a]t one point, President Bush said he'd fire anyone convicted of leaking" Valerie Plame's CIA employment. But the editorial failed to mention that the White House had earlier pledged to fire anyone “involved” in leaking Plame's identity. In an October 31, 2005, editorial, USA Today similarly narrowed the scope of the White House's pledge, as Media Matters for America documented.

Following the July 2003 outing of Plame as a CIA operative, the White House pledged to fire anyone involved in leaking classified information related to Plame's identity -- a pledge that did not hinge upon any determination of illegal activity, as Media Matters noted. During a September 29, 2003, press briefing, White House press secretary Scott McClellan told reporters, “If anyone in this administration was involved in it [the alleged leaking of Plame's identity], they would no longer be in this administration.” Bush himself stated on September 30, 2003: “If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action.”

USA Today's assertion that Bush “said he'd fire anyone convicted” appears to come from a July 18, 2005, press conference in which Bush narrowed his pledge to cover only administration officials who “committed a crime.”

From the March 7 editorial, titled "Lots of guilt to go around":

In one sense, Tuesday's verdict in the long, strange trial of Lewis “Scooter” Libby is a measure of justice. Ample evidence established that Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff had lied to a grand jury, and so he was found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice.

But it is also a measure of how utterly foolish Washington investigations can become. Like other cases that mystified people outside the Beltway, this one was about a coverup without an underlying crime. And as the trial phase ends (Libby's lawyer is vowing an appeal), it leaves no one looking good:

The administration. The supposed crime under investigation was leaking the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame. At one point, President Bush said he'd fire anyone convicted of leaking. It turned out that the administration housed many culprits.

In their zeal to discredit Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson, administration officials leaked the name of his wife (Plame). The State Department's then-No. 2 man, Richard Armitage, disclosed Plame's identity in 2003 to columnist Robert Novak, setting off this costly and bizarre hunt. Meanwhile, trial testimony implicated other top officials -- Cheney through Libby, White House aide Karl Rove and former press secretary Ari Fleischer -- as sources of Plame's identity. Even if they didn't break the law by knowingly blowing her cover, it was irresponsible to identify her before finding out her status.