WaPo: Froomkin - "Plame, By Any Other Name"

[understandinglife]

Plame, By Any Other Name

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, July 11, 2005; 1:21 PM

There is no longer any question that top presidential adviser Karl Rove is a key player in the Valerie Plame case.

In fact, what Rove told Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about Plame is apparently one of the last things special prosecutor Patrick J.Fitzgerald is trying to determine before he wraps up his investigation into whether Plame was illegally outed as a CIA agent.

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More at the Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2005/07/11/BL2005071100701.html

It's about 911Farenheit in the White House kitchen, today.

http://www.peacecandy.com/gwbush/remindus
REMIND US

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[understandinglife]

1. NYTimes online, rather amazingly, has the AP report of the WH Press ...

.... event already posted.

White House Won't Comment on Rove and Leak

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: July 11, 2005
Filed at 2:11 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- For two years, the White House has insisted that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a CIA officer's identity. And President Bush said the leaker would be fired.

But Bush's spokesman wouldn't repeat any of those assertions Monday in the face of Rove's own lawyer saying his client spoke with at least one reporter about Valerie Plame's role at the CIA before she was identified in a newspaper column.

More at the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-CIA-Leak-Investigation.html?hp&ex=1121140800&en=84670f7a08ba1532&ei=5094&partner=homepage

I'd say we're approaching the temperature at the surface of the sun in the White House kitchen :evilgrin:

WATCH IT; SPREAD IT http://www.bushflash.com/right.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us - How ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists their cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization and the environment in the name of "America."

[converted_democrat]

5. Hot damn!!!!!

I watched the conference today, but I had no idea what the implications of his statements were. Thank you for posting this!!

[understandinglife]

6. CBS News: "Rove Needs A Pink Slip"

Rove Needs A Pink Slip

David Corn

July 11, 1005

In a weekend posting I asked if it was time to get ready for the Karl Rove frog-march? The question was prompted by a Newsweek article by reporter Michael Isikoff that disclosed the first documentary evidence showing that Rove revealed to a reporter that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. In a July 11, 2003 email that Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper sent to his bureau chief, Cooper noted he had spoken to Rove on "double super secret background" and that Rove had told him that Wilson's "wife...apparently works at the agency on wmd issues." "Agency" means CIA. This is not good news for Rove and the White House.

Full article at the link:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/07/11/opinion/main708115.shtml

So, Corn's commentary has now made it not just to Yahoo but to CBS News (as of ~ 1205 PDT, today).

You can smell the chickenhawks a cooking on the White House grill

Peace

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[bvar22]

25. Rove needs a "Pink Slip"??????

I think NOT!!!
Rove, his co-conspirators, and his accomplises
need ORANGE JUMPSUITS!!!!

[Jackpine Radical]

29. Orange jammies for Karl.

[understandinglife]

18. Both Seattle papers pick up AP story & picture of McClellan being

.... grilled.



White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan is peppered by questions about deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove, Monday, July 11, 2005, during his daily briefing at the White House. Rove's name resurfaced in the past week, with his lawyer saying that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper spoke to him in the days before the name of CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame was first revealed. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

Links:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/apwashington_story.asp?category=1151&slug=CIA%20Leak%20Investigation

and

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/APWires/headlines/D8B9F9J00.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

19. Huffington Post: "You're in a bad spot here, Scott...."

TROUBLE AT THE WHITE HOUSE: “You're In A Bad Spot Here, Scott”...


And a link to E&P:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000977098

Big, bold, red font....gotta love it......


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Jackpine Radical]

28. Oh, God, I've waited years for this:

"When did the president learn that Karl Rove had had a conversation with a news reporter about the involvement of Joseph Wilson's wife in the decision to send him to Africa?"

Translation: "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"

[Jackpine Radical]

21. "I'd say we're approaching the temperature at the surface of the sun..."

I don't think it's anywhere near that hot.

Maybe more like Fahrenheit 911.

[understandinglife]

2. TalkLeft: "It's about conspiracy to obstruct justice."

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I think Lawrence O'Donnell was pretty much on the money when he said he wanted to ask Robert Luskin, Karl Rove's lawyer, these questions, including:

You told Newsweek that your client “never knowingly disclosed classified information.” Did Rove ever unknowingly disclose classified information?

I bet that answer is "yes." Rove disclosed that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but he probably didn't mention in what capacity - since she was no longer undercover, it probably had no relevance to him.

In my view, this is much bigger than a simple perjury rap. It's about conspiracy to obstruct justice. I think the case is strongest against Lewis Libby and other members of Cheney's staff, possibly including Cheney - but it may also be strong against all members of the White House Iraq Group, and Karl Rove attended many of those meetings. So he's not off the hook.

One more article to read is this April, 2004 USA Today article (Cheney staff accused of role in CIA leak - http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-04-29-cheney-cia-leak_x.htm about an alleged meeting by Cheney's top staff members which Cheney's office told Vanity Fair never occurred.

From Newsweek to Name Rove as Cooper Source

July 10, 2005

Much more analysis at the link:
http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011415.html

My short list has always included Bush, Cheney, Rice, Gonzales and Rove. I've seen nothing to dissuade me. The open question for me is did Bu$h engineer the event as just another spiteful attack on someone who dared question him. In any event, I think it highly unlikely that it could have happened without his consent.

Peace

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[tanstaafl]

4. Did Bu$h Engineer the event ...

Of course he did ... It's just like in the movie a "Few Good Men". When Tom Cruise asks if Jack Nicholson ordered the Code Red since his men listen to him and only do what he tells them.

[Just Me]

8. Oh, yeah. The BushCo/neoCON gang are clearly guilty of that.

But, there is so much more. The outing clearly pertains to the misrepresentations concerning WMDs. These bastards endangered national security. They intentionally lied this nation into a position which is more dangerous than ever before.

I hope we pluck this cancer from our government, once and for all!!!

[understandinglife]

12. "if the case were simply negligence, heads probably would have rolled ...

... long ago.

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Any administration serious about protecting national security would have carried out stern disciplinary actions even as Fitzgerald’s investigation continued. In the Iran-Contra Affair, for instance, Ronald Reagan fired aides Oliver North and John Poindexter on Nov. 25, 1986, the day the scandal was revealed, rather than wait for the conclusion of a criminal probe.

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By contrast, George W. Bush has taken no known disciplinary action against anyone for letting the identity of a covert CIA officer leak out. Rove played a prominent role in Bush's reelection campaign and has since been promoted to deputy White House chief of staff.

Nor has Bush done anything to discourage his right-wing supporters from denigrating Wilson, who gets routinely mocked as a flaky self-promoter or a partisan Democrat.

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So, this long-term pattern of White House behavior suggests that negligence isn’t the whole story. Rather it looks as if the dissemination of Plame’s identity may have crossed the line into a criminal conspiracy at the highest levels of the U.S. government.

From Rove's Leak Points to Bush Conspiracy by Robert Perry on July 11, 2005

More at:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2005/071105.html
and
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1618864

One just wonders if Mr Fitzgerald's first indictment will be Bu$h.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[Jackpine Radical]

22. Can you indict a sitting Pretzeldent?

Nixon was named as an unindicted co-conspirator, with--I think--impeachment as the only recourse.

[understandinglife]

16. Leopold: "Presidents Will Break Laws To Achieve Goals"

Presidents Will Break Laws To Achieve Goals

By Jason Leopold

July, August 2005

The recent revelation that W. Mark Felt, the former number two person at the FBI, was the anonymous source known as Deep Throat who helped Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein unravel the Watergate scandal in the pages of the Washington Post 30 years ago, should be seen as an important reminder that the leader of the “free world” can be devious, corrupt, and dishonest.

The parallels between the Bush and Nixon administrations are eerily familiar. Both bullied the press, were highly secretive, obsessed over leaks, engaged in massive cover-ups, and quickly branded aides as disloyal if they dared to raise questions about the president’s policies.

The Washington Post, the paper credited with forcing Nixon’s resignation, summed it up in a November 25, 2003 story on the similarities between the two Administrations: “Bush…structures his White House much as Nixon did. Nixon governed largely with four other men: Henry A. Kissinger, H.R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman, and Charles Colson. This is not unlike the ‘iron triangle’ of aides who led Bush’s campaign and the handful of underlings now — Cheney, chief of staff Andrew H. Card Jr., National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and communications director Dan Bartlett — who are in on most top decisions. Nixon essentially ended the tradition of powerful Cabinets in favor of a few powerful White House aides—a model Bush has followed.

“The most striking similarity is in the area of secrecy and what Nixon staffers called ‘managing the news.’ Nixon created the White House Office of Communications, the office that has become the center of Bush’s vaunted ‘message discipline.’”

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Much more of an excellent analysis at:
http://zmagsite.zmag.org/JulAug2005/leopoldpr0705.html

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[AmBlue]

31. And today, it's catapulting the propaganda n/t

[understandinglife]

3. At 1231, July 11 2005, "Plame, By Any Other Name" is on the Google ....

.... "Top Stories" page under "U.S."

That is rather amazing. I've cached the file.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

7. Sydney Morning Hearld: "Bush's adviser Rove revealed as exposing CIA ...

... agent.


By Mark Coultan Herald Correspondent in New York

July 12, 2005

The US President's closest political adviser has been revealed to be the source that Time magazine tried to keep secret from an inquiry into who revealed the identity of the CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Time's rival, Newsweek, has obtained the internal emails between the journalist who was threatened with prison last week and his bureau chief, Michael Duffy, that named Karl Rove as the source.

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More at the link:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bushs-adviser-rove-revealed-as-exposing-cia-agent/2005/07/11/1120934186056.html?oneclick=true

Word is getting around....

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

9. CNN: White House won't comment on Rove and leak investigation

White House won't comment on Rove and leak investigation
Monday, July 11, 2005; Posted: 2:28 p.m. EDT (18:28 GMT)

And, they've got it posted on the CNN online homepage, www.cnn.com

Peace.

www.missionnotaccmplished.us

[understandinglife]

26. At 1725 PDT, Google News now has this as one of two "Top Stories"

http://news.google.com/news?lr=&rls=GGLD,GGLD:2003-37,GGLD:en&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ned=us

For those concerned about whether the story would make it 'out of the weekend'; well, it has. Now, to make it stick until folk are indicted.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

10. BBC: "Rove 'spoke to press' in CIA leak"

Rove 'spoke to press' in CIA leak

July 11, 2005

White House adviser Karl Rove spoke to a journalist about a CIA agent days before her identity was revealed in the press, US magazine Newsweek has said.

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More at link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4671335.stm

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

11. Achenblog: "Rove Didn't Inhale"

Rove Didn't Inhale

Joel Achenbach

Posted at 01:10 PM ET, 07/11/2005

I'm thinking that Karl Rove has taken some rationalizing lessons from Bubba. Rove's defense is that he didn't NAME Valerie Plame.

Rove apparently merely mentioned to Matt Cooper that Mr. Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. And Rove has been quoted as saying, "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name." This is the Rove version of "I didn't inhale." The important element of the Plame-as-CIA-agent revelation is not Plame's name, but her place of employment. Three more questions come to mind:

More at the link:
http://blogs.washingtonpost.com/achenblog/

I detect that Mr Fitzgerald is way more accomplished than those who may try to spin their way out of his courtroom.

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[wallwriter]

13. Trying not to be too optimistic over here,

But this is great!!

[understandinglife]

14. NYTimes: Rove Comes Under New Scrutiny in C.I.A. Disclosure Case

Rove Comes Under New Scrutiny in C.I.A. Disclosure Case

By DAVID STOUT

Published: July 11, 2005

WASHINGTON, July 11 - The White House went on the defensive today amid a barrage of questions from Democrats and reporters about the presidential adviser Karl Rove and whether he had disclosed the name of a covert intelligence operative in retaliation for criticism of the administration's Iraq policy.

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Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the minority leader, said President Bush should follow his promise to preside over an ethical administration, and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York demanded that Mr. Rove tell the public in detail what his role was.

Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey said the intentional disclosure of a covert agency's identity amounted to an "act of treason," while Representative Henry Waxman of California, the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, called for a Congressional hearing.

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More at the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/11cnd-rove.html?ei=5094&en=5040c3f3cc9a86d2&hp=&ex=1121140800&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1121120472-VdP85j3LfkPOidLDbbmmMA

This is now a NYT homepage major article with references.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[dogindia]

30. worry MSM will turn this into Dem issue

NYT harping on what dems said.

[understandinglife]

15. WaPo/Reuters: "Democrats urge Bush to fire Rove in leak scandal"

Democrats urge Bush to fire Rove in leak scandal

By Adam Entous
Reuters

Monday, July 11, 2005; Posted at WaPo - 1804 EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House faced mounting Democratic calls for President Bush to sideline or fire his top political aide Karl Rove on Monday over his involvement in a CIA leak scandal.

After publicly defending Rove two years ago, the White House responded to the barrage by saying it would not comment at the request of the prosecutors investigating who leaked the identify of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

"The White House promised if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration. I trust they will follow through on this pledge," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada said.

Other Democrats urged Bush to sideline Rove by suspending his access to classified information and said the deputy White House chief of staff should "clear the air" by answering questions from Congress. Another lawmaker said the intentional disclosure of a covert agent's identity amounted to an "act of treason."

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More at link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071100980.html

And, here is the text of Congressman Waxman's letter:

July 11, 2005

The Honorable Tom Davis
Chairman
Committee on Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

I am writing regarding recent reports that provide new details about the involvement of Karl Rove, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, in the disclosure of Valerie Plame's identity as an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency.

An article in the Washington Post <1> this morning and recent disclosures in Newsweek and other reports <2> are extraordinary. If true, they indicate that the President's top political advisor played a central role in the outing of a covert CIA agent. According to the Washington Post account, Mr. Rove's attorney insists that Mr. Rove did not identify Ms. Plame "by name." But Mr. Rove did identify her as the spouse of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson IV, which would seem to be a distinction without a difference.

The new disclosures also raise issues about whether Mr. Rove acted alone or whether there was a conspiracy with other White House staff to use classified information for the political purpose of discrediting Ambassador Wilson.

I first wrote to you to request a hearing about this matter on September 29, 2003, and I renewed my request in a second letter on December 11, 2003. During this period, we met with Ambassador Wilson, but you turned down my request for a hearing because you wanted to see what the investigation of Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald would uncover.

The recent disclosures about Mr. Rove's actions have such serious implications that we can no longer responsibly ignore them. The intentional disclosure of a covert CIA agent's identity would be an act of treason. If there were evidence of such a serious breach during the Clinton Administration, there is no doubt that our Committee would have immediately demanded that the Deputy Chief of Staff testify at a hearing. This would have been the right course of action then, and it is the right course now. For this reason, I am renewing my request that the Committee schedule an immediate hearing at which Mr. Rove is called to testify.

A congressional hearing at which Mr. Rove testifies under oath remains the simplest and most effective means for Congress and the public to learn the truth about this disgraceful incident.

Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman
Ranking Minority Member

---------------------------------------------------------------

<1> Rove Told Reporter of Plame's Role But Didn't Name Her, Attorney Says, Washington Post (July 11, 2005).

<2> The Rove Factor?, Newsweek (July 11, 2005); Top Bush Adviser Revealed As Source, Financial Times (July 11, 2005); Cooper Email Identifies Rove As a Source, Wall Street Journal (July 11, 2005).

AfterDowningStreet link:
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/?q=node/714

The only question remaining is who will be indicted first.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

17. "Connect the Dots"

Connect the Dots

by Shakespeare's Sister

July 11, 2005

... I just wanted to add that rather than viewing the Plame issue, and particularly Rove’s role in it, as separate from the issues raised by the Downing Street Memos, it’s important to see them all as part and parcel of one larger issue. Practically and factually, that issue is information manipulation and message control, and allowing ideologically-driven and –designed propaganda to trump fact-based intelligence. Philosophically, that issue is a severe and appalling breech of ethics, most notably the betrayal of the trust of the American people.

We need to view both of these issues, and many of the others Paul astutely noted, as part of a pattern of behavior (or misbehavior, as the case may be), signaling the true nature of an extremist administration who cares little for the American people, or protecting them by undertaking a wise and rational national security policy, but instead seeks to exploit the very fear that is generated by ignoring the appropriate responses real threats demand.

More at the links:

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2005/07/connect-dots.html

http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2005/07/its-in-hole.html

Yes.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[DemReadingDU]

20. wow, thanks for finding all these links, n/t

[CantGetFooledAgain]

23. Thanks, UL for the great compilation! (nt)

[understandinglife]

24. Aljazeera piles on: "Bush aide under fire over CIA leak "

Bush aide under fire over CIA leak

Tuesday 12 July 2005, 1:25 Makka Time, 22:25 GMT

The White House is facing fierce questioning over top political aide Karl Rove's involvement in a CIA leak scandal.

Democrats on Monday demanded that President George Bush sideline the adviser.

One Democratic lawmaker said the intentional disclosure of a covert agent's identity amounted to an "act of treason".

Others urged Bush to sideline Rove by suspending his access to classified information and said the aide should "clear the air" by answering questions from Congress.

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Link:
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/CA808BDB-4F22-45EC-AC75-26E3F00FD3BC.htm

Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[AmBlue]

32. I have three questions:

1. How on earth did we manage to get a special prosecutor and a grand jury to investigate the Plame outing?? (That we got Fitzgerald on this is amazing.... Feels like winning the lotto!!)

2. Why is Judith Miller still in jail? If Rove has released Cooper, then why not Miller, too? What does Miller have to say that's different than Cooper?

3. Why did the WH press corp give Scotty a pass when this story was breaking last week?? Compare that with today's "napalming" and it just doesn't make sense.

ok..... so that's more than three questions.... :eyes:

[sundancekid]

27. props to you for digesting these links and many thanks ... I have this

zen picture in my mind of rove literally frog-marched out of the white house, and of snotty mclyin suckin' up to jeffygannon all the way back to texas so he can work for him mommy (in yet another political campaign in never-ending peter principle climb into repuke electoral jobs) where he might once again be the proud-yet-stooge bumkin he truly is ...

[understandinglife]

33. Let us all hope we terminate that perpetual rovian cycle, now.

:evilgrin:

And, thank you for the 'props'; much appreciated.


Peace.

www.missionnotaccomplished.us