Posted on 10/06/2007 4:16:17 PM PDT by james500
Columnist Robert Novak said Saturday Ambassador Joe Wilson did not forcefully object to the naming of his CIA operative wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, when Novak spoke to him prior to the publication of a column that sparked a federal investigation and sent White House aide I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby to jail.
“He was not terribly exercised about it,” Novak said.
Instead, Wilson focused on not being portrayed as simply an opponent of the Iraq war. Wilson also stressed that his wife went by his last name, Wilson, rather than Plame, Novak said.
Novak forcefully defended his handling of the column and the legal wrangling that surrounded the special counsel investigation in a seminar on the CIA leak case at the 2007 Society of Professional Journalists Convention.
“It was an off-hand remark to a question I asked in an interview I requested,” Novak said. “This was not a conspiracy in the federal government to go after Valerie Plame Wilson.”
Novak said he complied with prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s subpoena to testify because his lawyer told him he had no legal grounds to resist, and losing a court fight could erode the legal protections of the press. He noted that, as a syndicated columnist, he had to pay the legal fees himself, to the tune of $160,000. His home newspaper, the Chicago Sun-Times, contributed $30,000, he said.
He was surprised when the questioning began, that he was not pressed on his source. The reason, he said, was that Fitzgerald already knew that it was then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.
At one point, he recalled, former White House aide Kenneth Duberstein called Novak on Armitage’s behalf, asking if Armitage was the source.
“I said, ‘I can’t give you that information,’” Novak said with a grin.
Novak said his critics, including those in the press, have attacks his ethics, when in fact their quarrel was with his ideology.
“I was stunned by how little editorial support I received. I was under assault from editorial writers from across the country,” Novak said. “It is startling how little is known about this case by the people who are commenting on it.”
He said his case shows the need for a shield law like the one approved last week by a Senate committee. But he added, “Is it not hypocritical for my critics to support a law that would have saved me from three years of confrontation?”
NOW you speak, Novak, after letting the adminsitration swing in the breeze for all those months, watching all the lies go by from idiots like Wilson? Shame on you. Shame. Your hands will never be clean.
Novak is the biggest slimeball in this entire fiasco. He lets Libby hang and now wants to wash his hands.
Pray for W and Our Troops
And here I had hoped that this was history.
I’m sure Meet the DePressed will talk about this tomorrow....
He and Armitage - two skunks who knew exactly what happened and let everyone else twist in the breeze. Disgusting.
So, it's not just Novak and Armitage letting Libby, et al, swing in the wind, it's the known traitor Joe Wilson doing as his masters in AlQaida directed him (or something to that effect).
This news is huge ~ and devastating to the lieing liars who pretend to be the Democratic party these days.
Don’t know about you folks, but I’ve just stopped reading this guy. He used to be right about half the time, but damn if I’m going to be set up again by this jerk.
This stupid “Plame affair” thing was the biggest deal made out of the smallest nothing in American history. Thankfully, I’ve already (mostly) forgotten entirely about it, as has everyone else. (Because it was so stupid.)
Fitzgerald knew all of this and proceeded any way. He's the biggest slimeball.
a little off topic
It seems to me that spouses of people working in State Dept. or any other who is involved in foreign affairs or required to travel overseas on government business, should NEVER be allowed to work at CIA in a covert capacity. It puts one or the other into a position where they could be easily blackmailed, pressured or endangered. The risks, I believe are significant.
If there is no law, there should be one - it is a matter of national security.
Frequently the CIA people are overseas using a cover of being a State Dept employee.
and if an actual spouse of the state employee is on site, my post applies. I suspect that two things are true:
1. the countries being targeted by CIA are fully aware of the “cover.”
2. The “enemy” has successfully used the “cover” or the agent through blackmail, bribery, etc. in many cases.
There is plenty of information out there suggesting CIA has been compromised many, many times. East Germany used to be masters of such activity, and, I suspect, China has picked up the baton.
Oh, snooooooooze. Joe Wilson, yaaaawwwwn.
Novak is jealous of Helen Thomas.
Semper Fi,
Spouses of ambassadors and other people in prominent positions in State Department are automatically presumed to be working for CIA or at least regularly debriefed or reporting to other intelligence services - that's why even the idea of Valerie Plame's "undercover", "clandestine" or, as Fitzgerald tried to finesse, "classified" status (which in itself was meaningless and not even qualified for the statute he was "investigating") was so laughable - she would be automatically considered a spy by anyone she had a contact.
Yet this was the hook for this entire imbroglio and phony "investigation" which [almost] paralyzed White House and was, IMO, criminally and cynically used by Democrats and "progressive" media for political purposes, and almost succeeded in "Watergate II".
we seem too anxious to provide opportunities to those who would do us harm.
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