Plame Out - The ridiculous end to the scandal that distracted Washington.

www.slate.com ^ | Aug. 29, 2006 | Christopher Hitchens

[neverdem]

fighting words
Plame Out
The ridiculous end to the scandal that distracted Washington.
By Christopher Hitchens
Posted Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2006, at 1:02 PM ET

I had a feeling that I might slightly regret the title ("Case Closed") of my July 25 column on the Niger uranium story. I have now presented thousands of words of evidence and argument to the effect that, yes, the Saddam Hussein regime did send an important Iraqi nuclear diplomat to Niger in early 1999. And I have not so far received any rebuttal from any source on this crucial point of contention. But there was always another layer to the Joseph Wilson fantasy. Easy enough as it was to prove that he had completely missed the West African evidence that was staring him in the face, there remained the charge that his nonreport on a real threat had led to a government-sponsored vendetta against him and his wife, Valerie Plame.

In his July 12 column in the Washington Post, Robert Novak had already partly exposed this paranoid myth by stating plainly that nobody had leaked anything, or outed anyone, to him. On the contrary, it was he who approached sources within the administration and the CIA and not the other way around. But now we have the final word on who did disclose the name and occupation of Valerie Plame, and it turns out to be someone whose opposition to the Bush policy in Iraq has—like Robert Novak's—long been a byword in Washington.

[Armigerous]

...ping me if you find anything on that....tnx

[billhilly]

My God. From that picture I'd say she was from the Calvery.

[AmeriBrit]

I think the Aldrich Ames 'outing' was in 1995.

The 1991 one I was referring to is one I wanted to confirm before posting it.

I'll find it and PM it to you in a few minutes.

[alrea]

dead silence from the Drive-By media

DEAD silence from the propaganda wing on the Democratic Party.

[pollyannaish]

Oops. Meant Hitch. Hutch would be a friend of ours. Doh. And fwiw, I think for the most part he is still a flaming liberal...he just actually takes Islamofacism seriously...which is exceptionally rare these days.

[FormerACLUmember]

dead silence from the Drive-By media
DEAD silence from the propaganda wing on the Democratic Party


Amen!

[billhilly]

"I think for the most part he is still a flaming liberal...he just actually takes Islamofacism seriously...which is exceptionally rare these days."

I can accept that and wish others could do so as well. On that subject, there is a very instructive article by J. C. Watts posted here a couple of hours ago.

I'll look for it and provide a link.

[alrea]

Gotta read this one

several times

[billhilly]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1692102/posts

[Roscoe Karns]

Yes it has.

Not much MSM coverage here. (Unless you count Rush Limbaugh and National Review as MSM):

Armitage+Plame

[wouldntbprudent]

It is particularly satisfying that this admission comes from two of the journalists—Michael Isikoff and David Corn—who did the most to get the story wrong in the first place and the most to keep it going long beyond the span of its natural life.

Okay, now that we're done with the "satisfying," let's see these two incompetents strung up.

[Lx]

Great read but I'll never understand the schizophrenia like personality of Hitchens. He blows hot and cold angry and humorous, pretty weird but a very good read. I wonder what Wilson and wife think- Sue Him!!!!!

[pollyannaish]

Thanks for the great link.

Watts happens to be a hero of mine and is completely and utterly right on this issue. We MUST resist the temptation to follow the fringes of our parties off the edge of the cliff. We are all fellow Americans and we need each other.

Sometimes around here I get flamed for believing that. Yet I still do. I'm stubborn.

[wildcatf4f3]

gimme da evidence that wilson was brokering yellow cake

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

And dead silence from Republican leadership, who should be forcing this story into the foreground and bashing the Dhimmis over the head with it.

[ThomasPaine2000]

What did Winston Churchill say about "young liberals" and "old conservatives"??? I think it applies to Hitch...

[pollyannaish]

I'm curious, has this episode changed your perceptions of your side of the aisle's and the medias motives at all?

[randog]

I guess Judith Miller, the NYT reporter that did time rather than reveal her sources, can finally write that tell-all book. I'd especially like to read about how she was pressured by NYT mucky-mucks to falsely accuse Rove, Cheney, Bush, whoever for "outing Plame".

[Robert A Cook PE]

Hmmmmn!

"No direct sales" was what he (Wilson) reported?

...

Waiting for Clintonesque "depends on what "direct sales" means...

..

more important, how can you verify Wilson's OWN company was previously involved in Uranium sales from Niger?

[billhilly]

"Sometimes around here I get flamed for believing that. Yet I still do. I'm stubborn."

Good for you. I happen to believe, as you seem to, that respect for our fellow man does not require that we agree all the time. It makes me happy when someone shares the same principles, but is not a requirement for their existance on this planet.