Frank Rich: Follow the Uranium 07/17/05 -NYT

[glaucon]

Follow the Uranium
07/17/05
by Frank Rich
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/17/opinion/17rich.html?hp

"I am saying that if anyone was involved in that type of activity which I referred to, they would not be working here."
- Ron Ziegler, press secretary to Richard Nixon, defending the presidential aide Dwight Chapin on Oct. 18, 1972. Chapin was convicted in April 1974 of perjury in connection with his relationship to the political saboteur Donald Segretti.

"Any individual who works here at the White House has the confidence of the president. They wouldn't be working here at the White House if they didn't have the president's confidence."
- Scott McClellan, press secretary to George W. Bush, defending Karl Rove on Tuesday.

WELL, of course, Karl Rove did it. He may not have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982, with its high threshold of criminality for outing a covert agent, but there's no doubt he trashed Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame. We know this not only because of Matt Cooper's e-mail, but also because of Mr. Rove's own history. Trashing is in his nature, and bad things happen, usually through under-the-radar whispers, to decent people (and their wives) who get in his way. In the 2000 South Carolina primary, John McCain's wife, Cindy, was rumored to be a drug addict (and Senator McCain was rumored to be mentally unstable). In the 1994 Texas governor's race, Ann Richards found herself rumored to be a lesbian. The implication that Mr. Wilson was a John Kerry-ish girlie man beholden to his wife for his meal ticket is of a thematic piece with previous mud splattered on Rove political adversaries. The difference is that this time Mr. Rove got caught.

Even so, we shouldn't get hung up on him - or on most of the other supposed leading figures in this scandal thus far. Not Matt Cooper or Judy Miller or the Wilsons or the bad guy everyone loves to hate, the former CNN star Robert Novak. This scandal is not about them in the end, any more than Watergate was about Dwight Chapin and Donald Segretti or Woodward and Bernstein. It is about the president of the United States. It is about a plot that was hatched at the top of the administration and in which everyone else, Mr. Rove included, are at most secondary players.

To see the main plot, you must sweep away the subplots, starting with the Cooper e-mail. It has been brandished as a smoking gun by Bush bashers and as exculpatory evidence by Bush backers (Mr. Rove, you see, was just trying to ensure that Time had its facts straight). But no one knows what this e-mail means unless it's set against the avalanche of other evidence, most of it secret, including what Mr. Rove said in three appearances before the grand jury. Therein lies the rub, or at least whatever case might be made for perjury.

Another bogus subplot, long popular on the left, has it that Patrick Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, gave Mr. Novak a free pass out of ideological comradeship. But Mr. Fitzgerald, both young (44) and ambitious, has no record of Starr- or Ashcroft-style partisanship (his contempt for the press notwithstanding) or known proclivity for committing career suicide. What's most likely is that Mr. Novak, more of a common coward than the prince of darkness he fashions himself to be, found a way to spill some beans and avoid Judy Miller's fate. That the investigation has dragged on so long anyway is another indication of the expanded reach of the prosecutorial web.
>>>>>>>>More



Good stuff, as usual, from the emerging master!

[spanone]

1. Thanks...rich.

[coldwatercyn]

3. I love Frank Rich

he is the best. He knows drama when he sees it.

[BlueWolff]

4. Another great article

..read this. Posted over at No Quarter by several former CIA classmates of Valerie Plame’s. This ought to put things in perspective. Note what the training consisted of, and imagine one of our better-known chickenhawks attempting to get through it:
The Intelligence Challenge: Can We Trust Our President?


By Brent Cavan, Jim Marcinkowski, Larry Johnson, and Jane Doe




We trained and worked at the CIA with Valerie Plame. We presented the following statement at a hearing on Capitol Hill in October 2003. In light of the latest White House sanctioned assault on Valerie Plame and her character, our testimony remains relevant and accurate. All of us were undercover. Brent Cavan and Larry Johnson worked as analysts in the Directorate of Intelligence. Jim Marcinkowski and Jane Doe were case officers and served overseas. Jane Doe’s real name is not being used because she was involved in counter terrorism operations and could be at risk if her identity were divulged. We’ve got each other’s back.



We slogged through the same swamps on patrols, passed clandestine messages to each other, survived a simulated terrorist kidnapping and interrogation, kicked pallets from cargo planes, completed parachute jumps, and literally helped picked ticks off each other after weeks in the woods at a CIA training facility. We knew each other’s secrets. We shared our fears, failures, and successes. We came to rely on each other in a way you do not find in normal civilian life. We understood that a slip of the tongue could end in death for those close to us or for people we didn’t even know. We were trained by the best, to be the best. We were trained by the Central Intelligence Agency. They may not appreciate what they have created.

Our joint training experience forged a bond of trust and a sense of duty that continues some eighteen years later. It is because of this bond of trust that the authors of this piece and two other colleagues, all former intelligence officers, appeared on ABC’s Nightline to speakout on behalf of the wife Ambassador Joseph Wilson, a sensitive undercover operative outted by columnist Robert Novak. The Ambassador’s wife (we decline to use her name) is a friend who went through the same training with us. We acknowledge our obligation to protect each other and the intelligence community and the information we used to do our jobs.

We are speaking out because someone in the Bush Administration seemingly does not understand this, although they signed the same oaths of allegiance and confidentiality that we did. Many of us have moved on into the private sector, where this Agency aspect of our lives means little, but we have not forgotten our initial oaths to support the Constitution, our government, and to protect the secrets we learned and to protect each other. We still have friends who serve. We protect them literally by keeping our mouths shut unless we are speaking amongst ourselves. We understand what this bond or the lack of it means.

Clearly some in the Bush Administration do not understand the requirement to protect and shield national security assets. Based on published information we can only conclude that partisan politics by people in the Bush Administration overrode the moral and legal obligations to protect clandestine officers and security assets. Beyond supporting Mrs. Wilson with our moral support and prayers we want to send a clear message to the political operatives responsible for this. You are a traitor and you are our enemy. You should lose your job and probably should go to jail for blowing the cover of a clandestine intelligence officer. You have set a sickening precedent. You have warned all U.S. intelligence officers that you may be compromised if you are providing information the White House does not like. A precedent, as one colleague pointed out during our brief appearances, allows you to build out a case based on previous legal actions and court decisions. It’s a slippery slope if it lowers the bar.

Ambassador Wilson’s political affiliations are irrelevant. Political differences serve as the basis for the give and take of representative government. What is relevant is the damage caused by the exposure that Ambassador Wilson’s wife as a political act intended to undermine Wilson’s view.

It is shameful on one level that the White House uses the news media, its own leaks, and junior Congressmen from Georgia, among others, to levy attacks on Ambassador Wilson. Moreover they discount what he has to say, his value in the Niger investigation, and suggest his wife’s cover is of little value because she was “a low-level CIA employee”. If Wilson’s comments or analysis have no merit, why does the White House feel the need to launch such a coordinated attack? Why drag his wife into it?

Not only have the Bush Administration leakers damaged the career of our friend but they have put many other people potentially in harm’s way. If left unpunished this outing has lowered the bar for official behavior. Further, who in their right mind would ever agree to become a spy for the United States? If we won’t protect our own officers how can we reassure foreigners that we will safeguard them? Better human intelligence could prevent any number of terror incidents in the future, but we are unlikely to get foreign recruits to supply it if their safety cannot be somewhat assured. If more cases like Mrs. Wilson’s occur, assurances of CIA protection will mean nothing to potential spies.

Politicians must not politicize the intelligence community. President Bush has been a decisive leader in the war on terrorism, at least initially. What about decisiveness now? Where is the accountability he promised us in the wake of Clinton Administration scandals? We find it hard to believe the President lacks the wherewithal to get to bottom of this travesty. It is up to the President to restore the bonds of trust with the intelligence community that have been shattered by this tawdry incident.

We joined the CIA to fight against foreign tyrants who used the threat of incarceration, torture, and murder to achieve their ends. They followed the rule of force, not the rule of law. We now find ourselves with an administration in the United States where some of its members have chosen to act like foreign tyrants. As loyal Americans and registered Republicans we implore President Bush to move quickly and decisively against those who, if not apprehended, will leave his Administration with the legacy of being the first to allow political operatives to out clandestine officers.

[writes2000]

14. Wow, This thing feels like it could go the distance.

They make FANTASTIC points. And how can you argue when a CIA agent is says that protecting their secrecy is of the utmost importance?

[nevergiveup]

20. BlueWolff.......please post this article separately in its

own post. This is very powerful and should be read by all.

[glaucon]

21. A live link would be great, too

TIA!

[librechik]

2. beautiful

"Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation. As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king."

[scarletwoman]

5. Oh wow, GREAT stuff! Thank you, Frank Rich, and thank YOU, glaucon

for posting this!

That this is in the SUNDAY Times is even more amazing! Usually they print their heaviest-hitting anti-bush pieces in the Saturday paper, where it's guaranteed to have the smallest possible impact.

I don't the trust the NYT one whit, yet it does have some redeeming value in that it publishes Frank Rich, Bob Herbert, and, of course, Paul Krugman.

I've voted to recommend your post.

Thanks again,
sw

[joemurphy]

6. Yes!!!!!

"Seasoned audiences of presidential scandal know that there's only one certainty ahead: the timing of a Karl Rove resignation. As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king."

[Democrats_win]

7. Check mate: bush to be impeached for bogus war.

Frank Rich remains America's best columnist.

[wli]

10. not even close

Until you've broken the regime rotation racket there's still no functional democracy.

[mbee]

8. In my mind the mail reason the Press willingly will cover this

situation is that they will ultimately have no control over
the outcome! Spin will do no good if Mr. Fitzgerald comes out with the real facts and the indictments will be real not something they can blame on the LIBERALS!

[TahitiNut]

9. "Follow The Yellowcake Road"

They're off to invade Iraq for the fraudulent WMD ...

[kohodog]

13. LMAO!

They're off to see the Wizard, only this time in orange jumpsuits.

[TahitiNut]

15. Following Toto Rove and his little dogturd-blossoms.

:evilgrin:

[Hubert Flottz]

28. Follow the yellow d*cked toads, is more like it!

Conspiracy to invade a country and kill close to 120,000 people and counting, should be what the charges are, in the end. To shut Joe Wilson up, because he was about to spoil the neocons war party, was the reason for doing the job on Wilson's wife. KKKarl got excited, because not only did it mean their war in Iraq would be toast, if the truth that Joe Wilson was trying to get out to the public had gotten out, but the GOPers who were running for congressional seats, might not have won in 02.

KKKarl made a big mid-term campaign deal out of his "WAR PRESIDENT". The White House knew if they grabbed control of congress in 02, that they would be untouchable. It meant BILLIONS of dollars, because since the GOPers have gained control of the senate Bushco has been able to ram everything they ever wanted through congress. Bush and KKKarl knew, that if they controlled all three branches of the government, they could do ANYTHING THEY WANTED TO and get away with it and they have. KKKarl even admitted not long before the 02 election that, "War is good for GOP politics." The war drums were beating full tilt in the summer and fall of 02.

The sad thing is the sheeple were too stupid and too scared to see ANY of the deception. Laziness and stupidity on the voter's part, made it all work for KKKarl. IT was all about coattails of a "WAR PRESIDENT", and a very old neocon plan to invade Iraq. Wilson just got in their way and there was so much to lose, that KKKarl and Dick HAD TO take a chance and now it's come back and grabbed them right by the ass! I hope Fitzgerald looks deeper than the tip of the ice berg. If the Whitewater case could morph into the Knob Job case, then this thing just might be, the straw that broke the camel's back.

[Just Me]

11. I was thinking about the restitution which could be attached to,...

,...their sentences, and the restitution which should be sought against all the corporateers who profitted. It should be placed in a trust for all the victims of their crimes.

Of course, I'm dreaming,...but, still,...it would only be fair and just to extract all that profiteering and utilize it to help all the victims.

[wookie294]

18. I don't think you're dreaming

Remember after the oil shock of the 1970s, Congress passed the "Oil Windfall Profits Tax" in order to recover oil company profits made during hard times brought about by high oil prices.

Congress should pass the same law today, plus a "Corporate Profiteers Windfall Profits Tax" against Halliburton and others. It could happen!

[Starone]

12. Great Article!

Thanks for posting

[Hubert Flottz]

16. The motive was Helter Skelter between the Arabs and the

Bible thumpers.

[enough]

17. This might be the "if you only read ONE article" article.

Rich just lays it out perfectly.

[seemslikeadream]

19. This scandal is not about them in the end,

IT IS ABOUT THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES

http://www.september11news.com.nyud.net:8090/BushSpeechCongressSept20.jpg

Are ya gettin' ready Denny?

[swag]

22. Home page material definitely - this is the story to email to your friends

the last few graphs are posted in another thread here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=103&topic_id=139983&mesg_id=139983

Beginning, middle, and end, it is all great: a cold recitation of perhaps the greatest calamity visited upon this country by this administration.

[grasswire]

23. Rich assumes too much, perhaps.......

...He ends by saying

"As always in this genre, the knight takes the fall at exactly that moment when it's essential to protect the king."

I'm not sure Bush is the proverbial king in this scenario.

Bush may be sacrificed by Rove. Rove has the capability of ruining Bush in an eyewink. He could point the investigation toward Bush, and spin himself as a victim.

[glaucon]

25. But Rove has always been a consigliere

not a capo or Don.

His temperament and nature is to serve.

Sacrificing Bush is about as much in his mind as cutting off his own head.

Personally, I think he'd take white-hot pokers up his rectum and laugh long before he'd ever sell the dauphin down the river.

[grasswire]

27. I disagree

Perhaps there's a grander game. Perhaps Bush is just the pawn, and ultimately expendable as chaff if chaff is necessary. Perhaps Rove isn't really working FOR Bush at all, but for Cheney or for some more powerful entity.

I've always been afraid that Bush doesn't realize his own vulnerability in this Great Game.

[leftchick]

32. someone suggested there is great friction between rove and the real capo

right now. The suggestion was there is apparently no love lost at the moment between libby/cheney and rove. There may be some very interesting days ahead.

[SpiralHawk]

24. the Big Enchilada

"...The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11..."

[dooner]

26. Great reading. n/t

[moobu2]

29. mmmmm Such good reading!

[bballny]

30. The only hope

we have is that Fitzgerald is able to flip either Rove or Libby by threatening to send them to jail for twenty years. Twenty years makes a severe impression

[Cha]

31. Don'cha just love

Karma? And the Law of Inevitability?

"The difference is that this time Mr. Rove got caught."

[CantGetFooledAgain]

33. I always enjoy reading his pieces.

So calm, so wise, so far reaching. So true.

[MidnightWind]

34. Opening Line. . .

"I am saying that if anyone was involved in that type of activity which I referred to, they would not be working here."
- Ron Ziegler, press secretary to Richard Nixon, defending the presidential aide Dwight Chapin on Oct. 18, 1972. Chapin was convicted in April 1974 of perjury in connection with his relationship to the political saboteur Donald Segretti.


Hmm--where have I heard this line from. . . it's on the tip of my tongue. . . amazing isn't it? 30+ years and the Repugs are using the same script. Let's just hope and pray that this "gate" has the same end as the last "gate" that showed the Repugs for the lying bunch of criminals they truly are.

[swag]

35. ;

[crispini]

36. wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow wow

"This case is about Iraq, not Niger. The real victims are the American people, not the Wilsons. The real culprit - the big enchilada, to borrow a 1973 John Ehrlichman phrase from the Nixon tapes - is not Mr. Rove but the gang that sent American sons and daughters to war on trumped-up grounds and in so doing diverted finite resources, human and otherwise, from fighting the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. That's why the stakes are so high: this scandal is about the unmasking of an ill-conceived war, not the unmasking of a C.I.A. operative who posed for Vanity Fair. "

Oh, SNAP! Hits the nail SQUARELY on the head!

[WillyT]

37. Kick !!!

:wow:

:woohoo:

:kick: