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Whose agreement do you need, Alex? Libby's conversations with reporters wherein he identified Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative are illegal, and no one's agreement is necessary.
I have no idea why he wasn't charged with that ... except that when there's contradictory evidence, it's probably easier for a jury to find deception than to find which side is telling the truth.
In one sense, it's lousy that the cover-up is what's charged and convicted on, rather than the underlying crime. In another sense, however, government cover-ups are criminal acts in and of themselves that society has an interest in curbing via criminal prosecution. And though there seems to be no particular deterrent factor in the take-down always being for the cover-up rather than the crime, less cover-ups would be a good thing.
If only to leave nothing but the underlying crime for feckless prosecutors to go after.
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