Another follow-up from Cliff May:
http://corner.nationalreview.com/05_07_10_corner-archive.asp#069740
CORN STRIKES BACK [Cliff May]
On his blog, David Corn attempts to rebut my NRO piece. I dont think he gets very far but its here so you can judge for yourself.
His major argument is that Bob Novak reporting that Joe Wilsons assignment for the CIA came about because Wilsons wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, recommended him, is no different from David Corn revealing that Valerie Pame was a top-secret CIA agent.
He adds: Once Valerie Wilson's name appeared in Novak's column, her days as a CIA undercover official were done.
But why would that be? If the day after Novaks column came out, Valerie Plame, CIA analyst at CIA HQ in Langley, were to disappear, and Mallory Flame, arms dealer, were to arrive in Istanbul with a passport and contacts and a legend, how would anyone make the connection?
They could not, nor would anyone who had worked with Plame in the past know anything --assuming that when Plame had been under cover she had used false identities.
However, once Wilson told Corn and Corn published -- that Plame was not just a CIA analyst but a secret agent with an extensive network of contacts, and once she and Joe posed for pictures in Vanity Fair, her career as an undercover spy was indeed over.
BTW, he also says I ignored his notes to me. In fact, I published them all, though not in the story but here in the Corner under the title Reporters Notebooks.
He also continues to deny that Wilson was his source. So how did he know things that Novak didnt report? He doesnt tell us, he just says things llike, the story was that Valerie worked for an energy firm
The story? Whose story? Novak didnt tell this story? Who did? What was the source?
Perfidia
Joe helped the Islamicists' side,
When he wrote that the President lied
The Times spread his tale
Please keep them in jail
And, certainly, Joe should be fried.
The only 'facts' put out were that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and she recommended that he go to investigate the yellow cake story.