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Rove was the source of the Plame leak... so it appears

 
 
kuvasz
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 04:22 pm
One should not pass without comment the continuing mendaciocity, regularly displayed by the editorial page of the WSJ in their efforts to create their own reality.

Shall we deconstruct the WSJ's editorial smear campaign against Wilson in light of the facts?

Quote:
Number one: The winner of last year's Award for Truth Telling from the Nation magazine foundation didn't tell the truth when he wrote that his wife, CIA officer Valerie Plame, "had nothing to do with" his selection for the Niger mission. Mr. Wilson is now pretending there is some kind of important distinction between whether she "recommended" or "proposed" him for the trip.
Quote:
Mr. Wilson had been denying any involvement at all on Ms. Plame's part, in order to suggest that her identity was disclosed by a still-unknown Administration official out of pure malice. If instead an Administration official cited nepotism truthfully in order to explain the oddity of Mr. Wilson's selection for the Niger mission, then there was no underlying crime. Motive is crucial under the controlling statute.


The WSJ reaches back in time, uses out of context what Wilson refused to say at the time of Novak's column outing his wife, and places in a later context to distort the situation. At that time Wilson refused publicly to talk about his wife's involvement in anything, not just her involvement in sending him to Niger. Doing so would have corroborated the column by Novak who outed her as a CIA covert operative. Unlike Novak did, Wilson was not going to out his own wife.

The people at CIA who actually made that decision said that she did not make a recommendation, nor was she involved with the decision to send her husband to Niger, they did.

The charge of "nepotism" is also a lie.

Newsday reporters Tim Phelps and Knut Royce on July 2003 Newsday article "Columnist Blows CIA Agent's Cover," (dated July 22, 2003).
reported that:

Quote:
"A senior intelligence officer confirmed that Plame was a Directorate of Operations undercover officer who worked 'alongside' the operations officers who asked her husband to travel to Niger. But he said she did not recommend her husband to undertake the Niger assignment. 'They [the officers who did ask Wilson to check the uranium story] were aware of who she was married to, which is not surprising,' he said. 'There are people elsewhere in government who are trying to make her look like she was the one who was cooking this up, for some reason,' he said. 'I can't figure out what it could be.' 'We paid his [Wilson's] airfare. But to go to Niger is not exactly a benefit. Most people you'd have to pay big bucks to go there,' the senior intelligence official said. Wilson said he was reimbursed only for expenses."


One has to believe the WSJ that Plame wanted to send her husband on a trip to Niger, a place that even the CIA said was not a place people would want to go without cause.

Can the WSJ get any lamer here?

The Senate Intelligence Committee staffers interviewed neither people who were in the room when the decision was made, nor those parties who were involved in the decision-making process. It should be noted that instead of the comity usually shown by staff interviews, only Republican appointed staff members interviewed these people; the wrong people, btw. One could justifiably accuse the Republicans of doing this as part of a partisan effort to discredit Wilson.

Just as the WSJ has done in its editorial.

Quote:
Number two: Joe Wilson didn't tell the truth about how he supposedly came to realize that it was "highly doubtful" there was anything to the story he'd been sent to Niger to investigate.


He was quite specific in this and the pertinent passage of Wilson's essay is quoted below.

http://www.politicsoftruth.com/editorials/africa.html

Quote:


Actually, there were three reports that challenged the allegation that the Iraqis were attempting the purchase of Niger sourced uranium press cakes. Officials of both the State Dept. and the Defense Dept. made the other two reports that challenged the accusations, viz.,

U.S. Ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick, and Deputy Commander, European Command, Marine General Carlton Fulford

http://www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/iraq.html

@ Page 41 of the Niger section of the Senate Intelligence Committee Report. Linked

http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/13jul20041400/www.gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/pdf/s108-301/sec2.pdf

Quote:
"On February 24,2002, the U.S. Embassy in Niamey disseminated a cable (NIAMEY
000262) describing a meeting between the U.S. Ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-
Kirkpatrick, Deputy Commander, European Command, General Carlton Fulford, Niger's
President, Mamadou Tandja and Foreign Minister Kichatou Mindaoudou. General Fulford had previously scheduled a routine refueling stop and brief meeting with Nigerien officials at the request of Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick. Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick told Committee staff that she routinely encouraged visitors to Western Africa to make refueling stops in Niger.

"She said "when you are assigned to a place like Niger, which is not exactly the center of the universe . . .you take everything you can get. And I worked very hard to make Niger the best refueling stop in Africa." When the Iraq-Niger uranium reporting surfaced in early February, Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick decided to ask General Fulford to use the previously scheduled meeting to raise the uranium issue with Nigerien officials. Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick prepared talking points for General Fulford to use during his visit and the CIA coordinated on the talking points.


Page 42 of the Niger section of the senate intelligence committee report.

Quote:
"Ambassador Owens-Kirkpatrick told Committee staff she recalled
the former ambassador saying "he had reached the same conclusions that the embassy had reached, that it was highly unlikely that anything was going on.''


Marine Gen. Carlton W. Fulford Jr

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A56336-2003Jul14&notFound=true

Quote:
"A four-star general, who was asked to go to Niger last year to inquire about the security of Niger's uranium, told The Washington Post yesterday that he came away convinced the country's stocks were secure. The findings of Marine Gen. Carlton W. Fulford Jr. were passed up to Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- though it was unclear whether they reached officials in the White House..

"In an interview, Fulford said he came away "assured" that the supply of "yellowcake" was kept secure by a French consortium. Both Fulford, then deputy commander of the U.S. European Command and his commander, Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, said the issue did not surface again, although they were both routinely briefed on weapons proliferation in Africa. "I was convinced it was not an issue," Fulford said.

"Fulford was asked by the U.S. ambassador to Niger, BarbroOwens-Kirkpatrick, to join her at the meeting with Niger's President Mamadou Tandja on Feb. 24, 2002. "I was asked to impress upon the president the importance that the yellowcake in Niger be under control," Fulford said. "I did that. He assured me. He said the mining operations were handled through a French consortium" and therefore out of the Niger government's control. Owens-Kirkpatrick, reached by phone, declined to comment.

"Fulford's impressions, while not conclusive, were similar to those of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, who traveled to Niger for the CIA in February 2002 to interview Niger officials about the uranium claim and came away convinced it was not true."


It is clear that the US Government has in its possession THREE reports, all from different sources that considered that allegations of an Iraqi purchase of Niger uranium press cakes to be unfounded. In addition, that they had this information fully 9 months before Bush SOTU speech where it was referenced.

Quote:
He told everyone that he'd recognized as obvious forgeries the documents purporting to show an Iraq-Niger uranium deal. But the forged documents to which he referred didn't reach U.S. intelligence until eight months after his trip. Mr. Wilson has said that he "misspoke" -- multiple times, apparently -- on this issue.


Again, the WSJ takes words Wilson stated out of a temporal context. He said those things after the documents were released, but the WSJ is referencing its attack upon Wilson response to questions by the Senate Intelligence Committee staff interviews, and applies them to other, earlier times.

In his reply to accusations of lying in the Senate Intelligence addendum, "Additional view" the following:

http://www.politicsoftruth.com/editorials/africa.html

Quote:
This conclusion states that I told the committee staff that I "may have become confused about my own recollection after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that the names and dates on the documents were not correct." At the time that I was asked that question, I was not afforded the opportunity to review the articles to which the staff was referring. I have now done so.


Quote:
Number three: Joe Wilson was also not telling the truth when he said that his final report to the CIA had "debunked" the Niger story.quote]

Wilson claimed only that the transaction described in the documents that turned out to be forgeries could not have occurred and did not occur. The WSJ accusations of Wilson lying are that he referred to his report as debunking the "16 words" in contention of the Bush State of the Union speech of January 2003.

In his original essay in the NY Times of June 2003, Joe Wilson did not say that his report "debunked" the "16 words" in contention of the Bush State of the Union speech of January 2003. He was quite specific in this. He never claimed to have "debunked" the allegation that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. He claimed only that the transaction described in the documents that turned out to be forgeries could not have occurred and did not occur


It is clear that the US Government has in its possession THREE reports, all from different sources that considered that allegations of an Iraqi purchase of Niger uranium press cakes to be unfounded. And that they had this information fully 9 months before Bush SOTU speech where thi was referenced.

Quote:
The Senate Intelligence report -- again, the bipartisan portion of it -- says Mr. Wilson's debrief was interpreted as providing "some confirmation of foreign government service reporting" that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. That's because Niger's former Prime Minister had told Mr. Wilson he interpreted a 1999 visit from an Iraqi trade delegation as showing an interest in uranium.


Well, this was already contradicted by the reports from U.S. Ambassador to Niger, Barbro Owens-Kirkpatrick and General Fulford's remarks above.
But actually, it merely did not change the opinion of any of the analysts minds, and the only ones who were correct were those who believed that Wilson's report supported them in saying that the allegation of an Iraqi attempt couild not have taken place.

Wilson has responded by referring to the details in the actual report and cited these things by page number. These things actually show that there was no confirmation of the foreign government service reports and pointed out that the Committee report conclusion was not an accurate portrayal of the documented evidence they placed in the record.
Quote:
In August 2002, a CIA NESA [Office of Near Eastern and South Asian Analysis] report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities did not include the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium information. (page 48)

In September 2002, during coordination of a speech with an NSC staff member, the CIA analyst suggested the reference to Iraqi attempts to acquire uranium from Africa be removed. The CIA analyst said the NSC staff member said that would leave the British "flapping in the wind." (page 50)

The uranium text was included in the body of the NIE [National Intelligence Estimate] but not in the key judgments. When someone suggested that the uranium information be included as another sign of reconstitution, the INR [State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research] Iraq nuclear analyst spoke up and said the he did not agree with the uranium reporting and that INR would be including text indicating their disagreement in their footnote on nuclear reconstitution. The NIO [national intelligence officer] said he did not recall anyone really supporting including the uranium issue as part of the judgment that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear program, so he suggested that the uranium information did not need to be part of the key judgments. He told committee staff that he suggested, "We'll leave it in the paper for completeness. Nobody can say we didn't connect the dots. But we don't have to put that dot in the key judgments." (page 53)

On Oct. 2, 2002, the Deputy DCI [director of central intelligence] testified before the SSCI [Senate Select Committee on Intelligence]. Sen. Jon Kyl asked the Deputy DCI whether he had read the British White Paper and whether he disagreed with anything in the report. The Deputy DCI testified that "the one thing where I think they stretched a little bit beyond where we would stretch is on the points about Iraq seeking uranium from various African locations." (page 54)

On Oct. 4, 2002, the NIO for Strategic and Nuclear Programs testified that "there is some information on attempts ... there's a question about those attempts because of the control of the material in those countries ... For us it's more the concern that they [Iraq] have uranium in-country now." (page 54)

On Oct. 5, 2002, the ADDI [associate deputy director for intelligence] said an Iraqi nuclear analyst -- he could not remember who -- raised concerns about the sourcing and some of the facts of the Niger reporting, specifically that the control of the mines in Niger would have made it very difficult to get yellowcake to Iraq. (page 55)

Based on the analyst's comments, the ADDI faxed a memo to the deputy national security advisor that said, "Remove the sentence because the amount is in dispute and it is debatable whether it can be acquired from this source. We told Congress that the Brits have exaggerated this issue. Finally, the Iraqis already have 550 metric tons of uranium oxide in their inventory." (page 56)

On Oct. 6, 2002, the DCI called the deputy national security advisor directly to outline the CIA's concerns. The DCI testified to the SSCI on July 16, 2003, that he told the deputy national security advisor that the "President should not be a fact witness on this issue," because his analysts had told him the "reporting was weak." (page 56)

On Oct. 6, 2002, the CIA sent a second fax to the White House that said, "More on why we recommend removing the sentence about procuring uranium oxide from Africa: Three points (1) The evidence is weak. One of the two mines cited by the source as the location of the uranium oxide is flooded. The other mine cited by the source is under the control of the French authorities. (2) The procurement is not particularly significant to Iraq's nuclear ambitions because the Iraqis already have a large stock of uranium oxide in their inventory. And (3) we have shared points one and two with Congress, telling them that the Africa story is overblown and telling them this is one of the two issues where we differed with the British." (page 56)

On March 8, 2003, the intelligence report on my trip was disseminated within the U.S. government, according to the Senate report (page 43). Further, the Senate report states that "in early March, the Vice President asked his morning briefer for an update on the Niger uranium issue." That update from the CIA "also noted that the CIA would be debriefing a source who may have information related to the alleged sale on March 5." The report then states the "DO officials also said they alerted WINPAC [Center for Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control] analysts when the report was being disseminated because they knew the high priority of the issue." The report notes that the CIA briefer did not brief the vice president on the report. (page 46)
0 Replies
 
pngirouard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 04:47 pm
Hello Kuvacz.

Good post.

Howard Kurtz in his column Media notes made quite a review of the standard press line from the right. It is truly organized not to address the particular issue of the leak itself but to substantiate the attacks on Wilson himself and avoid denouncing the intolerable stance of the administration in this matter.

Some exceprts:

Quote:
From the moment the Karl Rove story exploded over the weekend, I've been intensely curious as to what tack the conservatives would take.

This is a big political embarrassment, no question about it, and while Scott McClellan could try the old can't-comment-during-the-investigation (though he had earlier denied any Rove involvement during the same investigation), what would the denizens of the right do?

I tuned into O'Reilly and Hannity on Monday night, but there was no mention, none, of the Rove/Plame affair. Imagine if an e-mail had surfaced showing that a top aide to Clinton--say, Sid Blumenthal--had told a reporter about a covert CIA agent. Would those Fox shows have given the controversy a bit of air time? (Last night, O'Reilly said "some in the media are foaming" over the story but did call on Rove to "clear the air," then hosted Newt Gingrich, who attacked Joe Wilson. Hannity said Rove "wasn't on a witchhunt" because Matt Cooper called him , and guest G. Gordon Liddy ripped Cooper and said Valerie Plame wasn't really undercover.

While the White House remains in lockdown mode over Rove, my first clue to the GOP defense came in a statement from RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman:

"It's disappointing that once again, so many Democrat leaders are taking their political cues from the far-left, Moveon wing of the party. The bottom line is Karl Rove was discouraging a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise and the Democrats are engaging in blatant partisan political attacks."

So the response is that 1) the Dems are playing politics (and Rove wasn't, in dragging in Mrs. Joe Wilson?). And 2) Rove was just performing a public service by steering a reporter away from a false story (actually, Wilson was right about the bogus Niger uranium tale, and the White House was wrong).

Still another approach is to blame Wilson, as John Podhoretz does in the New York Post:

"There's no mistaking the purpose of this conversation between Cooper and Rove. It wasn't intended to discredit, defame or injure Wilson's wife. It was intended to throw cold water on the import, seriousness and supposedly high level of Wilson's findings.

"While some may differ on the fairness of discrediting Joseph Wilson, it sure isn't any kind of crime. . . .

"What isn't controversial is this: Karl Rove didn't "out" Valerie Plame as a CIA agent to intimidate Joe Wilson. He was dismissing Joe Wilson as a low-level has-been hack to whom nobody should pay attention. He was right then, and if he said it today, he'd still be right."

Oh, and there's the no-crime-was-committed defense. Which may be true, given the vagaries of the law. But is that the standard for service in the White House? And are these folks conveniently forgetting Bush's pledge to fire the leakers?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html
0 Replies
 
pngirouard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 04:53 pm
Howard Kurtz in his column Media Notes made also a review of some liberal comments.

Excerpts:

Quote:
Liberals are clearly enjoying themselves, a la Josh Marshall

"We don't know that the president knew about the decision to use Plame's work at CIA against Wilson in advance, though given the high-level working group assembled at the White House to go to war with Wilson, it's reasonable to suspect that he did. But at a minimum the president has known about this as long as the rest of us -- that is, almost exactly two years.

"And he -- unlike anyone else in the country -- had the power to call Rove into his office and ask him whether he did this or knew who did?

"Whether he knew before or after, he's known for a very long time. And pretty clearly he didn't want Rove held to any account. Indeed, he's gone to great lengths to prevent this from happening. And of course few reporters in DC have cared to press this essential point."

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann slaps around the deputy chief of staff:

"Karl Rove is a liability in the war on terror.

"Rove -- Newsweek's new article quotes the very emails -- told a Time reporter that Ambassador Joe Wilson's trip to investigate of the Niger uranium claim was at the behest of Wilson's CIA wife.

"To paraphrase Mr. Rove, liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers; conservatives saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared to ruin the career of one of the country's spies tracking terrorist efforts to gain weapons of mass destruction -- for political gain.

"Politics first, counter-terrorism second -- it's as simple as that."

The Nation's David Corn

sketches two scenarios, both of them bad for Rove:

"This e-mail demonstrates that Rove committed a firing offense. He leaked national security information as part of a fierce campaign to undermine Wilson, who had criticized the White House on the war on Iraq. Rove's overworked attorney, Robert Luskin, defends his client by arguing that Rove never revealed the name of Valerie Plame/Wilson to Cooper and that he only referred to her as Wilson's wife.

"This is not much of a defense. If Cooper or any other journalist had written that 'Wilson's wife works for the CIA'--without mentioning her name--such a disclosure could have been expected to have the same effect as if her name had been used: Valerie Wilson would have been compromised, her anti-WMD work placed at risk and national security potentially harmed. Either Rove knew that he was revealing an undercover officer to a reporter or he was identifying a CIA officer without bothering to check on her status and without considering the consequences of outing her. Take your pick: In both scenarios Rove is acting in a reckless and cavalier fashion, ignoring national security interests to score a political point against a policy foe."


Still at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/linkset/2005/04/11/LI2005041100587.html
0 Replies
 
mysteryman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 05:25 pm
I don't have a dog in this fight,so allow me to draw a few conclusions from what I have read on here.

Some of you have discredited the links given by fox,because they are links to OPINIONS,yet you then turn around and submit your OPINIONS that Rove is guilty of something,and expect those OPINIONS to be taken as fact.
That seems a little strange to me.

Also,knowing and revealing the names of CIA employees is NOT a crime.
I know 3 people from when I was in the military that now work for the CIA,and I will be glad to tell you their names.
None of them are field officers,so their identity is not secret information.

Also,the woman that cowrote the law that all of you are accusing Rove of breaking is saying that Rove did NOT break the law.
So,if the woman that wrote the law is defending him,why are the rest of you so fast to attack him and accuse him of breaking the law.

It seems to me that a lot of useless speculation is going on,and that until Judith Miller reveals her source,this whole dog and pony show needs to be allowed to run its course,without interference or amateur lawyering by anyone on here.
0 Replies
 
pngirouard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 06:25 pm
Hello mysteryman.

You will have a hard time proving that the woman who didn't write the law but co-drafted it (that has to be Victoria Toensing who co-drafted it with Bruce W. Sanford) exonerated Karl Rove for this is to my knowledge totally groundless. It is basically an opinion you utter as a fact. The same kind of thing you reproach others on this thread.

Fact of the matter Victoria Toensing and Bruce W. Sanford co-authored an opinion piece on Bob Novak's potential criminal exposure and came to the conclusion that he was probably not exposed to any indictment under the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act (the same Act they co-drafted).

The piece can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2305-2005Jan11.

It was entitled:

The Plame Game: Was This a Crime?
By Victoria Toensing and Bruce W. Sanford
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A21

It is quite critical of the sources of Novak and the CIA but only deals with Novak's criminal liability.



Not once did they discuss in their piece the involvement of Rove. Their concern was with journalist outing out a covert agent and the protection of sources.

So why don't you follow your own advice. Get your facts straight. Your opinion isn't fact. And when available why not quote your source. That doesn't mean your republican card. Stating you don't have a dog in this matter doesn't mean you are not part of a pack of them.
0 Replies
 
timberlandko
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 06:33 pm
Somehow, I wonder if Miller's source is a critical element here - I could be wrong, but all else being equal, it seems at least equally likely to me that Fitzgerald is pressing the case for Grand Jury authority as to be seeking information. My thinking there goes along the lines of the list of folks who have testified, regardless what their testimony might have been. Of course, it is possible Miller is {b]THE[/b] key witness, without whose testimony any case for criminal charges cannot be made, but it just doesn't seem all that probable. And again, thats just speculation on my part.

And just to clarify a point mysteryman made, Victoria Toensing, co-author of the law referenced, founcreator of the Department of Justice' Terrorism Section and former chief counsel to the Senate Intelligence committee, does not "defend" Rove, she merely points out that whatever else might be the case, no case against Rove can be made under that law.

Take a look at what she, as well as the law's other coauthor, has to say:

Quote:
The Plame Game: Was This a Crime?

By Victoria Toensing and Bruce W. Sanford
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A21

Why have so many people rushed to assume that a crime was committed when someone "in the administration" gave columnist Robert D. Novak the name of CIA "operative" Valerie Plame? Novak published her name while suggesting that nepotism might have lurked behind the CIA assignment of her husband, Joseph Wilson, to a job for which he was credentially challenged: The agency sent him to Niger to determine whether Iraq was interested in acquiring uranium from that country, although he was an expert neither on nuclear weapons nor on Niger.

Journalists are being threatened with jail for not testifying who gave them information about Plame -- even journalists who did not write about Plame but only talked with sources about her. Ironically, the special prosecutor has pursued this case with characteristic zeal after major publications editorialized that a full investigation and prosecution of the government source was necessary. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution even claimed that the allegations came "perilously close to treason."

It's time for a timeout on a misguided and mechanical investigation in which there is serious doubt that a crime was even committed. Federal courts have stated that a reporter should not be subpoenaed when the testimony sought is remote from criminal conduct or when there is no compelling "government interest," i.e., no crime. As two people who drafted and negotiated the scope of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, we can tell you: The Novak column and the surrounding facts do not support evidence of criminal conduct.

When the act was passed, Congress had no intention of prosecuting a reporter who wanted to expose wrongdoing and, in the process, once or twice published the name of a covert agent. Novak is safe from indictment. But Congress also did not intend for government employees to be vulnerable to prosecution for an unintentional or careless spilling of the beans about an undercover identity. A dauntingly high standard was therefore required for the prosecutor to charge the leaker.

At the threshold, the agent must truly be covert. Her status as undercover must be classified, and she must have been assigned to duty outside the United States currently or in the past five years. This requirement does not mean jetting to Berlin or Taipei for a week's work. It means permanent assignment in a foreign country. Since Plame had been living in Washington for some time when the July 2003 column was published, and was working at a desk job in Langley (a no-no for a person with a need for cover), there is a serious legal question as to whether she qualifies as "covert."

The law also requires that the disclosure be made intentionally, with the knowledge that the government is taking "affirmative measures to conceal [the agent's] relationship" to the United States. Merely knowing that Plame works for the CIA does not provide the knowledge that the government is keeping her relationship secret. In fact, just the opposite is the case. If it were known on the Washington cocktail circuit, as has been alleged, that Wilson's wife is with the agency, a possessor of that gossip would have no reason to believe that information is classified -- or that "affirmative measures" were being taken to protect her cover.

There are ways of perceiving whether the government was actually taking the required necessary affirmative measures to conceal its relationship with Plame. We can look, for example, at how the CIA reacted when Novak informed the press office that he was going to publish her name. Did the general counsel call to threaten prosecution, as we know has been done to other reporters under similar circumstances? No. Did then-Director George Tenet or his deputy pick up the phone to tell Novak that the publication of her name would threaten national security and her safety, as we know is done when the CIA is serious about prohibiting publication? No. Did some high-ranking government official ask to visit Novak or the president of his newspaper syndicate to talk him out of publishing -- another common strategy to prevent a story? No.

Novak has written that the CIA person designated to talk with him replied that although Plame was probably not getting another foreign assignment, exposure "might cause difficulties if she were to travel abroad." He certainly never told Novak that Plame would be endangered. Such a meager response falls far legally shy of "affirmative measures."

There is even more telling CIA conduct about Plame's status. According to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence's "Report on the U.S. Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq," when the agency asked Plame's husband to take on the Niger assignment, he did not have to sign a confidentiality agreement, a requirement for just about anybody else doing work for an intelligence agency. This omission opened the door for Wilson to write an op-ed piece for the New York Times describing his Niger trip. Did it not occur to our super sleuths of spycraft that a nationally distributed piece about the incendiary topic of weapons of mass destruction -- which happens to be Wilson's wife's expertise -- could result in her involvement being raised?

The special prosecutor and reporters should ask Chief U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan, who is overseeing the grand jury, to conduct a hearing to require the CIA to identify all affirmative measures it was taking to shield Plame's identity. Before we even think about sending reporters to prison for doing their jobs, the court should determine that all the elements of a crime are present.



OK - so technically, that is just opinion. Consider, however, it is opinion concerning a matter at litigation or investigation, opinion presented by attornies by way of commentary relating to the matter at litigation or investigation, the very attornies who crafted the law on which the attornies base their opinion of the issue at question in the matter at litigation or investigation. It is, by definition, a Legal Opinion. It is not a decision, it is not a finding, no, its neither of those. The fact remains, however, that in the opinion of the 2 attornies who crafted the law, in the specific matter at litigation or investigation, " ... The Novak column and the surrounding facts do not support evidence of criminal conduct."

So back to conjecture, mine, this time: perhaps indeed, something else is going on here - perhaps, even something along the lines of the surprises to which Novak alluded when he said he would "reveal all".
0 Replies
 
pngirouard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 06:50 pm
Hello Timber.

I guess we were both writing at the same time about mysteryman's mysterious conclusions.

Smile
0 Replies
 
mysteryman
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 06:58 pm
pngirouard wrote:
Hello mysteryman.

You will have a hard time proving that the woman who didn't write the law but co-drafted it (that has to be Victoria Toensing who co-drafted it with Bruce W. Sanford) exonerated Karl Rove for this is to my knowledge totally groundless. It is basically an opinion you utter as a fact. The same kind of thing you reproach others on this thread.

Fact of the matter Victoria Toensing and Bruce W. Sanford co-authored an opinion piece on Bob Novak's potential criminal exposure and came to the conclusion that he was probably not exposed to any indictment under the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act (the same Act they co-drafted).

The piece can be found at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A2305-2005Jan11.

It was entitled:

The Plame Game: Was This a Crime?
By Victoria Toensing and Bruce W. Sanford
Wednesday, January 12, 2005; Page A21

It is quite critical of the sources of Novak and the CIA but only deals with Novak's criminal liability.



Not once did they discuss in their piece the involvement of Rove. Their concern was with journalist outing out a covert agent and the protection of sources.

So why don't you follow your own advice. Get your facts straight. Your opinion isn't fact. And when available why not quote your source. That doesn't mean your republican card. Stating you don't have a dog in this matter doesn't mean you are not part of a pack of them.


Sorry,but I'm not a republican or a democrat.
To paraphrase Groucho Marx,I refuse to be a member of any organization that will allow people like me to join.

I do admit to being a conservative,but I am not now,nor will I ever,be a member of any political party.
0 Replies
 
kuvasz
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 07:08 pm
yeap, and if plame was known around the cocktail circuit as a CIA NOC then novak would have known this too. after all he has been a fixture at such washington functions for oh, say the last couple of decades and is plugged into the juice, and he merely called CIA to chat about the weather instead of asking about Plame's status, to which he was told by two CIA officals to please, not publish her name.

yeap, she was very well known to the public as a CIA operative, so much in fact, that the CIA asked the Justice Dept to find out who the hell told novak.

Quote:
Two government officials have told the FBI that conservative columnist Robert Novak was asked specifically not to publish the name of undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame in his now-famous July 14 newspaper column. The two officials told investigators they warned Novak that by naming Plame he might potentially jeopardize her ability to engage in covert work, stymie ongoing intelligence operations, and jeopardize sensitive overseas sources.

These new accounts, provided by a current and former administration official close to the situation, directly contradict public statements made by Novak. He has downplayed his own knowledge about the potential harm to Plame and ongoing intelligence operations by making that disclosure. He has also claimed in various public statements that intelligence officials falsely led him to believe that Plame was only an analyst, and the only potential consequences of her exposure as a CIA officer would be that she might be inconvenienced in her foreign travels.
The two administration officials questioned by the FBI characterized Novak's statements as untrue and misleading, according to a government official and an attorney official familiar with the FBI interviews.

One of the sources also asserted that the credibility of the administration officials who spoke to the FBI is enhanced by the fact that the officials made their statement to the federal law enforcement authorities. If the officials were found to be lying to the FBI, they could be potentially prosecuted for making false statements to federal investigators the sources pointed out.

The two officials say Novak was told, as one source put it, that Plame's work for the CIA "went much further than her being an analyst," and that publishing her name would be "hurtful" and could stymie ongoing intelligence operations and jeopardize her overseas sources.

"When [Novak] says that he was not told that he was 'endangering' someone, that statement might be technically true," this source says. "Nobody directly told him that she was going to be physically hurt. But that was implicit in that he was told what she did for a living."

"At best, he is parsing words," said the other official. "At worst, he is lying to his readers and the public. Journalists should not lie, I would think."

These new accounts, provided by two sources familiar to the investigation, contradict Novak's attempts to downplay his own knowledge about the potential harm to Plame.

Moreover, one of the government officials who has told federal investigators that Novak's account is false has also turned over to investigators contemporaneous notes he made of at least one conversation with Novak. Those notes, according to sources, appear to corroborate the official's version of events.


http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2004/02/waas-m-02-12.html

move along folks, nothing to see here, move along.
0 Replies
 
timberlandko
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 07:41 pm
Whichever way this goes, one thing's for sure: whole lotta stuff is being said now that will be of some later embarrassment and inconvenience to its speakers - one way or the other. And it seems to me one side in this game has a lot more at stake than the other.

Another postulation - framed as a Texas Hold 'em metaphor (a poker game, for those to whom the reference is obscure): who has the most to lose? The Current Administration, or The Opposition? Win or lose, The Current Administration remains The Current Administration, in control of The Big Game, at least nominally, untill the '06 mid-terms, and reasonably assured of a seat at the table at least untill the '08 General Election. They can be hurt, yeah, but this hand isn't "Make or Break".

Seems to me the ones who are "All In", no chips left, they're betting table stakes, are The Opposition; lose this hand, and they're pretty much out of the game - off the table. This one hand can't win them The Big Game, but it will determine whether or not they continue as players. Fine, the betting is done, now we wait for the last card to fall.
0 Replies
 
blatham
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 07:44 pm
Nice piece, Kuv. Thanks.

It certainly would be a tragic outcome to see Novak go to jail for conspiracy to obstruct.
0 Replies
 
BumbleBeeBoogie
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 08:01 pm
Blatham
blatham wrote:
Nice piece, Kuv. Thanks.

It certainly would be a tragic outcome to see Novak go to jail for conspiracy to obstruct.


I hauling my car to a discount store right now to stock up on boxes of tissues to wipe my tears at the tought of Robert Novak going to the slammer.

BBB Crying or Very sad
0 Replies
 
kuvasz
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 08:20 pm
timberlandko wrote:
Whichever way this goes, one thing's for sure: whole lotta stuff is being said now that will be of some later embarrassment and inconvenience to its speakers - one way or the other. And it seems to me one side in this game has a lot more at stake than the other.

Another postulation - framed as a Texas Hold 'em metaphor (a poker game, for those to whom the reference is obscure): who has the most to lose? The Current Administration, or The Opposition? Win or lose, The Current Administration remains The Current Administration, in control of The Big Game, at least nominally, untill the '06 mid-terms, and reasonably assured of a seat at the table at least untill the '08 General Election. They can be hurt, yeah, but this hand isn't "Make or Break".

Seems to me the ones who are "All In", no chips left, they're betting table stakes, are The Opposition; lose this hand, and they're pretty much out of the game - off the table. This one hand can't win them The Big Game, but it will determine whether or not they continue as players. Fine, the betting is done, now we wait for the last card to fall.


if that is your idea of strategic poker playing, i would love to play cards with you. i could use the money.

the attacks on wilson came before the election of 2004, and who had the most to lose in wilson's revelations was george w bush if it was found out his adminstration was making $hit up as he went along in order to snooker the public about his invasion of iraq.

no wmd's, but cheney and rumsfeld knew right were they were too.
0 Replies
 
pngirouard
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 08:24 pm
At a late day press conference, Her Dishonourable Majesty Karl Rove had the following comments on the current investigation:

http://www.wonkette.com/images/nanny%20nanny%20boo%20boo.jpg


Oh well that much for the current administration's respect of the rule of law and political process.
0 Replies
 
McGentrix
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 08:28 pm
If Rove broke the law, he will be called on the carpet for it. Too many Dems have it in for him to let it slide if he is guilty. If he is guilty of breaking the law, I too will be calling for his dismissal, I won't. however, let the court of public opinion define his guilt or innocence for me. Instead, I will leave that to those whose job it is to find out.
0 Replies
 
JustWonders
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 08:42 pm
Amen, McG.
0 Replies
 
timberlandko
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 09:42 pm
Now, how can you say that, McG - after all, it isn't the evidence, its the seriousness of the charge. These allegations are enough in themselves. Rolling Eyes
0 Replies
 
Chrissee
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 09:48 pm
I can almost hear them now. So what if he is indicted, that doesn't mean a thing until he is proven guilty, It is all about denial, obfuscation and spin and when that doesn't work they just move the goalposts farther back. LOL
0 Replies
 
sozobe
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 09:51 pm
McG, JW, and timber -- I agree with McG's post. As Cycloptichorn said earlier, though, that goes both ways. And a lot of the discussion here has been about how it's eminently possible that Rove is guilty -- not that he is.

We can counteract specific pieces of misinformation as they come up to support one view or another... and then just wait and see.
0 Replies
 
Ticomaya
 
  1  
Reply Wed 13 Jul, 2005 10:00 pm
Chrissee wrote:
I can almost hear them now. So what if he is indicted, that doesn't mean a thing until he is proven guilty, It is all about denial, obfuscation and spin and when that doesn't work they just move the goalposts farther back. LOL


What are you concerned about, Chrissee? Are you concerned whether Rove broke the law, or something else? Because if you are concerned whether Rove broke the law or not, unless you don't believe someone is innocent until proven guilty, you must agree that an indictment does not mean guilt.

Do you admit that you just want to see Rove go down, whether he's guilty of a crime or not?
0 Replies
 
 

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