Richard Keil of Bloomberg’s Washington Bureau (infamous for his “The president of the United States is AWOL, and we’re with him… the ultimate road trip.” line in the story of the President’s Thanksgiving trip to Baghdad) has breaking news on Valerie Plame investigation.
July 22 (Bloomberg) — Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case.
Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn’t tell Libby of Plame’s identity, the person said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame’s name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said.
These discrepancies may be important because Fitzgerald is investigating whether Libby, Rove or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether any administration officials violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a CIA agent.Keil’s report relies on an anonymous source, so it should be viewed with a health dose of skepticism, but assuming the source is accurate we now have a possible reason why Fitzgerald fought so hard for testimony from Time report Matt Cooper and New York Times reporter Judith Miller. The differing account of Russert, Novak, Libby, and Rove would be hard to make a case for perjury with, as they amount to he said/he said accounts of phone conversations. If Fitzgerald could show a pattern of differing accounts from either Rove or Libby, then perhaps he’d have a case.
The story goes on to recap yesterday’s news of a State Department memo that included Plame’s name in section marked as “secret.”
A memo by the department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) included Plame’s name in a paragraph marked “(S)” for ‘Secret,’ a designation that should have indicated to anyone who read it that the information was classified, the Washington Post reported yesterday.
The memo summarizing the Plame-Wilson connection was provided to Powell as he left with President George W. Bush on a five-day trip to Africa. Fitzgerald is exploring whether other White House officials who accompanied Bush may have gained access to the memo and shared its contents with officials back in Washington. Rove and Libby didn’t accompany Bush to Africa.
One key to the inquiry is when White House aides knew of Wilson’s connection to Plame and whether they learned about it through this memo or other classified information.If either Libby or Rove can be tied to the memo it’s game over for them. I’m still wholly underwhelmed by the story, but given the details that have emerged (and are likely to emerge), it’s just about time that both Rove and Libby take one for the team and step down.
Three weeks ago, over at JustOneMinute, poster “Kim” aptly called Joe Wilson, Sandy Berger, Rand Beers, and Richard Clarke: The Four Hoarsemen of the Politiscape.
Now there’s a movie deal for one of the gang of four former Kerry advisors: Richard Clarke (who along with Rand Beers left their Bush WH NSC positions in early 2003, then revealed their alliance with the Kerry camp). Reportedly, one of the Berger thefts was a 15-page terrorism-related doc written by Richard Clarke.
[7/26/05] [LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Sony Pictures is negotiating to acquire film rights to the first novel from Richard Clarke, the counterterrorism expert who accused the Bush administration of ignoring the terrorist threat before the Sept. 11 attacks.
His novel, “The Scorpion Gate,” will be published in October by Putnam Adult. The studio hopes the film adaptation will be the first in a series of John Clancy-style political thrillers. The project will be produced by former studio chief John Calley.
The realistic geopolitical thriller is set five years in the future as oil-hungry forces in Washington are ready to reshape the map of the Middle East to further their own ends by launching a global nuclear war. The plot involves a fictional takeover of the House of Saud by extremists.
Clarke turned to fiction after writing his 2004 best-seller, “Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror,” which assessed the anti-terrorism efforts of the past four presidential administrations, all of which he worked in.
“Enemies” was at the center of a national debate about America’s readiness to respond to terrorist threats before Sept. 11. Clarke, who was a counterterrorism expert in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, appeared before the 9/11 Commission in March 2004, coinciding with the publication of his book. During that hearing, he testified that the Bush White House didn’t consider terrorism “an urgent issue” in the months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
*****
Another howling pot calling the kettle black.
But Scorpions sting themselves to death in failed attack.
Ah, but it’s all fiction.
CONCLUSION
Killing… a story – Hiding the Uranium-to-Terrorists Trail
When the pot calls the kettle black, investigate the pot.
When an MSM exec accuses US soldiers of deliberately killing journalists, I look to see if that exec (Eason Jordan) was involved with the killing of a journalist (Daniel Pearl).
When a CIA-cabal and Wilson, in collusion with key MSM points, accuse the US govt of outing an agent and falsifying intelligence, I look to see if that same crowd was involved with fatally outing Daniel Pearl (who was onto the Al Qaeda nuclear trail as a WSJ journalist) and falsifying Niger uranium transaction intelligence to hide the trail of uranium to terrorists and discredit any other valid intelligence.
Feb 02 – the beheading of Daniel Pearl
Feb 02 – Wilson’s trip to Niger and the forged docs
Plugging “leaks” (i.e. valid information which threatens those in collusion with terrorists) at both ends of the uranium and technology transfer-to-terrorists trail.
“How Osama Bought Bomb” and my question was: who else helped him and how?
The best way to handle an operation is to expose it.
At a level higher than aesthetics, if one sees it clearly in all its details, one can prevent an American Hiroshima from happening, and still have a playing field left for better games.
***
Chris? Hello?
Remember AnonymousDrivel’s post (July 25, 2005 09:51 PM)?
But I hope you’ll answer one of my questions that you dodged earlier since I addressed your points. Do you not want to know if Wilson (and/or Plame) colluded with anyone? Regardless of what happens to Rove, does this not interest you in the least?…
Any opinion?