WASH POST: It's unfortunate so many people took Joe Wilson seriously...(Drudge headline)

Washington Post ^ | Sept. 1, 2006

[AZRepublican]

It turns out that the person who exposed CIA agent Valerie Plame was not out to punish her husband.

WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame because of our oft-stated belief that far too much attention and debate in Washington has been devoted to her story and that of her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, over the past three years. But all those who have opined on this affair ought to take note of the not-so-surprising disclosure that the primary source of the newspaper column in which Ms. Plame's cover as an agent was purportedly blown in 2003 was former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage.

Mr. Armitage was one of the Bush administration officials who supported the invasion of Iraq only reluctantly. He was a political rival of the White House and Pentagon officials who championed the war and whom Mr. Wilson accused of twisting intelligence about Iraq and then plotting to destroy him. Unaware that Ms. Plame's identity was classified information, Mr. Armitage reportedly passed it along to columnist Robert D. Novak "in an offhand manner, virtually as gossip," according to a story this week by the Post's R. Jeffrey

Smith, who quoted a former colleague of Mr. Armitage.

It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue. The partisan clamor that followed the raising of that allegation by Mr. Wilson in the summer of 2003 led to the appointment of a special prosecutor, a costly and prolonged investigation, and the indictment of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of perjury.

[AZRepublican]

Deadline = Headline

[Paine's Ghost]

Is this their idea of an apology?

[new yorker 77]

Technically you were right.

Joe Wilson's story is a Dead-line.

[NRA1995]

It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.It's unfortunate he's not in prison being horsewhipped on a daily basis.

[GreyFriar]

I find it amazing that they are willing to blame Wilson for the Plame kerfuffle at all.

[The South Texan]

This is not from the Washington Times????

[Darkwolf377]

WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame

You are??? Since when?!

You're reluctant to return to it because YOU GOT IT WRONG.

[Arm_Bears]

"It's unfortunate so many people took Joe Wilson seriously . . ." (including us).

[new yorker 77]

It's nice of them to make treat this with such emphasis.

Their story being a FRIDAY DUMP along with it being BURIED IN THE PAPER.

[LesbianThespianGymnasticMidget]

The real shame is Wilson was never called before a Grand Jury. That sack of sh&& can't help but perjure himself.

[Guard Dog]

This should be on the front page of every newspaper.

[Red Badger]

A Youa Culpa......

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Does Wilson now call for Armitage to be marched out of the State Dept.?

[AZRepublican]

"It's unfortunate so many people took Joe Wilson seriously . . ." (including us).

(laughing) That is a great comeback Mr. Arm_Bears.

[b4its2late]

Like the WP didn't know the whole truth......

[ravingnutter]

Found something interesting yesterday:

Kerry Exploring Cabinet Options

An excerpt:

A dark-horse candidate for defense, some said, is Richard L. Armitage, Bush's second in command at the State Department.

Remember...many of the players involved worked for the Kerry campaign. Could Armitage have sold his soul for a potential Cabinet position?

[roses of sharon]

I wonder if Dana Priest of the WP is being investigated as part of the CIA leak probe?

She has been very quite since her friend had to resign from the CIA.

[george76]

With music.

[mass55th]

"That's not to say that Mr. Libby and other White House officials are blameless. As prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has reported, when Mr. Wilson charged that intelligence about Iraq had been twisted to make a case for war, Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney reacted by inquiring about Ms. Plame's role in recommending Mr. Wilson for a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, where he investigated reports that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium. Mr. Libby then allegedly disclosed Ms. Plame's identity to journalists and lied to a grand jury when he said he had learned of her identity from one of those reporters. Mr. Libby and his boss, Mr. Cheney, were trying to discredit Mr. Wilson; if Mr. Fitzgerald's account is correct, they were careless about handling information that was classified."

They've still got it wrong.