It seems very clear now that Rove was not Judith Miller's source; and from that the possibilities are that either her actual source, or she herself, was Novak's source.
Rove gave Fitzgerald a general waiver for "anyone he talked to" concerning the Wilson stuff, releasing them from any confidentiality requirement on his part; MORE THAN A YEAR AGO.
You get two things from that. Cooper's recent statement's that only now was he free to reveal his source are just bunk. He was free to reveal Rove's name more than a year ago. Why didn't he. Read his email to his bosses concerning his conversation with Rove. First, he lied about why he wanted to talk to Rove - said it was about medicare, and before the call ended he finally got to the real subject of his call - Wilson. And Rove's comments? He clearly was not trying to "out" Wilson's wife as a way to get back at Wilson. He was warning Cooper that the story from Wilson was much weaker that it looked; that neither the VP or DCIA had even known about Wilson's trip, much less sanctioned it; that it was Wilson's own wife who had recommended him and that Wilson's report did not change the intelligence community's view of Iraq's attempts to purchase yellow cake in Niger. Trying to "out" Wilson's wife? No; trying to tell Cooper the story was weak.
One last point about Wilson and yellow cake. The media plays this out as if Wilson was sent to Niger to "get confirmation that Iraq had tried to purchase yellow cake in Niger". He was not. He was not briefed on all the intelligence concerning Iraq's attempts to purchase yellow cake in Niger. He was asked to do one thing; to find out if certain documents which purported to indicate a Iraqi attempt to purchase yellow cake were authentic. That was all he was asked to do. And how did he do that? He spent about 90% of his time at his Hotel and he had a couple conversations with a couple former Niger government officials - end of research. As was reported by the congressional investigations - the intelligence communities assessement of Iraqi attempts to purchase yellow cake were not changed by Wilson's "report".
Now back to Judith Miller. So, if Rove was her source then she got the same waiver from Rove as Cooper. Since she still will not reveal her source, it's very unlikely that her source was Rove.
What seems increasingly likely is that her and/or her bosses are protecting another source. Why? Well if she was Novak's source, then her source was Novak's source. And what if her source was some State Department friend of Wilson, or even Wilson himself. Then Miller and the New York Times would have their own Rathergate. They would have conspired to "leak" Wilson's wife's name to Novak, let him do the story (Judith Miller did not herself print a story on the issue then) and then gin up the mainstream media into accepting the false notion that the White House had let out the name to embarass Wilson.
Now I believe that Novak did say the source was a very high official. What if Judith Miller's source was Colin Powell?
Well then Bush has already fulfilled his promise to sack the leaker.
Rove gave Fitzgerald a general waiver for "anyone he talked to" concerning the Wilson stuff, releasing them from any confidentiality requirement on his part; MORE THAN A YEAR AGO.
You get two things from that. Cooper's recent statement's that only now was he free to reveal his source are just bunk. He was free to reveal Rove's name more than a year ago. Why didn't he. Read his email to his bosses concerning his conversation with Rove. First, he lied about why he wanted to talk to Rove - said it was about medicare, and before the call ended he finally got to the real subject of his call - Wilson. And Rove's comments? He clearly was not trying to "out" Wilson's wife as a way to get back at Wilson. He was warning Cooper that the story from Wilson was much weaker that it looked; that neither the VP or DCIA had even known about Wilson's trip, much less sanctioned it; that it was Wilson's own wife who had recommended him and that Wilson's report did not change the intelligence community's view of Iraq's attempts to purchase yellow cake in Niger. Trying to "out" Wilson's wife? No; trying to tell Cooper the story was weak.
One last point about Wilson and yellow cake. The media plays this out as if Wilson was sent to Niger to "get confirmation that Iraq had tried to purchase yellow cake in Niger". He was not. He was not briefed on all the intelligence concerning Iraq's attempts to purchase yellow cake in Niger. He was asked to do one thing; to find out if certain documents which purported to indicate a Iraqi attempt to purchase yellow cake were authentic. That was all he was asked to do. And how did he do that? He spent about 90% of his time at his Hotel and he had a couple conversations with a couple former Niger government officials - end of research. As was reported by the congressional investigations - the intelligence communities assessement of Iraqi attempts to purchase yellow cake were not changed by Wilson's "report".
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Three paragraphs worth repeating from your very excellent post.
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