The CIA leak (Latest From Novak)

townhall.com ^ | 10/01/03 | Robert Novak

[kattracks]

WASHINGTON -- I had thought I never again would write about retired diplomat Joseph Wilson's CIA-employee wife, but feel constrained to do so now that repercussions of my July 14 column have reached the front pages of major newspapers and led off network news broadcasts. My role and the role of the Bush White House have been distorted and need explanation.

The leak now under Justice Department investigation is described by former Ambassador Wilson and critics of President Bush's Iraq policy as a reprehensible effort to silence them. To protect my own integrity and credibility, I would like to stress three points. First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret.

The current Justice investigation stems from a routine, mandated probe of all CIA leaks, but follows weeks of agitation. Wilson, after telling me in July that he would say nothing about his wife, has made investigation of the leak his life's work -- aided by the relentless Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. These efforts cannot be separated from the massive political assault on President Bush.

This story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger. I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one.

During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.

At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission.

How big a secret was it? It was well known around Washington that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Republican activist Clifford May wrote Monday, in National Review Online, that he had been told of her identity by a non-government source before my column appeared and that it was common knowledge. Her name, Valerie Plame, was no secret either, appearing in Wilson's "Who's Who in America" entry.

A big question is her duties at Langley. I regret that I referred to her in my column as an "operative," a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. While the CIA refuses to publicly define her status, the official contact says she is "covered" -- working under the guise of another agency. However, an unofficial source at the Agency says she has been an analyst, not in covert operations.

The Justice Department investigation was not requested by CIA Director George Tenet. Any leak of classified information is routinely passed by the Agency to Justice, averaging one a week. This investigative request was made in July shortly after the column was published. Reported only last weekend, the request ignited anti-Bush furor.

©2003 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

Contact Robert Novak | Read Novak's biography

[CobaltBlue]

Verrry interesting quote from Wilson in March, 2003, about WMD in general but not yellowcake:

>> . . . . AMBASSADOR WILSON: Well, I know Tariq Aziz, of course. And what I can say is that it may be in fact true that Saddam Hussein is in charge, but not because Tariq Aziz has said so. Tariq Aziz is very articulate and very erudite, but the bottom line on him from my perspective is, would you buy a used car from that man? And I wouldn't. He has lied to me on many occasions on issues pertaining to the lives and the welfare of American citizens being held hostage in Iraq during the Gulf War, and also just being forbidden from traveling outside of the war zone at that time.
So, I don't trust a thing that Tariq Aziz has to say.

MR. BORGIDA: Let's move to the chemical weapons threat, because this is something that is clearly on the hearts and minds of the soldiers out there as well as families and loved ones in the United States. Would you expect that, in these next few days, in the press to go to Baghdad, that chemical or biological weapons might be used by Saddam at this point?

AMBASSADOR WILSON: Well, this is actually one area where I might believe Tariq Aziz, because he told me quite emphatically in 1988-89, in a meeting dealing with the Iran-Iraq War, that the Iraqis reserve the right to use every weapon and any weapon in their arsenal when they were invaded. Now, they clearly are calling the American action, the coalition action, an invasion. And when he says they reserve the right to use every weapon in their arsenal, I assume that to mean chemical and biological weapons, if they have them and can use them. So, our military planners ought to be anticipating that they will, if they can, use chemical weapons and/or biological weapons.
. . . .
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/iraq/2003/iraq-030325-2818df49.htm

[CobaltBlue]

Wilson on Saddam December 11, 2002, in National Interest mag.

>>What might Saddam do, in the event of war? On August 6, 1990, I met with Tariq Aziz, who told me that Iraq reserved the right to use any weapon in its arsenal if attacked. When I met with Saddam Hussein, he was vaguer, but said he was prepared to use everything if invaded.

Two things to keep in mind. First, Saddam is a classic survivalist. In his mind, as long as he survives, the nation-state of Iraq survives; the state is embodied in him. Second, Saddam wants to survive with weapons of mass destruction. He wants to continue his efforts to dominate the region. He would like to create one single Arab state under his leadership or at least dominate the Arab world.
Can you deter him? ? Regime decapitation is the ultimate sanction if he uses a weapon of mass destruction or tries to embroil Israel in this conflict. ?

Operation Desert Fox [1998] roiled the political climate in Iraq. It weakened the pillars of the regime--tribal support and clan support. An aggressive campaign on weapons of mass destruction may have the intended or unintended consequences of leading to a coup, causing Saddam's generals to move. We may want to therefore focus on high value targets. For example, right now, when an American or allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zone is "painted", we go after the air defense site, the sergeants and the corporals manning the post. Instead, we should go after the headquarters issuing the order--this affects colonels and generals. ?

We need to focus on global public opinion. We need to present evidence that Iraq does have weapons of mass destruction, not that we are overthrowing an Arab regime because we don't like it.

I don't believe Saddam will go quietly. He will use every weapon in his arsenal, and he will cause trouble for us wherever possible.
 
The Honorable Joseph Wilson was deputy chief of the U.S. mission to Iraq from 1988 to 1991 and in that capacity was the last American official to meet with Saddam Hussein. He currently heads J. C. Wilson International Ventures.<<
http://www.inthenationalinterest.com/Articles/Vol1Issue14/Vol1Issue4Symposium.html
 

[pepsionice]

I think what the CIA really doesn't want to admit...is that almost all of the wives of ambassadors...are on their payroll...because they attend stupid cocktail parties and hear gossip. Lets face facts...ambassadors don't make a heck of a lot on income...especially if you are the US ambassador to the Ivory Coast...so your wife has to take other employment to help make ends meet. The CIA simply picks up cheap employees...doesn't have to pay travel pay...and gets gossip for their files.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Let's just hope...when a special investigator and then a special prosecutor are chosen and this thing goes before Congress while the Democratic presidential hopefuls bang the drum slowly...that Robert Novak is called to testify.

He won't be though. Because he would tell the truth. And the truth is in direct contradiction to what the 'Rats want the public to believe in this matter.

[Reb Raider]

My thoughts exactly. It wouldn't do for her to enter and the first polls not show them neck in neck. Her scandal problems would look less damaging also.

[swilhelm73]

Who got "smeared"? Wilson, his wife? I don't get it. How is saying someone works for the CIA a smear?

It isn't which is the whole point. Leaking that Plame is a CIA agent just gives Wilson a stronger case. If the WH wa looking to hurt him, just release something juicy from his FBI file - everyone has something be it true or just a rumor. Ask Linda Tripp.

[John Lenin]

In another week this story will be where it belongs, in the dustbin of history. It's a non-story being made into a story by the liberal media. The lamestream media is furious that Bush isn't taking the heat for Iraq that Blair is and this story reaks of monkey see monkey do journalism.

[CobaltBlue]

Niger not the only country suspected of providing uranium to Saddam:

>>Copyright 2002 The Telegraph Group Limited
SUNDAY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)

September 29, 2002, Sunday

SECTION: Pg. 25

LENGTH: 754 words

HEADLINE: War-torn Congo is target in Baghdad's hunt for uranium

BYLINE: BY JANE FLANAGAN in Johannesburg AND DAVID WASTELL Diplomatic Correspondent

BODY:
THE DEMOCRATIC Republic of Congo has emerged as the likeliest target of Iraq's attempts to secure uranium for its nuclear weapons programme, after Britain gave warning that Saddam Hussein has sought "significant quantities" of the radioactive metal somewhere in Africa.

Not only has the country - formerly Zaire - been destabilised by four years of civil war, but it also possesses the mine which supplied the raw materials for the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima, in addition to other deposits of uranium and one of the few nuclear power reactors on the continent.

It is home to a string of brutal and feuding militia groups, at least one of which is believed to have approached Baghdad with an offer to supply minerals.

The Congo is just one of several African countries with exploitable uranium deposits, and four others - Niger, Namibia, South Africa and Gabon - export almost 10,000 tons of ore a year between them. South Africa had its own weapons programme under the apartheid regime and still has two full-scale nuclear reactors.

Western intelligence officials believe that the Congo is vulnerable to illicit approaches from abroad. Last November Kenyan authorities arrested five Iraqi men, attempting to travel to the Congo on fake passports, on suspicion of being terrorists. Officials were unable to say last week whether the men had been deported or were still in custody.

Henri Boshoff, a military analyst at the Institute for Security Studies in the South African capital Pretoria, said that unrest in the Congo made it the most likely African country to have been targeted by Iraq.

"The Congo has virtually no border or airspace security; there is virtually no control over movement," he said. "If anyone had enough money and determination I think they could get uranium, although the risks of being caught are enormous."

A nuclear weapon requires about 55lb of highly enriched uranium, which has to be extracted from low-grade ore and then enhanced in a long and complex production process which Saddam has been trying to develop.

About 40 shiploads of ore were dispatched to America from the Shinkolobwe mine in the south of the Congo in 1939, soon after which it was shut down and allowed to flood. But it has continued to attract interest from abroad, including a team of North Korean mining engineers who arrived in 1999 and were thrown out only after pressure from America.

The area of the country in which the mine lies is now under the control of Zimbabwean forces, one of several states to have sent troops to the aid of the Congolese government. In a sinister twist Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe's president, is said to have encouraged North Korean interest in the mine.

Zimbabwe has its own reserves of uranium ore but a Canadian mining company studying prospects for development halted operations three years ago because of the country's political and economic instability. A second exploratory project in Kariba, in the north of Zimbabwe, was also halted. But the Harare government is still keen to develop the reserves, which would enhance its political leverage abroad.

The Congo's research reactor, near the capital Kinshasa, has lost at least one and probably two nuclear fuel rods in recent years, according to nuclear safety officials - although the Congolese government denies it. One turned up in Italy in 1998, when police arrested 13 men as they were about to sell it to the Mafia.

The International Atomic Energy Authority, which has checked the Kinshasa reactor, says it is now "under safeguards". This was not always true: three years ago Michela Wrong, a novelist, visited it while doing research and found rusted gates, fastened by a simple padlock, leading to the reactor. Only two guards were at the entrance and she was waved inside after signing a visitors' book.

"It's an extremely worrying situation there," Miss Wrong said. "It is almost surreal the security conditions there, and I emerged thinking I couldn't believe what I had seen." Miss Wrong interviewed the director of the reactor who said he believed that the fuel rod might have been stolen when his predecessor lent out his keys.

An International Atomic Energy Authority spokesman said that fuel rods of the kind used at Kinshasa were too low in enriched uranium to be used for a nuclear bomb.

But nuclear weapons experts believe that all nuclear materials stored at Kinshasa and at other small research reactors in Africa are at risk of being procured by Iraq or by other would-be nuclear powers.

LOAD-DATE: September 29, 2002 <<

[swilhelm73]

So has Colin Powell served during both administrations, and could be descibed as apolitical like Tenet,

Could be, but reading Novak's article, I get the feeling that his source was rather angry about Plame's apparently unauthorized sending of Wilson. The most likely person to be angry about this sort of thing? Head of the CIA, Tenet. Also, Novak mentioned talking to Tenet - so we know he did talk to him...

[YaYa123]

From today's Washington Post. Kristinn posted it late last night. Read all about it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25492-2003Sep30.html

[Lady Heron]

I'm hoping this is accurate. Is Novak indicting himself?

Since he was told by the CIA not to publish her name, maybe it is a good place to start.

[kattracks]

They are already beating it to death. It's becoming just so much noise.

Sheesh, how many times can they keep repeating the same nonsense?

The media has to have something to harp on to make them seem relevant.

[petercooper]

good finds

[Kleon]

Well, there may not be a story anymore when it comes to Wison and his wife's alleged outing, but the White House is currently under investigation. That, to me, is a real story. Until the investigation comes up with nadda, I won't have a problem with the coverage.

[alnick]

Thanks. Now that I've read most of it, I have to figure out how to get my blood pressure back down to normal. What an SOB!!

[petercooper]

good finds

[prognostigaator]

Insurance.

[Lady Heron]

Novak's source should come forward today and resign. I think it's safe to say the source is not anybody high up in the WH, certainly not Rove. My guess is he or she is a State Dept Deputy Secretary.

Not going to happen if he or she is a left over democrat. It works to well in their favor to have every news outlet stating that it is a Republican leak.

[clintonh8r]

Investigate this: JOE WILSON IS A STEAMING TURD.