Posted on 11/22/2005 3:35:25 PM PST by smoothsailing
CRIME BEAT
Bob Woodward Torpedoes CIA Leak Case
By Jim Kouri
Nov 22, 2005
Legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward on the ratings-challenged Larry King talk show told viewers that the president, vice president and defense secretary were not the people who leaked the fact that Valerie Plame worked for the Central Intelligence Agency.
In addition, he stated that his secret source was male, which eliminates secretary of state Condoleezza Rice and close Bush confidante Karen Hughes as suspects. A two-year investigation into who leaked the identity of CIA analyst Valerie Plame to members of the media has resulted in merely one indictment for perjury and obstruction of justice, charges that are a prosecutors best friend when he or she comes up with nothing.
Plame's now celebrity husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, claims that the Bush White House "blew her cover" in retaliation for his criticisms of the Iraq war. Of course, this is the part of the story the news media jumped on. The part they ignore is that Wilson's allegations about the war were discovered to be a tissue of lies. His report to congress even contradicted his statements on 60 Minutes and his op-ed article in the New York Times.
Woodward, who broke the 1972 Watergate case -- a case that resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon -- refused to publicly disclose his source on the King show.
However, Woodward told Larry King that the information that Wilson's wife worked for the Central Intelligence Agency was disclosed to him in a "casual manner" while he was conducting an interview for his upcoming book Plan of Attack. Woodward's book covered the Bush Administration preparations for the March 2003 Iraq invasion.
Woodward claims the identity of Wilson's wife came up at the end of an interview with a source about a period of time leading up to the war, when he asked about Wilson and his mission to Niger.
According to Woodward, the still-unknown source told him that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA as a weapons of mass destruction analyst. Woodward intimated that he thought nothing of this conversation because as far as he knew Plame was not a covert agent and that he felt the allegations by Wilson were not to be taken seriously.
Plame's name was first revealed in a July 2003 column written by conservative columnist and Washington Insider, Robert Novak, following Wilson's blabbing about his Niger trip to anyone who'd listen. A former US ambassador to the African nation, Wilson at first denied his wife had anything to do with his mission, until a memo surfaced that showed she recommended his for the assignment.
Wilson subsequently wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times accusing the Bush administration of "exaggerating the Iraqi threat" to justify the war. Of course, what he didn't tell the NY Times' readers is that he has a history of being a left-winger and a contributor to the Democrat National Committee. During the John Kerry run for the presidency, Wilson was listed on the Kerry for President website as Kerry's foreign affairs advisor.
Then suddenly Wilson's name, photograph and biography were removed from the website when Wilson's credibility was blown by statements made by congressmen who examined Wilson's verbal report and found it contradicted what he wrote in the NY Times.
Woodward stressed that under US law, it is a crime to knowingly identify a covert intelligence operative by name, but not necessarily to describe his or her family ties. Nor does the law cover CIA analysts -- or janitors, for that matter.
Woodward is now undergoing a media smear campaign. He's shown how trivial the Valerie Plame affair truly is. The fact of the matter is that the Democrats and their stooges in the elite media made this a big case because they wish to hurt the Bush Administration and they're being disingenous when they claim they're concerned over national security and leaking of classified information.
If the Democrats truly were concerned about classified information leaks, they would have shoved a gag in Senator Patrick Leahy's mouth a long time ago.
...............................
Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
© Copyright by NationalLedger.com
Greenhornet,
My bad. I'm stupid, you were too quick for me. I think I'll put the Johnnie Walker Black away for the night.
The first person to make this claim publicly was David Corn, in an article he wrote shortly after Novak's article was published. Wilson and his fellow travellers on the Left pounced on the claim, leading to where we are today.
Fitzgerald will not do the right thing. If he were interested in doing so, he could have wrapped up his investigation about 60 days or less after first starting it two years ago.
If he were interested in doing the right thing by Libby, Fitz would already have dropped the charges. Better yet, he would never have brought them in the first place.
For years, we were told here on FR and elsewhere about how honest and true-blue Fitzgerald is. Blech! The man is just another hack prosecutor who is out to hang somebody just because he can. He's got some career-climbing to do, dontcha know.
As Hitchens put it, "the non-commission of non-crimes and the non-outing of a non-covert CIA bureaucrat."
But you're right, Woodwards testimony is amazing!
BTW, thanks for the info, I've been away from the news for a couple of days.
IMO, Woody hoped to slip in under the radar. He was perfectly happy to let the White House staff twist in the wind, not to mention allow a financial sink-hole of an investigation go foward. That's my take.
You devil.
This is a good one too:
From NewsMax.com:
On Oct. 3, 2003, Mitchell (Andrea Mitchell, Alan Greenspan's spouse) was a guest on CNBC's now-defunct "Capital Report," where she was asked by host Alan Murray:
"Do we have any idea how widely known it was in Washington that Joe Wilson's wife worked for the CIA?"
Mitchell replied: "It was widely known among those of us who cover the intelligence community and who were actively engaged in trying to track down who among the foreign service community was the envoy to Niger. So a number of us began to pick up on that."
http://newsmax.com/scripts/printer_friendly.pl?page=http://newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/11/3/102415.shtml
No crime committed?
Just what 'business' was Joe Wilson going to Niger for?
He owns a company that was doing business with the President of Niger.
They 'broker' sales for nations.
TWICE, Joe was recommended by his wife, and TWICE he went to Niger on 'personal business' with no strings from the CIA and all fees paid.
He reported back there were no sales going on, with no proof and no one to actually report to. Just whomever he chose to say he did in the future.
His company 'brokered' deals between the President of Niger and Saddam.
After each time, Saddam acquired more Uranium Ore.
His wife was in charge of the WMD issue at the CIA.
His Ex-wife worked for the French Government which supported Saddam.
All just coincidence, huh?
What kind of man would put Libby through such personal hell just for a lousy book? A man with no soul, IOW Woodward.
I agree with you about Libby, he's not off the hook. But this has to strengthen his defense and could make him a more sympathetic character to a jury.
June 12, June 23, June 27. These are 3 of many dates in a timeline of the case. FReeper Dave S sent me this in a FReepmail. It showed that Libby learned of Plame being Wilson's wife and working as a CIA analyst from Vice President Cheney, on June 12.
Not until June 23 and 27 did Woodward speak with Libby. The first contact was by phone, the second in person. Mind you, I don't yet buy the Libby indictment. However, your point that Woodward could have been Libby's source therefore the indictment should be dropped is missing the key element that Libby had already heard of this from his boss, Cheney, before he could have heard of it from Woodward.
However, Woodward knew it for some time in advance of all of this. So it does show that this info was "out there" quite early on in the game. In that sense it might show something important - for instance that Libby COULD HAVE heard it from SOME reporter early on - but it does not by itself exonerate Libby from the charge that he lied about from whom he FIRST heard of Plame and Wilson.
Money quote. Too bad Woodward didn't say it...
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