'Rovegate'

[Scarletwine]

"Scooter" Libby has been named as the other sourcce.

 

[Irvine511]

"Scooter" Libby has been named as the other sourcce.

yes, Scooter is most definitely involved.

Scooter and Cheney spent much of the Summer of 2002 going across the river to the Pentagon and CIA HQ to "check up" on how the WMD intelligence in Iraq was "progressing" (this is all on record, even the VP has to sign in) as the administration built their now fully debunked case for war.

how embarassing.

if you have to make up evidence, just how strong is your case to go to war, really?

 

[Scarletwine]

The latest released yesterday, and the reason for the sudden Supreme court nominations is that the State department sent to Airforce 1 the day after Joe Wilson's editorial, his info, his wife's info, and that the info was sensitive. This could tie W directly to the case. (He was on his way to Africa at the time, Karl wasn't on the plane)

 

[Judah]

Bloomberg News story from couple days ago said Fleischer read the State Department memo on Air Force One (+phone logs say Novak had a call into Fleischer at almost the same time). Novak, Miller, Cooper...they could've had many WH sources, it seems.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=awksAN7mYRZY&refer=us

 

[deep]

Ex-officers: CIA leak may have harmed U.S.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Eleven former intelligence officers say the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity may have damaged national security and the government's ability to gather intelligence.

The former officers made their views known in a three-page statement to congressional leaders.

They said the Republican National Committee has circulated suggestions for officials to deal with the Plame case by focusing on the idea that Plame was not working undercover and legally merited no protection.

Thousands of U.S. intelligence officers work at desks in the Washington area every day whose identities are shielded, as Plame's was when her identity was leaked by Bush administration officials, the 11 former officers said.

The former officers' statement comes amid revelations that top presidential aide Karl Rove was involved in leaking Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak and Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper.

Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis Libby, also was a source for Cooper on the Plame story.

The Plame leaks followed public criticism of President Bush's White House by Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson.

Wilson, a former ambassador and career diplomat, suggested administration officials had manipulated intelligence to justify going to war in Iraq.

A criminal investigation into the leaks is under way.

"Intelligence officers should not be used as political footballs," the 11 said. "In the case of Valerie Plame, she still works for the CIA and is not in a position to publicly defend her reputation and honor."

 

[BonosSaint]

Do you think the public will really care about all this? Don't you think they'll just shrug their shoulders, say "sleazy, what else is new in politics?" I just can't see most of the public caring one way or the other.

(I don't need to be convinced this is wrong. I'm one of the choir.
I just can't see it picking up much steam in a climate that's pretty cynical of politicians. Even if Rove did something criminal, I can't see any outrage as a result.)

 

[deep]

June 24, 2004: Prosecutors question President Bush in the Oval Office. The questioning takes over an hour, and the president is not under oath.

time line

 

[deep]

Ex-CIA official blasts Bush on leak of operative's name


(CNN) -- A former CIA intelligence official who once worked with Valerie Plame blasted President Bush and his administration for their response to the role of top White House aides in allegedly leaking Plame's identity as a CIA operative.

Larry Johnson said, "The president has flip-flopped on his promise to fire anyone in the White House implicated in a leak."

Johnson, a registered Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, said he and Plame have been friends since they began their training at the CIA in 1985.

Her name was disclosed in a column by Robert Novak, who is also a contributor to CNN, in July 2003 -- days after her husband, Joe Wilson, a former ambassador, questioned part of President Bush's justification for invading Iraq in a New York Times op-ed piece.

Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper said last week that Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, told him Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but did not say her name. Cooper said also that Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, confirmed that piece of information.

In reference to the investigation, Bush told reporters last week that "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

That statement shifted from his previous comment on his response to the reported leak. When asked in June 2004 whether he stood by his promise to fire whoever was found to have leaked Plame's name, Bush replied, "Yes."

A federal grand jury is investigating whether a crime was committed.

Disclosure of an undercover intelligence officer's identity can be a federal crime if prosecutors can show the leak was intentional and the person who released the information knew of the officer's secret status.

Cooper testified before a grand jury last week in connection with the probe.

Johnson said he was "stunned" by government officials' "ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of the nation."

He strongly responded to some Republican allegations that minimized Plame's role in the CIA. "We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover," he said.

"Instead of a president concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a president who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson."

"We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people and living by example the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth," Johnson added.