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

[hispanarepublicana]

Wilson just admitted about 45 minutes ago to Wolf Blitzer his wife was not undercover at the time of the Novak article and refused to state when the last time she was covert No link; transcripts to follow as soon as published.

[cake_crumb]

"[Blitzer]: And you've denied that your wife was the one who came up with the idea to send you."

WILSON: It's not so much that I've denied it. It was the CIA itself that denied it a week after the Novak article came out, well before I was ever in a position to acknowledge that my wife worked for the CIA."

Found it.....

"Valerie had nothing to do with the matter," Wilson wrote in a memoir published this year. "She definitely had not proposed that I make the trip."

--WaPo's Susan Schmidt quoting Joe Wilson in his book, 7/10/04.

Also an FR thread on it

[Miss Marple]

I see your point. However, I realy think that although Wilson was being dramatic, he also inadvertantly spoke the truth. Other sources say she was brought back after it was revealed that Ames blew her cover sometime in 1998.

And as tobyhill says, if he can't comment on a portion of that time, he can't comment on any of it.

[cake_crumb]

"He's not just a drama queen, he's a graduate of the Bill Shatner School for Overacting."

And the Al Gore school of compulsive lying!

[Wendy44]

"I really don't care what Wilson says at this point. He has contradicted himself so many times and has been shown, beyond a shadow of a doubt, to be a Kerry-supporting, Dem contributing, liar. Who cares what he meant or that he said it on CNN?"

I totally agree that he's a Kerry-supporting, Dem contributing liar.

If you don't care what he said on CNN, then why read the thread?

I was just trying to point out there's another interpretation to what he said. I figured better to point it out now before the OP started another thread about it and it turns out to be jumping to the wrong conclusion.

[cake_crumb]

"Unfortunately, I think you've read what he said too literally. He was being dramatic in saying that his wife was no longer covert the second that Novak's article was published,"

Plame hadn't been covert for years. She was brought home after the Aimes affair. She's an analyst trying to get into management. Wilson's probably hoping whatever Democrat he helps get elected will nominate her CIA director put of gratitude for all they've done for The Party.

[Mo1]

OMG, I missed that; I'll bet you $50 that Wilson sent the editorial in a letter to 41..............LOL.
Oh, wouldn't THAT be sweet if we could find that out!

Well .. Poppy Bush 41 can clear that little matter up

Wilson sure ain't too bright

[Wendy44]

Yes, her cover was blown by Ames. That means she was brought back and would not be sent overseas again. That means all the crap they were putting out there about endangering lives and operations overseas, blah, blah, blah, was ridiculous. That means the Act, which is all about intent, didn't apply to her.

But that doesn't mean she didn't have undercover status. While plenty of people knew she was agency, plenty of people, like her neighbors and friends, were under the impression she worked for another government agency because she was required to say that as a covert employee.

She wasn't an analyst at the time, more like an admin asst. to Alan Foley.

[tobyhill]

It was funny that Wilson pulls out some form letter from Bush 41 and reads it as though Bush 41 was really praising him. I wish Wilson would have said,"what, no raise with this?". He managed to plug his book a couple times.

[Salvation]

So there really is no charge against Rove, correct?

[Revererdrv]

The New York Times has become a mouth piece for the Democrat Party.

[Rocko]

The New York Times has become a mouth piece for the Democrat Party.

It has been for many years.

[cake_crumb]

I think we're using two differnt definitions of "covert agent", here.

I'm using the legal definition of it.

(4) The term "covert agent" means—

(A) a present or retired officer or employee of an intelligence agency or a present or retired member of the Armed Forces assigned to duty with an intelligence agency—

(i) whose identity as such an officer, employee, or member is classified information, and

(ii) who is serving outside the United States or has within the last five years served outside the United States; or

(B) a United States citizen whose intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information, and—

(i) who resides and acts outside the United States as an agent of, or informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency, or

(ii) who is at the time of the disclosure acting as an agent of, or informant to, the foreign counterintelligence or foreign counterterrorism components of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; or

(C) an individual, other than a United States citizen, whose past or present intelligence relationship to the United States is classified information and who is a present or former agent of, or a present or former informant or source of operational assistance to, an intelligence agency.

Only then would this have been a voolation of Section 421 ( Protection of identities of certain United States undercover intelligence officers, agents, informants, and sources )

[Revererdrv]

Maybe that is why New Yorkers elect creeps like Schumer and Clinton as Joker Senators.

[CyberAnt]

I was taking care of my mom and I missed his introduction. He was stunning .. and I was jumping up and down when I realized Rove was in the clear and the dems are lying through their teeth as usual.

[Dr.Hilarious]

Hey, aren't we all guilty, according to the dems, because we're talking about AMES???? ;)

[kcvl]

Mr. Wilson, appearing at a news conference with Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said Mr. Rove should go. "Irrespective of whether a law has been violated, it's very clear to me that the ethical standards to which we should hold our senior public servants have been violated," he said, calling on President Bush "to honor his word that he would fire anybody who was involved in the leak."

Mr. Schumer, who supports the security-clearance amendment to the Homeland Security spending bill, said Mr. Bush should "do the right thing, and immediately suspend Karl Rove's security clearance."

But former President Bill Clinton said he was withholding judgment on what, if anything, should happen to Mr. Rove. "It depends on what the facts are," Mr. Clinton said in an interview on CNN. But he said that neither Mr. Wilson nor his wife had deserved the damage done to their lives and careers by the disclosure of her C.I.A. employment.



http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/politics/14cnd-rove.html?oref=login

[Wendy44]

That lays out what specifically they mean when they refer to "covert agent" in the statute.

And the reason for that is so that it doesn't encompass all covert employees. They wanted it to specifically apply to employees who worked overseas because revelation of their identities could endanger operations and all those involved.

They didn't want it to apply to covert employees here because it had the potential to go beyond the intent of the act--to protect overseas operations and sources.

Those criteria are important for determining if a law was broken. But if she didn't meet that criteria, it doesn't mean she wasn't covert or undercover. It just means the act doesn't apply to this situation.

[Mo1]

It was funny that Wilson pulls out some form letter from Bush 41 and reads it as though Bush 41 was really praising him.

Not only that .. Bush41 is talking about a different article

[CyberAnt]

"She was covert"


And .. your evidence for that is .......??? And "analyst" is not "covert".

[cake_crumb]

"And the reason for that is so that it doesn't encompass all covert employees. They wanted it to specifically apply to employees who worked overseas because revelation of their identities could endanger operations and all those involved."

Exactly, and she doesn't fit the criteria. I thought you might have been defending Wilson and Plame in a roundabout way and was fishing for clarification of your position. Sorry.