Special counsel named for White House leak [U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald]

United Press International | MICHAEL KIRKLAND

[Jeff Chandler]

And the beat goes on...

[mewzilla]

The Dems never learn. Once again they should've been more careful about what they wished for. Heh heh heh.

[RonF]

Interesting. There's lots of U.S. Attorneys in the United States, and I'd guess that there's a lot of them appointed by Republican Senators. However, Fitzgerald is the only one I know of who has been busy putting Republicans in jail (59 and counting, with 7 more in the hopper including the former Governor of Illinois). I wonder if Ashcroft is figuring that this will put a crimp in Fitzgerald's other activities?

[Shermy]

Ashcroft had come under criticism that his supervision of the process would be a conflict of interest.

There would be a seeming conflict if Ashcroft declined to prosecute a Bush administration official. Also the same applies if he opted to prosecute a certain advisor to the Kerry campaign.

Then there's the whole issue whether the worst leaks were not to Novak, but by the "intelligence" sources who leaked Plame's actual status to Newsday.

[Xenalyte]

A former U.S. ambassador has said administration sources improperly revealed the name of his wife, an undercover CIA officer, to Washington reporters in political retaliation for his criticism of Iraq policy.

Was she really undercover? Seems like I've heard that discredited somewhere.

[mewzilla]

I think the Dems aren't going to like it when the leaker is named. And if the Feds are going after leakers, I hope they go after the Beeb's CIA leaker on the yellowcake stories. Gee, wonder who that could've been?

[mewzilla]

From what I heard, half of the Beltway crowd knew what that chick did and for whom.

[Shermy]

Was she really undercover? Seems like I've heard that discredited somewhere.

"undercover" or not, she shouldn't have been outed. Novak lamely mentions that the CIA official who confirmed to him Plame's CIA status asked him not to reveal it, but NOvak did it anyway. He said the CIA official should have more strongly worded his advice. Very lame.

The following Newsday article went into detail about Plame's role in WMD analysis, citing "intelligence" sources. IMO this was much more revealing. The authors of the Newsday article are just as much part of the investigation, despite news reports focusing on Novak.

There's a lot of intrigue going on...pettiness could be part, or the big money "containment" lobby against getting rid of Saddam, and more importantly, UN sanctions on Iraq.

I don't know if the govt. is interested, or even knows about the BBC leak by an intelligence source, speculated here to be Plame herself, as a possibility. Or if there interested in Joe Wilson - for one, was his exoneration of the Niger Government tainted by the fact that he sought, or had sought, to make a private sector deal with that same government for a gold mining operation? What about his connections to Rock Creek Corporation? Saudis? ONe can only hope these be investigated too.

[Maximum Leader]

Fitzgerald was picked by Deputy AG Comey after the recusal. Accordnig to Comey, Ashcroft had nothing to do with his selection.

[mewzilla]

Vis-a-vis Novak, FWIW, I'd heard differently. They ought to subpoena Novak just to get him on the reocrd. I realise he can get away with not naming his source, but he can't get away with not answering what he knew about outing her.

[mewzilla]

I don't know if the govt. is interested, or even knows about the BBC leak by an intelligence source...

Well, they bloody well ought to be.

[Shermy]

I thought the lame way he tried to deflect fault from himself made his story about why he was told more plausible - ie, his lie was not about his sources, but about his conduct afterward.

He said the first person to tell him was done casually duing a long discussion...indicating perhaps it was a friend of his...who might have been currying favor, but assumed he wouldn't tell.

Then another "senior admin. official" confirmed it with a "oh you know about that" comment.

Then a third confirmed, the CIA official.

The "leak" might have been more negligent than purposeful. But maybe not.

Do you have a link to that BBC article???

[TheExploited]

Most Illinois Republicans (and I am one of them) are happy to see George Ryan get what he deserves. I have no problem when a elected official who violates the public trust gets indicted. Patrick Fitzgerald is doing his job here in the Northern District of Illinois.

That is the big difference between Republicans and Democrats. If Ryan were a Democrat, they would be saying that he was being punished for his stance on the death penalty or that he was a victim of the terrible Bush economy, etc.

[mewzilla]

Ask and you shall receive (though it took me a while. Decaffeinating's a $%#@^).

For one of the the Beeb articles, this one was the one that sprang to mind immediately, click here.

And note the date of the article.

[Shermy]

Doubts about a claim that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from the African state of Niger were aired 10 months before Mr Bush included the allegation in his key State of the Union address this year, a CIA official has told the BBC.

...But the CIA official has said that a former US diplomat had already established the claim was false in March 2002 - and that the information had been passed on to government departments, including the White House, well before Mr Bush mentioned it in the speech.

Obviously the "CIA Official" might be someone close to the "diplomat" - ie, their spouse.

[mewzilla]

No judge is going to make Novak into a martyr. But I would like to see Novak subpoenaed and asked under oath about what he knew and when he knew it.

[kingu]

Didn't Novak specifically deny that the source was connected to the White House at one point?

[HAL9000]

Novack can't get away without naming his source either -- unless he's willing to spend time in the cooler.

He can and will get away with it. Never underestimate The Dark Prince.