Who exposed whistleblower's wife?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1015320,00.html

Julian Borger, Washington
Saturday August 9, 2003
The Guardian

The FBI may launch an inquiry into whether the White House revealed the identity of a covert CIA official to punish her husband for blowing the whistle on President Bush for making misleading claims about the Iraqi nuclear programme, officials in Washington said yesterday.
Joseph Wilson, a former US ambassador and the last American official to meet Saddam Hussein, triggered a scandal on July 6 when he published an article saying that the White House knew in advance that the president's public statements about Iraqi attempts to buy uranium in Africa were not credible.

Mr Wilson had been sent to Niger in 2002 by the CIA to investigate claims of attempted uranium purchases there, and reported back that they were "highly doubtful". Despite his report, President Bush said in his State of the Union address in January: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Mr Wilson said: "We spend billions of dollars on intelligence. But we end up putting something in the State of the Union address, something we got from another intelligence agency, something we cannot independently verify, in an area of Africa where the British have no on-the-ground presence."

After Mr Wilson blew the whistle, the White House admitted the mistake but alleged that his report had never reached senior administration officials - a claim Mr Wilson said was false.

A week after Mr Wilson went public, a conservative journalist, Bob Novak, published an article in which he wrote: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate."

more

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

1. This one isn't going away

[blm]

7. no way...

the intel community won't allow it. The info is being collected quietly. I don't doubt there will be a huge purge within the CIA after Bush is out the door. The BFEE loyalists will be rooted out.

[RainDog]

17. wonder if the leaks about the old Iran-Contra players

is the second front to bring down the fascists?

the CIA knows A LOT about all that, I'm sure.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. I was thinking that too when I read that

[blm]

35. You guys are on the same page....

2004 is going to be historic. It has the ingredients necessary to fully expose the BFEE, linking much of what has been uncovered over the last 20 years.

[JoFerret]

28. When do we get the names?

.

[short bus president]

2. hasn't the CIA also started an inquiry?

That makes two organizations that EVERYONE trusts to investigate the matter fully, and to be forthcoming and open with the results. What could possibly go wrong? </sarcasm>

[Fovea]

4. When the CIA is done with their inquiry

Two Senior officials will be found naked, in each others arms in what investigators will be calling a mutual suicide pact. Clark Clifford stylee...

[truthisfreedom]

3. hey FBI guys, this one is pretty straightforward.

don't dilly-dally, now, this is a matter of national security, and you know what happens when you delay taking action on matters of national security.

this is the most important new revelation in this article:

"The administration has denied giving Novak any names, but Mr Wilson said he had been contacted by other reporters who had both been told about his wife by White House officials."

OTHER REPORTERS. there are more people involved in this. corroborating evidence.

[indictrichardperle]

6. Julian Borger, is in on the truth hotline

Borger exposed the OSP links to Sharon's own office in a previous article in the Guardian. Its pretty obvious the good guys in the CIA are using certain outlets to get the truth out.

[ModerateMiddle]

25. and those are only the ones who have contacted wilson!

[htuttle]

32. Some guys from Time Magazine have already said they were contacted too

There's abundant evidence for an inquiry.

If nothing is done with this, it will further cripple our nation's intelligence efforts, since potential sources in other countries will not want to be put at risk by our president capriciously exposing who they've been in contact with.

[ewagner]

5. "FBI may launch and inquiry"

Those are the key words.

Will Ashcroft stop them? Or, is it just possible that the professionals and dedicated career agents in the FBI will do the same to Ashcroft that the Professionals in the CIA are doing to Rummy?

Stay tuned...it just keeps getting better.

[RainDog]

8. The FBI said

it would not comment on an ongoing investigation.

so how is that different than an inquiry, as in they "may" launch an inquiry?

also, I would like to have a thread in which we can assemble the articles about this issue. I've saved some of them. if you have others, want to post them on this thread?

[NNN0LHI]

10. A preliminary investigation would normally come before a full inquiry...

...in a case like this.

Don

[RainDog]

14. thanks for the info

..and Jack Swift- I hope you are right. This regime has got to go before they destroy our national security, economy, and reason for being as a nation.

[madrchsod]

9. one of the best john stewart

interviews was with wilson. i can see why the whitehouse wants this guy to go away by outing his wife. he`s to well respected,intelligent, and he knows to many people who know the truth. the cia must be really pissed cause she was an important agent and now her and the people she knew covers are blown. the credibilty of the cia is damaged in africa and it will take along time to rebuild.

[JackSwift]

11. Apparently a number of reporters know who the

two scum are, because they made sure to leak it a number of times to different reporters to make sure that it was published. This constitutes a deliberate premeditated conspiracy. It will lead all the way to Rove at least, because nobody in the Bush WH would do this without specific approval from Cheney and/or Rove. It seems to me that Ms. Palme and Mr. Wilson, whom the act was aimed at, have a civil cause of action that could bring down the Bush White House and destroy the Republican party. This was a gross invasion of privacy and a deliberate breach of national security for purely partisan reasons.

[ewagner]

13. Rove's MO

According to Molly Ivans, Rowe doesn't do the dirty deed himself or even orders it done...IMHO he just implies that it would be nice to have it done.

[JackSwift]

18. Who will rid me of this troublesome priest?

Is still a statment of guilt, even if it was done on a nudge and a wink. US operatives may have died as a result of this. This is no different than Hansen, Aldrich or Walker.

[indictrichardperle]

15. Look no further than Bunker Dick and Scooter Libby

and they dont answer to Junior or Rove.

[Sideways]

37. Ah Yes Scooter Libby You Have Named The Quiet Man IRP

Libby has been flying quite low under the radar of late. I don't think that will be the case much longer. It is late here in Oman and I am real beat up after a horrible day with a defiant two year old but I have some good shit on Libby I will post later.

He really farking stinks!

[Chomskyite]

30. Agreed

They should take it to court. Plenty of info would be sealed under the rubric of national security but it would put some much-needed pressure on and some nasty stuff would be aired about how the Bush crime family operates.

[colorado_ufo]

33. My money is on Cheney

since he is the one who sent Wilson to Niger to investigate.

[TacticalPeek]

44. "cause of action", f'ing A...in one of his tv interviews,

Wilson said something like he and wife were "exploring legal avenues" with counsel.

The Independent Counsel law is defunct, but the DOJ Special Prosecutor is still viable. Asscroft will resist, but if private legal actions and Congressional hearings move the flag up the pole, he would eventaully be forced to salute it.

So many walls are beginning to squeeze in on the arrogant bastards, I expect more stupid, bad moves like trying to intimidate Wilson, which will grease their slide into disgrace. Conspiracy, perjury, obstruction of justice, interfering with investigations, etc. are the usual means of transition from politics to criminality.

[RainDog]

45. they're back in biz

with the same crooks and creeps...actually, THEY are the same crooks and creeps who brought on Iraqgate, Iran-Contra, and the October Surprise.

If these stories are not pursued on CNN, NBC, etc, etc, they might as well just bend over and grab their ankles on tv, rather than limiting it to press conferences.

[RainDog]

12. here are some of the other mentions

anyone have the Daily Show link--do they archive interviews?


this is where it started: the original Novak article-

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

"Wilson's mission was created after an early 2002 report by the Italian intelligence service about attempted uranium purchases from Niger, derived from forged documents prepared by what the CIA calls a ''con man.'' This misinformation spread through the U.S. government. The White House, State Department and Pentagon asked the CIA to look into it.

That's where Joe Wilson came in. His first public note had come in 1991 after 15 years as a Foreign Service officer when, as U.S. charge in Baghdad, he risked his life to shelter in the embassy 800 Americans from Saddam Hussein's wrath. My partner Rowland Evans reported from the Iraqi capital in our column that Wilson showed ''the stuff of heroism.'' The next year, President George H.W. Bush named him ambassador to Gabon, and President Bill Clinton put him in charge of African affairs at the National Security Council until his retirement in 1998.

Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me his wife suggested sending Wilson to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. ''I will not answer any question about my wife,'' Wilson told me."

--------------

newsday reported on this

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia223383072jul22,0,1332639.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines


Wilson and a retired CIA official said yesterday that the "senior administration officials" who named Plame had, if their description of her employment was accurate, violated the law and may have endangered her career and possibly the lives of her contacts in foreign countries. Plame could not be reached for comment.
"When it gets to the point of an administration official acting to do career damage, and possibly actually endanger someone, that's mean, that's petty, it's irresponsible, and it ought to be sanctioned," said Frank Anderson, former CIA Near East Division chief.
--------------

http://thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=823

"The sources for Novak's assertion about Wilson's wife appear to be "two senior administration officials." If so, a pair of top Bush officials told a reporter the name of a CIA operative who apparently has worked under what's known as "nonofficial cover" and who has had the dicey and difficult mission of tracking parties trying to buy or sell weapons of mass destruction or WMD material. If Wilson's wife is such a person--and the CIA is unlikely to have many employees like her--her career has been destroyed by the Bush administration. (Assuming she did not tell friends and family about her real job, these Bush officials have also damaged her personal life.) Without acknowledging whether she is a deep-cover CIA employee, Wilson says, "Naming her this way would have compromised every operation, every relationship, every network with which she had been associated in her entire career. This is the stuff of Kim Philby and Aldrich Ames."

---------------

Time also reported-

A War on Wilson?
Inside the Bush Administration's feud with the diplomat who poured cold water on the Iraq-uranium connection 
By MATTHEW COOPER, MASSIMO CALABRESI AND JOHN F. DICKERSON

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,465270,00.html



---------------
Wilson on c-span

http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Current_Event&Code=Iraq&ShowVidNum=6&Rot_Cat_CD=US_Iraq&Rot_HT=&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=30&ShowVidDesc=

--------------

identities protection act

http://karws.gso.uri.edu/Marsh/CIA/50usc421.htm

--------------

story discussed elsewhere

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/27051

http://babelogue.citypages.com:8080/sperry/2003/07/22

"... Mentioning Plame served no purpose other than to put an end to her career. Typical of the chatter on the right, the American Daily picked up on Novak's story last Thursday as well, and spared no punches in discrediting the Ambassador.


...Back in 1975, conservatives understood that "outing" CIA operatives was treason, and they ripped into Senator Frank Church, blaming the Church Committee for identifying Richard Welch, the CIA Station Chief in Athens, who was subsequently assassinated by the 17 November Greek terrorist organization. This matter is no different, and, frankly, the stench of partisanship makes it objectively much worse. Heads should roll.

So let's get this straight: two senior Bush administration officials allegedly undermine our national security by publicly identifying a CIA intelligence officer whose specialty is WMD. In doing so, they betray our personal safety and they betray the CIA. The American media, with the exception of David Corn's column in "The Nation," however, believes that such a story doesn't have "news value." But full court press coverage, with multiple articles on Kobe Bryant's "little problem," is worthy of page one treatment.

----------

background-

Republicans accused Church of outing a CIA agent. Later the charges were refuted...back then I guess it mattered? --even if they were wrong about blaming Church.

http://www.prospect.org/print/V12/19/mooney-c.html

[JoFerret]

24. Thanks for this record

.

[colorado_ufo]

34. Here's what I have for the Daily Show

http://www.comedycentral.com/tv_shows/thedailyshowwithjonstewart/videos.jhtml

[RainDog]

38. thanks for the link

I'm adding it and the Guardian piece to my list.

[yellowcanine]

16. FBI ahould investigate, but

they should do so under the direction of an Independent Special Prosecutor. No way should Ashcroft have any say in this. This is too big - Areas of investigation include breakdown in intelligence prior to 9-11, civil rights violations of Arab Americans, cover-up of Saudi involvement in 9-11, political misuse of intelligence to build support for war with Iraq, and cronyism in awarding contracts for rebuilding Iraq. Demos need to move on this. There are repub senators that can be shamed/scared into helping out (Shelby, Collins, Chafee, Spector, Roberts) but Demos must lead the way.

[calimary]

20. Well, as Amen1234 once posted - Have you called your congressman today?

We have GOT TO help keep this fire burning!

To find out the local or Washington numbers of any of your reps, or anybody else's reps - either Senate OR Congress, go to www.congress.org and go to the directory. You can plug in a name and it'll give you all the details.

PLEASE, guys! It's up to us! WE can help ensure that this story doesn't go away! But we have to alert as many people as possible that it shouldn't go away. They won't have any motivation if they don't hear from us! If they don't hear from us, that confirms the false statements that "America doesn't care." And we know that's not true!

[snippy]

39. Absolutely right. This requires a special prosecutor.

The democrats need to start talking about this now. It takes time for the political pressure to build before a special prosecutor is appointed.

[realFedUp]

21. Subpoena Mr. Novak

first.

[calimary]

22. Yeah, true, but that may not work. He'll hide behind his reporter's code

of protecting his sources. No, we have to go beyong him. Although, it would be neat to see Novak squirming under that kind of heat.

[Fridays Child]

23. Not just squirming...

...but squirming behind bars. Novakula deserves nothing less.

[Eloriel]

26. As much as I might like that, we can NOT go there

We have to protect reporters -- even Novak, dammit -- from revealing their sources. We must. Otherwise, no government or even corporate wrongdoing will EVER again get leaked to the press.

Eloriel

[TahitiNut]

41. Agreed.

Damn it. :grr:

[OldCurmudgeon]

42. oh, let him protect his sources

from the FBI. But I sure would like to see Carville take Novak to the woodshed on Crossfire for his hypocritical behavior.

"So Bob. It's okay to out CIA covert operatives is it? Yes or no? How about aiding and abetting a felony? Are you okay with doing that?
Sure, _you're_ in the clear...but as soon as they passed the information to you, they became felons, didn't they?"

"So it's okay to have high-ranking felons in the Bush administration, and you're going to help them in their felonies, and help keep them from the law?"

"How can you look at yourself in the mirror, Bob?"

[Chomskyite]

27. But remember

The FBI also launched an inquiry after the June 17, 1972 burglaries. Interim director Pat Grey shredded the files. Haldeman told Helms and his assistant Vernon Walters at the CIA to "shut it off" because it "might open up the whole Bay of Pigs thing" whatever that meant.

And Nixon won reelection by a landslide.

[leesa]

29. The FBI "may launch"??? Isn't that their job to protect us from

internal acts of treason?

[Stephanie]

31. I think this is IT!

This could be the string to pull that unravels the whole thing. They can't wriggle out of it. They DID it. It is unforgiveable. Intel people will NOT let it slide. It's pertinent to every other slimy move they've made in the last two years. An investigation into this betrayal will unravel all the rest. Let's go FBI!

[Fovea]

36. If it isn't it,

It means the green light is on to break any law, or subvert any agency. IF TREASON IS NOT SUFFICIENT CAUSE FOR REMOVAL, WHAT IS????

Sorry for the yelling, I feel better now.

[snippy]

40. "Let's go FBI!" The FBI is part of Dept. of Justice run by Ashcroft.

We need a special prosecutor in charge of this, not John Ashcroft.

[catzies]

43. Who has the power to revive that statute, Senate or SCOTUS?

That is a tool we need back desperately, and they got rid of it when they knew they were seizing power so that the weapons they used could not be used against them later. Bastards all. :mad:

[snippy]

46. The Independent Counsel law expired but a special prosecutor

can still be appointed.

[Sheet22]

47. If it walk like a duck, and quacks like a duck........

it's probably a duck.

'QUACK!'