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 ...
Well, as the saying goes, the truth hurts! I agree with you. This whole vendetta theme Joe Wilson is going on, I think, once again comes back to his (Wilson's) ludicrously overinflated sense of importance. Right, Karl Rove was sitting in the White House plotting how to get his archenemy, Joe Wilson. In Wilson's dreams, maybe!
As I've said before, I think the real issue is why someone as unbalanced, untruthful, and narcissistic as Wilson should have access to any sensitive information in the first place. Seems to me that being married to a narcissistic liar is the real danger for an undercover operative.
According to Nick Kristof of the NY Times, October 11, 2003 (three months after Wilson's infamous op-ed):
First, the C.I.A. suspected that Aldrich Ames had given Mrs. Wilson's name (along with those of other spies) to the Russians before his espionage arrest in 1994. So her undercover security was undermined at that time, and she was brought back to Washington for safety reasons.
Second, as Mrs. Wilson rose in the agency, she was already in transition away from undercover work to management, and to liaison roles with other intelligence agencies. So this year, even before she was outed, she was moving away from "noc" — which means non-official cover, like pretending to be a business executive. After passing as an energy analyst for Brewster-Jennings & Associates, a C.I.A. front company, she was switching to a new cover as a State Department official, affording her diplomatic protection without having "C.I.A." stamped on her forehead.
Especially since that is the interpretation (Rove was trying to wave him off a bad story) explicit in Matt Cooper's own email!
doesn't stand the smell test ...
Hey, Joe, YOU don't stand the smell test (in more ways than one!) Why did YOU and YOUR WIFE parade yourselves all over the pages of "Vanity Fair" if you wanted to protect her precious reputation, HUH????!!!!
I am for charges against the Wilsons and also conspiracy charges against whomever: Matt Cooper, Grunewald, & Hillary.
Good points. I had not caught the link between Pflame and Iraqi WMD. So, this becomes part of the larger scenario of Sheuyer et al who screwed up at the CIA and rebelled at civilian policy interferance with their turfs. Were they all Arabists?
I think it's time for the lying Mr. Wilson to shut up. What nerve he has!
He should Be arrested for Sedition.
Not to mention, that Vanity Fair photograph is utterly juvenile. The convertible, Joe Wilson's chic dangling of his ultra cool sunglasses, his wife's "spy" getup... when I first saw it, I thought it was a spoof of some kind.
I call on WIlson to drop dead.
There's no mention in the story about the fact Wilson is a confirmed liar with no credibility whatsoever, as determined by the Senate Intelligence Committee and others.
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.
Speaking of vendettas, just who is it that is on one?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1442412/posts?page=201#201
Sea, read Mo1's post 53!
Did he actually say "liar?"
You know, just from reading this, it sounds like old Joe is in an all out panic; perhaps he's afraid his web of lies is going to be exposed?
And I'll tell you this: if the White House wasn't out to smear him before, they should dump a load on him now. Let them tell it ALL.
Please tell us that Joe Wilson is going down............pretty please........
No .. he didn't said "liar"
Wilson said .. and I quote
"This is a conspiracy and cover up of their web of lies that underpinned the justification of going to war in Iraq"
He also claims that Rove said his wife was fair game
Here is the video of the interview
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8568266/
Will I want to hurt something after I see it?
She IS fair game because she involved herself rather than staying out of it!
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