Fitzgerald told Armitage to keep quiet.

[Catherine Vincent]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060908/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_armitage_3

Armitage says he was source in CIA leak By MATT APUZZO, Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 55 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The former No. 2 State Department official said Thursday he inadvertently disclosed the identity of CIA employee Valerie Plame in conversations with two reporters in 2003.

Confirming that he was the source of a leak that triggered a federal investigation, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said he never intended to reveal Plame's identity. He apologized for his conversations with syndicated columnist Robert Novak and Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.

For almost three years, an investigation led by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has tried to determine whether Bush administration officials intentionally revealed Plame's identity as covert operative as a way to punish her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, for criticizing the Bush administration's march to war with Iraq.

"I made a terrible mistake, not maliciously, but I made a terrible mistake," Armitage said in a telephone interview from his home Thursday night. He said he did not realize Plame's job was covert.

......

Armitage, whose admission was first reported by CBS News Thursday, said he cooperated fully with Fitzgerald's investigation. He was never a target of the investigation and did not hire a lawyer. He agreed to speak to reporters after Fitzgerald released him from a promise of confidentiality.

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Isn't there another leaker?

[pnwmom]

1. Yes, Rove and Libby both leaked, too.

But the two reporters they spoke to (I believe Judith Wilson and Matt Cooper) didn't happen to write about the leaks. Novak did.

Rove also confirmed to Novak the info about Plame that Novak had gotten from Armitage. Confirming a leak is as bad as leaking.

So the fact that Armitage's leak MAY have been inadvertant, and was admitted promptly, doesn't let the others off the hook. They were still involved in a coordinated effort to leak Plame's identity to reporters. They just weren't immediately successful because the reporters they talked to sat on the story.

[applegrove]

2. Meanwhile.. just after talking to Novak.. Rove was prancing down

the street saying "His wife is fair game" to at least one abject stranger.