Posted on 07/14/2005 5:41:16 AM PDT by OXENinFLA
WASHINGTON -- Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson called on President Bush Thursday to fire deputy chief of staff Karl Rove, saying Bush's top-level aide engaged in an "abuse of power" by discussing Wilson's wife's job with a reporter.
Wilson decried what he called a White House "stonewall" in the wake of revelations that Rove, a longtime Bush confidant, was involved in the leak to the news media that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA officer.
Bush said Wednesday that he would not comment on discussions that blew her cover because it is the subject of an ongoing investigation by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said, however, the president still has confidence in Rove.
Wilson, in an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC's "Today" show, said he thinks the White House's posture in this controversy represents a continuing "cover-up of the web of lies that underpin the justification for going to war in Iraq."
Wilson was asked about statements by Rove's defenders noting that an e-mail describing Rove's conversation with Time reporter Matthew Cooper indicated that Rove did not specifically mention Valerie Plame by name.
"My wife's name is Mrs. Joseph Wilson," he replied. "It is Mrs. Valerie Wilson. He named her. He identified her," Wilson said. "So that argument doesn't stand the smell test ... What I do know is that Mr. Rove is talking to the press and he is saying things like my wife is fair game. That's an outrage. That's an abuse of power."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Maybe .. Maybe not
Well, if I'm not back in a few minutes, call 911.
How about this... instead of firing Rove, maybe we should ask Goss to fire Plame/Wilson for gross dereliction of duty.
I was hoping for something a bit more...........painful. ;)
"Confidentiality agreement?
Well, that goes right along with what we said yesterday, that perhaps Joe didn't have his "What I Didn't Find" article vetted by the CIA when he published it."
This is where the Wilson's screwed up IMHO.
Those reports IRT Niger Uranium were gleaned from HUMINT which means they should have been compartment within an SCI(Top Secret) program. They are compartmented to protect the source and have special security rules. By giving Joe Wilson access to the information without "reading him in" to the program is a serious security violation. When Joe wrote his Op ed piece it became double serious.
Since Joe hadn't worked for the Government in several years it is questionable whether he still maintained an active clearance with the required 5 year background investigation. After reading the timeline, it looks like they "shotgunned" this trip. He was nominated and on a plane to Niger almost immediately. Could they have forgotten to check his clearance and read him into the program in the rush?
I hope the Grand Jury is looking at this...
There are appx six people in the entire country with the last name "Plame". Interestingly, our "covert" friend, Valerie Plame, is listed with several current and former addresses.
Yes. That is the email address that Valerie Plame Wilson used on the webpage that Cautor found (http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/Polonnoye/PolList.htm).
That's the email address that has her hubby's name and intial and says he is "The Fourth" Joseph Wilson (iv)
Question: is the other "V" in the email address for his middle initial, or her initial, or what? I think his middle initial is "C."
According to Ancestry.com Plame is a surname. According to Google, Plame means "lime" in French. (If I used the translator correctly).
Excellent point.
If you go to the genealogy search engine linked below and put in Plame for a last name, you will turn up several hits on that name, including one for an individual named Valerie Plame.
http://www.genealogy.com/allsearch.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1442639/posts?page=105#105
See that post; do you all think Wilson had security clearance when he went to Niger -- or when he wrote that "What I Didn't Find in Africa?" Think he had it vetted before it went to press?
I'm betting he didn't have security clearance
He also didn't write up a report when he came back ..
So who wrote up report and who ok'd this trip?
Perhaps Wilson's lies were published, not so much to discredit Bush, but to get this Administration to contradict Wilson's lies.
Perhaps Wilson and Co. were hoping to glean some information from the Administration's contradictions
Perhaps Joe and Val were hoping to determine which people were the real sources of the true information about Saddam.
BTW, anyone know if the Wilsons are chums with Scott Ritter?
He may have had a current clearance from working with Clinton's staff, But I feel that security procedures were broken here. Like I said in the other posts...Wilson was sent to verify reports gleaned from HUMINT. Any HUMINT information would be compartmentalized in a Special Access Program. Security within these programs have special requirements to keep the sources protected. Any person having access or working within those programs would have a special clearance upgrade and be "read in". The "read in" is where the special handling requirements are briefed and the non disclosure form would be signed by the individual being granted access to the information. When the need to know is over, the individual would be "read out" of the program. Once again the disclosure requirements would be briefedand the individual would sign paperwork agreeing to protect the information.
From the sounds of it he was never "Read in"...and the law was broken.
For any interested, go to this genealogy link and search for Plame. Results of the search, however, are only available to subscribers to the site.
http://www.ancestry.com/
Wilson has often said he did not sign a confidentiality agreement.
President Bush calls on Joe Wilson to go jump in the lake.
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