This photo was taken in 2003. Rove and Novak. Rove’s button says—I’m not making this up—“I’m a source, not a target”. “O, Arturo, prince of irony . . .”
For The Last Time, Plame Was Covert
A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked “(S)” for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials. *** The paragraph identifying her as the wife of … Read More
Rove Being Investigated . . . For Lying To The FBI?
Inside sources are saying so: White House deputy chief of staff Karl Rove did not disclose that he had ever discussed CIA officer Valerie Plame with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper during Rove’s first interview with the FBI, according to legal sources with firsthand knowledge of the matter. The omission by Rove created doubt for federal investigators, almost from the … Read More
Timing Is Everything
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Bush is close to a decision on his first nominee to the Supreme Court and could make his announcement as early as Tuesday, Republican sources said. Wow. Okay. "The time is now,” said a Republican strategist close to the White House of Bush’s announcement. Why is the time “now”, Mr. Republican-Strategist-Close-To-The-White-House? Sources said the timing of … Read More
Executive Order No. 12958
Criminal laws aside, Executive Order No. 12958 would require that the White House, independent of any criminal investigation, take affirmative action to determine if there was a leak, and punish the leaker accordingly. Under the executive order, “officers and employees of the United States Government . . . shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willingly, or negligently … Read More
Rude Pundit’s Take
The Rude Pundit, the only blogger to have turned his rants into a critically-acclaimed off-off-Broadway show (seriously!) explains why the general public disbelieves the Bush Administration on the whole Plame thing, even if we (the public) don’t all necessarily understand the minutae of the law. Quote: The American public, having been fed years of propagandistic books, films, and television shows, … Read More
Flip-Flop
President Bush was against leaks of classified information before he was for tolerated them: Bush, appearing in the Rose Garden with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, gave Congress a stern lecture. “I understand there may be some heartburn on Capitol Hill,” he said. “But I suggest if they want to relieve that heartburn, that they take their positions very seriously and … Read More
“Highest Standards of Conduct” Defined
"The president has set high standards, the highest of standards, for people in his administration. He’s made it very clear to people in his administration that he expects them to adhere to the highest standards of conduct." – Scott McClellan, Press Briefing, September 29, 2003 "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration." – George … Read More
Best Comment Today On Plamegate
From Corrente, on the revelation that Novak’s second source “high administration official” (besides Rove) was Scooter Libby, Dick Cheney’s chief of staff: You know, this whole thing reminds of that great old Agatha Christie novel, Murder on the Orient Express. The whodunnit is totally confusing, clues pointing every which way and cancelling each other out, until Hercule Poirot figures out … Read More
Bush Raises The Bar, Moves The Goalposts, Waffles, etc.
. . . and for a refreshing change, the media isn’t fooled: WASHINGTON – President Bush said Monday that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA-leak case, that person will “no longer work in my administration.” His statement represented a shift from a previous comment, when he said that he would fire anyone shown to have … Read More
SF 312
Administration officials who are given security clearance are required to read and sign a form known as the “Classified Information Nondisclosure Agreement,” of SF 312. A copy of the form can be found here (PDF format). Accompanying the form is a briefing booklet, the contents of which are here. Here’s a key excerpt from the booklet: Question 19: If information … Read More
Nice Little Twist
So focus has been on this classified State Department memo which says that Plame recommended or arranged for Wilson to go to Niger. Fitzgerald’s office appears to believe that that memo was the ultimate source of the information that eventually made its way into print in Robert Novak’s column. (Read more here). It looks like someone else may have had … Read More
Ronald Reagan – Remarks at the Signing of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act
Whether you work in Langley or a faraway nation, whether your tasks are in operations or analysis sections, it is upon your intellect and integrity, your wit and intuition that the fate of freedom rests for millions of your countrymen and for many millions more all around the globe. You are the trip-wire across which the forces of repression and … Read More
Another Plamegate Roundup
With the barage of silly excuses, sliming points, irrelevancies, and (occasionally) outright lies emanating from the right on the issue of L’Affaire Plame, it’s time for another link-o-riffic round-up. This time, it comes courtesy of Think Progress: CLAIM: White House Can’t Comment While Investigation Is OngoingMcClellan: “While that investigation is ongoing, the White House is not going to comment on … Read More
More Wingnut Reasons Why It Is Okay For Rove To Out Covert Agents
The folks at World O’ Crap are spoofing the right-wing machine this week, by offering more reasons why it would be okay for Rove to expose Plame as a CIA operative: Reason #1: Because Plame made out with her husband before marriage. And, even worse, she goes by her maiden name. Reason #2: Because Karl did it to keep Plame … Read More