Armitage Says He Was the Source in C.I.A. Leak

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/07/washington/07cnd-armitage.html?hp&ex=1157688000&en=bba0b7a224a2ab60&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 — Expressing regret for his actions and apologies to his administration colleagues, Richard L. Armitage, the former deputy secretary of state, confirmed today that he was the source who first told a columnist about the intelligence officer at the center of the C.I.A. leak case.

“It was a terrible error on my part,” Mr. Armitage said in an interview. He added, “ There wasn’t a day when I didn’t feel like I had let down the President, the Secretary of State, my colleagues, my family and the Wilsons. I value my ability to keep state secrets. This was bad and I really felt badly about this.”

Mr. Armitage also confirmed that he was the anonymous government official who talked to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward in June 2003 about Valerie Plame Wilson, the C.I.A. officer, in what is the first known conversation between an administration official and a journalist concerning her.

Mr. Armitage, who has been criticized for keeping his silence for nearly three years, said he had wanted to disclose his role as soon as he realized that he was the main source for Robert D. Novak’s column, published on July 14, 2003, which identified Ms. Wilson as a C.I.A. intelligence officer.

But he said held back at the request of Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the prosecutor. “He requested that I remain silent,” Mr. Armitage, said.

more...

[wakeme2008]

1. This smells

just IMHO..

[wordpix2]

51. I wonder how much he's been paid---OTOH he didn't tell Libby, Cheney did

Armitage also didn't tell Rover or the other reporters.

[stepnw1f]

2. Curly is Full of Shit

"Let down the President..." Give us all a break.

[whistle]

3. So why did he keep his mouth shut until now, and why would Patrick

....Fitzgerald the prosecutor tell Armitage to remain silent and then go on investigating others in the administration? No, Armitage was not alone, this was a conspiracy by the administration to smear Wilson and ram their war agenda through. The whole administration must be taken down for this.

[DoYouEverWonder]

4. Gee, think of all the time and money he could have saved everyone

If he had told his version of the truth three years ago.

Dick can fall on a bed of swords for all I care, his confession is hollow and doesn't absolve anyone else of their crimes.

[greccogirl]

53. Boy isn't that truth.

What a waste of time and money................

[tridim]

5. I did it! I did it!

Why won't anyone believe me!?

This is so freaking obvious. It's CYA in the extreme.

[KamaAina]

6. He's actually gonna take the fall for Rov -- uh, I mean for whoever?!

Crikey! Every time I develop the slightest shred of respect for one of these bozos (see under Powell, Colin ), they go and do something like this to make me realize that they're all the same. Every man (and Condi) jack of 'em. :grr:

[NanceGreggs]

7. Dear Mr. Armitage:

Thank you for finally finding the courage to come forward. The country owes you a debt of gratitude. Now that the truth has finally been brought to light, and I sure that the ... :rofl:

Ya gotta be kiddin' me!

[LA lady]

8. I want to see this "letter"

Earlier this week, after news reports identified him as the source, Mr. Armitage said that Mr. Fitzgerald consented to his publicly disclosing his role. Mr. Fitzgerald had sent Mr. Armitage a letter in February, notifying him that the inquiry into his activities had been closed.

[skids]

9. Yeah, yeah we know, and Karr says he was the killer. n/t

[davekriss]

10. It's a Limited Hangout, nothing more (eom)

[ecoalex]

11. Vat a raft of shit!

[leesa]

12. This is nonsense. Purely pre-election BS. Fitzgerald will have the

timeline down and I don't think you were first, buddy.

[C_U_L8R]

13. Libby still perjured himself

Lying to a grand jury is jail time.

Plus Armitage may be right.. but he was not the ONLY source...
we was just one of many leakers

[David Zephyr]

19. A fact that Bill O'Racist somehow can't grasp.

"It's not about the sex, it's about the perjury"

[ProSense]

14. UNTANGLING THE FACTS IN CIA LEAK PROBE

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2816038&mesg_id=2816038

[underpants]

40. GREAT LINK- Was Armitage the only one who leaked???

No of course not but you wouldn't know that from the prepackaged conventional wisdom that is flying around now now would you?

[bamacrat]

15. Isnt that a go straight to jail dont pass Go or collect $200 card?

Or if its considered treason, then a death card?

[grytpype]

16. Armitage is the least bad person in the Bush lineup.

I'm sorry he was involved. But he clearly has remorse, unlike Rove and Libby. Someone should ask them if they are sorry for what they have done and regard it as a mistake. They would not, they couldn't understand the question.

[struggle4progress]

26. Hogwash. He's a old hand with the Scumbag Team.

Iran-Contra, mob connections, PNAC's "invade Iraq" cheerleading squad, 2004 attempts to influence the Australian elections ...

[grytpype]

28. Yeah, like I said the "least bad."

[struggle4progress]

33. Real remorse from Armitage seems unlikely, given his history

[Rex]

17. Lielielielielielielielielie

nt

[DemoTex]

18. The dog ate my homework. No! Wait! I ate my homework.

These disingenuous bastards never tell the truth, even by mistake.

[savemefromdumbya]

20. It wasn't Armitage

[Berry Cool]

21. In other confessions, Armitage admitted

that he killed JonBenet, sank the Titanic, broke up the Beatles, put the bomp in the bomp-ba-bomp-ba-bomp, and, tragically, let the dogs out.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

42. hee hee hee

laughing out loud over here...

[plasticsundance]

43. Now that's funny ... thanks for the morning laugh

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

In other news, Armitage you're just a sick sociopath. Why don't you rather tell us of your cowardly actions in Vietnam. C'mon old man, you're getting on in years.

[TomPaine2]

22. Armitage unbelievable on several points

In an interview with Brit Hume, Novak said Armitage told him that Wilson's wife worked at CIA & suggested him for trip to Niger in response to his questioning how Wilson got the assignment. One can only imagine Novak's response to hearing the allegation that Wilson, who essentially charged Bush with lying to promote war, may have gotten the Niger assignment through some nepotism. And yet despite Novak outing Plame just 3- 4 days later, citing "senior administration offiicals" as sources, and the furor that resulted from it, Armitage claims he had no idea he was a source until October, just days after formal investigation was announced, when Novak described his original source as "not a partisan gunslinger." Could Armitage really be this dense/ stupid? Is he in early stage of Alzheimers or other dementia? And the belief that just because Armitage was a reluctant supporter of the war, he couldn't possibly have participated in plot to discredit/ smear Wilson is BALONEY! He was still a loyal Republican/Bush soldier, just like his boss- Colin Powell- who delivered very dubious evidence to UN to promote war. That he was part of an elaborate plot is more plausible than story that he had no clue for months that he was a Novak source & that he overlooked/forgot that the State Dept memo from which he learned about Plame had the symbol for "secret" at start of paragraph about her work at CIA. More on my blog...

[ncrainbowgrrl]

23. Welcome to DU, TomPaine2!

:hi:

[tyne]

27. Armitage

Actually, Fitz wasn't appointed until Dec 30th, 2003. Armitage said he realized his "mistake" in Oct/2003...and felt really bad and wanted to tell someone...but Fitz asked him not to. If Fitz wasn't appointed until Dec 30th, there was nothing keeping him from telling for almost 3 months. Somethings wrotten in Denmark.

Plus, he didn't tell Fitz about telling Woodward until 2005 because he forgot that he'd told him in waay back in June 2003. Huh.

The whole thing is "senior administration officialS".

[lumberjack_jeff]

29. Oops, I committed treason, silly me. Oops, I did it again.

A career military man doesn't accidentally reveal the identity of spies, especially not twice.

Once it was apparent that Woodward wasn't going to act on Armitage's initial leak, Libby told Judith Miller, Armitage told Novak and Rove told Miller and Matt Cooper all within the next week or two.

All just a coincidence, I guess.

[antonialee839]

24. I call BS

[Pastiche423]

25. Uh huh

Right. This does not make any sense. If Fitz gave him the o-kay in February, then why hasn't Fitz made a formal statement to that affect?

[hughee99]

30. This letter basically seems to confirm

what was in the book HUBRIS by Michael Isikoff and David Corn. Say what you want about Isikoff, but I don't think that Corn is lying to protect the administration (and therefore, Armitage wouldn't be lying either).

I'm not saying that this is a "get out of jail free" card for anyone in the administration, just that this particular part of it is probably true, IMHO.

[ShortnFiery]

31. NO, neither Isikoff or Corn are trustworthy.

I don't believe it, not for one moment. It's CYA. :(

Further, please note this factoid: "The Armitage confession was of limited relevance."

[hughee99]

32. So you believe that David Corn is just

taking his daily marching orders from the White House? Reading Corn's other work, I don't see anything to lead me to believe he'd be inclined to lie here.

The fact that I had a salad for lunch today is of limited relevance, yet it is also true.

[ShortnFiery]

34. No, but I don't trust David Corn who I believe has an hidden agenda

Look at his work and most people would concur he's a player.

[hughee99]

35. I've looked at his work...

and I don't think he has a hidden agenda that would cause him to lie about this. I guess I'm not "most people".

[ShortnFiery]

36. Look again? Or else we disagree.

:hi:

Admittedly, I can't put my finger on it (smoking gun evidence) but SOMETHING is very wrong with him (based on the accumulation of his writings) that, perhaps his, an overblown ego, is one who would be easily tempted to "sell out" in subtle ways. I'm not alone in that impression, but perhaps most people don't consider personalities that deeply. ;)

[hughee99]

37. I think we disagree...

though I do see some ego in his work, I don't see it any more than many other writers.

[lumpy]

39. No one with axes to grind can be trusted.

No one. Anyone playing political games is not to be trusted, even David Corn, certainly not Woodward. This is how they make their livings and it is all about money and power. And you all know the old saying about money and power.

[lumpy]

38. Libby, Armitage,Novak and Woodward

are all guilty of trying to discredit the Wilsons. All of them knew it was a crime to reveal the fact that Valerie Plame was an intelligence officer for the CIA. Non of them are ignorant of the implications of revealing a CIA agent. But the word got out anyway didn't it, one way or another. There is no doubt in most of our minds that this was a deliberate attempy to discredit Wilson because of his revelation regarding the Niger yellow cake affair. The treasinous bastards should all be held accountable and charged. Armitage attempt to fog the issue should'nt fly. This creep has been around doing his dirty work for the corrupt GOP SOB's for years. We are in real trouble folks if these people get away with their illegal activities, too many to mention.

Pardon the misspellings. I am pissed and have had it with these treasonous bastards.

[greccogirl]

54. I'll tell you what will happen.

This investigation is over for all intents and purposes, Libby will be pardoned. People are calling Fitz a liar now for having known all along who the leaker was and he knew when he publicly stated that Libby was.

[Subdivisions]

41. ahem... cough.. cough... bullshit.. cough

[0007]

44. In other words the fix was in?

Mr. Novak’s July 2003 column led the C.I.A. to request an investigation into the leak, a move that resulted in the appointment of Mr. Fitzgerald. After nearly two years of investigation, that inquiry led to the indictment of I. Lewis Libby Jr., the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, on obstruction charges.

Mr. Armitage said he first told authorities about his conversation with Mr. Novak in October 2003, when he read in a subsequent column by Mr. Novak what he believed was a reference to him. That meant Mr. Armitage’s role was known to the Justice Department almost from the outset of the inquiry, two months before Mr. Fitzgerald was named special counsel in the case.

I'm indeed surprised that Judith Miller's name isn't on this article.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

45. So, I don't understand...

The crime is more forgivable if it comes wrapped in a more acceptable package? Armitage with his heavy jolly, just an old war horse, bull in a china shop personality, as opposed to Rove, with his fish-belly white, clammy and slimy, dr. frankensein personality?

A crime is a crime. Wilson and Plame should add him to the list of people in their lawsuit.

[glitch]

46. Taking it for the team. What a trooper. Doubt if they'll give him Carlyle

though.

[yellowcanine]

47. The ROSEMARY WOODS AWARD goes to Richard Armitage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_Mary_Woods
http://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/museum/exhibits/watergate_files/content.php?section=3&page=a&zoom=2

Instead of the "Rosemary Stretch" we have the "Armitage Stretch."

[WhiteTara]

48. yeah right. In a pig's eye

I hope Wilson/Plame sues his ass for millions of lost wages. Let's see how he holds up then.

[SoyCat]

49. So, how much fatter do you think his bank account is right about now?

[dogfacedboy]

50. Bush promised anyone involved would be fired. Has this scum been fired ?

According to Puppet president Bush, anyone in "his" administration involved in these leaks would be fired. Why hasn't this fat, greasy cockroach been fired yet?

[Sam Odom]

52. Taking the fall for Powell n/t

N/T