Was the Joe Wilson Valerie Plame Affair a CIA Plot?

The National Ledger ^ | oct. 21, 2005 | Cliff Kincaid

[Mo1]

DiGenova tells this columnist, “It seems to me somewhat strange, in terms of CIA tradecraft, that if you were really attempting to protect the identity of a covert officer, why would you send her husband overseas on a mission, without a confidentiality agreement, and then allow him when he came back to the United States to write an op-ed piece in the New York Times about it.”

I'd sure as heck like to know why they allowed this

[Steve_Seattle]

This is why I am hopping mad at the MSM - they have simply refused to look at the story from this angle, which has far more serious ramifications than if Libby or Rove incidentally "outed" Plame while setting the record straight regarding Wilson's trip to Niger. They are obsessed with the inner workings of the White House, but - for the first time ever - completely indifferent to the possibility of nefarious schemes being hatched in the CIA. This sickens me. My contempt for the MSM has never been stronger.

[rhombus]

And "Slam Dunk" got a medal.

[JeffersonRepublic.com]

The CIA is no better then the KGB... might be worse because the CIA has no loyalty.

[lilylangtree]

It was Wilson and his demoncRAT friends that plotted. Wilson bragged all around DC that his wife worked with the CIA. It wasn't a secret. Yet, if and when an administration official mentions it the reaction is like telling a poorly-kept secret. In Washington, DC, there aren't any secrets.

[popdonnelly]

I don't know if DiGenova is correct, but I do notice that there are a number of "former terrorism" people pumping up this Plame story. Could it be that these pre-9/11 terrorism experts are diverting attention from their own mistakes by attacking the White House?

[mewzilla]

Duh.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Nobody seems to want to talk about how this whole thing got started. The CIA certainly seems to have done exactly what it needed to do to hamstring the White House."

The media already had their story - "Bush tries to muzzle the brave critic who exposed false justifications for war" - and that story line was so attractive, so redolent of the glory days of Watergate, that they just couldn't see any other possibilities. The MSM just went into a collective stupor and refused to ask the obvious questions about what was going on in the CIA. Semour Hersch briefly talked about it, but it never got legs.

[ravingnutter]

Some woman named Flavia on Tucker Carlson said last night that Fitzgerald had interviewed Italian authorities in Rome about the break-in at the Nigerian Embassy there. If you will remember, it has been suggested that the letterhead and seals that were stolen were used to produce the forgeries.

[Txsleuth]

Bush's PR people need to get ahold of this article, and start quoting DiGenova...just "positing" the idea that what DiGenova said is not only plausible...

but, likely!!!

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

Back in July, I mused about why the MSM weren't considering a CIA plot.

Here's what I posted then:

"Countless times, over a period of many long years, I've heard about how adroit the CIA is at destabilizing governments. I suspect that it would be easier to count the stars in the sky than conspiracy theories about the CIA. Many of these conspiracy theories were so convoluted that they made John le Carré novels look straightforward by comparison. Most were covered extensively in the MSM -- with the requisite anti-US slant.

Now, we have a CIA "operative" and her husband at the centre of an intrigue apparently designed at destabilizing the US government itself. Naturally (I've come to believe that I've fallen into a parallel universe, where the totally bizarre and twisted is natural), the MSM is ignoring the possibility that this is a CIA plot -- or, at the very least, that it is the machinations of a highly trained CIA operative."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1445109/posts?page=18#18

[churchillbuff]

A CIA Plot -- along with the Kennedy Assassination, the resignation of Nixon, the disappearance of Hoffa, and New Coke.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Fitzgerald had interviewed Italian authorities in Rome about the break-in at the Nigerian Embassy there. If you will remember, it has been suggested that the letterhead and seals that were stolen were used to produce the forgeries."

Based on what we've seen so far, the White House wouldn't have the capability of doing that, but the CIA would.

[Courdeleon02]

This article is very interesting. I think it is very plausible.

[txhurl]

bttt

[pgkdan]

“It seems to me somewhat strange, in terms of CIA tradecraft, that if you were really attempting to protect the identity of a covert officer, why would you send her husband overseas on a mission, without a confidentiality agreement, and then allow him when he came back to the United States to write an op-ed piece in the New York Times about it.”

You're exactly right...that is the money quote of the piece. That little fact has been bugging me for 2 years. How covert could she have been if the CIA was willing to let him play such an overt role in this whole affair. It's not like they were a couple of shrinking violets who hid from the public. This whole thing stinks.

[ravingnutter]

Per Novak:

The Justice Department investigation was not requested by CIA Director George Tenet. Any leak of classified information is routinely passed by the Agency to Justice, averaging one a week. This investigative request was made in July shortly after the column was published.

Town Hall

[Logical me]

If the Republicans would institute Grand Jury investigation on some of the totally illegal activities on the Democrats, this sh@@ would rapidly come to a halt.

[hummingbird]

Maybe its time to start looking for double agents.

Yes! Its time to play "whack-a-mole!"

[Loyal Buckeye]

The "Whitehouse" was very concerned about leaks at the time Fitzgerald was appointed.

I recall that they mentioned that a number of things needed to be investigated (i.e., leaks) in addition to the Flame/Plame matter.