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Neither Criminal Nor Unethical (Great Rebuttal to Plame Outting Being Illegal--It Wasn't)
The Wall Street Journal ^ | 11/04/05 | David Rivkin and Lee Casey

Posted on 11/04/2005 10:28:25 AM PST by MikeA

Ms. Plame's identification as a CIA employee was not a crime because she was not a covert agent -- a readily ascertainable fact that should have concluded Special Counsel Fitzgerald's investigation almost as soon as it got underway.

The law at issue here is the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA), which makes it a federal crime, in certain circumstances, to reveal the identity of a covert agent.

The law was not designed to shield the CIA or its employees from all public scrutiny or criticism, since it criminalizes only those disclosures which "clearly represent a conscious and pernicious effort to identify and expose agents with the intent to impair or impede the foreign intelligence activities of the United States."

Congress did not, as a result, forbid the identification of anyone serving in a "classified" status. Genuinely covert agents alone were to be protected -- "only those identities which it has determined to be absolutely necessary to protect for reasons of imminent danger to life or significant interference with vital intelligence activities." Thus, under the act, criminal sanctions can be imposed only if the identity revealed is (1) of someone whose status is classified and who is serving, or has served within five years, outside the U.S.; and (2) where the alleged leaker knows that the U.S. is "taking affirmative measures to conceal such covert agent's intelligence relationship to the United States."

Ms. Plame simply did not meet the IIPA's demanding test. She was not undercover overseas, and had not evidently been posted abroad since at least 1997. She was living under her own name and working a desk job at headquarters. To the extent that her job status was "not common knowledge outside the intelligence community" as asserted by Mr. Fitzgerald, this is irrelevant.

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: cialeak; fitzgerald; joewilson; libbyindictment; plame; plamegate
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To: hauerf

http://www.bugmenot.com


21 posted on 11/04/2005 5:57:57 PM PST by Purrcival (Purrcival Predicts: Scooter will skate)
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To: hauerf

Meant to add that bugmenot.com lets you plug in a url and get a user name and password without having to register.


22 posted on 11/04/2005 5:59:58 PM PST by Purrcival (Purrcival Predicts: Scooter will skate)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Personally I think Libby remembers it just the way he testified. I can think of no reason at all that an intelligent person, a lawyer no less would tell a lie to a grand jury that is so easily proven to be false.
While many think lying in this case is proof that he is covering up something big, I think it is proof that he truly believes what he gave in testimony.


23 posted on 11/04/2005 6:08:31 PM PST by HawaiianGecko (Facts are neither debatable nor open to "I have a right to this opinion" nonsense.)
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Comment #24 Removed by Moderator

To: MikeA

Unlike Messrs. Rivkin and Casey , I'm not a lawyer.I'm an electrician. But after a couple of hours researching this topic, I could have told you the same thing about the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Patrick Fits Gerald and the MSM share a common self-imposed ignorance when it comes to investigating.


25 posted on 11/04/2005 7:13:33 PM PST by RWE
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To: FrankNfood; Darksheare; KoRn

What was your point?


26 posted on 11/04/2005 8:13:43 PM PST by NonLinear (He's dead, Jim)
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To: NonLinear; FrankNfood; KoRn

From their bio page:

"A Farmer.
A Libertarian.
Sowing real Conservative seeds.
Round-up ready Republicans will be exposed."




They have only two posts.
Signup was last year.
Something ain't right here.


27 posted on 11/04/2005 8:16:22 PM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: FrankNfood

Ah... so you are a troll.
Interesting.


29 posted on 11/04/2005 8:42:18 PM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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To: NonLinear; KoRn

Check out franknfoods post 28..
Their entire three post so far history says they are a troll.


30 posted on 11/04/2005 8:46:09 PM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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To: Darksheare

Curious.


31 posted on 11/04/2005 8:47:02 PM PST by Not A Snowbird (Official RKBA Landscaper and Arborist, Duchess of Green Leafy Things)
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To: SandyInSeattle

Fascinating, isn't it.


32 posted on 11/04/2005 8:47:39 PM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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To: FrankNfood; Darksheare; KoRn; darkwing104; TheMadLurker; timpad; TBarnett34; MeekOneGOP; ...

(FrankNfood - a Trojan Horse)

Do you like cheese?


33 posted on 11/04/2005 8:51:12 PM PST by NonLinear (He's dead, Jim)
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To: FrankNfood; NonLinear

They seem more of a moose type.


34 posted on 11/04/2005 8:52:15 PM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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To: FrankNfood

You have drawn attention.
Does that mean you will come back in two hours to say something in return, or will you try to slip away?


35 posted on 11/04/2005 9:03:10 PM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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Comment #36 Removed by Moderator

To: FrankNfood; Darkshear

You have been outed!

37 posted on 11/05/2005 5:31:14 AM PST by KoRn
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To: FrankNfood
Why does the President disagree with the allegations of this thread that this investigation has no merit?

It's called "playing the game" otherwise known as politics.

38 posted on 11/05/2005 5:36:02 AM PST by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
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To: MikeA

Irrevocable damage my off-side horse's patoot! I probably represent a very small percentage of the country who had ever heard of Joe Wilson before the infamous "16 words" in the State of the Union. This unknown (Ambassador to Gabon, for Pete's sake. What percent of the world's population not born there could find Gabon on an unmarked map?) has probably been cadging free drinks and "A" list invites ever since the story broke. This is the best thing that ever happened to this on the downslope power couple. Check local listings for a book signing near you.

By the way, you wouldn't know it, and this is partly Bush's fault for not barking back at them, but Jack Straw, the lowly foreign minister of the UK still stands by his assessment that the attempted "yellowcake" deal was real. The Nobel Peace Prize winning IAEA reported in its journal that Saddam had tried, but not succeded, to make such a deal in, I believe '94.

Joe Wilson took our money for a report we still have not seen verbatim, but if it said close to what his interview with the press said, he lied about nearly everything except the fact he does speak passable French.


39 posted on 11/05/2005 5:53:37 AM PST by barkeep
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To: FrankNfood

Wow, you did take two hours to respond, just as I'd pegged.


40 posted on 11/05/2005 6:06:35 AM PST by Darksheare (I'm not suspicious & I hope it's nutritious but I think this sandwich is made of mime.)
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