Text 14215, 113 rader
Skriven 2005-07-18 07:34:10 av John Hull (1:379/1.99)
Ärende: CIA Responsible for Agent Outing
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It has become increasingly clear that the CIA is to blame for the flap and
"outed" Valerie Plame as a former undercover operative.  But, what is even more
telling is that it is increasingly clear the Bush people did not do so, and in
fact followed the rules vis a vis reporters.  Once again, the Democrats don't
just have egg on their face, they've got the whole omelet, the side meat, and
the coffee over their heads and down the front of their shirts.  It would be
hard to imagine a more inept and desperate attempt to trash Bush, his advisors,
and the GOP than this latest fiasco from the left.



Cheney adviser named in CIA flap

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 18, 2005

Time magazine correspondent Matt Cooper yesterday named a second Bush
administration official as a source for stories that identified Valerie Plame
as an agent of the CIA, although he conceded that neither source mentioned her
by name or said she had been a "cover agent."
    In a first-person article in this week's editions of the magazine, Mr.
Cooper writes that he told a federal grand jury investigating the leak that he
asked Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney,
whether the vice president played any role in arranging Joseph C. Wilson IV's
trip to Niger, as Mr. Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador to Gabon and then to Sao
Tome and Principe, had suggested in an op-ed essay in the New York Times.
    "On background, I asked Libby if he had heard anything about Wilson's wife
sending her husband to Niger. Libby replied, 'Yeah, I've heard that too,' or
words to that effect," Mr. Cooper writes. The magazine is available on
newsstands today.
    Mr. Cooper confirmed that neither Mr. Libby nor senior Bush adviser Karl
Rove identified Mrs. Plame or disclosed her work status at the CIA.
("Background" describes an interview in which the subject cannot be quoted, by
name, position, or even indirectly; any information must be used only as
"background information.")
    "Like Rove, Libby never used Valerie Plame's name or indicated that her
status was covert, and he never told me that he had heard about Plame from
other reporters, as some press accounts have indicated," Mr. Cooper writes.
    In an appearance yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Mr. Cooper was asked
by host Tim Russert whether he interpreted Mr. Libby's response "as a
confirmation."
    "I did, yes," the Time reporter said.
    Mr. Cooper said Mr. Rove was warning him that Mr. Wilson's accusations
against the Bush administration were entitled to little credibility. Such
cautions, or "wave-offs," are common.
    In an e-mail sent by Mr. Rove, and subsequently turned over to the grand
jury by the White House, he notified Stephen J. Hadley, who was then the deputy
national security adviser to the president, that "Matt Cooper called to give me
a heads-up that he's got a welfare reform story coming.
    "When he finished his brief heads-up, he immediately launched into Niger.
'Isn't this damaging? Hasn't the president been hurt?' I didn't take the bait,
but I said if I were him I wouldn't get Time far out in front on this."
    Those familiar with Mr. Rove's grand jury testimony told the Associated
Press that Mr. Rove testified that the e-mail reflected his intentions when he
responded to Mr. Cooper's telephone call in a conversation lasting a few
minutes on a Friday in July last year, shortly before he left for a vacation.
He did not intend to divulge Mrs. Plame's identity, he said, but rather wanted
to caution Mr. Cooper against crediting the Wilson accusations.
    Mr. Cooper writes in Time magazine: "Rove told me material was going to be
declassified in the coming days that would cast doubt on Wilson's mission and
his findings."
    "As for Wilson's wife, I told the grand jury I was certain that Rove never
used her name and that, indeed, I did not learn her name until the following
week, when I either saw it in Robert Novak's column or Googled her, I can't
recall which.
    "Rove did, however, clearly indicate that she worked at the 'agency' -- by
that, I told the grand jury, I inferred that he obviously meant the CIA and
not, say, the Environmental Protection Agency. Rove added that she worked on
'WMD' [weapons of mass destruction] issues and that she was responsible for
sending Wilson. This was the first time I had heard anything about Wilson's
wife."
    Mr. Wilson, appearing on CBS' "Face the Nation," insisted that Mr. Cooper's
notes and testimony are "documented evidence" that Mr. Rove gave his wife's
name to a reporter in retaliation for Mr. Wilson's op-ed essay, which accused
the Bush administration of manufacturing the weapons of mass destruction case
against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
    Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, told NBC
that Mr. Cooper's explanation vindicates Mr. Rove and that he rightly
questioned Mr. Wilson's motives in criticizing the administration while not
eliminating any agent's cover.
    "Joe Wilson misled the public about who sent him to Niger. Second, he
misled the public about what he found. He misled the public about who revealed
his materials on what he saw when he was over there. He misled the public about
the documents that he didn't review, which he said he did review. He explained
all of these mistakes by saying, 'I sometimes take a little literary flair.' He
then appeared in a big photo spread in Vanity Fair magazine."
    Angered that Mrs. Plame's name and position were printed by Mr. Cooper a
few days after they appeared in a syndicated newspaper column by Robert Novak,
the CIA asked the Justice Department to investigate the source of the
revelation.
    Led by prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, the two-year-old investigation has
lead to the jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller for refusing to
disclose her source.
    House Majority Whip Roy Blunt, Missouri Republican, suggested to CBS' "Face
the Nation" the CIA was "overzealous" in requesting the investigation, saying
many people in Washington understood that Mrs. Plame worked at the CIA, driving
openly to its headquarters in Langley every day.
    "It certainly wouldn't be the first time that the CIA might have been
overzealous in sort of maintaining the kind of top-secret definition on things
longer than they needed to," Mr. Blunt said.
    




John 

America:  First, Last, and Always!
LIBERALS AND DOGS KEEP OFF THE GRASS!

--- Msged/386 TE 05
 * Origin: We are the Watchmen of our own Liberty! (1:379/1.99)