THE CONFUSING WILSON STORY [Ramesh Ponnuru]Hmmm. This seems like Mr. Wilson was really got this ball rolling himself. In and of itself, we may be able to say that he wasn't thinking, misspoke, and this whole thing has been blown out of proportion (which, undoubtedly, it has).
I understood Novak not to be denying that Plame/Wilson is involved in covert ops but to be saying that a CIA source had given him to understand that she was merely an analyst--a very different thing. Did whatever administration official spoke to Novak realize what her job was? If not, does his ignorance save him from breaking the law? There is rather a lot that's murky in this story. The Washington Post reports 1) that Joseph Wilson says that Andrea Mitchell, among others, told him that the administration had told her about his wife's job and 2) that Mitchell had reported that Wilson was saying that the administration had told reporters about his wife's job. So Mitchell's source was Wilson, but Wilson's source was Mitchell?
Source: The Corner, 09/29/2003 05:53 PM
But, then you consider his positions, his politics, and the statements that he has made, as well as the now-denied but strategic name drop of "Karl Rove", it begins to appear that, indeed, maybe he was purposefully effort to get a ball rolling.
The truth of the matter is that Mr. Wilson has now admitted (but only when he was pressed on the issue) that he had absolutely no proof that Karl Rove was remotely involved. In fact, he claimed that he got carried away during a speech (which basically means he made it up). It becomes readily apparent that Mr. Wilson is a) an incompetent, b) a liar, c) an idiot, or d) an incompetent and idiotic liar. Take your pick.
That would be sweet, and if so don't just fire them. Prosecute them for whatever is possible, charge them for the cost of the investigation, and make them work it off by breaking big rocks into little rocks on opposite ends of Alaska(and from what I hear it wouldn't be needed, but make sure they have lots of mosquito and black fly attractant during that season ;-).