Posted on 07/12/2005 6:55:21 PM PDT by RightFighter
I'm wondering who everyone thinks the actual leaker is. Remember that Novak stated that it's not who we think it is and that it's a highly placed government official who is "no partisan gunslinger".
My gut tells me this is what happened:
Cooper calls Rove about welfare reform. At the end of the conversation, he asks Rove about Wilson. Rove tries to warn him off the story, mentioning that Wilson's wife, who apparently works at CIA, arranged for Wilson to go to Niger.
Miller catches wind of this conversation, perhaps through a conversation with Cooper or perhaps she asked Rove a similar question. Anyway, Miller wants to confirm this portion of the story, so she does some digging to find out the NAME of Wilson's wife.
The key question then, is, who does Miller call to get the name?
My guess is George Tenet. He would have certainly known the name. He was definitely a highly placed government official, and he certainly would not be considered a partisan gunslinger, having worked as CIA Director under both Presidents Clinton and Bush. Plame had been working in Washington during Tenet's entire tenure at CIA I think, so it's certainly possible that he didn't think that she could possibly be considered covert, so he didn't think he was doing any harm by revealing her name.
This would also explain the NYT stance on this whole matter. They would rather see Rove twist in the wind while their reporter-ette sits in a country club saying nothing than they would like to see the truth come out. The truth in this case would totally exonerate the administration and cast the blame on a CLINTON appointee!!!
There may be nothing to this, but take note of this post, because it may be one that you go looking for in a couple of months to say "didn't that guy RightFighter post Tenet's name on FR a while back?"
This is from Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame:
21 July 2003: Newsday article "Columnist Names CIA Iraq Operative" by Timothy M. Phelps and Knut Royce attributes intelligence information independently leaked to them about Plame as coming from "intelligence officials" and a "senior intelligence official." . Both have been subpoenaed in the Plame investigation.
Interestingly, I noticed this on Wikipedia too. I didn't realize that Wiki was biased, but I guess this proves it:
July 11, 2005: Rove's lawyer/paid liar says, "Rove did not mention her name to Cooper." This one might actually be true, in its lie-y way.
Wilson's article appeared on July 6th, 2003. Novak's article appeared on July 14th. The Justice Dept. opened up their leak investigation the end of September, but the revelation of the Cooper-Rove phone call of July 11th, 2003 didn't come to light until just now. So how, on the 21st of August 2003, did Joe Wilson know to blame Rove for the leak? It was on that date, at a forum on intelligence failures in Iraq, that Wilson stated:
"It's of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs. And trust me, when I use that name, I measure my words."
It's obvious from this comment that Wilson had it in for Rove. And his statement of having a "keen interest...to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs," sounds almost as if it was a plan that was in the works.
The real question that needs to be asked is which reporter did Wilson talk to and when? Was it Cooper, Miller or Novak...or was it all three? Before his August 21st comments, which reporter told Wilson about their phone conversation with Rove? There has to be a connection in all of this between Wilson and one or more of those reporters. I can't see why Wilson would have brought Rove's name up on August 21st, unless he had been fueled with info from one of these individuals. Perhaps Wilson saw it as a chance to squelch Bush's reelection if he could get Rove out of the picture. And what better way to do it than to create a scandal where none existed and point the finger at the man who was in charge of getting Dubya relected.
Or as my then 4 year old son yelled out when we were playing "Clue" years ago: "It was Mr. Green Jeans with the lead pipe...up his hiney!"
Don't ask me where he got that one from.
A big question I have right now is WHY the person who "leaked" to Miller won't step forward? That person has allegedly given Miller a general waiver, freeing her to name him/her as her source before the grand jury. Miller claims to believe that the waiver was coerced by the special prosecutor, and she therefore claims that she doesn't trust that her source actually wants to be named.
I think Miller is a liar. I do not believe for a second that she is protecting a "source" - - I believe that she is protecting her employer (the NY Times) and her party from a major embarrassment.
I don't think it matters at all. There was no "leak" mainly because there was no secret. According to Novak, pretty much everybody in the DC party circuit knew that Valerie worked for the CIA.
Yes, she'd once been undercover, but after she was outed by Ames to the Russians in about 93 or 94 she was useless (and not safe) as a covert operator anymore, and they brought her home way back then where she worked an admin position.
There was nothing to leak.
Great post!
Plame's boss Alan Foley should have retired waaaaaaaay before he did. Just suffered through reading transcript on testimony he gave re John Bolton. The guy could barely recall his own name - much less anything else. The whole time I'm thinking "this guy was CIA????"
VALERIE PLAME, of all people, HAS BEEN GIVEN A COMPLETE PASS in all of this, and I don't know why. It is my contention that Valerie Plame is the ultimate scumbag in this whole disgraceful fiasco.
I think this is the funniest thing ever.
Karl Rove has put the entire Democrat party in knots. The man could take a leak and the Democrats would argue he's standing the wrong way.
And for what? What happens if they get old Karl Rove? An advisor to the President leaves for home? Hoo Boy! What an accomplishment!
I remember that remark - just didn't remember who made it. Very incriminating after the fact. Thanks for connecting the dots to those dates.
We know that Wilson was talking about his Niger trip to Kristof of the NYTimes and Pincus of the WaPo before he even published his op-ed. And Miss Valerie evidently was evidently leaking to the BBC.
Aside from which, somebody going by the sobriquet of Terrance J. Wilkinson was telling the same story to Doug Thompson of Capitol Hill Blue.
sorry, but are you folks saying that Wilson outed his own wife? Am I missing something here?
er, ain't he also the deputy chief of staff?
Yes. It was on "The Big Story" with John Gibson today on FOX. Wilson had her name and CIA status on his website loooong before Roves e-mail. Judge Napolitono (sp?) was discussing it. He was holding back a laugh, that's for sure!
You might add the name of Walter Pincus, Wash Post, to that list - he and his wife are friends of the Wilsons and undoubtedly have numerous inside Democrat sources. (Including Matt Cooper?) If I remember correctly, the Pincus's had dinner with the Wilsons early in July and I would bet that they knew Valerie's occupation.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.