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End of an Affair [Plame]
Washington Post ^ | September 1, 2006

Posted on 08/31/2006 10:08:00 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative

Edited on 09/01/2006 5:56:51 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]

WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame because of our oft-stated belief that far too much attention and debate in Washington has been devoted to her story and that of her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, over the past three years. But all those who have opined on this affair ought to take note of the not-so-surprising disclosure that the primary source of the newspaper column in which Ms. Plame's cover as an agent was purportedly blown in 2003 was former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage.

Mr. Armitage was one of the Bush administration officials who supported the invasion of Iraq only reluctantly. He was a political rival of the White House and Pentagon officials who championed the war and whom Mr. Wilson accused of twisting intelligence about Iraq and then plotting to destroy him. Unaware that Ms. Plame's identity was classified information, Mr. Armitage reportedly passed it along to columnist Robert D. Novak "in an offhand manner, virtually as gossip," according to a story this week by the Post's R. Jeffrey

Smith, who quoted a former colleague of Mr. Armitage.

It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue......

Nevertheless, it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: armitage; bullzogby; bush; bushhassers; bushlied; cia; cialeak; getbush; getrove; gotcaught; iraq; knewitallalong; lyingliars; makingitup; mediabias; misterplame; movealong; muchadoaboutnothing; nigerflap; nothingtoseehere; plame; plamebroiled; plamegate; plamenamegame; pravdaus; propaganda; retraction; smearcampaign; tempestinateapot; waronerror; washingtonpost; wilson; wilsondone; yellowjournalism
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Comment #1 Removed by Moderator

To: West Coast Conservative

Me either


2 posted on 08/31/2006 10:10:11 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: West Coast Conservative

MSM: "Never mind."

3 posted on 08/31/2006 10:12:15 PM PDT by Sloth ('It Takes A Village' is problematic when you're raising your child in Sodom.)
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To: West Coast Conservative; Liz; Grampa Dave; weegee; abb; an amused spectator
WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame because of our oft-stated belief that far too much attention and debate in Washington has been devoted to her story and that of her husband

News to me.

What's more probable is that the WaPo can no longer deny the obvious.

4 posted on 08/31/2006 10:14:54 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Sloth

See ! I knew it was all that evil Karl Rove's fault !


5 posted on 08/31/2006 10:15:13 PM PDT by Wil H
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To: West Coast Conservative

Wait, the WaPo just admitted that the whole thing was a lie made up by Joe Wilson? Will they apologize to the president for this?


6 posted on 08/31/2006 10:15:46 PM PDT by boop (Now Greg, you know I don't like that WORD!)
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To: West Coast Conservative

I see they still have to get their parting shots in at Cheney and Libby, though it's nice to see Wilson finally baring the brunt of it. What goes around comes around. Wonder if Libby has any legal moves he can make on this now.


7 posted on 08/31/2006 10:16:13 PM PDT by headstamp (Nothing lasts forever, Unless it does.)
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To: West Coast Conservative
I think the democrat leadership has a credibility issue here.
8 posted on 08/31/2006 10:16:24 PM PDT by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans. We Vote.)
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To: West Coast Conservative

> Can't believe the Washington Post wrote that.

They are signalling the rest of the Resident Enemy Press
to drop this entire story down the memory hole, like it
never even happened.


9 posted on 08/31/2006 10:17:11 PM PDT by Boundless (Imagine if Fox actually had a news channel)
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To: West Coast Conservative
Unaware that Ms. Plame's identity was classified information, Mr. Armitage reportedly passed it along

She was not an undercover CIA agent in the field, or on the CIA's NOC list at the time of public disclosure.

10 posted on 08/31/2006 10:17:34 PM PDT by demlosers
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To: West Coast Conservative

I don't want to see ONE MORE FREEPER write that the MSM are dinosaurs.

It is a false claim.

Just look at what they have done to this President.

One big smear after another, this President is no longer even human to the public worldwide.

Bastards, they should be dead, why do we let them get away with destroying our troops too???????????????????????

They WILL NEVER return with honor they deserve.


11 posted on 08/31/2006 10:17:37 PM PDT by roses of sharon
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To: West Coast Conservative
Would have been nice if the Post ended its editorial with: "We regret the role the Post has had in pushing this story and in the damage it has done to Mr. Libby's career and reputation. We urge the special prosecutor to drop all criminal charges against Mr. Libby."

Holding my breath.

12 posted on 08/31/2006 10:17:40 PM PDT by oldbill
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To: West Coast Conservative
WE'RE RELUCTANT to return to the subject of former CIA employee Valerie Plame because of our oft-stated belief that far too much attention and debate in Washington has been devoted to her story and that of her husband,

A more glorious act of journalistic hypocrisy I have yet to witness.

13 posted on 08/31/2006 10:19:28 PM PDT by Carry_Okie (Angelides v. Schwarzenegger is like deciding between ebola and cancer, respectively.)
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To: A Citizen Reporter; AliVeritas; alnick; AmeriBrit; AmericaUnited; arasina; BlessedByLiberty; ...
It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue.

SCOOTER PING -- BIG TIME!!!!

14 posted on 08/31/2006 10:19:38 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: martin_fierro
"WE'RE RELUCTANT"

They weren't "reluctant" when they were pushing this bogus story, back when that FRAUD Joe Wilson was the first to claim George W. Bush purposely exxagerated the Intel reports on Iraq

15 posted on 08/31/2006 10:19:41 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: West Coast Conservative
From the article:

Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife.

He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.

16 posted on 08/31/2006 10:20:15 PM PDT by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans. We Vote.)
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To: West Coast Conservative
BTT. That last paragraph was pure dynamite. Mr. Wilson will now be relegated to the likes of The Village Voice and Vanity Fair and even less reputable rags such as the NY Times. As long as he resides in a comfortably liberal city where reality is very slow to sink in he'll do just fine.
17 posted on 08/31/2006 10:20:18 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: West Coast Conservative

"

It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue. The partisan clamor that followed the raising of that allegation by Mr. Wilson in the summer of 2003 led to the appointment of a special prosecutor, a costly and prolonged investigation, and the indictment of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on charges of perjury. All of that might have been avoided had Mr. Armitage's identity been known three years ago."


Help me out.

I'd like to get the quotes from Democrats making the false allegations against Rove et al.
We need to make Democrats eat a big plate of crow here. They deserve it.


18 posted on 08/31/2006 10:20:19 PM PDT by WOSG (Broken-glass time, Republicans! Save the Congress!)
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To: MJY1288

I had to read it twice to make sure I was reading what I thought I was reading!


19 posted on 08/31/2006 10:20:32 PM PDT by Howlin
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To: martin_fierro
Re: WE'RE RELUCTANT to return

Because Joe Wilson has been busted as a liar. They'll of course want to "move on" now.

20 posted on 08/31/2006 10:21:36 PM PDT by ChadGore (VISUALIZE 62,041,268 Bush fans. We Vote.)
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