[BlessedByLiberty]

Thanks for the ping - just got here, trying to catch up.

...Remember yesterday, Cofer Black even said Clarke wasn't in those meetings and ended with "I don't know why George Tenet didn't want him in those meetings."...

I'm beginning to think that Clarke was the WH leaker and when he was 'demoted' most leaks stopped. Someone (another thread) posited that it was Clarke who revealed Plame's name. It fits that Clarke, an embittered bureaucrat wanting to cause mischief for this administration, would do it.

[Miss Marple]

I also think Clarke was the leaker.

[Quilla]

Oh, what a bombshell that would be - Clarke leaking ol' hollywood Val's name to Novak. I'm sure all the major networks would cover it 24/7. /not

[petitfour]

Is Clarke chummy with Novak? Has Clarke been used as a source for Novak before? (I mean was he a named source.) I don't understand why Clarke would leak Plame's identity unless he was just trying to show how much he knows to a reporter. (possible) Clarke seems to have felt the same way about the Iraq war as Joe Wilson and some disgruntled CIA folks who believed terrorism would/will increase as a result of invading Iraq.

[cyncooper]

I always object to the characterization of Plame's name being leaked. I just don't think anybody deliberately leaked it to cause a ruckus. Not even Clarke. Even if he gave it out, it was to make Wilson look like he had a good reason for being picked.

The fact that the Wilsons then spun it that her name was "leaked" is just that--spin.

[woodyinscc]

I'm beginning to think that Clarke was the WH leaker and when he was 'demoted' most leaks stopped

I also believe he was the leaker. If he was, the press is reprehensible in their reporting of this story, knowing that it came from a bitter, discredited source.