The Karl Rove connection
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
THE OFFICIAL silence from the White House on Monday was quite disturbing.
For many months, the White House has insisted that Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was not involved with the "outing" of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. President Bush had personally pledged to fire the source of that leak.
The Bush administration's outrage and pledge to fire the source suddenly vanished Monday. At a White House briefing, press secretary Scott McClellan said he would not respond to reports that Rove spoke with a Time reporter about Plame's role at the CIA -- not using her name, but identifying her as the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV -- three days before Robert Novak exposed her identity in a syndicated column.
McClellan said he would talk about the case "at the appropriate time" -- explaining that would be after the investigation is completed.
It is important to remember the origins of the case. Wilson dealt a tremendous embarrassment to the White House justification for war by disclosing that his trip to Niger in 2002 found no evidence that Iraq was trying to buy uranium -- and that he reported his findings to top administration officials. Nevertheless, Bush reiterated the allegation against Iraq in his January 2003 State of the Union speech.
The "outing" of Plame effectively destroyed her career as a covert agent and may have undermined past and future U.S. intelligence operations. It sure smells like retribution against a public servant who dared contradict the White House party line. It also may have been a crime.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller sits in jail today for refusing to reveal the source of the information she received about Plame.
Meanwhile, Karl Rove continues to roam the White House, wielding great power as well as a security clearance.
There is something terribly wrong with this picture. At a minimum, Rove should be put on leave while the evidence that he may have used top-secret information for political purposes is being sorted out.
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THE OFFICIAL silence from the White House on Monday was quite disturbing.
For many months, the White House has insisted that Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove was not involved with the "outing" of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame. President Bush had personally pledged to fire the source of that leak.
The Bush administration's outrage and pledge to fire the source suddenly vanished Monday. At a White House briefing, press secretary Scott McClellan said he would not respond to reports that Rove spoke with a Time reporter about Plame's role at the CIA -- not using her name, but identifying her as the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV -- three days before Robert Novak exposed her identity in a syndicated column.
McClellan said he would talk about the case "at the appropriate time" -- explaining that would be after the investigation is completed.
It is important to remember the origins of the case. Wilson dealt a tremendous embarrassment to the White House justification for war by disclosing that his trip to Niger in 2002 found no evidence that Iraq was trying to buy uranium -- and that he reported his findings to top administration officials. Nevertheless, Bush reiterated the allegation against Iraq in his January 2003 State of the Union speech.
The "outing" of Plame effectively destroyed her career as a covert agent and may have undermined past and future U.S. intelligence operations. It sure smells like retribution against a public servant who dared contradict the White House party line. It also may have been a crime.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller sits in jail today for refusing to reveal the source of the information she received about Plame.
Meanwhile, Karl Rove continues to roam the White House, wielding great power as well as a security clearance.
There is something terribly wrong with this picture. At a minimum, Rove should be put on leave while the evidence that he may have used top-secret information for political purposes is being sorted out.
Page B - 6
posted by Jamie @ 10:36 AM
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