AP Leaves Armitage Out of Initial Story on Plame Case Dismissal

Patrick Ishmael of "NewsBuckit" has an answer for Noel's question about how the media will cover the Plame case dismissal.

Ishmael found an initial reports first left out any mention of Plame name leaker Richard Armitage.*:

This shouldn't even be news, but given the Left's hysterics throughout this ordeal, it needs to be noted again. And again. And again. Will this deter future films based (loosely) on the case from being made? Methinks not.

More to come.

Update @ 2:08pm: Details --

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle.

That, and the fact that the offending party, Richard Armitage, wasn't even involved in the suit.

Update @ 2:40pm: A revised version of the report now includes Armitage as having been a defendant.

Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove, former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Either way, what Armitage would have had gain by leaking the information would have been pretty difficult to prove; after all, Armitage was on the same side regarding the Iraq War as Wilson. Will update if Armitage's name disappears from the report as quickly as it appeared.

*Before I came across Ishmael's post, I first learned of the AP's coverage via e-mail from a news anchor who previously tipped me off to other AP bias.

He noticed that Armitage was missing in the list of respondents named in the lawsuit Plame filed (seen in the third paragraph):

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A federal judge on Thursday dismissed former CIA operative Valerie Plame's lawsuit against members of the Bush administration in the CIA leak scandal.

Plame, the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had accused Vice President Dick Cheney and others of conspiring to leak her identity in 2003. Plame said that violated her privacy rights and was illegal retribution for her husband's criticism of the administration.

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds and said he would not express an opinion on the constitutional arguments. Bates dismissed the case against all defendants: Cheney, White House political adviser Karl Rove and former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

Plame's attorneys had said the lawsuit would be an uphill battle. Public officials are normally immune from such lawsuits filed in connection with their jobs.