# Bush Administration caught revealing spy's indentity to smear him over Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 29, 2003, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462 "2003-09-29T13:08:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/61 "2003-10-02T03:13:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\* > I’m not sure where you come off with this “certainly greater than Repub will be willing to admit” horseshit. > Why is everything an excuse for a partisan politic cheapshot? \*\* I’m as sick of this as I am of the canard that if you don’t support the recent invasion of Iraq you must be a liberal. I am a Republican. Just because I’m a Republican, does not mean that I march in lock step w/ the current Admin. Despite the bumperstickers, there really isn’t a lobotomy as part of the initiation into the party. My posting record speaks for itself. Here’s a lovely little intro to neo-conservatism vs conservatism by the Godfather of Neo-Conservatism, Irving Kristol. > [@](#): > > \*\*[The Neoconservative Persuasion\*\*](http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/003/000tzmlw.asp) > > …one can say that the historical task and political purpose of neoconservatism would seem to be this: to convert the Republican party, and American conservatism in general, against their respective wills, into a new kind of conservative politics suitable to governing a modern democracy. > …neoconservative policies, reaching out beyond the traditional political and financial base, have helped make the very idea of political conservatism more acceptable to a majority of American voters. Nor has it passed official notice that it is the neoconservative public policies, not the traditional Republican ones, that result in popular Republican presidencies. > > Neocons feel at home in today’s America to a degree that more traditional conservatives do not. > > The steady decline in our democratic culture, sinking to new levels of vulgarity, does unite neocons with traditional conservatives–though not with those libertarian conservatives who are conservative in economics but unmindful of the culture. > Because religious conservatism is so feeble in Europe, the neoconservative potential there is correspondingly weak. > > The older, traditional elements in the Republican party have difficulty coming to terms with this new reality in foreign affairs, just as they cannot reconcile economic conservatism with social and cultural conservatism. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/62 "2003-10-02T03:14:35Z")
So this story comes out on, what, July 15th? The crime is revealed, in public, by a columnist with a national audience. The President does squat. Nada. El zippo. Months go by. Due primarily to relentless blogging, the story finally hits the front pages. And the President is energized. Taking the whole thing very, very seriously. He said so, right there on the the TV. Very, very seriously. Gonna get to the bottom of this, yessiree! About what, two and a months later? > [@](#): > > …especially in light of how seriously the White House is dealing with it… You’re kidding, right? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/63 "2003-10-02T03:21:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elucidator \* > \*\* > Due primarily to relentless blogging, the story finally hits the front pages. > \*\* I’d contend primarily due to DCI Tenet’s recent direct involvement. No offense to the bloggers, but he carries a lot more weight with the Admin, the public, national newspapers and the DoJ. W/o him this’d just be another of the near weekly investigations of a similar nature. ---
**Author:** ![Sterra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8c91f0/32.png) [@Sterra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sterra)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/64 "2003-10-02T03:36:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > \*\*That’s an unfair mischaracterization, especially in light of how seriously the White House is dealing with it. > \*\* Please explain? I can only assume that you are being sarcastic because the whitehouse has known about this since July. Presumably if they took it seriously they would like, have gone after the person responsible? ---
**Author:** ![Weird\_With\_Words](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weird_with_words/32/385_2.png) [@Weird\_With\_Words](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weird_With_Words)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/65 "2003-10-02T05:16:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scylla \* > **I’m not sure where you come off with this “certainly greater than Repub will be willing to admit” horseshit.** I don’t think **Evil Captor** meant this as a blanket statement involving all republicans. However, aside from McCain, the republicans in congress (not to mention the Pubbie Pundits (my band name! Hands off!)) have been acting conspicuously unconcerned with this -ahem- **Federal Crime**. The party line has been pretty much unanimous: “We get hundreds of leaks every week, this is just being inflated by partisan politics. Wilson is just mad because he’s a democrat. Besides, she’s just an analyst, who cares?” Sorry pubbies, that dog won’t hunt, he’s too busy humping Karl Rove’s leg. Like they say, sometimes you screw the pooch (Blair?), and sometimes the pooch screws you. Either way, the end result is the same: embarrassment when caught. > [@](#): > > \*\*Why is everything an excuse for a partisan politic cheapshot? \*\* Ask Rove, he started it. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/66 "2003-10-02T13:42:20Z")
The tenor of the Bush Administration on this issue has changed, very grudgingly, due to the horrific poll numbers on this issue. > [@](#): > > Nearly seven in 10 Americans believe a special prosecutor should be named to investigate allegations that Bush administration officials illegally leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released yesterday. > > The poll, taken after the Justice Department announced that it had opened a criminal probe into the matter, pointed to several troubling signs for the White House as Bush aides decide how to contain the damage. The survey found that 81 percent of Americans considered the matter serious, while 72 percent thought it likely that someone in the White House leaked the agent’s name. I guess only Tom Delay and Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie are still on the old"nobody cares but Democrats" page. But the support Scylla’s post, not all Pubbies are as out of touch as Delay and Gillespie: > [@](#): > > As the White House hunkered down, it got the first taste of criticism from within Bush’s own party. Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) said that Bush “needs to get this behind him” by taking a more active role. “He has that main responsibility to see this through and see it through quickly, and that would include, if I was president, sitting down with my vice president and asking what he knows about it,” the outspoken Hagel said last night on CNBC’s “Capital Report.” After his comments on the Iraq WMD disaster and now this Hagel has shown himself to be a man of independent conviction. Along with John McCain he has shown integrity on these issues, hopefully they will be rewarded, not punished by the Adminstration- but I doubt it. Although, despite claims to the contrary, Bush does not want to dig _too_ deep. > [@](#): > > Yesterday, McClellan did not deny that there had been any general White House effort to discredit Wilson at the time of the original leak. “The issue here is whether or not someone leaked classified information,” he said yesterday, adding after the briefing: “I’m drawing a line here. I’m not going to play the game of going down other rabbit trails.” > > The move to circumscribe the White House response could have legal and political implications. Bush and his aides have made clear that they do not support naming a special counsel to investigate the leaks, but Democrats said Bush’s Justice Department cannot lead an impartial probe. When 70% of Americans want something you may want to listen there George. Even if it does cost you Rove or other high officials. [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29560-2003Oct1.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29560-2003Oct1.html) ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/67 "2003-10-02T14:19:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elf6c \* > \*\* > I guess only Tom Delay and Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie are still on the old"nobody cares but Democrats" page. > \*\* Well, there’s still Limbaugh and the ditto-heads. I heard him go on yesterday about how this whole affair is the result of the Dems. I wonder if he’ll be on the same track today. I hope I get a chance to hear him today as well. Of course, he has his own other problems to deal with, drugs and resignation. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/68 "2003-10-02T14:23:11Z")
\*\*Scylla \*\* speaking of partisan shots- take a look at these: > [@](#): > > Both the White House and the Republican National Committee assailed Wilson for retreating from his charge that Rove was responsible for the disclosure and for his newly acknowledged role in the presidential campaign of Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.). Wilson said he gave $2,000 to Kerry’s campaign and has participated in three or four of the campaign’s conference calls about foreign policy. > > At the Capitol, aides to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (Tex.) distributed paper sacks labeled “Leak Hyperventilation Bags.” [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29560-2003Oct1.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29560-2003Oct1.html) But the bigger question, whose stupid ass idea was this? What did they hope to accomplish? Are they **so** out of touch that attacking someone’s wife is a good idea. Maybe after Hillary Clinton someone lost all perspective (but even then, she availed herself of the political spotlight in some repects). Here is an interesting analysis piece on the “what were they thinking aspect” which is baffling Washington insiders both left and right. > [@](#): > > Now the Justice Department has a criminal investigation going into allegations that Bush administration officials leaked the fact that Wilson’s wife is a covert CIA operative. Is it a bad thing to have a wife who works? A wife who works for the CIA? A wife who works undercover, instead of at a Hecht’s makeup counter selling cover-up? > > C’mon, class! There are very few hands in the air. This is an area in which we are supposed to excel. The rest of America may not be able to understand the byzantine pathways of this particular government scandal, but here, in Washington, we are the gifted and talented, counted on to suss out the particulars of communications strategy and motivations. This time, even experienced practitioners, both leakers and leakees, are puzzled. > > Richard Perle, part of the neo-con crowd that pushed hard for toppling Hussein, doesn’t get it. “It looks to me like it’s gotten very nasty and a little bit bizarre,” says Perle, speaking from somewhere in the Near East, where he was traveling under an assumed name. Another conservative weighs in: > [@](#): > > Confusion has crept into the voice of even that confident blogger, Andrew Sullivan: “If she’s just an analyst and this is widely known, then the White House calls are slimy (and still baffling to me),” he writes. Another theory: > [@](#): > > “Mean-spirited,” former CIA case officer and author Robert Baer calls the alleged White House whispering campaign. He thinks the outing was just what Wilson says it was: an attempt to intimidate whistle-blowers. “Wilson was telling the truth,” Baer says. “They’re playing by the book. . . . You always have to go after the source of the bad information with personal attacks.” [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31086-2003Oct1.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31086-2003Oct1.html) Anyway its an excellent balanced piece which asks one of the most interesting questions other then who-done-it. “What the hell were they thinking?” Oh, and here are the complete poll numbers: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/data100103.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/polls/vault/stories/data100103.html) ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/69 "2003-10-02T15:13:16Z")
No one actually believes she’s “just an analyst” do they? Would Tenet write a letter to the Justice Department if she were “just an analyst?” Dear Attorney General Ashcroft: If has recently come to my attention that one of our custodial staff has been identified in the Washington Post. I would appreciate it if you and your fine crew of sleuths would find out who committed this egregious act of waste management espionage. Sincerely, George Tenet Director, Central Intelligence ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/70 "2003-10-02T15:36:05Z")
Hey, if Rove goes down for treason, can we put him in Gitmo? ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/71 "2003-10-02T15:38:19Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by plnnr \* > \*\*No one actually believes she’s “just an analyst” do they? \*\* Yes, actually they do. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/72 "2003-10-02T15:49:16Z")
My biggest question so far has been “What the hell were they hoping to accomplish with this leak?” I’m glad to see from that Post article that others are as baffled by the strategy as I was. This administration has used bad strategy in the past (striking Iraq to weaken Al Qaeda is like striking Argentina to weaken the FARC), but not in the domestic political sphere. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/73 "2003-10-02T20:30:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Evil Captor \* > Hey, if Rove goes down for treason, can we put him in Gitmo? One can dream. More likely, assuming he even gets fingered (and the investigations don’t just wither off and die once the media finds something new 'n shiny to look at), Rove would end up in a minimum-security “country club” prison, where he can spend his days working on his golf game while yakking it up with his contacts via cell phone. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@PatriotX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotX)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/74 "2003-10-02T20:36:07Z")
If Rove gets in any trouble for this, (regardless of whether he had anything to do with it), I’ll eat my monitor. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/75 "2003-10-03T06:35:03Z")
Thanks to **Corbomite** for given me a heads-up that I was quoted on this thread. I still stand by what I said earlier, namely: > [@](#): > > If that information is true, it goes beyond hardball politics into dirty tricks. And that’s something I won’t support, for any politician or party. If an official, any official, goes beyond certain bounds, they have to be called for it. This reminds me of the incident some time back in which a reporter – under the banner of free speech – reported the identities of several U.S. agents abroad. Some were subsequently killed. It’s no laughing matter, and it ought to be, unequivocally, beyond the realm of politics. And it should be beyond the realm of politics. Of course, we’re talking about Washington, though … So I’d like to quote Robert Novak in his most recent column, which deals with the controversy. Novak is, of course, at the center of the controvery because of his earlier column, in which he noted that retired diplomat Joseph Wilson had been sent to Niger in part because his wife, a CIA employee, urged it. From his [latest column on it:](http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20031001.shtml) > [@](#): > > During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA’s counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: “Oh, you know about it.” The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue. The version that puts these incidents in the harshest light portray it as a case of two operatives calling up everyone and giving out the identity of Wilson’s wife. Novak says the mention slipped out during a discussion of Wilson’s trip to Nigeria. Significantly, he does not say **two operatives called him** to divulge the secret. Rather, Novak called a second person and took the remark – “Oh, you know about it” – as confirmation. In other words, the second confirmation was not a blatant, up-front declaration that “Wilson’s wife is a spook!” It was the type of acknowledgement you’d have to interpret in context. Novak also says: > [@](#): > > First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson’s wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret. The first point is self-serving. The second and third are worth noting. If CIA officials didn’t say there was a danger in disclosure, and if her identity was well-known around Washington that any capable outside party could pick up on it, then it’s not a very big stick to be swinging at Wilson. Novak again: > [@](#): > > How big a secret was it? It was well known around Washington that Wilson’s wife worked for the CIA. Republican activist Clifford May wrote Monday, in National Review Online, that he had been told of her identity by a non-government source before my column appeared and that it was common knowledge. Her name, Valerie Plame, was no secret either, appearing in Wilson’s “Who’s Who in America” entry. > > A big question is her duties at Langley. I regret that I referred to her in my column as an “operative,” a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. While the CIA refuses to publicly define her status, the official contact says she is “covered” – working under the guise of another agency. However, an unofficial source at the Agency says she has been an analyst, not in covert operations. My tendency at this stage is to view it as a blunder rather than as a malicious act. If it _was_ a malicious and intentional act, I hope it’s dealt with severely. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/76 "2003-10-03T12:16:49Z")
Well, Andy, your point about Novak would carry a lot more weight if Novak’s story was at all consistent. In fact he’s doing a lot of something that looks a lot like lying lately, per this article: [http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/02/novak/index.html](http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2003/10/02/novak/index.html) Frex, Novak is now saying the Plame leak was an offhand remark in the context of an interview on another topic. But here’s a quote about that from the article cited above: > [@](#): > > Yet back in July, he gave a much different account to Newsday: “I didn’t dig [the Plame tip] out, it was given to me,” he said. “They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.” > > On Monday, Novak went on to say that when he contacted the CIA in July in preparation for his column, he was asked not to disclose Plame’s name, “but [the agency] never indicated it would endanger her or anybody else.” Instead, he was led to believe that she was “an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives.” > > Then why, having just gotten off the phone with the CIA, and under the strong impression Plame was not an operative, did Novak proceed to type up his column and label her “an Agency operative”? Novak’s lying, lying, lying. Don’t get caught up in helping him spread his lies. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/77 "2003-10-03T12:53:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by vibrotronica \* > \*\*My biggest question so far has been “What the hell were they hoping to accomplish with this leak?” \*\* Could be something as simple as intimidation of anyone who dares to oppose them, or even raise questions about them. By exposing Plame to personal danger, perhaps Rove (or whoever) was trying to show Wilson and anyone else with the goods that there are costs to failing to adore the Emperor. Could be, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/78 "2003-10-03T13:09:04Z")
Remember at least 6 journalist were called with the same outing attempts- as reported in the Time Magazine aricle. SO Novak’s desperate revisionist attempts do not make much sense. Especially seeing he write and published information to the contrary. Yeesh. Why is Novak panicing? Might be because of the sentiment of his peers like this: > [@](#): > > NEW YORK – When it comes to utilizing unnamed sources and digging up government secrets, legendary Watergate investigative reporter Carl Bernstein practically wrote the book on it. Actually, he and Bob Woodward of The Washington Post wrote two books about their coverage of the Watergate affair, which eventually led to the downfall of the Nixon administration and garnered the pair a Pulitzer Prize. > > So what does Bernstein think of the recent disclosure of a CIA operative’s identity by columnist Robert Novak? Bernstein was quick to criticize both Novak and the Bush administration staffers who leaked the information – while also warning other journalists to make sure anonymous sources are used carefully. > > “In this instance, it seems to me that Novak allowed himself to be used in a really unfair way for ideological purposes,” Bernstein told E&P Online during a phone interview Thursday from his New York home. “I think Bob is an ideologue and willingly let himself be used.” > > But Bernstein stressed that the focus should be on the sources who leaked the information, not necessarily Novak’s reporting. “The White House has no business disclosing the identity of a CIA operative in violation of the law,” he said. “It seems to me appropriate to find out if somebody in the White House put ideology above the law.” [http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article\_display.jsp?vnu\_content\_id=1993425](http://www.mediainfo.com/editorandpublisher/headlines/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1993425) Ouch. I guess getting revealed to be a shill for the Administration has not been a pleasant experience for ol Bob. But wait, there’s more! > [@](#): > > Despite initial appearances, Novak will likely play an incredibly small role in the Plame Affair from here on out. Sure, the information he published in his July column about Wilson demonstrates that two senior administration officials may have broken the law. But that’s been known for more than two months, and until Sunday, most of the carping was confined to the left-leaning portions of the blogosphere and to liberal publications such as The Nation. The Plame Affair didn’t take off until a second leak: On Sept. 28, the Washington Post reported that “a senior administration official said that before Novak’s column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson’s wife.” The central questions of the scandal are, who are the six journalists, what were they told, who told them, and why? Well it can’t be that hard, can it? Its not like they were calling just anyone- you needed your official “I love George Bush” stick pin to get those smear calls. Hard to imagine a call or two didn’t go to Fox News or the Wall Street Journal. More on Novak’s well known leanings: > [@](#): > > Liberals might think that Novak would be a logical choice for the administration to call. He’s well-connected in Washington, especially in conservative circles, and he frequently dishes out scooplets in his column by skillfully plying his sources (or perhaps it’s by them skillfully plying him—in his memoir, The Triumph of Politics, former Reagan budget director David Stockman referred to Novak and his late column-writing partner, Rowland Evans, as his “bulletin board”). As USA Today reported today, “Many read his columns as windows into the thinking of the conservative establishment in Washington.” [http://slate.msn.com/id/2089196/](http://slate.msn.com/id/2089196/) But the article explains that Novak is an isolationist type conservative- like Pat Buchanon, and on the surface doesn’t seem like the most likely mouthpiece. But given his well known history as the “bulletin board” and the fact the admistration leakers hedged by going to six other journalist too, it does make sense to me. ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/79 "2003-10-03T13:13:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ElvisL1ves \* > \*\*Could be something as simple as intimidation of anyone who dares to oppose them, or even raise questions about them. By exposing Plame to personal danger, perhaps Rove (or whoever) was trying to show Wilson and anyone else with the goods that there are costs to failing to adore the Emperor. Could be, anyway. \*\* On top of the Washington Post article I liked to on possible motives- here is an interesting theory I saw on Slate: > [@](#): > > The notion that the CIA perpetually understates the strength of America’s enemies is a central neoconservative article of faith. (And it’s a notion that’s been disputed by Fareed Zakaria, among others. In the June 16 Newsweek, Zakaria wrote: “For decades some conservatives, including many who now wield great influence, have had a tendency to vastly exaggerate the threat posed by tyrannical regimes.”) It dates to at least the 1970s, when Richard Pipes led “Team B,” a group of outside experts that concluded that the CIA was understating the military might of the Soviet Union. > > The neocon loathing of the CIA might explain what the administration leakers were thinking as they cold-called six journalists and tried to convince them that the fact that Wilson’s wife was CIA was significant or perhaps tried to convince them that it somehow undermined his credibility as an investigator. It’s a rationale that would make more sense than the inscrutable “nepotism” explanation that’s been bandied about by some Plame Affair theorists. And it’s not incompatible with the “revenge” claim of the Post’s anonymous senior administration official or the “silence other CIA whistle-blowers” theory that Wilson has promoted. The fact that several conservatives have trotted out the “don’t trust the CIA” angle as a way to defend against or distract from the administration’s behavior in the Plame Affair lends credence to it as a motivating factor for the leaks. So does Sen. Chuck Hagel’s finger-pointing at Vice President Dick Cheney’s office as a likely source. [http://slate.msn.com/id/2089196/](http://slate.msn.com/id/2089196/) ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462/80 "2003-10-03T13:28:27Z")
Another great article on the what’s really behind alot of this. It’s a bit of a must read no matter side of the isle you’re on: > [@](#): > > I’ll stipulate that it is a felony to disclose the name of an undercover CIA operative who has been posted overseas in recent years. That’s what the statute says. But the now infamous outing of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife isn’t primarily an issue of law. It’s about a lot of other things, like: the ongoing war between the CIA and the vice president’s office; the long, complex relationship between George Tenet and the Bush family; the tinge of arrogance among some (as yet unidentified) members of Bush’s team; and, ominously for the president, a breakdown in discipline among his spin doctors, who, in the old days, always wrote the same prescription. The Neocon vs CIA, and Tenet connection to Bush Sr. and Jr., and the long struggle for Cheney to “get” Saddam are discussed. It’s very interesting. (maybe we need a nerd smilie). On the particular issue is question, the article notes: > [@](#): > > The moment that piece hit the op-ed page of the New York Times, it was all-out war between the pro- and anti-war factions, and between the CIA and its critics. I am told by what I regard as a very reliable source inside the White House that aides there did, in fact, try to peddle the identity of Joe Wilson’s wife to several reporters. But the motive wasn’t revenge or intimidation so much as a desire to explain why, in their view, Wilson wasn’t a neutral investigator, but, a member of the CIA’s leave-Saddam-in-place team. > > ``` > And on Tenet’s part, it was time for payback — whatever his past relationship with the Bush’s had been. First, he and his agency had been humiliated, caught by the White House trying to distance themselves from the president’s speech. Then the CIA was forced to admit that it had signed off on the speech. Now one of its own investigations was coming under attack, as was one of its own undercover staffers. > > ``` > > … > > WHITE HOUSE ARROGANCE > Bush preaches humility, and believes it is a cardinal virtue. But some of the people around him honor it in the breach. If it can be proved that they did, in fact, leak Wilson’s wife’s name and job, they committed an act of arrogance — and political stupidity. You’d think that the Bush White House would know an essential lesson of presidential survival in Washington: You don’t pick a fight with the CIA. Nixon learned the consequences of doing so; Bush One, a former director of the CIA, could have explained it to his son. Take a look: > **[MSNBC News - Breaking News and News Today | Latest News](https://www.msnbc.com/)** > > MSNBC breaking news and the latest news for today. Get daily news from local news reporters and world news updates with live audio & video from our team. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-administration-caught-revealing-spys-indentity-to-smear-him-over-iraq/204462.md?page=5)