Why is Novakula getting a pass on outing Wilson's CIA wife?

[DemLikr]

Even on this board, it seems there is little outrage that Novak risked this woman's life and who knows how much intelligence information by printing the information he was slipped by Repub slime balls.

Since when do responsible journalists print whatever the hell they're given just because they CAN?

And why hasn't Paul Begala ripped him a new asshole every day on CF over this?

I don't get it...Bob is repulsive and belligerent in his demeanor; surely this deference among the media is not because he is well-liked.

(This is the fifth sentence).

[treepig]

1. for me the bigger is issue is why the white house

is getting a pass on outing her.

who cares about novak, really.

[Enraged_Ape]

8. BushCo IS the CIA

Poppy Bush headed that organization for many sordid years. I can't imagine why their would be ANY bad blood between the White House and the CIA, so I have never understood why they would call attention to themselves outing a CIA agent.

[Emboldened Chimp]

10. Wrong, Poppy was Director for less than a year

January, 1976 - January 1977 (missed one year by a week or two.) I believe Poppy was the first Director to come in after the Church hearsings, which took away some of the CIA's power and secrecy.

[Prodemsouth]

14. let me say a big Amen

n/t

[Stephanie]

2. This crime isn't going away

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1015320,00.html

Julian Borger, Washington
Saturday August 9, 2003
The Guardian

The FBI may launch an inquiry into whether the White House revealed the identity of a covert CIA official to punish her husband for blowing the whistle on President Bush for making misleading claims about the Iraqi nuclear programme, officials in Washington said yesterday. <more>

[ChompySnack]

3. Yes it is...

"The FBI may launch an inquiry..." the key word being *may*. That is if Ashcroft approves it. Not a chance.

[Stephanie]

4. Is that his prerogative?

Does he get to forgive crimes being pursued by his agents?

[alfredo]

19. I think Wilson and his wife are going to the courts on this.

so, keep an eye out on this.

[maggrwaggr]

23. The British news again. Why don't we have a press corps here?

It's just bizarre how the press has vanished in this country

[PunkinPi]

5. I agree with you,

he should be tried for treason because he endangered an agent, that seems to me to be a far greater threat to national security, than Clinton's penis.

When the story first broke, the next weekday that CF was on Paul (or it may have been James), did mention it and Novak was visibly upset, but they let the issue drop. (I suppose they were trying to appease their colleague, which sucks by the way).

[burythehatchet]

6. Respectfully Disagree

If he didn't do it someone else would have. In fact, the story was offered to a bunch of people, he picked it up first. It would take an impractical agreement amongst all journalists to not reveal. No The real story is not the messenger. Rather it is the source. And when the house of cards gets a little more wobbly, someone with a lot to gain by revealing the story will come out.

[DemLikr]

15. Yes, the source needs to be outed too, BUT...

...journalists are offered garbage all the time. They make choices about what to use, even if it's true.

This choice endangered a person's life, very directly.

[Rose Siding]

13. Even Wilson said Novak broke no law. Yet.

Richard Perle also thinks journalists should be tried for what they report.

If they were, given the current govt, would more liberal journalists or more conservative journalists be in prison? What reporter would ever break an important story again? It would be the everlasting end of any kind of adversarial press.

If Novak's ever before a judge as a result of the FBI's investigation, contempt at that point might be appropriate.

[realFedUp]

7. He should get the same treatment as Clinton staffers got.

and maybe if he has to lose some money hiring a lawyer he'd
have some sympathy for the "victim".

[Monte Carlo]

9. Because he IS a journalist and it was not he who leaked.

He reported a leak. I'm inclined to agree with his reasoning; if a White House aide is leaking CIA agent information to a journalist, chances are that the information has been leaked anywhere else. Besides that, being a journalist - however repugnant - alone changes his reponsiilities to national security. Doctors are allowed to heal the sick of the enemy - giving aid and comfort - because they are doctors.

[DemLikr]

16. couldn't he simply have reported that the WH was shopping

this potent info around? That they were willing to compromise national ssecurity to make a point? THAT is the story, not the specifics of what hateful garbage they were promoting.

Novakula is no better than the Enquirer...they're just more honest about what they're about.

I mean, good god, given all the shit about W that Novakula is IGNORING, let's not pretend he prints everything he is handed.

[Monte Carlo]

20. He should have reported everything he knew about agents compromised by pol

itics.

Again, I must say that I believe he is right in publishing the information he did. There seems to be a good chance he was right, and the White House had fingered one of its own agents in retaliation for Joseph Wilson's whistle-blowing. If a journalist gets access to it, the intelligence has already been compromised.

[DUreader]

11. Traitorous Senior Admin. Officials were 'outed' by Journalist

Wilson's wife was outed by Senior Admin. Officials

[DemLikr]

17. Novak printed the information in his nationally syndicated

column. He is just as culpable.

[madrchsod]

12. wilson was fired

now his wife -who travelled in the same circles could no longer the cover to do her work..so as an cia operative she not effective. the real losers are the people who were her contacts. but since the cia is irrelvent in the policy desicions of the whitehouse it doesn`t matter to them at all....

[short bus president]

18. because in America, journalists can protect their sources.

This is especially useful in getting out information when those sources happen to be abominable criminal scum in dire need of said protection. I believe the plusses outweigh the minuses in this system, despite the frustration of circumstances like Novak's report.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

21. Because I do believe in freedom of the press

because if he didn't, someone else would have.

Because he did we KNOW someone in the admin ( or even not in the admin) who fed the info to him is a felon. Which begs the question since I don't trust Novak...are we going to find out it is someone WE admire?

[Starpass]

22. Maybe this might clarify things.....from Wilson himself at the Press Club

last Monday (broadcast on C-Span). He said that there are analysts, etc. within the CIA who were pressured by Cheney (remember all the visits to the CIA) to cook-up and slant info in order to support their war propaganda (and this was reported in Time a few months ago--so it isn't just Wilson's opinion). He said now when these guys read about "outting" his wife AND the death of Kelly in England, they won't be talking. He said it was done deliberately to warn these people (I think he was hinting that Kelly was 'done', if you now what I mean). Therefore, to me it says that Mr. Novak is one of those they know is willing to "fence" their garbage for them. That is the big thing Novak needs to explain......since others passed on the info.

[Booberdawg]

24. I'm more intereseted in who leaked the info ..

the White House source of this info is the one who should be targeted for treasonous behavior. To go after Novak is missing the bigger picture.

That's not to say novak isn't repulsive ....

[DemLikr]

26. It takes two assholes to do this tango...Novak is ONE, the WH is

the other. It's not like you have to pick and choose.

I'm just saying Novak's journalistic "ethics" suck, and NO one on the air has questioned him about his part in endangering this woman's life.

[Booberdawg]

28. I won't argue that Novak is not an asshole

because he is. I appreciate your point about ethics, too. I just don't agree with it.

:)

[JackSwift]

25. Intelligent people don't kill the messenger

Novak was just doing his job, and the Pentagon Papers case establishes his legal right to do this. He indicated it was senior WH advisers, and because he was not the only reporter to be fed the story, this was a deliberate decision by Rove and Bush. You will notice that they have not condemned it and have not called on Novak to disclose the names.

[DemLikr]

27. Hmmm...why the insult? Oh well, I'm intelligent enough for ME.

Your reasoning is weak. If I'm a Nazi-era German and I betray Jews to the Gestapo because if "I dont, someone else will," do I get a pass morally? Hardly.

Of course the comparison is extreme, but that's to make the point. We aren't absolved of responsibility for damaging actions just because there are OTHER shitheads who would do the same thing if we didn't!

Novakula and his buddies in the Shithouse, I mean Whitehouse are all jerks who should be brought up on charges for this...the press is not free to break laws and get people killed.