Did Rove Blow a Spook's Cover?

[FauxNewsBlues]

Slate now gets into the James Wilson/Robert Novak/Karl Rove story.

Did Rove Blow a Spook's Cover

A minor flap has been brewing since syndicated columnist Robert Novak, citing "two senior administration officials," reported in July that Joseph C. Wilson IV was married to a Central Intelligence Agency specialist on "weapons of mass destruction" named Valerie Plame. Wilson is the former diplomat sent by the CIA last year to check out allegations that Iraq had purchased uranium from Niger. He caused the Bush administration no small embarrassment by stating, in a July 6 op-ed, that he'd reported "it was highly doubtful that any such transaction had ever taken place." Novak hasn't particularly supported the Iraq war, and his column essentially took Wilson's side. But the fact that Novak blew Plame's cover (in the course of relating that Wilson was sent at Plame's suggestion) gave The Nation's David Corn the opportunity to accuse the Bush administration of compromising national security, in violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. Wilson wouldn't confirm that his wife works for the CIA, but he told Corn that if she did, then

[roguevalley]

1. minor. i heard that 70 people got waxed because of this.

*

[WillyT]

2. Well....... The 70 People 'Wacked' Was The Al Martin Story, No ??

His credibility seems to be in question with many.

But... THIS story is still solid gold, and needs to be kept alive. The more media, the better!!!

:bounce::kick::bounce:

[mountebank]

3. Interview with Joseph Wilson on Democracy Now this morning

This story is finally hitting the mainstream press. Democracy Now devoted a segment to it this morning, including an interview with Joseph Wilson. He said that he named Rove because Rove certainly had something to do with the leak if Novak said it came from senior White House officials.

Concerning Al Martin's article: the consensus (still vehemently argued by some) was that his credibility is highly suspect, or, to be more kind, that his articles are mixtures of truth and fiction.

Who knows which is which in this case - but neither Amy Goodman nor Joseph Wilson went anywhere near Martin's article in the interview. In fact, he is still not saying whether or not his wife really was a CIA agent.

Here is the link to streaming video or audio of the show this morning:
http://www.democracynow.org/streampage.pl

Big old kick - let's turn up the heat by writing letters to sympathetic media. I would suggest, for now, staying away from information contained in the Al Martin article and sticking to what we know, what Wilson has himself stated. There's enough scandal to go around.....

[ConsAreLiars]

4. Transcripts also

can be found at the Sept 16th show summary on the homepage http://www.democracynow.org/ - in particular here are the various formats for seeing/hearing/reading the Wilson segment: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/16/1555209 . The rest of the "Cheney's Lies" segements on that show are equally worthwhile.

[mountebank]

5. Agreed - watch/listen to/read the whole show!

In addition to Joseph Wilson, you get Chris Hedges and the writer of the Vanity Fair article who broke the story in which the gov't admits for the first time that certain Saudis were flown out of the U.S. in the wake of 9/11 when all other flights were grounded.

[leftofthedial]

6. It appears that Rove and Novak did commit treason

But they are apparently above the law.

This should not be allowed to be swept under the rug until there is a full investigation and hearing of the facts.

[mountebank]

7. Momentum is building...slowly

Joseph Wilson himself seems a very patient man, certain that the truth will eventually out. Can't say I share his optimism.

Nevertheless, this story is definitely on the up-shot. Members of Congress are interested in an investigation (though that's a long way from getting one). I e-mailed Democracy Now twice in the last week asking them to break the media silence. Not saying I'm personally responsible, but I think if enough people contact news outlets (especially sympathetic ones) with well-reasoned, courteously outraged communiques (with links to the Inslee forum event) then maybe we can keep the ball rolling.

It's all I can think to do....

[RevolutionStartsNow]

8. Which members of Congress? Do you know?

It would be good to encourage them to stay on this one...

[mountebank]

9. Four have been mentioned...that I know of.

Sen. Dick Durbin (Ill)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (NY)
Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY)
Rep. Henry Waxman (CA)

[Waistdeep]

14. Rove, not Novak

I do not believe the law in question applies to journalists.

On edit: I believe the law is about release of certain classified information to those not authorized (e.g. journalists).

[mountebank]

16. Not even

Wilson has leveled accusations in Novak's direction. And from the sound of it (alert: can't remember where I heard this - always dangerous) Novak might not have even known the information was classified. Though I guess that's kind of hard to believe....

But I think you are right: journalists are more or less immune from prosecution - with good reason, I think.

[mountebank]

10. FBI "looking into it."

Amy Goodman devoted her first segment to Joseph Wilson again today. Apparently her report yesterday morning prompted Russell Mokhiber (aka. Scott McClellan's bane) to revive the topic at the White House press briefing, this time specifically asking if Karl Rove was responsible for the leak (which, in turn, resulted in the Slate article that started this thread).

They played the video from the press briefing and then Amy went on to say that they at Democracy Now called the CIA, who refered them to the FBI, who said they were "looking into it."

The rest of the segment was a response by two former CIA analysts (Ray McGovern and David MacMichael), specifically on the seriousness of outing an undercover CIA agent.

The moral: You never know how this stuff will redound in the press. Write letters. Include the Wilson forum link <http://www.house.gov/inslee/meetings.htm>. Cite the Slate article. Ask them to report.

[CRYINGWOLFOWITZ]

11. rove=nixon

dirty tricks. we have to do the same to them

[mountebank]

12. Disagree

Not sure I agree with you there, especially with regard to this matter. It seems like the way to take it is through standard channels. It would be much more powerful that way. The media is the key. If they report it and people become outraged, then pressure builds for an investigation. Certainly less so in this Administration than any other - but I still believe it can happen.

So you think Wesley Clark believes in dirty tricks?

[TacticalPeek]

13. Not really.

Clark's announcement earlier today sets the correct tone: "best traditions of democratic society", no personal attacks, IIRC.

They trick themselves with the dirt, witness the bind Rove's sorry as is in.

[mountebank]

15. I had a feeling

Clark hadn't made any announcements endorsing dirty tricks.....