White House mum on CIA leak, Rove

[Sean]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/07/...aks/index.html

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With a criminal probe heating up into who exposed an undercover CIA agent, the White House spokesman is fending off sharp questions about what role U.S. President George W. Bush's top political adviser may have played in the case. News reports have implicated White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove -- the architect of Bush's two presidential campaigns -- in the leak, but spokesman Scott McClellan said on Monday the White House does not want to discuss a pending investigation. "No one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States," he said. "And I think the way to be most helpful is to not get into commenting on it while it is an ongoing investigation." The White House spokesman faced sharp questions not only about Rove, but also about his own statements in the nearly two-year-old criminal probe.

[PatrickHenry]

Quote by: Scott McClellan No one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States

This is kinda funny, considering it has been a coupla years and the guy being accused is Bush's brain...

[Jack]

I wish I could remeber exactly where I read it, or who said it...but the other day I came across a comment saying that this shouldn't be such a big issue, because she wasn't actually an "undercover agent" but was actually more just a supervisor. This totally ignores the fact that as an agency employee, her identity should have been shielded regardless of her role there. So the protective spin has already begun. I don't know that this "scandal" will actually touch the president, unless he's directly involved. But it won't make him look all that good considering his support of Rove over the years.

[PatrickHenry]

The Bushbots on Volconvo have been saying V. Plame wasn't under cover. But she was and Rove needs to face the music. And maybe a firing squad...

[Mr.Vicchio]

The first reporters notes, from Cooper are pretty benign. He warns the reporter to take a closer look at Wilson because his wife sent him on that trip, evidently she works wmd issues at the CIA.

If you want the quote:

Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson." Rove told Cooper that Wilson's trip had not been authorized by "DCIA"—CIA Director George Tenet—or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip."

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek/page/2/

Now it wasn't a big secret she was CIA. That's been put out before. Novak's quip she was an agent and not a desk jockey is different.

What Rove said to Cooper is nothing more then everyday DC gossip and leak, routine. What does the gal in Jail have on her notes? That's a different story now isn't it?

[lsbskins1]

Quote by: Mr.Vicchio What Rove said to Cooper is nothing more then everyday DC gossip and leak, routine.

"Valerie Plame, wife of Ambassador Joseph Wilson, was a covert CIA case officer, working on the acquisition of weapons of mass destruction, and that revealing her name posed a threat to her sources of information. That being the case, revealing her name violated the Intelligence Identies Protection Act. That crime is classified as an "aggravated felony," and carries a ten-year prison term."

Not that it matters to you guys (who would swallow any line that protects and absolves the Bush White House of any consequence for any action, no matter how wrong), but the issue is not so much if she was personally at risk, but rather that it endangered her sources, who were helping the US by helping to protect you and me and eveyone else from the terrorists you claim to want to stop!!!!!!

[Athena]

Why is this important?

[lsbskins1]

Quote by: Athena Why is this important?

It is important because apparently, those in the White House believe that they are more important than any law they break. It seems to be one of those cases where they believe that their ideas are so important to the health and well being of the nation that even if they have to lie and cheat and ignore the rules, it is ok because they believe a larger and greater good is served when they remain in power. Does that sound a little like the philosophy of a dictator I am not allowed to mention?

[Mr.Vicchio]

He didn't reveal her name A, and B it wasn't a secret she worked for the CIA.

So all the above points so far are... moot.

[lsbskins1]

"

Quote by: Mr.Vicchio "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip."

So, this is not, in your opinion, tantamount to revealing her name?

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/r...20030714.shtml

In the article, which you can read at the link above, Novak does not seem to attribute his knowledge of her name to another source, but rather to his senior White House sources, one of which we now know is Rove. And if it was no big deal, then why has a judge and a prosecutor pursued the case to the point of jailing or threatening to jail reporters. Your contentions make no flippin sense. The White House, from the beginning has acknowledged that the law was broken. Are we to believe that now that we know who the source was, that somehow lessens the seriousness of the offence?

[PatrickHenry]

Like I said the Bushbots...

[Whodoe!]

The people fueling this debate (on both sides) suffer a near complete lack of credibility. I am not sure what stands for proof of anything where these people are involved. They act like starving cannibals.

Right now, I trust the media less than I trust the government. The media seems bent on an irrational agenda of tearing everything apart regardless of reason.

[Mr.Vicchio]

CIA officer named prior to column By Bill Gertz THE WASHINGTON TIMES The identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame was compromised twice before her name appeared in a news column that triggered a federal illegal-disclosure investigation, U.S. officials say. Mrs. Plame's identity as an undercover CIA officer was first disclosed to Russia in the mid-1990s by a Moscow spy, said officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. In a second compromise, officials said a more recent inadvertent disclosure resulted in references to Mrs. Plame in confidential documents sent by the CIA to the U.S. Interests Section of the Swiss Embassy in Havana. The documents were supposed to be sealed from the Cuban government, but intelligence officials said the Cubans read the classified material and learned the secrets contained in them, the officials said. The investigation into who revealed Mrs. Plame's identity publicly has reached the highest levels of the U.S. government. President Bush was questioned by investigators June 24. Mrs. Plame is the wife of former U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a critic of the Bush administration who has accused the president of misusing intelligence to go to war in Iraq. Mr. Wilson also accuses White House officials of deliberately revealing Mrs. Plame's name in an effort to discredit him. In 2003, Mr. Wilson publicly debunked reports that Iraq was seeking uranium ore from Niger. Mr. Wilson also said his report ruling out the attempted purchase was ignored. However, recent reports by the Senate Intelligence Committee and the British government have undermined Mr. Wilson's charges. The Senate says Mr. Wilson's report, contrary to his charges, actually bolstered their view that Iraq was seeking uranium ore from Niger. The British government said it believes intelligence reports obtained by the Joint Intelligence Committee that point to attempts by Saddam Hussein's government to buy uranium from Niger. The White House announced last year that it erred in including a statement on the attempted ore purchase in Mr. Bush's State of the Union speech about the Niger-Iraq connection. Mrs. Plame's identity first was revealed publicly by Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak in a July 14, 2003, column about Mr. Wilson's trip to Niger to investigate reports that Iraq was trying to buy uranium ore for a nuclear-arms program. The Justice Department then began an investigation of the disclosure under the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, which makes it a crime to knowingly disclose the name of a covert agent. However, officials said the disclosure that Mrs. Plame's cover was blown before the news column undermines the prosecution of the government official who might have revealed the name, officials said. "The law says that to be covered by the act the intelligence community has to take steps to affirmatively protect someone's cover," one official said. "In this case, the CIA failed to do that." A second official, however, said the compromises before the news column were not publicized and thus should not affect the investigation of the Plame matter. http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...5439-4033r.htm

Whose the tool?

Theose screaming for Rove's head because the media tells tthem too? Or those that know whats going on?

Palme wasn't a deep cover agent, atleast not for the last 9, NINE years, thus failing to fall under the law.

So... you're demanding Bush Fire Rove and he go to jail for not breaking a law that didn't cover a woman whose life wasn't in any danger.

[PatrickHenry]

Vicchio, Bush said he would fire whoever leaked V. Plame to the media. Now he's can't because it came out that it was his own brain, K Rove. Why be surprised at another in an endless supply of lies from the office of the President. Bush=Liar. What else is new?

Rove did it because Wilson told the truth instead of covering for Bush's lie about the uranium from Africa. The cynical Bush administration decided to retaliate by exposing his wife's occupation. She worked on WMD, allegedly a concern of the US, but seemingly not worth keeping confidential when a chance to lash back arrived. Bush lies, lies, lies. Who would trust this government? A damn fool, that's who!

[Whodoe!]

No credibility here! Wilson fancies himself the jet setter of the diplomatic corps; the silver fox and all the accoutrements to go with it. For example, a meaty book deal detailing his modern day swashbuckling! This is a classic spin.

This reeks more of the usual Washington public/private revolving door profiteering than another trendy Bush bungle.

[Mr.Vicchio]

Actually PH, he didn't say that. The Dems have been out making a lot of noise claiming that, but if you pull up his quote, or hear it, he said anyone that broke the law would be delt with and gone.

Why again, would Bush fire someone for not breaking a law, and not threating any hasbeen agents life?

[RickSp]

I love it. Now Mr. V is defending a man who would out a CIA agent for political gain and is using Clintonesque hair splitting to deny that Rove did any such thing. What matters is not loyalty to the country, but loyalty to the emperor, err, president. Sort of redefines 'patriotism' doesn't it?

My favorite commentary on this fiasco from last night's Daily Show, where Steve Colbert suggested that the real problem for Bush is how he will reward Rove. Bush gave Medals of Freedom to Bremer, Franks and Tenet for messing up the war in Iraq and promoted Condi to head State after she flubbed the whole WMD thing, including the Niger yellow cake fantasy that ultimately got Rove in trouble.

Given the scope of Rove's screw-up what, how can Bush possibly reward him enough? Colbert's answer - watch for "Chief Justice Karl Rove".

[lsbskins1]

Because, Mr. V.- the issue was never that her life was threatened, but rather that it it put at risk her sources.It's pretty simple really. Imagine this scene:"Abdul, isn't that lady on TV the woman you met with all those times last year? You said she was your Interior Decorator, but in the Post they say she worked in the CIA as a specialist in the WMD Dept. Hey! Abdul, did you tell her about those Anthrax Spores!".... And, if it is true that the "previous compromises" made revealing her identity not punishable under the law, how come nobody figured this out until it was revealed that it was Rove who leaked her name? Did everybody involved in the investigation, that was only able to force the reporters to reveal sources because it was investigating a crime, cheat and lie to all the news organizations about the fact that a crime was committed? Would Time have given in and had it's guy turn over his notes had they been able to stand up and say, "But, your honor, no crime was committed here? Did they not get the information that Plame was not covered by the law until now because nobody knew it (in which case it was hardly well know information and she was hardly truely compromised ahead of time) or did someone in the government hold back the information in an attempt to break the power of the "liberal media" and therefore is guilty of the crime of obstruction of justice? This whole thing stinks and Mr. Bush, who claimed he wanted to bring honesty and integrity "back" to the Presidency is full of shit.

[Mr.Vicchio]

Okay guys, take a big breather from the kool-aide.

She wasn't a secret agent, she wasn't a deep cover agaent, she wa a Langely Desk Jockey. Her spying days ended when Ames gave her name to the Russians.... 9 YEARS prior.

So any contacts she had, were all ready blown, almost a decade prior to her supposed outting.

So all your arguements, hold no water.

[lsbskins1]

Read my arguments again, V.