Novak Speaks: Correcting the CIA

[kskiska]

August 1, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A statement attributed to the former CIA spokesman indicating that I deliberately disregarded what he told me in writing my 2003 column about Joseph Wilson's wife is just plain wrong.

Though frustrated, I have followed the advice of my attorneys and written almost nothing about the CIA leak over two years because of a criminal investigation by a federal special prosecutor. The lawyers also urged me not to write this. But the allegation against me is so patently incorrect and so abuses my integrity as a journalist that I feel constrained to reply.

In the course of a front-page story in last Wednesday's Washington Post, Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei quoted ex-CIA spokesman Bill Harlow describing his testimony to the grand jury. In response to my question about Valerie Plame Wilson's role in former Amb. Wilson's trip to Niger, Harlow told me she "had not authorized the mission." Harlow was quoted as later saying to me "the story Novak had related to him was wrong."

This gave the impression I ignored an official's statement that I had the facts wrong but wrote it anyway for the sake of publishing the story. That would be inexcusable for any journalist and particularly a veteran of 48 years in Washington. The truth is otherwise, and that is why I feel compelled to write this column.

more…
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20050801.shtml

[roguevalley]

1. douchebag. I wish he would shut up.

[geomon666]

2. The only thing I want to hear from Novakula is...

His daily life in a federal prison.

Day 41:

Thank heavens! The soap on a rope Carlson sent me has finally arrived. I can breathe easier in the shower room now but not much.

[Tace]

3. Every Rat For Himself...

Oh good, we're getting to that scandal stage where it's every rat for himself.

[PurityOfEssence]

4. Talk about last throes...

Thrashing about to clear himself after having sold out everyone in sight, Novak is splitting hairs to deny being a tool of the Junta.

He is the Vidkun Quisling of today. His vaunted 48 years of urinalism will be shown as nothing more than turncoat opportunism, and this reeks from everything he's done. Try as he may, he is a stool pigeon, a rat and a self-serving fool.

He outed a CIA operative to scare the rest of the intelligence community away from ever standing in the way of this hell-bent bunch of international thieves, and he then scampered for immunity by tattling on everyone in sight. His silence hasn't been from nobility, it's been from abject fear and a sick form of denial that made him think he could get away with it.

There's nothing worse than a squealer, unless it's a child molester.

[skids]

5. Let me get this straight...

Novak is saying:

"I have to ignore my lawyer's admonitions so I can tell you how my ignoring a CIA contact's admonitions is not that big a deal."

[applegrove]

6. Novak now is "Mr. Feelings".

[kodi]

7. play tapes of the phone calls. the CIA tapes every call in the place

this would take 2 minutes to find out who was telling the truth here. if novak lied to the grand jury, there is an easy way to find out.

[Carolab]

8. Waa-waa, Bob, tell it to the judge n/t