http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-rove15jul15,0,2106680.story?coll=la-news-comment-editorialsEver since President Bush named him deputy chief of staff in February, Karl Rove has been staking out a higher political profile. But the current tempest over his possible involvement in the leaking of a CIA operative's identity was surely not part of his plan for strengthening the GOP.
Now President Bush, who is famously loyal to his subordinates, will have to decide whether his 2000 campaign pledge to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office includes keeping on the likes of Rove.
The extent of Rove's involvement in the leak is not yet clear. What we do know, based on an e-mail that Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper wrote to his editor, is that Rove told Cooper that the wife of former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV worked for the CIA. Wilson had written a scathing opinion piece in the New York Times contradicting Bush's assertions about Iraqi efforts to buy "significant quantities of uranium from Africa," and Rove wanted Cooper to know that Wilson had been sent to Niger to investigate because of his wife's influence. The e-mail, written before columnist Robert Novak disclosed the identity of Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is now in the hands of the grand jury looking into the matter.
Rove's actions probably do not amount to a violation of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The "architect," as Bush likes to call Rove, may not have named Plame, and the law may not apply in the case of a CIA analyst who is not currently working undercover.
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