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
Ok, here's a what if. What if Bob Woodward and unknown source were really trying to put the investigation off of Libby for a different reason?
First we can figure that if Libby does go to trial that his lawyers will fight light crap to be able to call Plame and Wilson to the stand. If those two have to testify under oath that could make who ever else was involved in their little dirty deal vulnerable (kerry, kennedy, others in the kerry campaign?) should their name pop out in the testimony.
What if Bob Woodward and unknown source aren't really out to help the truth of the Plame outing come out but to hide the truth of who was behind Wilson and Plame?
Just wondering....
So is Linsey Graham.
I thought this all started when a reporter was going to hype Wilson's public position and Rove told him to be careful how far he went out on the limb because Wilson might not be what the reporter thought. It seems it started because Rove didn't want a reporter to make a fool of himself and then it all went to hell with the "punishment" crap.
But what do I know?
It's Colin Powell. If Powell stopped short Woodward would pop out his throat.
An early dismissal would be the proper end to this travesty, though.
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Dave Dinkens?
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Better let me hold it.
If Woodward uncovers the collusion between Plame, Wilson, and other CIA fellow travelers to damage Bush in time for the Kerry candidacy, he will be the most famous reporter ever.
Wilson is STILL denying "his wife had anything to do with his mission" --
Transcript, Larry King Live, Nov. 1 2005:KING: Did your wife have anything to do with your making that trip?
WILSON: She did not and, in fact...two reporters, Newt Royce and Tim Phelps of "Newsday" actually called the CIA and the CIA said to them she had nothing to do with her husband's trip.
That is a breathtakingly brazen lie.
Whatever Royce or Phelps may have reported (Phelps is one of the Leftist journalists who "broke" the Anita Hill story), there is incontrovertible PROOF that Valerie Plame had everything to do with sending Wilson to Niger in the 2004 Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Report on the U.S. Intelligence Committee's Pre-War Intelligence assessments on Iraq, starting on page 39...
...interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that [Wilson's] wife, a CPD [Counter Proliferation Division] employee, suggested his name for the trip....[Wilson's] wife told Committee staff that..she approached her husband on behalf of the CIA and told him "there's this crazy report" on a purported deal for Niger to see uranium to Iraq..."
....On February 19, 2002, CPD hosted a meeting with the former ambassador...an INR analyst's notes indicate that the meeting was "apparently convened by [Wilson's] wife who had the idea to dispatch [him] to use his contacts to sort out the Iraq-Niger issue."
Larry King did not challenge Wilson, even though proof of that lie has been publicly available for sixteen months.
But the man has a family, so in all fairness, were he to accept a dismissal, I could understand.
In late October, Woodward said, he "learned another piece of this puzzle," which prompted him to go into "incredibly aggressive reporting mode." He said he called the source and asked about their earlier conversation involving Plame, the wife of White House critic and former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101378.html
Well shiite Dan, looks like it's back to the ole Selectric.
Fitz don't know it yet, but there's a herd of Viking Kitties on the top of the ramparts to push the career ladder back from the wall, at the base of the ladder setting it on fire, in the kitchen boiling the oil, in the shop cutting a lenght of rail and in the barnyard rounding up a source of chicken feathers.
Okay, but why would Woodward have any questions for Libby regarding Joe Wilson on June 23rd and 27th? At that point, supposedly nobody knew who this ambassador was...and it wasn't until early to mid July that his identity became known...officially at least.
It's Karl Rove, not Carl.
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