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.
becuse we were sooo wrong, AGAIN. I would have preferred a headline simply saying: We apologize, we were wrong, Joe Wilson was to blame all along.
Methinks that Colin detested Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al and definitely felt himself far superior to President Bush.
Wilson's buffoonery has been exposed for all the world to see. BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
I think you're right about Kerry and the DNC. There is no low they wouldn't stoop to to get what they want. Thank heavens they have failed. It's fun to watch Kerry come out of meetings at the White House, knowing the agony he must feel--what might have been. Again, BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!
Timing is everything in politics. Think how much the dems have invested in this story. It's the heart and soul of their opposition to the war.
"However, I doubt sales will be what they initially expected."
I can't imagine what kind of sales they would expect. About 120,000 copies of Wilson's first book were printed and 65,000 were sold, probably mostly to libraries. The rest ended up in a dead books warehouse. I came across this information accidently is some obscure article last summer. I wonder if the new publisher knows this. It was kind of ironic because at about the same time Wilson was boasting to Russert that his book sales were going great and were going to get better. Always the liar!
Further this is about as much as we'll see in the form of an apology from WP ... as obtuse as it may be.
Question ... is the WH waiting for Tony Snow to come back from vacation in order get this development out in front of the American public? They need to move quickly before the momentum is lost ...
I can't imagine either. However, I don't put anything past these people as far as getting something published; somehow, somewhere. Just because their agenda has begun to unravel doesn't mean they won't still try. That's socialist stock-in-trade. There are enough idiots and other agenda driven people out there to continue supporting the lie. That's how they operate and that's what I expect from them. I guess I'm just a cynical so-and-so.
You have to realize that the floor has been pulled out from under the dems for the fall election cycle.
Wilson was the underpinning for the entire anti-war effort.
"To Liberals he remained a hero until his death, and only when KGB files confirmed he was a spy for Stalin, 50 years later, did the hard-core believers relent."
Apparently, not all hard core believers have relented. Somebody posted the following on Wikipediaforwhatitsworth about Alger Hiss:
"Alger Hiss (November 11, 1904 – November 15, 1996) was an alleged Soviet Spy and U.S. State Department official involved in the establishment of the United Nations. In 1948, Whittaker Chambers, an admitted perjurer, accused Hiss of being a Communist and a spy for the Soviet Union. After two trials, Hiss was convicted of perjury in 1950. In 1975, after details of egregious government misconduct during the trial became public, Hiss was readmitted to the bar without the normal confession of guilt or expression of remorse usually required in such cases."
Give Wikipedia credit for asking for help, though. Above the description is this request:
"This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
"Please help recruit one, or improve this page yourself if you can. See discussion page for details."
reference:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alger_Hiss
I look forward to the Wilsons dismissing their lawsuit.
It's a bitch to write retractions.
The Washington Post is trying to curry favor with the White House so they don't all get Frog Marched to the DC lockup for booking on treason and espionage charges.
10pm at the beginning of the "end of summer" weekend.
Nice time to say "oops!".
That's the point I was making. The real "news" in this piece -- that the WaPost actually had the stones to blame Wilson (the part posted here in bold type by West Coast Conservative) was deliberately reserved for the last graph.
That's more and more often the case for the reasons you state: they want to be able to say piously "We published that," while making every attempt to be certain no one actually reads it. It's a game that's been increasing in tempo for the past 20 years. It's always been used to some extent, but usually not to hide political gamesmanship.
Almost looks like they saw a ghost the way they are now running from this story
Notice that the writer states, as did Fitzgerald, that her status was "classified", not that her status was "covert". They aren't the same thing, and Fitzgerald and the press knew that very well, when they started this whole thing.
Absolutely right. The WaPo is backing away from the story because the know that one helluva Republican counterattack is on the way.
So, why doesn't the President do something about Fitz???
Patience, grasshopper.
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