Karl Rove - creepy s***bag

[scaeagles]

I wonder if this will be allowed to die now.....

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050715/D8BBQEVO0.html

"The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.

Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 to discuss another story."

"In an interview on CNN earlier Thursday before the latest revelation, Wilson kept up his criticism of the White House, saying Rove's conduct was an "outrageous abuse of power ... certainly worthy of frog-marching out of the White House."

But at the same time, Wilson acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job at the time Novak's column first identified her. "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity," he said."

http://www.washtimes.com/national/20...1257-9887r.htm

"A former CIA covert agent who supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career yesterday took issue with her identification as an "undercover agent," saying that she worked for more than five years at the agency's headquarters in Langley and that most of her neighbors and friends knew that she was a CIA employee.
"She made no bones about the fact that she was an agency employee and her husband was a diplomat," Fred Rustmann, a covert agent from 1966 to 1990, told The Washington Times. "

So.....
Novak told Rove the name "Valerie Plame". Novak was the one who initiated contact.

Cooper (as discussed earlier) believed a lie of Wilson that Cheney recommended he go to Niger, when it was in fact his wife Plame, and was corrected on it. Cooper was the one who initiated contact.

Wilson acknowledges that his wife wasn't undercover when the Novak article ran.

Most of her friends and neighbors knew she worked for the CIA, so this was hardly any secret.

I wonder what the new "attack Rove" spin will be.

[SacTown Chronic]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Rove testified

That's good enough for me.

I wonder what the new "attack Rove" spin will be.

Monica Lewinsky.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by SacTown Chronic

Monica Lewinsky.

Not to be mean, but is there a woman alive who would Lewinsky Rove? He is a tad.....scary looking.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Now, to unravel some spin...

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Novak told Rove the name "Valerie Plame". Novak was the one who initiated contact.

I'm having a hard time believing that Rove did not know the name Valerie Plame prior to Novak mentioning it. Even though he has a past history of this kind of stuff, that of which got him fired from Bush Seniors campaign in 92. And, even though her husband had royally pissed off the administration recently (for telling the truth, no less). Nope, I'm sure Rove was totally in the dark.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

[Cooper (as discussed earlier) believed a lie of Wilson that Cheney recommended he go to Niger, when it was in fact his wife Plame, and was corrected on it. Cooper was the one who initiated contact.

From MediaMatters.com: Link

Remarking on the controversy surrounding senior White House adviser Karl Rove, New York Times columnist and National Public Radio (NPR) commentator David Brooks echoed the false GOP talking point that former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV claimed that Vice President Dick Cheney sent him to Niger.

In an effort to deflect criticism of Rove, the Republican National Committee (RNC) issued talking points claiming that Rove leaked the identity of Wilson's wife, undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame, in order to correct Wilson's false claim that Cheney's office had sent him to Niger. But the RNC supports this claim by distorting Wilson's July 2003 New York Times op-ed and his August 2003 appearance on CNN's Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer. In both instances, Wilson made it clear that his trip was authorized by officials at the CIA, not Cheney.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Wilson acknowledges that his wife wasn't undercover when the Novak article ran.

From MediaMatters.com: link

AP falsely reported Wilson "acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job" when her identity was first publicly leaked »
In a July 15 article reporting new details in the ongoing criminal investigation into the leak of CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity, the AP distorted a remark by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV to falsely report that Wilson "acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job at the time Novak's column first identified her." In fact, Wilson merely emphasized that his wife’s cover was blown at the moment when columnist Robert D. Novak revealed her identity in a July 2003 column.

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Most of her friends and neighbors knew she worked for the CIA, so this was hardly any secret.

Working for the CIA and being known to be a covert op are two entirely different things. Here is an interesting perspective from someone who was a classmate of Valerie.

Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates were undercover--in other words, we told our family and friends that we were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official cover. That means we had a black passport--i.e., a diplomatic passport. If we were caught overseas engaged in espionage activity the black passport was a get out of jail free card.

A few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would have been executed.

The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who had been in contact with that company and with her.

The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political operatives publically identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

I'm having a hard time believing that Rove did not know the name Valerie Plame prior to Novak mentioning it. Even though he has a past history of this kind of stuff, that of which got him fired from Bush Seniors campaign in 92. And, even though her husband had royally pissed off the administration recently (for telling the truth, no less). Nope, I'm sure Rove was totally in the dark.

Truth? I'm certain this will be the subject of debate forever....I'll go with the senate committee's unanimous report.

Senate Select Committee On Intelligence Unanimous Report: “Conclusion 13. The Report On The Former Ambassador’s Trip To Niger, Disseminated In March 2002, Did Not Change Any Analysts’ Assessments Of The Iraq-Niger Uranium Deal.” (Senate Select Committee On Intelligence, “Report On The U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Assessments On Iraq,” 7/7/04)

And Wilson did assert it was the VP -
Joe Wilson: “[W]hat They Did, What The Office Of The Vice President Did, And, In Fact, I Believe Now From Mr. Libby’s Statement, It Was Probably The Vice President Himself ...” (CNN’s “Late Edition,” 8/3/03)

Regardless, nothing can change two facts - that Cooper and Novak initiated the conversations with Rove, not vice-versa. Hardly what one would expect if there was a plot to out Wilson's wife. And Cooper told Rove, as was evidenced in the email mentioned previously, that the VP sent Wilson on the trip. Rove corrected him.

This is about to die. It's over. Dead. Rove didn't do it. Now.....when will the NY Times allow their source, who has waived confidentiality with them, to be known? I wonder why they won't?

[Name]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

"The person, who works in the legal profession and spoke only on condition of anonymity because of grand jury secrecy, told The Associated Press that Rove testified last year that he remembers specifically being told by columnist Robert Novak that Valerie Plame, the wife of a harsh Iraq war critic, worked for the CIA.

Rove testified that Novak originally called him the Tuesday before Plame's identity was revealed in July 2003 to discuss another story."

My major question, which is extremely valid, and just as serious as giving the name, did he verify that she worked for the CIA. Because that offense is just as serious as disclosing the information, because it IS disclosing the information. And that is one of the questions I would be looking at if I were investigating this. In fairness, I will allow Mr. Rove to be innocent until proven guilty, but he is still a suspect.

[scaeagles]

Actually, Novak said he called the CIA to confirm that she worked for the CIA. If the CIA confirmed it, and if most of her friends and neighbors knew she was in the CIA because she talked it up (as her former boss has asserted), then that isn't even unethical, much less illegal.

[Motorboat Cruiser]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

Actually, Novak said he called the CIA to confirm that she worked for the CIA. If the CIA confirmed it, and if most of her friends and neighbors knew she was in the CIA because she talked it up (as her former boss has asserted), then that isn't even unethical, much less illegal.

I find it highly unlikey that Novak, or anyone for that matter, could call the CIA and have that information confirmed, especially without the proper clearance, which Novak certainly doesn't have.

I also have not seen any evidence that her friends and neighbors knew that she worked for the CIA.

Originally Posted by Media Matters

Another frequent spin point used by Rove's defenders, and repeated by reporters, is that Valerie Plame's status as a covert operative wasn't a secret. As Bruce Sanford, who helped write the IIPA, said on CNN, "She really had a desk job at Langley [site of the CIA's Virginia headquarters] and was driving in and out of the CIA every day. That's not exactly deep cover." The "she worked at Langley, therefore she couldn't have been covert" talking point has been omnipresent over the past few days, repeated by conservative activists, Republican officials, and media figures.

But is it true? We have no idea how many CIA operatives with covert status are in and out of Langley each day. Rove's defenders would have us believe that being covert and going to Langley are fundamentally incompatible. So here's a suggestion for some enterprising reporter: Call the CIA. Ask them if covert agents ever come to Langley. They probably won't answer, so ask them this: Would the agency support legislation that would automatically strip covert status from any agent who sets foot on the grounds of CIA headquarters at Langley?

Also, from Media Matters:

Evidence indicates that Plame did in fact engage in CIA business abroad between 1998 and 2003, even if she was not stationed abroad. For example, the Post suggested on October 8, 2003, that Plame remained undercover "in recent years" as an "energy consultant," while actually serving as a weapons proliferation analyst for the CIA, and was known by friends and neighbors as someone who "traveled frequently overseas":

For the past several years, she has served as an operations officer working as a weapons proliferation analyst. She told neighbors, friends and even some of her CIA colleagues that she was an "energy consultant." She lived behind a facade even after she returned from abroad. It included a Boston front company named Brewster-Jennings & Associates, which she listed as her employer on a 1999 form in Federal Election Commission records for her $1,000 contribution to Al Gore's presidential primary campaign.

[scaeagles]

Originally Posted by Motorboat Cruiser

I find it highly unlikey that Novak, or anyone for that matter, could call the CIA and have that information confirmed, especially without the proper clearance, which Novak certainly doesn't have.

Novak:
'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction. Another senior official told me the same thing. As a professional journalist with 46 years experience in Washington I do not reveal confidential sources. When I called the CIA in July to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband -- he is a former Clinton administration official -- they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else. According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of undercover operatives'

So he called the CIA and a former Clinton administration official confirmed it. Sounds like that's the guy who should be found and indicted.

[Scrooge McSam]

Originally Posted by scaeagles

So he called the CIA and a former Clinton administration official confirmed it. Sounds like that's the guy who should be found and indicted.

I think you're getting off track here.

Originally Posted by Novak

When I called the CIA in July to confirm Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband -- he is a former Clinton administration official -- they asked me not to use her name, but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else.

Notice where the offending words (he is a former Clinton administration official) are placed in the sentence - directly after "... Mrs. Wilson's involvement in the mission for her husband". My sense here is he's talking about Joseph Wilson, not his confidential source at the CIA. And by getting "he is a former Clinton administration official" in the records, he's introduced the idea that Wilson was motivated by the politics of embarrassing this President.

But what do we find if we keep picking at this statement?

... but never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else

To do so would have indicated to Novak that Plame was in fact a covert agent, wouldn't it?

... they asked me not to use her name

Asked him, specifically, not to use her name, eh?

Using her name would be identifiying a covert agent, wouldn't it?

... which Novak proceeded to do.

Red courtesy phone for Mr. Novak: Your source was trying to keep you out of trouble.

I agree this confidential source should be questioned. He did NOT handle this exchange with Novak properly. "No comment" would have been the appropriate response, in my opinion. But, it seems that Mr. Novak disagrees with us about who should be indicted and questioned. In order to question this informant, Novak would have to identify him/her. I just don't see that happening unless Novak is compelled to do so.

Of course, it is possible this informant has been called by the Grand Jury and records of any such appearance have not been linked to Novak, at least in the media.