Posted on 08/29/2006 7:13:53 AM PDT by bobsunshine
A new book by Michael Isikoff, an investigative reporter for Newsweek, and David Corn, who writes for the far left wing magazine The Nation, casts many powerful people in Washington in an unflattering light -- but not the people who Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn wish to besmirch.
A brief review for those of you who have lives, and who consequently haven't been following closely the details of the Plame Name Game: In his 2003 State of the Union address, President Bush said: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."
First in leaks to reporters, and then in his own op-ed in the New York Times, a retired diplomat, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, said the president was lying. His claim to speak with authority was that in the spring of 2002, the CIA had sent him to Niger to see if Saddam had tried to buy uranium there.
Mr. Wilson's charge was important because it marked the beginning of the "Bush lied" meme about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But investigations by the Senate Intelligence Committee; the Robb-Silberman Commission on prewar intelligence, and the British Butler Commission all concluded it was Mr. Wilson who was not telling the truth. Saddam had indeed tried to buy uranium in Africa, as even Mr. Wilson himself had acknowledged to the CIA officers who debriefed him after his Niger trip.
One of the false claims Mr. Wilson made was that he had been sent to Niger at the request of Vice President Dick Cheney. In his July 14, 2003 column, Robert Novak disclosed that he had been sent instead at the insistence of his wife, Valerie Plame, who worked at the CIA.
Ms. Plame had once been an undercover operative. Concern was expressed that the leaker had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Mr. Wilson blamed the leak on White House political guru Karl Rove, claiming it was payback for his "whistle-blowing." A special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed to investigate the charge. Mr. Fitzgerald eventually indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, then the chief of staff to the vice president, on a charge of having lied to a grand jury about from whom he had learned of Ms. Plame's occupation. He is awaiting trial.
No indictments have been brought on the charge Mr. Fitzgerald was appointed to investigate, because it is clear there was no violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The act applies only to those who are operating under cover overseas, or who have done so within five years of the disclosure of their identities. Ms. Plame had been manning a desk at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. for longer than that.
Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn disclose that it was then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who disclosed Ms. Plame's identity to Bob Novak, which is not exactly news to those who have been following the case. But Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn provide details which reflect poorly on Mr. Armitage, Mr. Fitzgerald, and the journalists who knew the truth at the time.
Mr. Armitage disclosed to his boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell, and to Justice Department officials his role in the case in October, 2003, after a second Novak column, Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn say.
For more than three years, Mr. Rove and Mr. Libby have been accused, falsely, of being the source of the leak. Mr. Armitage, Mr. Powell, and Justice department officials knew the truth, but said nothing. Clarice Feldman, a Washington, D.C. lawyer, described Mr. Armitage's silence as "inexplicable and perfidious."
"Had he spoken out publicly immediately, could there have been a reason for the press to have demanded the appointment of the feckless special prosecutor?" she asked.
Mr. Fitzgerald knew in his first few days on the job that Mr. Armitage was the leaker; that the leak was inadvertent, and that the Intelligence Identities Act hadn't been violated. Yet he has persisted in a sham prosecution.
Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn write that: "the Plame leak in Novak's column has long been cited by Bush administration critics as a deliberate act of payback, orchestrated to punish and/or discredit Joe Wilson after he charged that the Bush administration had misled the American public about prewar intelligence."
They add, lamely, that: "The Armitage news does not fit neatly into that framework."
They don't mention that Mr. Isikoff and (especially) Mr. Corn have been among the journalists flogging this meme, and the time that it takes to research and write a book indicates they've known for quite some time that it isn't true. They're only willing to tell the truth, now, for money.
I view DU'ers as 'kids'... or with the mentality of such. Kos members I see as adolescent-adults... socialist-boomers, anarchists, communists... the perennial misfits in society.
I think Rove implied that by saying the person who told him was not political.
I want to know why DRUDGE isn't bothering to cover this on his website. I didn't hear his Sunday radio program. Did he even mention this Sunday nite?
I remember Novak stating that it wasn't someone who worked in the Whitehouse, or directly for the Administration, or such but think how much better it would have been if he at least had said..... "It's NOT Rove!"
Face it, Rove was THEE leftist/DBM target. They used the possibility of it being Rove for three years to biotch-slap the Bush administration. Rove was THEE Fitzmas present.
Rush Limbaugh is talking about this now. The DBM, Fitzpatrick, Armitage, and Powell all knew it wasn't Rove, but kept pouring it on to get Bush.
I am the keeper of the Sunday Morning talk show thread. Believe me, the "Rove outed Plame" story was covered extensively on these shows for years, and made more Sunday appearances than Joe Biden & John McCain. Novak himself was often a guest on Russert's MTP. He never once just said, "It isn't Rove." That would have shut the lot of them up, but Novak chose to milk it, and let Rove twist in the wind, for a long, long time.
Shameful.
No more than the MSM/DNC did. This was not much different than the RATher/Mapes/Lockhart/Kerry scam with the forged, Bush National Guard memo's.
It's long past MSM bias... now they're making the sh*t up!
I expect Libby's lawyers to go before the judge and request for dismissal.
LOL you should see the posts. Here are just a few just in case they pull it.
bluestateguy (1000+ posts)
1. A hack writes about a hack I'll read this article in the next 24 business hours.
23. It would seem that the OP is the one who started the Leopold thread especially since he put his name in the Subject Line
grytpype (1000+ posts) Tue Aug-29-06 01:14 PM Response to Original message 2. GO AWAY JASON! Why are you still here?
3. kpete, you are the best at posting interesting articles. But please stop posting stuff by Leopold. It's an insult to the DU community which was taken for a real ride by this guy. If people want to read his trash, they can go to truthout.
6. here here. kpete is Awesome, but Leopold is a disgrace. I can't read anything from truthout or it's people without cringing. They are just this side of being dishonest with all that Rove May 12th stuff and I'm not just going to let it fade away like it is hoped. I'm just sick of pretending some things didn't happen or somthings weren't said or somethings never get the proper apologizes for.
4. BREAKING: Still no indictment... nt
16. You bet, kpete. Let's have no standards for posting! Truth as a standard? Why no, that's censorship! DU currently bans Wayne Madsen articles because they guy is a nut. I learned this when I was gullible enough to post one of his pieces and DUers explained to me why the moderator deleted the post.
Why can't we apply the same standard to Leopold?
Isn't truth the most important standard of all?
27. Breaking news........... Rove still not indicted and........... Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead update at 11
31. Scoop of the century: Man Lands On Mars!
I was on top of this story YEARS before anyone else.
I patiently await my Pulitzer Prize. It should be awarded to me in 24 business hours!
Fitzgerald seems immune to any consequences for his prosecutorial misconduct. I have a feeling he'll be rewarded with an important appointment by the next 'Rat President...and the Republicans won't try to block it.
Novak seeks employment from the media, which supplies us with the the motive to why he did not come forward for a long time.
WORD to each and everything you said! Excellent and---from your lips to God's ears!
His name was introduced yesterday by Brit Hume as: "Fox Contributor, David Corn".
Any first year law student could have figured out in one hour that there was no violation of the Intelligence act.
Fitzie should be sued for malfeasance and forced to return the millionshe wasted.
Page 4A? Wow, pretty good for the Balmore Sun. I would think they would have put this info back in the garage sale section.
Excellent point that both newsweek and the nation knew for months, maybe years, that this whole plame fiasco was totally overblown and had absoloutely nothing to do with Bush, Rove, or even Libby. Yet they continued to lie.
I never went to law sckooool, and I figured it out in less than 10 minutes.
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