End of an Affair [Plame]

Washington Post ^ | September 1, 2006

[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, 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.

[hgro]

The Washington Post is reluctant to return to their "outhouse" reporting.

[Sacajaweau]

Darn right, this is Hillary related. Remember Matt Cooper. He's the husband of Mandy Grunwald...Hillary's best friend, media advisor and Bubba's former campaign manager.

It was Matt Cooper's FIRST week as the CHIEF White House correspondent.......just in time for the story of the century. Imagine that!!

And it was his calls to the White House that served as "entrapment" for Libby and Cheney.

And Deep Throat comes out and Hillary likened this to Deep Throat.

The end game makes this a Marcy Park attack on Kerry. Nice job Hillary!!

[tiredoflaundry]

It seems Joe is not finished yet! DU's Mr. Pitt received this email from "Boris" himself!

WilliamPitt Donating Member (1000+ posts) Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list Fri Sep-01-06 11:38 AM
Original message
Joe Wilson responds to WaPo hatchet job Updated at 1:39 PM

Via email:

You may have seen this morning's editorial in the Post. It manages to recycle pretty much every lie and smear over the past three years in a last ditch effort to divert attention from the facts, and the role the Post itself played both in the march to war and in the leak (see Woodward).

I know many of you are better versed in Plamegate than either Valerie or I and I also know that some of you will be addressing the editorial.

I want to let you know how much Valerie and I continue to be buoyed by your support and your dedication to getting the truth out and holding the administration and its lackeys accountable for the terrible policies they have foisted on our country and on the world. We must keep fighting.

As you think about this, our website (Wilsonsupport.org) has a copy of the letter I sent to the SSCI when its report first came out, challenging some of its conclusions. The LeftCoaster has a terrific study by eriposte on the whole Niger forgery case from beginning to end. Firedoglake and the Next Hurrah both have highly informative analyses of the case by skilled researchers and former prosecutors. I recommend them all as resoruces to jog memories. by this afternoon, I expect that our own team will have an updated set of talking points to distribute for your use as well.

Each of you in one way or another has contributed to the public's (and in many cases our own) understanding of the issues from the beginning. Thank you for continuing to do so.

Joe Wilson

[Enchante]

[WaPo]: "It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously."

Wonderful that they've finally admitted this after 3+ years, but will they now acknowledge and repudiate their own columnists and reporters who have helped to milk this fraud? Will Walter Pinko and others at WaPo now have to 'fess up to their roles in the fraud perpetrated on the US public and the world?

[Mo1]

HAHAHAHA ... Wilson speaks


Hey Howlin .. check this out
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1693595/posts?page=223#223

[Attillathehon]

We need to make Democrats eat a big plate of crow here. They deserve it.

We need to get Joe Wilson and the Democrats to reimburse the American taxpayers who got stuck with the bill for all these phoney investigations.

[Enchante]

Goodness, is this real? The depraved fraudster Joe Wilson now reduced to writing crank emails to far-left moonbat sites in order to keep his fraud going? He's citing nutjobs like "Firedoglake" as his support? He truly is going to end up in a padded cell wailing at the moon.....

[colorado tanker]

LOL!

Given that liberals dominate the bar associations it'll never happen, but Fitz ought to be investigated for disbarment. His "press conference" about Libby was nothing but lies.

[tiredoflaundry]

The folks at DU think so! I take it with a grain of salt. Not only that it is from DU, but Pitt posted it! I guess we shall find out in "24 business hours". ;-)

[maica]

That's the point I was making.

^^^

I know, and I was agreeing with you and emphasizing it so that everyone learns to read those important paragraphs at the end.

PS: Have you also noticed how many times the second paragraph of a front page article starts with "But"?

I have even seen "BUT" in headlines. "Journalistic standards" has become an oxymoron.

[Txsleuth]

Sounds like Joe is still wanting their money also...since he is referring them to the website..and talks about continuing their mission...

LOLOLOLOL....I hope all of the DUers send $$$$$$$ to Joe and VAL....

[ShandaLear]

What will become of his lawsuit now? Sniff...

[Lancey Howard]

....by this afternoon, I expect that our own team will have an updated set of talking points to distribute for your use as well.

Each of you in one way or another has contributed to the public's (and in many cases our own) understanding of the issues from the beginning. Thank you for continuing to do so.

Joe Wilson

Hilarious! Apparently Joe believes there are still people stupid enough to take him seriously, and he is correct - - the low-brow simpletons at DUh and Kos. I really think it's high time all those pathetic scumbags got together with some beverages and jumped on the next comet.

[Lancey Howard]

Joe Wilson responds to WaPo hatchet job Updated at 1:39 PM

I wonder what this means, since it's only 12:29 PM on the east coast.

[tiredoflaundry]

This is my favorite line:

I know many of you are better versed in Plamegate than either Valerie or I and I also know that some of you will be addressing the editorial.

I guess Joe wasn't writing anything down as he made up his story! :-)

[tiredoflaundry]

Not sure.

[Enchante]

"I know many of you are better versed in Plamegate than either Valerie or I..."

translation: through my alcohol-induced stupor I can't really keep track of all my lies and hallucinations, so I'm counting on my fellow drooling moonbats to sort it all out for me.,,,,

[tiredoflaundry]

LOL! Yup!

[demlosers]

Notice that the writer states, as did Fitzgerald, that her status was "classified", not that her status was "covert".

Yeah, I've noticed Fitzy plays with words to deceive the public. In this case, he means Plame CIA job status was "classified' as unclassified.

[seanmerc]

Hopefully their legal support fund is attracting the contributions it so richly deserves...