Posted on 09/29/2003 8:04:09 AM PDT by The_Victor
The naming of the intelligence officer's identity by syndicated columnist Robert Novak came shortly after her husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, had undermined Bush's claim that Iraq (news - web sites) had tried to buy uranium in Africa.
Wilson has publicly blamed Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, for the leak, although Wilson did say Monday he did not know whether Rove personally was the source of Novak's information.
"He wasn't involved," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said of Rove. "The president knows he wasn't involved. ... It's simply not true."
A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, has confirmed that the Justice Department has received a letter from CIA Director George Tenet to look into the matter. The department and the FBI (news - web sites) are trying to determine whether there was a violation of the law and, if so, then whether a full-blown criminal investigation is warranted, the official said.
"It's a serious matter and it should be looked into," McClellan said.
Asked whether Bush should fire any official found to have leaked the information, McClellan said: "They should be pursued to the fullest extent by the Department of Justice (news - web sites). The president expects everyone in his administration to adhere to the highest standards of conduct — and that would not be."
Schumer, D-N.Y., said matter should be investigated from someone outside the Bush administration.
"If there was ever a case that demanded a special counsel, this is it," he said. "This is a very serious national security matter where there is a clear conflict of interest for the attorney general because it could involve high-level White House officials."
The Justice Department had no immediate comment on Schumer's request.
On Sunday, Bush national security adviser Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) said she was unaware of any White House involvement in the matter.
"I know nothing of any such White House effort to reveal any of this, and it certainly would not be the way that the president would expect his White House to operate," she told "Fox News Sunday."
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) also denied knowledge of the matter.
The flap began in January when Bush said in his State of the Union address that British intelligence officials had learned that Iraq had tried to purchase yellowcake uranium in Africa.
In an opinion piece published in July by The New York Times, Wilson said he told the CIA long before Bush's address that the British reports were suspect and the administration has since said the assertion should not have been in Bush's speech.
A week after Wilson went public with his criticism Novak, quoting anonymous government sources, said Wilson's wife was a CIA operative working on the issue of weapons of mass destruction.
The Washington Post on Sunday quoted an unidentified senior administration official as saying two top White House officials called at least a half-dozen journalists and revealed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. Disclosing the name of an undercover CIA agent could violate federal law. "I know nothing about any such calls and I do know that the president of the United States would not expect his White House to behave in that way," Rice said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Wilson said Monday he believes the White House leaked his wife's name "to intimidate others and to scare them and to keep them from coming forward and speaking." Wilson had said in a late August speech in Seattle that he suspected senior Bush adviser Karl Rove. But on ABC's "Good Morning America" Monday, he backtracked somewhat from that assertion. "In one speech I gave out in Seattle not too long ago, I mentioned the name Karl Rove," he said. "I think I was probably carried away by the spirit of the moment. I don't have any knowledge that Karl Rove himself was either the leaker or the authorizer of the leak. But I have great confidence that, at a minimum, he condoned it and certainly did nothing to shut it down." The White House has denied that accusation. Powell told ABC's "This Week" that he thought that if the CIA believed the identity of one of its covert employees have been revealed, it had an obligation to ask the Justice Department to look into the matter. But he added: "Other than that, I don't know anything about the matter." Rice said the matter has been referred to the Justice Department and "I think that's the appropriate place. ... Let's just see what the Justice Department does." Pressed whether anyone at the White House raised concerns that the Wilson matter posed a problem for the administration, she replied: "I don't remember any such conversation." Wilson said Monday that if the administration actually took an intelligence asset "off the table," that would have been "a dastardly deed ... coming from an administration that came to office promising to restore dignity and honor to the White House. It was contemptible."
Oh, so you have no evidence for accusation #1, so you make accusation #2 which you also have no evidence for. Well, Wilson, I have great confidence that you had intimate relations with Saddam Hussein.
Wesley Clark disease.
Then if Dobb's is so conservative why did he crawl back to CNN? Are you denying that Dobb's interent business failed?
So journalists previously published political comments are off limits to you?
Novak unlike you is a REAL conservative. You confuse being conservative with being a mouth piece for the Republican Party and this administration. That is two different things. One puts ideology before party, the other puts party before ideology. Novak is the former. See the difference? With Bush's extreme leftward lurch it is difficult for any conservative to spin for this administration.
Then why does Novak have that goofy smile and nary a peep while he lets Shields, Margaret Carlson, and Hunt hog all the time.
JMO, WR, you are the victim of the cult of personality of Bob Novak.
Opinions and FACTS are 2 different things. Apparently like the other Blind Bush Loyalists around here you cannot separate the two in your mind. If you don't like the reporter, despite a reputation for straight reporting, that reporter must by lying. Election season is in the air.
I smell a rat. First of all, I agree with Cliff May that many people from plenty of agencies probably knew that Valerie Palme was working for the CIA. Anyone could have tipped off reporters claiming he/she was from the WH. Presuming she was stationed in Washington, I doubt she was engaging in any covert activties and is in no present danger from this disclosure. It will be difficult to station her overseas again, which is why Wilson mentions taking "an intelligence asset off of the table." Overseas, many CIA agents are declared with the host government.
Ms. Palme may have to finish out her CIA career in the US, but this is not that unusual. Depending on her age and number of years in (she can retire at age 50 with 20 years service), she and her husband (Amb Wilson) can live comfortably on their combined USG pensions, which probably total around $150K.
I think Wilson's strident opposition to the liberation of Iraq is based more on personal ambition than principle. He is hoping that a future Dem President will reward him with a job in his administration or some major think tank will pick him up. I particularly resent his allegations that the administration pressured the intelligence community to shape its analysis to meet W's objectives. This guy is a gadfly who is basking in his 15 minutes of fame.
Rove was not fired from Pres Bush 41's campaign staff. In fact until 2000 when he became part of George W. Bush's staff for President, Karl Rove was involved in Texas politics only!
This is from Texas Monthly (http://www.texasmonthly.com/mag/issues/2000-09-01/feature6.php?1635354926): Rove envisioned Bush as the party's nominee to succeed Clements as governor in 1990, but when the father won the presidency in 1988, the son's political career was put on hold. Rove had to be content with two significant downballot victories, Kay Bailey Hutchison as state treasurer and Rick Perry as agriculture commissioner. When President Bush lost his reelection bid in 1992, the way was clear for George W. to challenge Ann Richards in 1994.
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