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.
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Jim Kouri, CPP is currently fifth vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police.
© Copyright by NationalLedger.com
IMO, this is just another case of throwing enough mud around so that some of it is bound to stick. Libby got caught up in an investigation that should never have been run. He cooperated all the way through. Bush didn't claim Executive Privelege. Everyone played it straight and this is what Fitzgerald thinks is a major bust.
Fitzgerald, serously dude, this is not Capone and company or even Clinton and company. Even honest people can get fowled up. After all the millions you've spent, you may get a guy for forgetting years old conversations. That plaque should look great on your wall, if you haven't any common decency at all.
So the "peoples right to know" trumps all other considerations except in the case where it interferes with a reporters book deal.
Not really, Woodward also said that he told Fitzgerald he may have mentioned Plame working for the CIA when he talked with Libby. That means that Libby stating he learned of Plame from "journalists" could be accurate.
Remember, this investigation has been going on for quite some time and Woody didn't testify until last week. Sure he told the truth now, but where was he years ago? He let the media skewer Libby and Bush's aide (drawing a total blank at the moment) for months without so much as a whisper in their defense.
He may have even showed up on talk shows discussing the subject as it relates to the inconsequential infractions of the Clinton White House.
Carl Rove...
Geez, brain fart!
Right and he said last night he had gotten clearances "from the start" from his sources. so there was no reason whatsoever for him to hide in the shadows.
Exactly. IMO he's toast.
txrangerette said: "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."
Cheney wasn't the first one Libby heard this from. If the information was "out there" Libby conceivably could have been simply trying to confirm a media rumor using official sources. But if this were the explanation, one would think he would have told Fitzgerald that. The most puzzling thing is his claiming to have heard the rumor specifically from Russert, which Russert denies. So either Russert flat-out lied (which would not have been smart, since for all he knew, there was some sort of WH taping system that recorded his conversation) or Libby lied (equally unsmart, leaving the question of why a lawyer as smart as Libby would do this) or Libby was mistaken and heard it from some other MSM reporter. I presume that a good lawyer could considerably muddy the water by reminding the jury of the latter possibility. Of course, in DC, even this line of defense might not raise sufficient "reasonable doubts."
With Libby being Indicted for saying he learned of Plame from journalists this is indeed good news.
I would imagine Wells will push for a dismissal or a speedy trial.
Now there you go applying logic again ;-)
He didn't have any idea who said what to the grand jury did he ? But facts never get in the way of a good news story or so I've noticed.
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