Second Letter from Alberto Gonzales to W.H. Staff

White House ^ | 9-30-03 | Alberto Gonzales

[dogbyte12]

Alberto Gonzales is taking this seriously. He is no John Dean. Dean acted unethically first, then ratted. Gonzales seems to be trying to do this professionally.

[RobbyS]

I think they are letting it all hang out so that the other side can exhaust itself straining at a gnat.

[Shermy]

If the article weren't accurate about her being an undercover Directorate of Opeations operative, I don't think Albert Gonzales would be so interested in evidence of White House employees' contacts with these two reporters.

Yep.

And this "senior intelligence official" has some 'splaining to do.

"We paid his [Wilson's] air fare. But to go to Niger is not exactly a benefit. Most people you'd have to pay big bucks to go there," the senior intelligence official said. Wilson said he was reimbursed only for expenses.

So why was Mr. Wilson eager to go there? Did he have an agenda? Before recently I assumed the Niger Letter Story was a fraud, but if not, no big deal in the major scheme of things anyway. Now I read he didn't debunk it, he just cast doubt that uranium was actually bought. He parsed his words.

[Shermy]

One must ask if Mr. Wilson's agenda was driven by personal gain. For example, his Saudi connections - were they paid connections? Did he go to Niger with a finding in mind?

[Mo1]

They need to add Matthew Cooper to the list because it seems his article came out about the same time as Novaks


In July Time Magazine Interview, Joe Wilson Said His Wife Had Nothing To Do With Niger Trip

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/992437/posts

[Diddle E. Squat]

Exactly. I bet whoever leaked had no idea that they were breaking any laws.

[freekitty]

Why don't they cut through all of the bs and go directly to Hitlery and Bubba?

[norton]

Gonzales is interested in the evidence because someone has asked for it...now we have posters on FR who are willing to translate cooperation with the Justice Department into an admission of guilt?

Get a grip...when did Clinton ever actually cooperate with any probes that he wasn't conducting himself?

[dogbyte12]

Former CIA agent Larry Johnson tonight who claims to be a lifelong republican, with campaign contributions to match, said on Newshour on PBS tonight that Plame was an undercover agent for 3 decades. That he in fact was one of her trainers in espionage when she joined the agency.

Key quotes: "This not an alleged abuse. This is a confirmed abuse. I worked with this woman. She started training with me. She has been under cover for three decades. She is not as Bob Novak suggested a "CIA analyst."

"I say this as a registered Republican. I am on record giving contributions to the George Bush campaign. This is not about partisan politics. This is about a betrayal, a political smear, of an individual who had no relevance to the story."

[aristeides]

Gonzales is interested in the evidence because someone has asked for it

So who asked for that evidence? Justice? What does that suggest to you?

[aristeides]

Thanks for that. Maybe now people will stop their denials.

[Shermy]

This is about a betrayal, a political smear, of an individual who had no relevance to the story."

It's about blabbing and cozying up to reporters who want a story.

[Notwithstanding]

I saw the same interview.
But by all accounts, her employment with the CIA was no secret prior to Novak's mention of it. Novak simply made it common knowledge, rather than personal info known by friends and acquaintances.

[Stultis]

Need some Time magazine reporters in there as well:

In July Time Magazine Interview, Joe Wilson Said His Wife Had Nothing To Do With Niger Trip ^
			Posted by Pubbie On 09/30/2003 2:38 PM CDT with 87 comments Time Magazine ^ | Thursday, Jul. 17, 2003 | By MATTHEW COOPER, MASSIMO CALABRESI AND JOHN F. DICKERSON And some government officials have noted to TIME in interviews, (as well as to syndicated columnist Robert Novak) that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These officials have suggested that she was involved in her husband's being dispatched Niger to investigate reports ...

[Shermy]

Thanks for that. Maybe now people will stop their denials.

I never understood the points posters' points about the distinction being significant. Either way it was wrong. And Novak was asked not to tell, but did.

[William McKinley]

Mo1 just noticed something very interesting. The author of that Time article is married to an advisor to Hillary Rodham Clinton. See post 80 on that thread.

[William McKinley]

The assumption is that the enemies of Wilson were the leakers.

I am not sure that is a good assumption.

[jbstrick]

Who was the reporter on Fox this morning saying that "everyone" knew she worked for the CIA?

[dogbyte12]

There is a difference though between knowing somebody works at the CIA, and the knowledge that they actually are more than an analyst.

I am curious as to when people became aware that she worked at the CIA. When Wilson quit as ambassador to Gabon, I think his last job overseas, is that when Plame stopped undercover work? Is that when people started to know that she worked at Langley?

It is murkey. But I think part of the murkyness is because of the job. She could easily be both in the same career. Spies come in from the cold. An undercover agent in a police department can quit when they are getting too well known on the street, and revert to a uniform or plains clothes homicide. I don't know exactly what Plame did, but I think the analysis is a bit too unsophisticated. It really doesn't have to be either or here.

The answer to the question "Was Valerie Plame a operative or a analyst" is most likely yes. Both.

[Notwithstanding]

Maybe it was Ari Fleisher who leaked this - and Pesident Bush fired him when he found out.

After all, he did quit right after Novak wrote his story.