Valerie Plame leaker identified

[Drakonix]

Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has admitted he was the one who leaked the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame (Wilson).

Armitage said he inadvertently revealed Plame’s job to syndicated columnist Robert Novak in July 2003.

Early in the inquiry, Armitage told authorities he was Novak’s source. Armitage said Fitzgerald asked him to not to say that publicly. Fitzgerald then pressed on with the investigation, questioning White House aides. Among them was top Bush adviser Karl Rove, who appeared five times before a grand jury before being cleared of wrongdoing this summer.

It was not Rove, Libby, Cheney or the President. Fitgerald's knowledge and silence regarding the truth IMO gives considerable proof that the "investigation" was just political manuvering and not the investigation that it was supposed to be.

You can call it "Patrick Fitgerald's publicly funded Witchunt".

[Yawn] Another liberal conspiracy theory appropriately flushed away as deserved. Years of "investigation" efforts when Fitzgerald knew the truth. I wonder how many tax dollars went down the flusher on this..

Consequently, Joseph C. Wilson 4th and Valerie Plame Wilson's lawsuit against Rove, Libbby and Cheney will probably go the way of the flusher as well. [Insert Laugh track here]

Conspiracy is still a probable issue, but it's now a question of whether or not Fitzgerald and others consipred to falsely implicate Rove, Libby, Cheney, or the President.

LOL, let's see what happens now. The sideshow just got somewhat more entertaining.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14723718/

LOL, give a flame for Plame, I don't care.

[Nicobie]

Nobody is pitching a bitch about the media read on the thing?


hahahahahahaa

buried on the 3rd page.

[albed]

Poor knifey...

[theknife]

leaving a couple of things out here, aren't we?

What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA

In the spring of 2002 Dick Cheney made one of his periodic trips to CIA headquarters. Officers and analysts were summoned to brief him on Iraq. Paramilitary specialists updated the Vice President on an extensive covert action program in motion that was designed to pave the way to a US invasion. Cheney questioned analysts about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. How could they be used against US troops? Which Iraqi units had chemical and biological weapons? He was not seeking information on whether Saddam posed a threat because he possessed such weapons. His queries, according to a CIA officer at the briefing, were pegged to the assumptions that Iraq had these weapons and would be invaded--as if a decision had been made.

Though Cheney was already looking toward war, the officers of the agency's Joint Task Force on Iraq--part of the Counterproliferation Division of the agency's clandestine Directorate of Operations--were frantically toiling away in the basement, mounting espionage operations to gather information on the WMD programs Iraq might have. The JTFI was trying to find evidence that would back up the White House's assertion that Iraq was a WMD danger. Its chief of operations was a career undercover officer named Valerie Wilson.

so while Armitage may have been the first, other administration officials like Libby made multiple calls to reporters - to discuss or discredit a war critic, while revealing the cover of the CIA agent in charge of wmd espionage in Iraq - at a time when they were preparing for war with Iraq. true patriots, your neocons - how proud you must be.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060918/corn

[albed]

Hmmm, a war critic in charge of an operation supporting war. How strange that the operation did poorly.

[Drakonix]

leaving a couple of things out here, aren't we?

Nope. Not a thing. The article link is there. An article from MSN, not Fox.

The original leak was made by Richard Armitage to syndicated columnist Robert Novak. Novak’s column, published in a number of places 07/14/2003 is what publicly disclosed Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a CIA operative.

It was this public disclosure that prompted Joseph C. Wilson IV to make allegations that the White House had purposefully leaked his wife’s CIA employment for punitive measures against his criticism of the invasion of Iraq. The Wilson’s primarily blamed Rove, Libby, and Cheney - naming them in a lawsuit. Joseph and Valerie Wilson were wrong.

From Joseph and Valerie Wilson’s preliminary statement in their lawsuit against Libby, Rove and Cheney:

This Complaint arises out of a conspiracy among current and former high-level officials in the White House and actions taken by and on behalf of those officials in 2003 to violate the constitutional and other legal rights of Valerie Plame Wilson and her husband, Joseph C. Wilson IV. Those officials sought to punish Mr. Wilson for his public statements regarding assertions by the President of the United States in the 2003 State of the Union address that he used to justify the war against Iraq. As their chief method of punishment, the White House officials destroyed Mrs. Wilson’s cover by revealing her classified employment with the CIA to reporters prior to and after July 14, 2003, the date on which a newspaper column by Robert Novak made public that employment.

The full text of the lawsuit, in .pdf form can be downloaded at http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/se...Plame_Suit.pdf
It's 23 pages, slightly larger than 4 MB.

What is even far worse is that Armitage told Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald he was Robert Novak’s source early in the “investigation”. Yet, this revelation was never disclosed and the “investigation” continued as if this information was unknown.

It seems clear that the “investigation” into the leak has been clearly demonstrated to be something other than the thorough and impartial investigation it was supposed to be.

I’m speculating of course, but it seems clear that the “investigation” was simply the continuation of an effort to fabricate wrongdoing by Rove, Libby, Cheney, and the President. The smear campaign didn’t work, Fitzgerald and the Wilson's have been caught in a gigantic lie.

Too bad we can’t send Fitzgerald and the Wilson's to Singapore for an ass caning.

[daddydirt]

NOVAK: ARMITAGE DID NOT TELL ALL
Wed Sep 13 2006 08:37:07 ET

"When Richard Armitage finally acknowledged last week he was my source three years ago in revealing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA employee, the former deputy secretary of state's interviews obscured what he really did," Bob Novak claims in a column set for Thursday release.

Novak, attempting to set the record straight, writes: "First, Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on something he had heard and that he 'thought' might be so. Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked, and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former Amb. Joseph Wilson. Second, Armitage did not slip me this information as idle chitchat, as he now suggests. He made clear he considered it especially suited for my column."

Novak slams Armitage for holding back all this time.

Armitage's silence for "two and one-half years caused intense pain for his colleagues in government and enabled partisan Democrats in Congress to falsely accuse Rove of being my primary source," Novak explains.

"When Armitage now says he was mute because of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's request, that does not explain his silent three months between his claimed first realization that he was the source and Fitzgerald's appointment on Dec. 30. Armitage's tardy self-disclosure is tainted because it is deceptive."

Developing...

http://www.drudgereport.com/flash9.htm

http://www.suntimes.com/output/novak...t-novak14.html

[Drakonix]

An accurate depiction of what Armitage actually said deepens the irony of him being my source. He was a foremost internal skeptic of the administration’s war policy, and I long had opposed military intervention in Iraq. Zealous foes of George W. Bush transformed me improbably into the president’s lapdog. But they cannot fit Armitage into the left-wing fantasy of a well-crafted White House conspiracy to destroy Joe and Valerie Wilson. The news that he and not Karl Rove was the leaker was devastating news for the left.

It would be funny if it were not such a serious matter.

This thing has the potential of rapidly expanding into a massive and revealing scandal of unprecedented proportions.

It appears the Plame matter can now be legally proven to be a purposeful attempt by the left to undermine the U. S. Government for political and personal gain. The government should sock it to them big time.

[theknife]

Originally Posted by Drakonix

It would be funny if it were not such a serious matter.

This thing has the potential of rapidly expanding into a massive and revealing scandal of unprecedented proportions.

It appears the Plame matter can now be legally proven to be a purposeful attempt by the left to undermine the U. S. Government for political and personal gain. The government should sock it to them big time.

the basic facts remain unchanged: if Novak is accurate, we now know that Armitage was the first, followed by (at least) Rove and Libby, to reveal the name of a classified intelligence officer working on prevention of WMD proliferation in Iraq. who's undermining who here, drak? you have three of the highest officials in the Bush administration actively breaching national security interests - since you don't mention this part of the story, should we assume you condone this behaviour?

[daddydirt]

why bother anymore Drak.....sad, but it seems reading between the lines and connecting the dots can only implicate, not exonerate the Bush inner circle. never mind keeping an eye on the ball, some refuse to even admit the ball exists.

[Sinner]

Originally Posted by daddydirt

never mind keeping an eye on the ball, some refuse to even admit the ball exists.

GO Twins!!

[Sinner]

Ain't politics grand!!??

Stop, Thief!
No Right To Privacy From Snooping Democrats
By Dan McLaughlin

So, it turns out that a liberal blogger hacked into a password-protected section of Minnesota GOP Senate candidate Mark Kennedy's website to get an unauthorized peek at Kennedy's campaign ads before they ran. The blogger - a Democratic consultant - apparently did this illegally, and Democratic candidate Amy Klobuchar has now fired her chief spokeswoman, who viewed the purloined ads. This follows on the heels of California Democrat Phil Angelides' campaign admission that it accessed a taped conversation that was password protected on a Web site operated by Governor Schwarzenegger's campaign. Technology has sure come a long way since the days when John Kerry's brother broke into the basement of an opponent's headquarters.

Now, the Minnesota Democrat's defense is to claim that Kennedy's website was too vulnerable to snoopers like him. You may remember a case a few years back when the shoe was on the other foot, and Democrats embarrassed by highly damaging internal Judiciary Committee memos (showing them taking direction on judicial nominees from far-left interest groups, targeting one nominee because he was Latino and stalling another at the request of participants in a pending case) demanded an investigation of a GOP staffer who snooped on their files. So, for all those who were outraged by that story or thought it worthy of media attention, here's your chance to denounce Klobuchar and Angelides:

Paging Walter Pincus and the Washington Post.

Paging Michael Crowley and the New Republic.

Paging Josh Marshall.

Paging Media Matters.

Paging Kevin Drum.

Paging Dahlia Lithwick and Slate.

Paging Armando. (And this Kos diarist and this one too).

Paging The Carpetbagger Report.

Paging Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

Well, you get the idea.

[RDixon]

.

[miss_silver]

Not according to MSNBC

...Libby was convicted of one count of obstruction, two counts of perjury and one count of lying to the FBI about how he learned Plame’s identity and whom he told. Prosecutors said he learned about Plame from Cheney and others, discussed her name with reporters and, fearing prosecution, made up a story to make those discussions seem innocuous...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17479718/

[Nicobie]

They say he 'could' get 25 years.

I bet the lying govm'nt worker gets less than 3 years and that will be with a bracelet on his ankle, living at his home with secret service guards kissing his stanky arse.

[miss_silver]

She used to be (Valerie) CIA's Iran eyes and ears about their nuke/WMD's program.

Quite ironic she was "leaked" in favor of other middle east informants. Anyone, take a wild guess on whom we now rely on Iran inside intel?

[RDixon]

Did anyone else notice those huge ass knives sticking out of his back as he was leaving the courtroom?

Next big news story: Cheney resigns.

It just a question of when now.

[miss_silver]

Originally Posted by RDixon

Did anyone else notice those huge ass knives sticking out of his back as he was leaving the courtroom?

Next big news story: Cheney resigns.

It just a question of when now.

I feel he will meet the same fate as Kenneth Lay before Cheney resings.

[RDixon]

Libby doesn't have enough money to pull off faking his own death to avoid prison.

[Sinner]

He will receive a presidential pardon and not spend a second in prison.