Today’s conviction of former White House official Scooter Libby dealt yet another blow to President Bush’s beleaguered administration and marked the latest chapter in a record of mistakes, missteps and setbacks growing out of an Iraq war policy that went badly awry.

The Washington Post observes that the Libby trial verdict comes at an especially difficult time for the administration.

New revelations about substandard living conditions and bureaucratic roadblocks for some wounded outpatient soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have put officials on the defensive over how the government treats war veterans.

At the same time, the George W. Bush and everyone associated with him are coming under intense scrutiny in Congress.

Several of those former U.S. attorneys were testifying on Capitol Hill as the conviction of Scooter (real name I. Lewis Libby) was announced at the federal courthouse a few blocks away.

A guilty verdict for someone who once served at such a high level in the White House carried symbolic power when it was handed down at noon.

But in the immediate aftermath, analysts on different sides of the political system debated whether history will ultimately judge the Libby decision as significant in and of itself.

There is agreement, however, that the verdict was a strongreminder of just how heavily the Iraq war has enveloped the presidency and damaged the careers of so many who have been touched by it.

The cost to Libby could be extraordinarily painful. Once the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, Libby now faces prison time.

Only a successful appeal, which many lawyers say is very unlikely, or a presidential pardon could stave off that fate.

But Scooter is just one of a string of officials whose careers have been stamped by the war. Bush’s presidential legacy is tied to the war. Former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld lost his job over it. Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former secretary of state Colin Powell have all seen their reputations affected adversely.

The Libby case captivated Washington as prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald began his investigation into how the name of CIA official Valerie Plame became public and whether her unmasking was retaliation by officials for criticism leveled by her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

Fitzgerald’s investigation proved debilitating to the Bush administration during the summer and fall of 2005, as it appeared that not only Libby but White House senior adviser Karl Rove, the president’s most influential political strategist, might face charges.

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