Posted on 07/12/2005 8:32:49 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
Far be it for us to denounce leaks. Newspapers have relied on countless government officials to divulge vital information that their bosses want to be kept secret. There is even value in the sanctioned leak, such as when the White House, say, lets out information that it wants known but does not want to announce.
But it is something else entirely when officials peddle disinformation for propaganda purposes or to harm a political adversary. And Karl Rove seems to have been playing that unsavory game with the C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, Joseph Wilson IV, a career diplomat who ran afoul of President Bush's efforts to justify the invasion of Iraq. An e-mail note provided by Time magazine to the federal prosecutor investigating the case shows that Mr. Rove's aim in talking about Ms. Wilson to Matthew Cooper, a Time reporter, was to discredit Mr. Wilson, perhaps to punish him.
Mr. Wilson had published an Op-Ed article in The Times about being assigned to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium from Niger - a claim that was popular among the White House and Pentagon officials eager to make the case for war with Iraq. Mr. Wilson said the allegation was unsupported by evidence, and it was later withdrawn, to Mr. Bush's embarrassment.
Before that happened, Mr. Rove gave Mr. Cooper a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Mr. Rove said the origins of Mr. Wilson's mission were "flawed and suspect" because, according to Mr. Rove, Mr. Wilson had been sent to Niger at the suggestion of his wife, who works for the Central Intelligence Agency. To understand why Mr. Rove thought that was a black mark, remember that the White House considers dissenters enemies and that the C.I.A. had...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
1. She had been 'outed' by Aldrich Ames years ago.
2. She had not been a covert agent for close to a decade.
But that whole question is moot, and the law does not apply because Plame was definitely not a covert agent, and had not been since 1994.
If she had kids, she'd be a conservative!
Somehow......the NYT is involved. Would be as big, or bigger story that Rathergate.
Miller would be "squealing like a stuck pig" (added that for Danny Boy) if it were Rove.
I just hope they don't get away with this crap. I can't stand what the MSM and the Screaming Dimmies are trying to do to this country.
" 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. It will be interesting to find out who her handlers are."
Who in the CIA signed off on Plame's recommendation that her husband, who possessed zero investigative and intelligence bona fides, be given this assignment ?
Maybe after Gregory and Moran have taken Midol and have been given a rasher of Hersheys chocolate, they can be convinced to investigate this.
My first thought also. No way I'd go to jail like she has..........must have been a big pile of money thrown her way.
:) :) :)
Either that or the source is the one who leaked her the information on the bust in New York and she risks going to jail for a serious offense for a long, long time.
Wednesday's opinionjournal.com editorial has a more reality based analysis of the kerfluffle. I'm starting to feel like this thing is going to stick to the rat's shoes for months to come.
Either that or she's hiding an embarrassing source that will unequivocaly 'out' them as anti-American.
Cooper initiated the meet. A meet to talk about welfare reform. Also, Rove warned Cooper not to get too far out on the Wilson thing (because Rove knew the gestation of Tenet's report slamming Wilson had already begun.
If Lance Armstrong peddled like that...I could beat him.
What was her official capacity at the time of arranging for hubby's travel? Was it covert? Did that official capacity have the authority to do so?
I'm with Rush on this one - the NYT is desparate to cover their behind. They are either covering up 1) they made the whole story up out of whole cloth, or 2) there real source won't hold up to scrutiny and they don't dare let that out.
Or it could be like the Augusta National series on good 'ol Raines where they cranked out dozens of non-stories as part of a campaign to convince us how rotten the masters are without women golfers (as if we cared).
Either scenario the NYT reputation is sinking even more rapidly and they "can't get up".
Gregory and Moran are not interested in mundane things like "Who signed off on Plame's request to send her husband on an unauthorized WMD mission." Such an investigation would do nothing to help their party's cause.
See post #33.
If Patrick Fitzgerald's report is as you have guessed, the MSM will never report on it.
"But it is something else entirely when officials peddle disinformation for propaganda purposes or to harm a political adversary."
You mean like when Nick Kristoff (NYTimes oped writer) and Joe Wilson met at a Democratic Senatorial cocktail party and conspired to 'peddle disinformation' about the Niger yellowcake???!??!
man, the stench of hyposcrisy!
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