It is a Crime to expose an Agent

[BeFree]

The question is: What was the intent?

Why was the agent exposed? Why would a government employee tell anyone about the nature of an undercover agent's operation except to help that agent continue toward success? Aren't government employees supposed to be working together for the greater good of the general public?

The exposing of the agent's operation in order to cast a negative light upon said agent's operation is a high crime, and there should be no journalist or government employee aiding and abetting any such crime, because it is tantamount to treason against America.

[Beaver Tail]

1. Rove DID have access

and would have know Plame (Mrs. Wilson) was covert. This is not brain surgery here but I wonder how bad they are going to twist the facts to get out of it

[Toots]

5. How did Rove get or have access?

At the time this took place Rove was only Bush*'s Political Advisor and not officially part of the Administration and had no Security clearance at all.

[redqueen]

2. Revenge for Wilson, intimidation of anyone else thinking of coming forward

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Unauthorized release of classified information is also a crime

That Valerie Plame actually worked for the CIA and her cover was that she was an energy analyst for Brewster Jennings was classified information.

Rove could be in hot water for that. It may not have violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, but it could have violated some other law.

[BeFree]

4. Yes indeed

But why, what was the intent? The intent itself is a crime of treason against the US, whether or not a legal statute was broken.

Government employees should be held to an equal standard. Under that standard, even a lowly private serving in the Armed Forces would have been busted by now, or maybe even executed for revealing the operations of another agent of the US.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. I doubt the intent was treason

He was not making war against the United States; he was not giving aid or comfort to the enemy. Let's drop the treason rap. That dog won't hunt.

However, his motives were purely political. Rove and his co-conspirators were attempting to discredit Wilson because he was witness to at least one instance of dissembling by the Bush regime and there were no doubt many, many others. The Bushies didn't get everything wrong about Iraq by accident. They got everything wrong because they were looking for talking points, not facts.

The spin that Rove was attempting to prevent Time or whomever from publishing stories that would soon be refuted is obviously steer manure; that was two years ago and we are still waiting for Wilson's version of what happened to be refuted. They are calling him a liar, but the charge is as empty as it is vicious.

[BeFree]

18. But,

The intent was to expose a CIA agent to the world. That seems to fall in the category of helping our enemies.

Was it the sole intent? No. But the consequence of the action did hurt the US and help our enemies. Treason. High Treason, right from the White House.

[Toots]

6. One major question is how did Rove know this Classified information

At the time this took place Rove was only a Political Advisor and had no Security clearance at all. Now as deputy Chief of Staff he has had to obtain Security clearance to be able to do his job. I think that Clearance should be revoked immediately until it is proved one way or another whether he obtained and released Confidential Information. It is only the Proper thing to do.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Bush probably told Rove

[BeFree]

10. Proper thing to do, indeed

Actually, given the intent behind the matter, it has been a continuing crime for two years now to keep anybody in a position whereby such a person could do even more damage.

[Jack Rabbit]

15. Quite obviously, someone told him

Contrary to what you say, I assume a White House adviser has a security clearance and probably a very high one. Nevertheless, whatever fancy title he may have, Rove is little more than a glorified political hatchet man. The most benign part of his duties is to suggest ways public debate can be framed in favor of White House initiatives; a more malignant and really improper part of his job is to smear political opponents or anyone who just gets in the way. It should surprise us if in his day-to-day duties he normally concerns himself with who's who in Langley or which diplomat is chosen to go on a special assignment to Niger.

This malignancy seems to be a Bush family value. We saw it years ago in the case of Anita Hill and we are seeing it now in the case of the Wilsons.

[LiberalFighter]

7. There were more than one agent exposed by exposing her

Because of the company that she used as a cover the other agents also using that same cover become exposed.

[ArkDem]

9. Is it a crime for an agent to expose himself?

:evilgrin:

[BeFree]

11. There is a time and place for humor

Methinks this is not the time, or the place.

We are dealing with high crime and treason against the United States of America, and the criminals are still on the loose.

[ArkDem]

12. The couple had been debating the purchase of a new auto

for weeks. He wanted a new truck. She wanted a fast little sports car
so she could zip through traffic around town. He would probably have Settled on any beat up old truck, but everything she seemed to like was way out of their price range.

"Look !" she said. I want something that goes from 0 to 200 in 4
seconds or less. "And my birthday is coming up. You could surprise
me."


For her birthday, he bought her a brand new bathroom scale.

[BeFree]

13. Ok, maybe I am wrong

Maybe humor will further the case?

I like that: 0 to 200 in 4 seconds or less.

[ArkDem]

16. Humor is always good for ya!

[Totally Committed]

17. Lots of things are crimes...

election fraud

lying to the American people (according to any Republican who got in front of a camera during Clinton's impeachment)

falsifying information in governmental documents

redistricting a state twice in one census cycle

repeated ethics violations

allowing people with no security clearance unlimited access to the White House

defamation of character, slander, libel

illegal grug use


but, it seems these things would only be crimes if DEMOCRATS did them, because I haven't seen any REPUBLICAN pay for his "crimes" yet. I don't think we will this time, either, sadly...

TC