Mark Steyn: Bigger than Watergate

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 10/11/03 | Mark Steyn

[camas]

this could be right on the mark

[GOPJ]

As usual, great stuff:

Wilson comes over like a total flake — not a sober striped-pants diplomat but a shaggy-maned ideologically driven kook whose hippie-lyric quotes make a lot more sense than his neocon-bashing diatribes for leftie dronefests like the Nation. This is a guy who says things like, ‘Neoconservatives and religious conservatives have hijacked this administration, and I consider myself on a personal mission to destroy both.

[cyncooper]

BUMP

[Amelia]

There is absolutely no evidence that anyone "leaked" Valerie Plame's covert status -- because she apparently WASN'T covert.

That's what I understood, and I understood that everyone on the D.C. cocktail party circuit knew she worked for the CIA.

What I'd also read was that unless she WAS covert, saying that she worked for the CIA was not a criminal offense.

However, I heard President Bush a day or so ago saying that this WAS a criminal act and the perpetrator needed to be found and punished, so either she WAS covert, or someone gave the President bad information?

[Fledermaus]

Tenet needs to go. And if Bush can't get the CIA and State in line, we are in deep doo-doo in this war on terror.

[speekinout]

How is it that the wife of a state department employee can be NOC?

They got married in 1998. There's no evidence that he's been an Ambassador or she's been NOC since then.
I rather doubt she's had any recent undercover assignments recently or would in the near future. They have 3 year old twins. I can't imagine any mother of such young children would take a dangerous assignment.
But then, he seems weird, so maybe she is too.

[tioga]

I think I read somewhere that Plame's boss just retired unexpectedly. Got out quick for some reason. Can't remember where I read it, but I did. Can't vouch for the accuracy either.

[Tennessean4Bush]

Exactly what do our J schools teach?

Liberal pap

[McGavin999]

Excellent points. Looks like we need a house cleaning at both the CIA and State. There should be enough good guys left in both organizations to pull it off.

[Captain Peter Blood]

The entire cast of players in LeakGate looks as if they could have come from central casting or better yet from a Graham Greene novel like, "Our Man In Havana". The late great Alec Guiness could play Wilson and Marilyn Monroe play Valerie. By the way here is cast from that movie, they would be great in " The Valerie Affair":



Our Man in Havana (1959)

Page 1 of 16

Directed by
Carol Reed

Writing credits
Graham Greene (also novel)



Add to
MyMovies
Genre: Drama / Thriller / Comedy (more)

Plot Summary: Jim Wormold sells vacuum cleaners in Havana. His daughter Milly, 17, spends a lot of money, so he accepts to work for the Intelligence Service... (more)

User Comments: Completely underrated movie! (more)

User Rating: 6.6/10 (294 votes)

Cast overview, first billed only:
Alec Guinness .... Jim Wormold
Burl Ives .... Dr. Hasselbacher
Maureen O'Hara .... Beatrice Severn
Ernie Kovacs .... Capt. Segura
Noel Coward .... Hawthorne (as Noël Coward)
Ralph Richardson .... 'C'
Jo Morrow .... Milly Wormold
Grégoire Aslan .... Cifuentes (as Gregoire Aslan)
Paul Rogers .... Hubert Carter
Raymond Huntley .... General
Ferdy Mayne .... Prof. Sanchez
Maurice Denham .... Admiral
José Prieto .... Lopez (as Jose Prieto)
Duncan Macrae .... MacDougal
Gerik Schjelderup .... Svenson

[okie01]

"Whoever had the bright idea to send this idiot over to Nigeria on such an important and delicate matter needs to be fired. ASAP."

He may have already resigned. Plame's boss, Alan Foley, announced his resignation on August 29.

Curious, huh?

[okie01]

"Well, I guess that would be Wilson's wife."

Or Wilson's wife's boss, Alan Foley.

Who, by the way, announced his resignation on August 29...

[speekinout]

A lot of people would probably dismiss what you say as "sour grapes". But I don't think so. Starting in the early 80's or so, women were often given responsibilities that had more to do with their attractiveness than their skills. It wouldn't surprise me if Plame was one of those. I don't blame it all on clintoon - it started before that.
It's just time to quit this nonsense. I know a Dem won't do it. Maybe a GOPer will have time to put it on the agenda, but it's not going to be a priority - and that's a shame.

[shhrubbery!]

Starting in the early 80's or so, women were often given responsibilities that had more to do with their attractiveness than their skills. It wouldn't surprise me if Plame was one of those. I don't blame it all on clintoon - it started before that.

'Facts' was talking about a '90s phenomenon. I don't doubt that some of what you say was true in the '80s, but under the (Hillary)Clinton administration, attractiveness was definitely NOT the desired attribute for women who were promoted beyond their level of competency.

Viz Janet Reno, Donna Shalala, and all the harpies planted in DACOWITS.

[lainde]

ping!

[DeuceTraveler]

In my opinion, the best Steyn I ever read. Entertaining, yes, but most important this is very thought provoking.

[Allan]

ping

[Reb Raider]

Great article, I just wish he had made it clear that the former Clinton apointee head of CIA testified to Congress that Wilson's report(verbal to people he didn't know after being sent by 8 or 9 people he didn't know)was never briefed to Cheney or Bush because it contained dubious and contradicting info. Therefore, Bush had every right to ignore it because he never knew about it until Wilson's article appeared in the NYT. Cheney never asked anyone to send over Wilson or anyone else to Niger. He did ask for more info on the yellowcake intel.

I think the fact Wilson outed the trip is in itself a leak of classified information and that is why his phone records are being looked at by the FBI. If he and the liberal press he and others with his viewpoint leaked to had kept their mouth shut everyone in the world wouldn't know the name Valerie Plame. Novak has never said he was given her name--his statement published after this became a feeding frenzy said he was told Wilson's wife,who worked in the CIA,had a hand in getting him this assignment. He and other's claim many in Washington knew her name.

It also sounds like Chris Matthews is the one that got Wilson going that Rove was involved. If Matthews called after the story Novak wrote to ask more questions,and someone said her involvement in the trip was fair game--her name would not be the important part of this story--I can just hear Matthews calling Wilson and turning that statement into "Rove says your wife is fair game now that the story is out there". After all,wouldn't that make for a better response from Wilson? Matthews always throws out loaded and exaggerated lines.

I also think the last sentence in a Newsweek article saying a grand jury is having sr.staffers from Senators in to testify about earlier classified document leaks(Bush Knew comes to mind) might be making liberals nervous. Bush is serious about the leaks stopping and has made it clear he intends to pursue them wherever they come from.

The main point is Bush and Cheney never were briefed on Wilson's tea sipping trip. He assumed they were because he said that was the protocol he was familiar with. He didn't count on someone filing it away because it was of little importance and someone in the CIA saw it for what it was--politics.

Why,then,was the Bush administration trying to discredit Wilson over a report that the CIA itself found worthless and never even passed on to them? No one in the major media ever reported what could really discredit Wilson when the frenzy began. His wife,along with mid level CIA employees,tried to use their power to stop or discredit a war our elected leaders felt was necessary. This is just one more black mark for an agency that seems incapable of protecting the American people.

[Reb Raider]

From the very beginning Bush's appointees in many areas were slowed down because of Gore's refusal to admit defeat. This made a difficult transistion period for any administration come to a virtual halt while the obscenity in Florida played out. The dems in the Senate took their time allowing his people to get approved because of their anger over the Florida vote. Once 9/11 hit he didn't have the luxury of firing Tenet with the confidence of the American people so shaken already. Then he had to try and clean up the mess Clinton left behind from his foreign policy failures while Rumsfield was shaking up the Dept.of Defense and butting heads with people that refused to see a new way of meeting the challenges of future warfare.

I believe Bush really thought he could work with the dems in Washington. There were some bull headed dems here in TX he was able to work with while he was governor. The dems in Washington openly said this wasn't TX and they were hell bent on not working with him.

While GW's intentions of keeping Clinton loyalists in many positions were good, I am concerned about what is at stake if he doesn't clean out the trash that is putting personal ideology before our safety. They know their leaks and lies,in combination with their cohorts in the media,are putting us in danger. The enemies of the U.S. feel they can do alot of things they didn't dare when the country was united after 9/11.

Pres.Bush is not stupid,and I pray he is doing some things we don't know about to get things under control. I don't see Tenet being one of them anytime soon because the press would say it was payback for "honest" CIA employees trying to get the "truth" out to the American people. In 2004,settle the score GW. Take out the trash.