Fitzmas Update 8/1/06

Paul Kiel at TPM Muckraker assesses the news that Team Libby has submitted a letter to Judge Reggie, detailing their imperative reasoning for testimony from a memory expert to "explain" why Scooter lied misremembered to investigators. Here's a sample of plain talk clarity from Team Libby: At the encoding phase of memory … events and information are not stored in a literal way, but rather are interpreted and then stored in memory with respect to existing memories, expecations, schemas and goals. During the retention interval … stored memories do not tend to remain in the as-encoded state, but rather are malleable. Existing memory representations are influenced and modified by subsequent and prior related events and information. Finally, …. retrieved memories are reconstructions, rather than exact reproductions of past events.