Rove is leak in Plame case (surprise surprise)

[Dexter]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ucru/20050704/cm_ucru/karlroveworsethanosamabinladen

Now lets see what this 'administration' is made of: honour? Duty? RIIIIIGHT!

[mr.Curmudgeon]

I'm telling you now, it's all about the "WMD's."

Rove didn't have the clearance to know Plame's NOC (non-official cover) status, so if he *did* leak the info to Miller, Cooper or Novak...than someone higher up gave him the info he needed to do so. Cheney? Other potential top level leakers include Bolton and/or Chalabi.

I find the implication that Chalabi might be involved very interesting. It was Chalabi's falsified WMD reports that Wilson tanked. Judith "Queen of all Iraq" Miller had been working with Chalabi, reporting on the Middle East WMD beat for over 10 years. Seems to me that Chalabi, who had been feeding the "Yellowcake" story to Cheney, who in turn used it time and again to justify the invasion, was pissed that his work had been discredited, so he used the Plame outing as payback.

I'm just enthralled by this story. The silence from the administration, so far, is deafening. This case is potentially MUCH bigger than just the outing of an undercover agent, as it may tie into this administrations continued desire to "knowingly" push the WMD angle before the war, even though many in the intelligence community were telling them it was bunk. Wilson and Plame included.

Personally, I think Plame's outing was used to send a "chill" through the intelligence community, so others would think twice before piping up against the Bush Clan.

So for me, some possible "plame" pathways are:

Cheney => Chalabi => Judith Miller => Rove => Novak/Cooper *or* Cheney => Rove => Novak => Miller/Cooper

I *highly* doubt they get Rove or Cheney, as I'm sure they've insulated themselves quite nicely. However, it looks like the federal prosecutor, Fitzgerald, certainly smells fire...

Just today, he asked the courts to forego the journalists requests from "house arrest" and instead requested that they be sent to federal prison, since he believes that will give them more incentive to talk.


mrC

[mr.Curmudgeon]

Cooper just agreed to testify. Says his source authorized him to do so, at the very last minute. Interesting.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/06/politics/06cnd-leak.html

[Shape D.]

I know someone will yell at me but whats that site where you can skip the signup of youre email adress?

[Chris]

nonags.com

[mr.Curmudgeon]

And...

Judy goes to jail.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

White House Stonewalls! ( ) (Rush transcript here)

I think we are seeing history in the making here...the beginning of the end.

Just today in the WH press briefing, Scotty McClellan refused to answer, no less than 5 times, any questions regarding Rove's involvement in the Plame leak. Funny, that he's never had a problem before. At the end of the press conference, reports laughed at him, and mocked his refusal to answer.

The thing that's most interesting, however, is that McClellan stated that he would not comment on an "ongoing criminal investigation."

This is getting better every day.
mrC

P.S. Dexter, might I request that you remove the "kkk" from his name in the title, Rove's name is evil enough as it is, and it detracts from the seriousness of the situation.

[Avery]

...it detracts from the seriousness of the situation.

Funniest thing I ever heard was someone, who was certain that if the FBI didn't know where my library card was every second, Osama would be running amok in the Pentagon by lunch time tomorrow, try to tell me that compromising an intelligence asset during a time of war was not a big deal.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

...try to tell me that compromising an intelligence asset during a time of war was not a big deal.

Especially an asset involved in the investigation of the proliferation of WMD during an ongoing "War on Terror." Ironic, no?

[Dexter]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050711/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_investigation_1

Seems the media are finding their grapes....

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/07/20050711-3.html#

From transcript:

Q: Scott, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us, after having commented with that level of detail, and tell people watching this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium or not?

MCCLELLAN: I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said. And I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is when the investigation...

Q: (inaudible) when it's appropriate and when it's inappropriate?

MCCLELLAN: If you'll let me finish.

Q: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything. You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller explanation. Was he involved or was he not? Because contrary to what you told the American people, he did indeed talk about his wife, didn't he?

MCCLELLAN: There will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it.

Q: Do you think people will accept that, what you're saying today?

MCCLELLAN: Again, I've responded to the question.

QUESTION: You're in a bad spot here, Scott... because after the investigation began -- after the criminal investigation was under way -- you said, October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and Libby. As I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in this," from that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began.

Now that Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?

MCCLELLAN: No, that's not a correct characterization. And I think you are well aware of that.....

And we want to be helpful so that they can get to the bottom of this. Because no one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the president of the United States.

I am well aware of what was said previously. I remember well what was said previously. And at some point I look forward to talking about it. But until the investigation is complete, I'm just not going to do that.

Q: So you're now saying that after you cleared Rove and the others from that podium, then the prosecutors asked you not to speak anymore and since then you haven't.

MCCLELLAN: Again, you're continuing to ask questions relating to an ongoing criminal investigation and I'm just not going to respond to them.

[Chris]

nonags.com

Sorry, don't know what I was thinking, it's http://www.bugmenot.com.

--Chris

[mr.Curmudgeon]

AP: "President Bush, at an Oval Office photo opportunity Tuesday, was asked directly whether he would fire Rove

[Dexter]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,162335,00.html

Had to post this, what a load of <SELF censored>. Hilarious in a disturbing kind of way.

"This just in: Up is down, back is front."

[Shape D.]

OK, I've got plenty of republican friends and talk politics with them fairly often. I don't always agree with them but I still will respect their opinion.

That said this guy is crazy.  Wether he liked who was appointed to do a job or not in no way would justify leaking that kind of information. due to the leak an entire operation the us had been working on for years was ruined, waisting millions of dollars,  putting an unknown number of CIA operatives at risk and causing one to lose her life.

If it was Rove, and the evidence looks like it was, this looks like something he did solely out of spite. Not liking what someone is saying about the president is no reason to deliberately sabotage a us operation.

[mr.Curmudgeon]

So far, the best, most up-to-date, round-up of the Rove story can be had here:
http://billmon.org/archives/002013.html

The author is from the left, but he knows his stuff. It's probably one of the best cynical summaries of this whole mess, that I've read to date. He's one hell of a writer.