Ambassador Joseph Wilson published an op-ed piece in The New York Times two years ago, criticizing the Bush claim that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium in Niger. Days later, Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was outed as a covert CIA agent in Bob Novak’s column.
At the same time, journalist Matt Cooper was learning of her identity from a high White House source. It was said that Novak called cable television analyst Chris Matthews to announce it was open season on Plame, but Matthews would not confirm this account. Wilson openly accused Rove of being the leak From the beginning of the scandal, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney has been accused of mentioning Plame’s identity to reporters in the days before the Novak article appeared. For the next two years, the White House insisted Rove was not involved, and President Bush said he would fire the leaker.
Since July 10, 2005, we have know that Karl Rove told journalist Matthew Cooper that Joe Wilson was sent to Niger by "Wilson’s wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd issues...." President Bush modified his position to saying he would fire a leaker if the law had been broken.
Rove reported the conversation with Cooper to Stephen Hadley in the NSC office, saying he was only trying to do Cooper a favor by steering him away from taking Wilson’s charges very seriously. According to the Associated Press, Rove told a grand jury he discussed Plame with both Cooper and Novak, but insisted that his intention was not to reveal her identity as a covert agent.
It is ironic that Ms. Miller has wound up in prison to protect a confidential source or sources in the Bush administration, which she served so well printing false information about weapons of mass destruction which the Bushg administration had fed her. The claimed right to protect confidential sources is based on the press's role as a watchdog of government. In this case, a reporter is in jail protecting a government source could have broken the law.
Rove was questioned three times by investigators and said he learned of her identity from reporters, including Tim Russert, who has denied this. Libby has also said he learned of her identity from reporters A June 10, 2003 classified State Department memo later turned up which revealed in a paragraph, marked "S" for secret, that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative. Rove said he had not seen the memo before his conversations with Cooper and Novak.
The administration empowered a criminal investigation of the leak. This satisfied critics for some time and bought valuable time for the White House and the Republican information machine to reframe the issues involved. Initially, a matter of potential criminal conduct was involved. It clearly involved despicable political conduct, and whole matter begged the question of whether the administration was again lying to the American people, as it allegedly had in ginning up sentiment for war.
Over time, the formidable publicity effort– aided and abetted by all all but a few conservative journalists–- cast aspersions on the honesty and motives of the Wilsons and reduced the question to one of pure politics. While not attacking the Wilsons, even David Gergen
contributed to the effort saying the outing of Mrs. Wilson was just ordinary Washington politics.
Boys will be boys, and her ruined career and the fate of her covert contacts must have been mere collateral damage.
Critics of the Wilsons have also insisted she was not a covert agent under the meaning of the law, even though the CIA had stated she was "an employee operating under cover." From the beginning of this sorry mess, the White House and the Republican information machine have attacked the Wilsons by claiming the trip to Niger was a "boondoggle" and an example of "nepotism." In fact Joe Wilson was an old Niger hand and undertook the assignment without pay. His expenses were reimbursed. His wife even lacked the authority to send him.
CBS News rarely reported on the case, just as it usually ignored the charges against John Bolton who had been nominated to be ambassador to the UN. Burned by its mishandling of charges regarding George W. Bush’s Texas Air Guard service, it simply steered clear of the Rove investigation, as though it involved mere politics. Under Republican control, the two Houses of Congress showed no interest in the matter, but Democrats did conduct an informal, unofficial hearing on the Rove matter. On the PBS program "Reliable Sources," which is supposed to render a balanced account of how the press handles major stories, the host complained that the Rove story had driven the Senator Dick Durbin story off the front page. Durbin , echoing the International Red Cross, had said that some of the abuse of detainees reminded him of Nazi practices. To press fairness watchdog Howard Kurtz, the Durbin remark and Rove matter were both simply political flaps.
Prosecutor Joseph Fitzgerald seems to have persuaded panel of judges that the Intelligence Identity Protection Act could have been violated. However, the law is very tightly drawn, defines covert very narrowly, and specifies that the leaker must have done so with the full intention of exposing a covert agent. Some observers believe it would be almost impossible to prove this. John Wesley Dean has suggested that indictments could be more readily obtained under two other sections of the U.S. code. However, to a layman’s reading, it would seem hard to apply these statutes. White House personnel sign nondisclosure agreements, promising they will not reveal classified information. Fitzgerald could also be looking at a violation of this agreement.
The whole thing might simply go away as it has been reported that Fitzgerald's power to investigate will expire in October, and the Justice Department official he reports to has been replaced with someone close to Bush. The press cannot be counted upon to keep the matter alive or to help in getting to the bottom of the scandal.
The Republican controlled Congress has refused to investigate this possible violation of lasws governing national security. Normally, the CIA automatically does a damage assessment after a breach of security like this. The assessment is then sent to the committees in Congress that deal with security matters. No assessment has been sent to Congress, and had one indicated the damage were minimal it would have been leaked to the press by now.
The investigation has bought time for the administration’s critics to trivialize the lying and ugly tactics that occurred. It has also resulted in the jailing of reporter Judith Miller, who refused to reveal sources for a story she did not write about the leak. In her first days in jail, she was even forced top sleep on the floor. Her jailing is a substantial dividend for people intent on controlling the press. It is likely to still further erode the mainstream press’s interest in investigative journalism.
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best regards, nice info » » »
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