Posted on 09/07/2006 4:10:25 PM PDT by Laverne
(CBS) In an exclusive interview with CBS News national security correspondent David Martin, Richard Armitage, once the No. 2 diplomat at the State Department, couldn't be any blunter.
"Oh I feel terrible. Every day, I think I let down the president. I let down the Secretary of State. I let down my department, my family and I also let down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson," he says.
When asked if he feels he owes the Wilsons an apology, he says, "I think I've just done it."
In July 2003, Armitage told columnist Robert Novak that Ambassador Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, and Novak mentioned it in a column. It's a crime to knowingly reveal the identity of an undercover CIA officer. But Armitage didn't yet realize what he had done.
So, what exactly did he tell Novak?
"At the end of a wide-ranging interview he asked me, 'Why did the CIA send Ambassador (Wilson) to Africa?' I said I didn't know, but that she worked out at the agency," Armitage says.
Armitage says he told Novak because it was "just an offhand question." "I didn't put any big import on it and I just answered and it was the last question we had," he says.
Armitage adds that while the document was classified, "it doesn't mean that every sentence in the document is classified.
"I had never seen a covered agent's name in any memo in I think 28 years of government," he says.
He adds that he thinks he referred to Wilson's wife as such, or possibly as "Mrs. Wilson." He never referred to her as Valerie Plame, he adds.
"I didn't know the woman's name was Plame. I didn't know she was an operative," he says.
He says he was reading Novak's newspaper column again, on Oct. 1, 2003, and "he said he was told by a non-partisan gun slinger."
"I almost immediately called Secretary Powell and said, 'I'm sure that was me,'" Armitage says.
Armitage immediately met with FBI agents investigating the leak.
"I told them that I was the inadvertent leak," Armitage says. He didn't get a lawyer, however.
"First of all, I felt so terrible about what I'd done that I felt I deserved whatever was coming to me. And secondarily, I didn't need an attorney to tell me to tell the truth. I as already doing that," Armitage explains. "I was not intentionally outing anybody. As I say, I have tremendous respect for Ambassador. Wilson's African credentials. I didn't know anything about his wife and made an offhand comment. I didn't try to out anybody."
That was nearly three years ago, but the political firestorm over who leaked Valerie Plame's identity continued to burn as Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald began hauling White House officials and journalists before a grand jury.
Armitage says he didn't come forward because "the special counsel, once he was appointed, asked me not to discuss this and I honored his request."
"I thought every day about how I'd screwed up," he adds.
Armitage never did tell the president, but he's talking now because Fitzgerald told him he could.
bttt
While it was October 1 where Armitage was, it was September 30 in DC. On October 1, in DC, it was October 2 in South and Central Asia. Therefore it was possible he was still in DC, etc., on October 1.
Haven't looked for where he was on September 30th, but here is where he was from October 1 to October 8. Granted, he could have been reading his paper from his home in any one of these countries and the FBI could have interviewed him on October 2 in any one of these countries. But the question needs to be asked: why go into such specifics when they can be proven wrong. Why not just be more general and say "sometime in October". Are they being sloppy giving the facts or are they giving too many facts in order to sound plausible?
Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage will visit Pakistan, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the United Kingdom October 1 – 8, 2003. He will be meeting with his counterparts to discuss a range of regional security and bilateral issues, including the status of U.S. assistance programs and cooperation on the Global War on Terror. In Afghanistan, Mr. Armitage will reinforce our commitment to a secure Afghanistan and support for full implementation of the Bonn Agreement, including the Constitutional Loya Jirga planned for December and elections next year as well as accelerated efforts by the U.S. and the international community to assist reconstruction efforts. While visiting Astana, Kazakhstan, Mr. Armitage will preside at the dedication of the new Embassy Branch Office.
The next day he elaborated on it.
This is the same gang that was featured in a PBS "Frontline" show 7 or 8 years ago.
Place is choc full of extreme leftwingers.
The implications are that a State Department unit with close contact with the CIA was in on the plan.
These people all sleep with each other's daughters ~ nothing should be surprising ~ nothing at all.
Because that's how those announcements are structured. You ought to see their budgets.
Got link?
Armitage was apparently willing to let an innocent man- Karl Rove- be indicted for something that he did.
What a weasely, wimpering pussy .
And Fitzgerald must face consequences for his malfeasance.
Powell has been laying low for a long time now. I doubt if he has any yen to run for elective office at his stage of life. I think he wants an appointment in a Dem administration, some restful ambassadorship or something. He could be President Hillary's token clam.
It's hard to keep guys like Colon down on the farm after they've seen Paree. I expect him to re-emerge, but his only future now is with the Donkey Party.
Therefore, of the two, Armitage is the expendable one. I'm sure Powell will take care of Armitage later on if opportunities arise for the former Secretary of State in a Dem theft of our government in 2008.
Leni
Piss poor answer. He should have said "I'll apologize to the Wilson just as soon as THEY and the MSM apologize to GWB, Cheney, Rove and Scooter".
Well, you did. As well as the country that really doesn't need a political coup attempted against a duely elected administration simply because your buddies in the smart set were upset this country actually took the offensive in defending itself in real warfare.
I let down the Secretary of State.
You mean Condi? Yes, you probably did let her down, but I suspect you mean the former SOS. I'm sure he's disappointed in you, mainly because you weren't supposed to be caught as his emissary to take vengeance upon the administration for dictating he do his job at the U.N. and give a necessary speech helping to pass resolutions authorizing the war with Iraq.
I let down my department,
Yes, all the traitors that have aided this attempted political coup are embarrassed and I'm sure they blame you for this unwanted attention, rather then accept what they did was wrong and resign.
my family and I also let down Mr. and Mrs. Wilson," he says.
I hope you managed to have an artful tear when you said this last. A chorus of string violins wouldn't hurt either.
What pure, unadulterated bullsh!t. I'd like to hear Fitzgerald justify all that taxpayer money he's flushed over his dog and phony show.
He said that he immediately called Secretary Powell then "immediately" met with the FBI who were investigating the leak. He could have read the paper from anywhere but I got the impression that he met with the FBI that same day.
The screen name for Jayna Davis is Truthaboveall.
That's like saying you let down Lee Harvey Oswald and Charles Manson.
Armitage is lower than whale fecal matter at the bottom of the ocean.
He HAD to be sleeping with Powell to get that job.
Mrs. Wilson is married to George and bakes cookies for Dennis.
Jeepers Joe Wilson, you lied!
Make it two, a screw up like Armitage will muff the first try.
Thanks Peach, I knew it but couldn't think of it when I needed it. Hate to tell you how many times I've gone through the alphabet trying to jog my memory.
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