Cheney Told Aide of C.I.A. Officer, Notes Show

NY Times ^ | 10/24/05 | DAVID JOHNSTON, RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL

[nj26]

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said.

The notes, taken by Mr. Libby during the conversation, for the first time place Mr. Cheney in the middle of an effort by the White House to learn about Ms. Wilson’s husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV, who was questioning the administration’s handling of intelligence about Iraq’s nuclear program to justify the war.

Lawyers said the notes show that Mr. Cheney knew that Ms. Wilson worked at the C.I.A. more than a month before her identity was made public and her undercover status was disclosed in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak on July 14, 2003.

[oceanview]

if its decided on the facts and the law, I agree. but if its "Ronnie Earle comes to Washington", forget it.

[kpp_kpp]

there is not enough evidence to convict anyone of anything, and probably not enough to indict anyone (although he may try).

so the only mileage the left is going to get out of this is what they can make of it now, and 'leaking' is a great way to go about it -- because in the end it is a dead end.

[rcrngroup]

She was a covert CIA operative with unofficial cover.

You're nuts!

It had been over 5 years since she had been overseas! She was no longer a covert operative!! Her husband Joe Wilson "outed" his own wife in his NYT article when he lied and claimed that Cheney had sent him on the mission to Niger. Instead his own dingbat wife along with complicit CIA officials authorized Joe Wilson's phantom fact finding mission to Niger. Get your facts straight!

[okie01]

She put her life on the line for her country, to work on issues of weapons of mass destruction, and her government repaid her by outing her for purely political reasons.

That may be. But how do you explain her recommending her husband for the Niger mission and then acceding to his lies about a.) what he found there and b.) who had sent him?

Once Wilson claimed that he had been sent by the Vice President, it was perfectly natural for not only Cheney but the media to ask who it was that had really sent him. And it was absolutely inevitable that Plame's role would be found out.

In effect, she blew her own cover. That is most assuredly not the action of a responsible NOC.

[gov_bean_ counter]

Speaking of Wilson lying .. O'Reilly had a liberal babe on tonight and she denied that Wilson lied. So the liberals are covering for Wilson, by denying he lied.

This is just more of the "fantasy" the libs have built. They're going to be franctured when it all falls down.

If this has become a slam dunk against Rove, Libby, etal, why would the Libs feel compelled to go on camera and try to defend Wilson's honor?

[mosquitobite]

Even better! He doesn't even use an original name to try to hide his agenda!
http://www.algore.org/forum/index.php?topic=2762.new

[amutr22]

"The DUers must be positively nerve-wracked."

"Like some of US aren't?"

It's actually becoming surreal.

[Rokurota]

Of course, you do mean that's what THEY think, right?

If by THEY you mean the feeble minded MSM...then yes.

[Jrabbit]

Has Novak ever said where he got his info? Did he testify at the GJ?

[kcvl]

Monday, Aug. 1, 2005 11:30 a.m. EDT

Bob Novak: CIA Spokesman Dead Wrong

Columnist Robert Novak has broken his long silence about the Valerie Plame affair by lashing out at a former spokesman for the CIA he says deliberately distorted the details of a conversation the two men had before Novak wrote the column outing the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson as a CIA operative.

Despite his lawyers' urging to remain silent, Novak, who notes that he has "written almost nothing about the CIA leak," wrote today that the allegation lodged against him by the former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow "is so patently incorrect and so abuses my integrity as a journalist that I feel constrained to reply."


snip


"In the course of a front-page story in last Wednesday's Washington Post, Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei quoted ex-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow describing his testimony to the grand jury," Novak wrote.

"In response to my question about Valerie Plame Wilson's role in former Ambassador Wilson's trip to Niger, Harlow told me she 'had not authorized the mission.' Harlow was quoted as later saying to me 'the story Novak had related to him was wrong.'

"This gave the impression I ignored an official's statement that I had the facts wrong but wrote it anyway for the sake of publishing the story. That would be inexcusable for any journalist and particularly a veteran of 48 years in Washington. The truth is otherwise, and that is why I feel compelled to write this column."

Novak went on to recall that in his July 14, 2003 column he had asked why the CIA had sent vehement Bush critic Joseph Wilson to probe an Italian intelligence report of Saddam Hussein's attempt to buy uranium yellow cake from Niger.

Wrote Novak, "All the subsequent furor was caused by three sentences in the sixth paragraph:

"'Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA (Harlow) says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.'"

Noting that there never was any question of him talking about Mrs. Wilson "authorizing," Joseph Wilson's African jaunt, he reports that he was told that she "suggested" the mission, which is what he had asked Harlow.

"His denial was contradicted in July 2004 by a unanimous Senate Intelligence Committee report. The report said Wilson's wife 'suggested his name for the trip.' It cited an internal CIA memo from her saying 'my husband has good relations' with officials in Niger and 'lots of French contacts,' adding they 'could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.' A State Department analyst told the committee that Mrs. Wilson 'had the idea' of sending Wilson to Africa."

Novak asked what Harlow had found wrong with his column and was answered "there was nothing incorrect. He told the Post reporters he had 'warned me that if I 'did write about it, her name should not be revealed.' That is meaningless. Once it was determined that Wilson's wife suggested the mission, she could be identified as 'Valerie Plame' by reading her husband's entry in 'Who's Who in America.'"

Harlow, Novak reported, told the Post that he did not tell the columnist that "Mrs. Wilson" was undercover because that was classified. "What he did say was, as I reported in a previous column, 'she probably never again would be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause 'difficulties.' According to CIA sources, she was brought home from foreign assignments in 1997, when Agency officials feared she had been 'outed' by the traitor Aldrich Ames."

Novak wrote that he would never have written those sentences had Harlow or ex-CIA Director George Tenet or anybody else from the Agency told him that Valerie Plame Wilson's disclosure would endanger herself or anybody else.

"The recent first disclosure of secret grand jury testimony set off a news media feeding frenzy centered on this obscure case," Novak recalled, adding, "Joseph Wilson was discarded a year ago by the Kerry presidential campaign after the Senate committee reported much of what he said 'had no basis in fact.'

"The re-emerged Wilson is now accusing the senators of 'smearing' him. I eagerly await the end of this investigation when I may be able to correct other misinformation about me and the case," Novak concluded.

[prairiebreeze]

I don't believe Cheney actually testified under oath. I believe he and the President have had conversations with Fitzgerald on the matter earlier on.

Anybody??

[Texas Songwriter]

If this account is true, it means that Tenent told Cheney before Libby learned of it and before Wilson piqued the curiosity of the White House by publishing the WJ oped piece. So why would Tenent know about this unless he was part of the 'sending' of Wilson? It would seem that the highest level at CIA either sent Wilson, or at least was reported to Tenent.

This had to predate Bush's speech with the infamous '17 words'. So why did Tenent give Bush the 'green light' to give the speech. He is said to have veted the speech, and found no problems with it. So why then, go to Cheney and bring that issue up. This was not a contentious issue at that time.

So was Tenent in on an a coupe attempt on the administration?

[houeto]

I even clicked on the thread to try and make myself care. But....nothing.

You know what, I'm starting to think that my 'give a damn' is busted too.

[petercooper]

Yes, why was Joe Wilson sent to Niger?

[CyberAnt]

"If this has become a slam dunk against Rove, Libby, etal, why would the Libs feel compelled to go on camera and try to defend Wilson's honor?"


I thought about that too. It's been established that Wilson lied about several things and I could understand why she would deny that fact.

[ConservativeGreek]

Any thing less than an indictment against Rove and the lefties will go crazy.

Pray for NO BILL when Rove is charged! I want to see and hear the lunacy.

[Rokurota]

"The re-emerged Wilson is now accusing the senators of 'smearing' him. I eagerly await the end of this investigation when I may be able to correct other misinformation about me and the case," Novak concluded.

Why wait? Everyone is speculating...seems we need some real facts at this point.

[Liberty Valance]

LOL! You're not alone. ;o)

[MJY1288]

IF DEFENDING YOURSELF FROM A DOCUMENTED LIAR LIKE JOE WILSON, OR A ROGUE OPERATIVE IN THE CIA, LIKE VALERIE PLAME, IS A CRIME. WE ARE IN BAD SHAPE

[Perdogg]

But the notes, now in Mr. Fitzgerald’s possession, also indicate that Mr. Libby first heard about Ms. Wilson — who is also known by her maiden name, Valerie Plame — from Mr. Cheney. That apparent discrepancy in his testimony suggests why prosecutors are weighing false statement charges against him in what they interpret as an effort by Mr. Libby to protect Mr. Cheney from scrutiny, the lawyers said.

The notes do not show that Mr. Cheney knew the name of Mr. Wilson’s wife.

Libby told the truth eventhough his testimony might have been incorrect. If Cheney did not know her name, how would Libby? This is the dumbest story ever written, It says nothing.