Shots Across The Bow

Thanks for the info.

idiot.

Thank you for providing links to original sources. Your own claim, though, that "the info that Plame is a CIA operative in unattributed" is contradicted by the Time piece you link, which says that:

"And some government officials have noted to TIME in interviews, (as well as to syndicated columnist Robert Novak) that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction."

"Government officials" clearly outed her, which is a felony. The only questions are who did it, and who authorized it? There is also the tangential but important question as to whether the Justice Department can credibly investigate the Administration. I hope that Republicans forcefully demand an independent investigation in this matter with as much frothing-at-the-mouth as they did with Clinton.

"Some gov't officials" is not an ID. Anonymous attributions are worthless. Just ask Jayson Blair.

This is a serious issue, and one which needs to be investigated in full. At this point, there is no need for a special prosecutor, unless, as in the Clinton administration, we see signs of stonewalling, or undue pressure applied by the administration. If the Justice dept does their job, and finds evidence of wrong-doing on the part of the White House staff, then I fully expect that the proper steps will be taken to identify and punish the persons responsible, regardless of their position in the administration.

But that is a ways off right now.

Interestingly enough, now Novak denies that administration officials leaked the information.

Via Instapundit

There still needs to be an investigation, but, if Plame was not a covert agent, then it seems that no laws were broken. Additionally, if Plame wasn't a covert operative, but an analyst, then I fail to see any "intimidation" effect by releasing her name.

If this latest info is true, then this is no longer an isue. However, I still believe we need to have an investigation, to make sure this is the case.

You are making some very minute distinctions about attribution which remind me of Bill Clinton's interpretations of the word "is". Where, after all, did Novak get the information about Wilson's wife?

It seems like noone should be soft-peddling this one, let the chips fall where they may, because of the implications of seeming to make light of treasonous behavior.

This has the potential to bring the administration down and spinning the situation will not help when push comes to shove.

Valerie Plame was not simply an analyst or a data cruncher. She was an operative running a network dedicated to tracking any person or nation that might try to give weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.
The Bush administration pushed very hard the idea that America is in danger from WMD being placed into the hands of terrorists. This was one of the central arguments behind the war in Iraq. Yet in order to protect Bush's political standing, a couple of "administration officials" blew Valerie Plame, and by proxy her network, completely out of the water in an attempt to shut her husband up. In short, in order to protect Bush from the ramifications of using fake evidence to support his war, this White House destroyed an intelligence network that was protecting us from the threat posed by chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

We are less safe now that Valerie Plame is no longer performing this vital task, and the members of her network are in mortal danger of being revealed and destroyed. Beyond that, we are facing a level of hypocrisy that shatters any and all previously known boundaries. This administration ginned up a war in Iraq based upon manufactured evidence and wildly overstated threats, all of which was painted over with rhetoric about defending the country from terrorists and weapons of mass destruction. The fate of Valerie Plame, and her network, shows without doubt that the moral standing of this administration is as empty as Saddam Hussein's WMD cache.

From William Rivers Pitt on TruthOut.org

None of these proposed arguments make any sense at all. The claim of yellow cake was already retracted by the president. The claims of who Wilsons wife was were already out in the open, what her position was or is, is still not clear.

http://www.mideasti.org/html/bio-wilson.html
He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.

http://www.cpsag.com/our_team/wilson.html

He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.

This is a very small item in terms of serious things, and very atypical of Bush's approach to real thorns in the side, such as Tom Daschle's wife being a lobbyist, never was leverage applied against her. If she was covert, then Novak should have been told, if he was told then he is the culprit, if he was not told then whomever it was that told him should be prosecuted and the only office in charge by order of law is the Atty. Gen. The CIA complains some 50 times a year on outings and leaks about their agents. We should all stand down with our uninformed opinions until the facts are revealed. In the interest of national security, seems this is one time that the reporter's (Novak) right to give not reveal his sources is null and void. No one has the right to protect security violators. In the meantime, until proven otherwise, there's an amazing parallel between Tony Blairs torn and that which is thrust on Bush, all political I"m sure.

I think anyone with half a brain would be able to foresee that compromising VPW would not silence her husband -- and, in fact, it has done just the opposite. He is now more vocal than ever.
In fact, Mr. Wilson and the anti-Bush campaign seem to be the only beneficiaries of this incident. I just don't see any benefit to the White House. And, I don't see how anyone in the Bush Administration might have imagined that the White House would benefit.
My word from DC'ers is that VPW was known in DC to be CIA and not as a "covert operative." Since she was not obviously classified as "covert" (and still has not been confirmed as such), anyone might have inadvertently named her.
Under the circumstances, I wonder why so many are willing to believe that someone in the White House knew she was classified "covert" and compromised her deliberately as revenge against Mr. Wilson (or for any other reason). How was Mr. Wilson injured by this revelation? By contrast, how was Pres Bush injured by this revelation?

Rich:
Your constructs are as inaccurate as your spelling.
By the way, you wouldn't happen to be one of those Republican ditto heads that so dearly wanted Clinton impeached for getting a blow job. Now you talk about endangering lives!!!

Actually I believe the only "if" that has to be proven or disproven is - as you said: "IF it is proven that administration officials leaked the info that she was a CIA operative ". I believe it is generally considered illegal to expose CIA operative’s names - perhaps you could ask Aldridge Aims what the punishment for this is.

If it is proven that any administration official leaked this info, they and anyone who condoned or covered it up should be punished. (They always forget about the cover up thing and yet that is the one they ALL get convicted of – Nixon, Clinton, Moffia Bosses, etc.)

This is not a "left wing conspiracy" or "right wing thing". It is a law.

can i send this to some one

50 years ago Bob Novak would have been jailed for printing Valerie Plame's name and her connection with the CIA. Seems Mr. Novak has placed partisan politics ahead of his patriotic duty to keep his mouth shut.