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

Damn. bumbleBeeBoogie's link stole my thunder. But I 'm going t say it anyway.

According to Foxfyre's link.

Gurwitz wrote:

We now know, from Time magazine journalist Matthew Cooper's own words, that Rove did not disclose the name of a covert CIA officer. What Rove did tell Cooper was that former Ambassador and Kerry campaign adviser Joseph Wilson's wife had a hand in sending Wilson to investigate claims Saddam Hussein wanted to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger.

So then why all this secrecy? Why didn't Libby call a press conference and Rove call a press conference and say, "That's right. It was me. I said Valerie Plame was the one who got Joseph Wilson the unpaid assignment to that pit, Niger, and I stand by the story. I told this reporter, I told that reporter, I told all those reporters. Me. I did it. And there's nothing wrong with it because she isn't a covert agent.

So whatcha gonna do about it, huh? Nyaaah Nyaaah Nyaaah.

So why didn't they do that? Why didn't we know the identity of Rove for weeks, and of Libby for even longer. Why all this "Who, me?" if nobody has anything to worry about?

Got nothing else to say about their letter, Tico?

About how it is dangerous and wrong to say that someone isn't undercover, just because they work at a desk?

Let us not forget that Time magazine reported a senior Administration official as saying that Valerie Wilson was covered by the law.

Not really. One is much more specific than the other. I forget Wilson's exact words (want to find them?) but what I remember is that they could easily mean that she wasn't acting as a covert agent at the time -- which doesn't cover whether she had been at any time in the five years previously.

Meanwhile, the Time magazine cite is very specific about her having been a covert agent at the time "for the purposes of the Intelligence Identities Protection law."

kelticwizard wrote:

Let us not forget that Time magazine reported a senior Administration official as saying that Valerie Wilson was covered by the law.

What would be the importance of remembering that?


Let's also not forget that Joe Wilson reportedly said his wife was not a covert agent at the time of the disclosure.

BLITZER: But the other argument that's been made against you is that you've sought to capitalize on this extravaganza, having that photo shoot with your wife [in the January 2004 Vanity Fair magazine], who was a clandestine officer of the CIA, and that you've tried to enrich yourself writing this book and all of that.

What do you make of those accusations, which are serious accusations, as you know, that have been leveled against you?

WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.

BLITZER: But she hadn't been a clandestine officer for some time before that?

WILSON: That's not anything that I can talk about. And, indeed, I'll go back to what I said earlier, the CIA believed that a possible crime had been committed, and that's why they referred it to the Justice Department.

She was not a clandestine officer at the time that that article in Vanity Fair appeared.

And as Media Matters for America has documented, multiple press outlets reported that Plame was an undercover CIA operative at the time Novak wrote his column.

Note: After this item was written, but before it was posted, the AP corrected its error. New versions of the article read:

In an interview on CNN earlier Thursday before the latest revelation, Wilson kept up his criticism of the White House, saying Rove's conduct was an "outrageous abuse of power ... certainly worthy of frog-marching out of the White House."

Wilson also said "my wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity."

In an interview Friday, Wilson said his comment was meant to reflect that his wife lost her ability to be a covert agent because of the leak, not that she had stopped working for the CIA beforehand.

Though the AP ran a correction, other news outlets had already repeated its mistake. CNN's Ed Henry told viewers that "Wilson himself suggested that she was not undercover." The Drudge Report link to the AP story suggested the same thing, and numerous other news outlets picked up the AP article.

Ticomaya wrote:

kelticwizard wrote:

Let us not forget that Time magazine reported a senior Administration official as saying that Valerie Wilson was covered by the law.

What would be the importance of remembering that?


Let's also not forget that Joe Wilson reportedly said his wife was not a covert agent at the time of the disclosure.

let us also not forget that your remark has no basis in fact, but is a twisted, right wing interpretation of what Wilson actually said.

Tico:

The importance is three fold.

First, there is a debate going on whether she was a covert agent or not. the fact that a senior Administration official seems to think so gives added weight to the idea that she was.

Two. The quote illustrates that within the Administration there was belief that Mrs. Wilson was a covert agent. This might have a bearing on any part of the statute dealing with requirements to know the status of the person you are revealing. If one high ranking member of the Administration believes Mrs Wilson was, there is a high probablitlity that other high ranking Administration officials felt the same way.

Three. Even if it is determined that Mrs. Wilson was not a covert agent for the purposes of the identities act, this could provide a motivation for lying and obstructing the investigation of Fitzgerald. This quote makes it more likely that Rove and Libby thought Plame was covered under the law. This can be important in deciding whether either one or both are guilty of obstructing justice or lying to investigators.

WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.

Whether she was or was not a "covert agent" under the IIPA has yet to be determined.

I'll bet there is a Senior Administration Official who thinks she is NOT a covert agent. What does that do for us?

Tico said:

Quote:

Whether she was or was not a "covert agent" under the IIPA has yet to be determined.

I want to make sure that I understand where you are headed with this, so I am asking for clarification.