Fitzgerald Investigation of Leak of Identity of CIA Agent

kuvasz wrote:

btw i do recall that none of the 911 hijackers were iraqi, while 17 of them were saudi

Are you saying we should've attacked Saudi Arabia?

Ticomaya wrote:

kuvasz wrote:

btw i do recall that none of the 911 hijackers were iraqi, while 17 of them were saudi

Are you saying we should've attacked Saudi Arabia?

are you saying we should have attacked iraq because of saudi arabians attacked the US?

kuvasz wrote:

Ticomaya wrote:

kuvasz wrote:

btw i do recall that none of the 911 hijackers were iraqi, while 17 of them were saudi

Are you saying we should've attacked Saudi Arabia?

are you saying we should have attacked iraq because of saudi arabians attacked the US?

No. Are you in the habit of answering a question with a question?

Ticomaya wrote:

... Are you in the habit of answering a question with a question?

Why do you ask?

:wink:

Bob Novak: Bush knows who leaked CIA officer's identity

Thursday, December 15, 2005; Posted: 9:43 a.m. EST (14:43 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Columnist Bob Novak, who first published the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame, says he is confident that President Bush knows who leaked Plame's name.

Novak said that "I'd be amazed" if the president didn't know the source's identity and that the public should "bug the president as to whether he should reveal who the source is."

Novak's remarks, reported in the Raleigh, North Carolina, News & Observer, came during a question and answer session Tuesday after a speech sponsored by the John Locke Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer urged Bush to identify Novak's source or to say that he does not know who it is.

In 2003, Novak exposed Plame's identity eight days after her husband, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson, accused the Bush administration of manipulating prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. In the column disclosing Plame's CIA status, Novak said the sources for his column were two administration officials.

The identity of Novak's sources has been one of the secrets in the CIA leak investigation.

Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, is one of Novak's sources, according to people close to the investigation, but his other source is not publicly known.

Novak apparently is cooperating with the criminal investigation of Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, though the journalist has never said so.

The prosecutor has aggressively pursued contempt of court orders against reporters who have refused to cooperate and Novak is not among those who have become embroiled in court battles in the probe.

Schumer, D-New York, urged Bush to share the identity of Novak's sources if the president knows.

"You are in a position to clear this matter up quickly," Schumer said in a letter to the president on Wednesday.

"Unlike Mr. Novak, who can claim an interest in maintaining the confidentiality of his sources, there is no similar privilege arguably preventing you from sharing this information," Schumer wrote.

"You have repeatedly suggested that you would like to get to the bottom of this affair," Schumer reminded Bush. "At one point, in 2004, you suggested that anyone who was involved in leaking the name of the covert CIA operative would be fired."

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Fitz won't talk b/c he's trying to prosecute the guy. Novak has the right to 'protect his source.'

Bush has zero excuse. He's protecting whoever the leaker was b/c he doesn't care that they leaked. So he is kind of morally hollow on this one.

Cycloptichorn

Except for that fact that Bush should be doing everything he can to aid the investigation. He has a responsibility to do so.

He should call Fitz up and tell him what he knows; and he should tell the American people what he knows as well. I gather he has done neither.

Cycloptichorn

It would aid the public.

How would Bush's revelation of that name to the public -- if he knows it -- aid in the investigation?

Nonsense? You're saying it wouldn't aid the public to know which members of the Admin were leakers? It wouldn't aid the public to have the president actually be truthful and forthcoming?

How so?

Cycloptichorn

Ticomaya wrote:

How would Bush's revelation of that name to the public -- if he knows it -- aid in the investigation?

It could have benefitted the American taxpayer. Someone's paying for that investigation - and s/he lives in the United States.

Then let me put it this way.

If I were an American taxpayer, I'd be annoyed with anyone whose actions led to expenses such as the Fitzgerald investigation.

I'd think positively of anyone who presented information which would allow the investigation to be completed more quickly - and burned up less of my money.

I don't like government spending my money unnecessarily.

He added that he did not know of "anybody in my administration who leaked classified information."

If Bush came and said tomorrow he knows who the source is then it would mean that he has not been truthful when he claims to want to get to the bottom of it as much anyone else.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/09/30/wilson.cia/

Quote:

He added that he did not know of "anybody in my administration who leaked classified information."