Wilson: wife NOT UNDERCOVER at time of Novak article; refuses to say last time she was covert

CNN Reports with Wolf Blitzer | 7/14/05

[Dane]

WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity

[syriacus]

I can't believe Wilson didn't write a report. The CIA is a bureaucracy, after all. How could he get away with not writing a report?

I'm beginning to wonder if he even left the country. :-)

  Also, I wonder if Wilson deliberately lied in his op-ed piece, hoping the Bush Administration would care enough about his lies to use their own facts to contradict him.

Then, working with the Administration's facts, the Wilsons and shady "friends" could try to determine the identities of foreign, pro-US spies.

I think they'd like to neutralize the influence of any undercover folks who agree with Bush.

I think this is bigger in scope than just Dems v Republicans.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Did I say Fletcher? I meant Fitzgerald."

Earlier today on another thread, I found myself typing "Mexico" instead of "Niger." Go figure . . . Cartwright? Costanza?

[popdonnelly]

So it was Chris Matthews who said "your wife is fair game". And Chris wouldn't distort anything for his own use, would he?

[hispanarepublicana]

FROM THE TRANSCRIPT POSTED ABOVE: WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity

[Echo Talon]

Who sent Wilson to Africa?

Thats what I have been trying to find out! IF Tennet or Cheney didn't send him... Why the hell did he go? Who sent him? Who was Plame talking to when she suggested that he be sent? I dont get it.

[Wristpin]

Of course he refuses to say so. If it was more than five years before her alleged "outing" - and his own book says he and his wife returned to the States in 1997 - then he effectively admits there was no crime. See 50 USC 426

Joe is probably smart enough to know he is in enough trouble over the contents of his Op ED piece. The dates of her covert operations are probably classified.

I think you are referring to his first wife. He didn't hook up with Valerie until 1998.

[tobyhill]

There's the criminal charges if Wilson represented his wife as covert at the time of the article previously. Minimum, lying to a government prosecutor, maximum, Perjury or Obstruction. Wilson's toast and that's why he's trying to get Rats as allies now and they're falling hook, line and sinker.

[lolhelp]

I'm with you, I had the feeling she was never a covert operative.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

It couldn't be that this was all a set up to influence the 2004 election could it? I feel silly even thinking it.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Thats what I have been trying to find out! IF Tennet or Cheney didn't send him... Why the hell did he go? Who sent him? Who was Plame talking to when she suggested that he be sent? I dont get it."

According to Tenet, it was a subgroup in the CIA - a WMD group - that arranged the trip. Plame worked in this group. They did this in response to an initial request from Cheney, but Cheney was not privy to the details before the events unfolded.

[Howlin]

WILSON: That's not anything that I can talk about. And, indeed, I'll go back to what I said earlier, the CIA believed that a possible crime had been committed, and that's why they referred it to the Justice Department. She was not a clandestine officer at the time that that article in Vanity Fair appeared. And I have every right to have the American public know who I am and not to have myself defined by those who would write the sorts of things that are coming out, being spewed out of the mouths of the RNC...

Well, then what in the HELL was this all about:

When I showed it to Valerie, she was stoic in her manner but I could see she was crestfallen. Twenty years of loyal service down the drain, and for what, she asked after she had read it. What was Novak trying to say? What did blowing her cover have to do with the story? It was nothing but a hatchet job. She immediately began to prepare a checklist of things she needed to do to minimize the fallout to projects she was working on. Ever efficient, she jotted down reminders to mask the emotions swirling through her body. Finally, as the enormity of what Novak had done now settled on her, she sat in the corner and wondered aloud if she would still have any friends left after they found out that the person they knew was not her at all but a lie that she lived very convincingly.

WILSON: In 2000? I voted for Al Gore. In 1992, I voted for George Bush.

So much for the "I supported Bush in 2000 lie."

Mo, here's the rest of the much talked about LETTER:

WILSON: I received this on October 25th, 2002, at the very beginning of the serious debate on what U.S. policy toward Iraq should be, eight months after I made a trip to Niger, and eight months before my wife's identity was compromised. He says, "Dear Joe: I read your fascinating article, and I agree with a lot of it. I am not sure Saddam Hussein will back down in the face of this latest challenge, but I certainly hope he will. Further, let me conclude by saying thank you very much for your letter. Further, I have great respect for you and for your service to our country. I hope you know that. Warm regards, George Bush."

[Dane]

There's the criminal charges if Wilson represented his wife as covert at the time of the article previously. Minimum, lying to a government prosecutor, maximum, Perjury or Obstruction. Wilson's toast and that's why he's trying to get Rats as allies now and they're falling hook, line and sinker

Could this be the reason Miller has clammed up?

[Howlin]

http://healthandenergy.com/outing_of_valarie_plame.htm

[kcvl]

Wilson Outed as a LIAR!

NO KIDDING!!!

[Echo Talon]

Maybe we need an investigation of this WMD group? what are they a liberal think tank? They act without the director of the CIA's or Vice President's knowledge? Just seems odd, with all the oversight that is known as Washington.

[Howlin]

I think so; Brit Hume said that a reporter told Scooter Libby who told Rove; I believe that reporter was Judith Miller because she had to have known Plame -- the both worked on WMD stuff.......and they both socialized in Washington.

[Republican Red]

It has been pointed out in other threads that Ms. Plame was pregnant and gave birth to twins in 2000. I know it is not conclusive but I would think that the CIA wouldn't be sending out pregnant women as spies.

[lolhelp]

I think it is time for the CIA to disclose exactly what her job is. Bet she has never been an agent, just a paper pusher for the CIA. Big Difference in an agent and an office employee.

[marty60]

OOPs, NOW WE KNOW WHO GAVE THE REPORTERS HIS WIFES NAME. IT WAS WILSON HIMSELF.