Bottom line on Rove, Bush & Plame.... politics over national security

[housewolf]

The revelation that Karl Rove was the source who leaked Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent to Time's Matt Cooper probably comes as a surprise to exactly nobody. After all, dirty tricks have been the hallmark of Rove's political career since he was a teenager.

As this story continues to unfold over the next few weeks, Republicans are going to try to parse every word Rove ever uttered about the case. They're going to dissect every letter of relevant law trying to find a loophole to prove that Karl Rove is innocent.

But let's make one thing perfectly clear: Rove's secret outing of Valerie Plame put partisan politics above the security of our nation. He chose to reveal Plame's identity as a CIA agent, with no thought to the consequences to American national security, simply because it provided an opportunity to smear her husband.

And this is part of a pattern.

<snip>

http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/07/bush_puts_parti.php

[Peace Patriot]

1. "...simply because it provided an opportunity to smear her husband."

I don't believe it. I think something far worse went on, that Rove is taking the fall for (and will be pardoned and richly rewarded for). First of all, think this one through: What was the most important political issue in summer 2003, and what was THE most important item of national security? The no. 1 political issue was whether or not WMDs would be found in Iraq, to justify the invasion. And the no. 1 national security issue--in Iraq, Iran, No. Korea and numerous other places--was the covert proliferation of WMDs.

And WHAT did they out? The CIA's 20+ year project providing eyes and ears on WMDs around the world! They not only put Plame's life at risk, and those of all her covert sources (many of whom are probably dead now), they BLINDED the CIA to WMD movements. And whom does this serve? It serves anyone running illicit WMDs, for the nefarious purpose of PLANTING them somewhere (say, Iraq; or, these days, Iran or Syria) and/or profiting from them (say, Dick Cheney).

See
Plame...the tip of the iceberg... (Plame maybe investigating Cheney arms deals when they busted her CIA weapons op)
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2178477#2180220

I think Wilson was sent on a wild goose chase to Niger, that the Iraq nuke item was deliberately placed in Bush's State of the Union speech to bait Wilson, and that the whole thing was designed to out Plame and her WMD network, with the cover story being that they wanted to punish Wilson for whistleblowing (a believable story, given Rove's reputation).

I also think there may be a connection to the Brit weapons expert, David Kelly, who was suicided, after whistleblowing on Brit cooked intel, in the same time period (summer '03). His last email was to...Judith Miller (!), in which he was concerned about "dark actors playing games."

See
(Miller/Plame/David Kelly)
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/7/3/17138/30618

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topics&forum=203

[vogonjiltz]

2. i think was simple pique with the bushites.

The conspiracy outlined above requires too much luck on the part of the planners. There was no guaranty that Wilson would have been baited into writing the op ed piece, let alone that anyone would go in and plant the WMD.
I believe that consequences to the CIA were severe and probably unanticipated by Rove. That is exactly why Rove needs to be prosecuted.

[housewolf]

3. Joe Wilson was a good Republican...

for decades prior to the Iraq War. He even voted for Bush in 2000. I think the WH sent him off as to Niger as a "loyal subject" - they just didn't realize that his ethics would kick in and that he couldn't support their lies and deceit.