The investigation into the Valerie Plame leak is the most blatantly politically influenced one I can ever remember. Robert Novak, lifelong buddy to extreme right wingers, leaks a State Secret at the behest of high governmen officials. And they must have been very high, because --I believe-- he is actually a patriotic guy (albeit a crazed loon) and wouldn’t publish something like the name of a CIA agent unless he got assurance from very high up that that was what was wanted.
It appears as if he’s also being given protection at very high level, as seemingly every other reporter in DC and NYC is being threatened with contempt citations and jail times. Okay, only a half dozen or so according to this story in The Economist. Robert Novak is not among them, at least no story I’ve seen has said he’s been brought before a grand jury and threatened with contempt.
According to the Economist story, two different White House officials called half a dozen or more reporters trying to get it in print. I don’t know enough about criminal law to know whether every one of those conversations was a violation of law, or just the one thar actually was part of the chain resulting in Plame being “outed”. Hell, maybe none of it will end up being criminal behavior in a technical sense, maybe it will be seen as merely despicable.
The investigation has dragged on more than a year now, and clearly it’s been slowed to make sure nothing of substance gets out before the election.
The press ought to be all over a story about how this right wing idealogue has been treated with kid gloves, but they’re not touching it. Why? He’s a member of THEIR club too, and besides none of them think they should have to give up their sources so they aren’t inclined to point fingers and demand he be brought before a grand jury.
Novak is being protected by the White House, the conservative nedia, AND the liberal media. I doesn’t get much better than that.
Er… I’ve forgotten exactly who I was planning to pit. :smack: Everything about it has a nasty dead-fish smell.
Yes. Regardless of how he got the story, and regardless of whether he reveals his sources, it does seem that that Novak broke several laws in going public about the identity of a CIA agent. Why is the big fish still at large, while the sardines are being grilled?
It is not against the law to reveal the identity of a CIA agent unless you are a government official. As far as I can tell, Novak has broken no law. By not naming his source, of course*, he’s shielding the person who probably did break some laws. Different question, entirely.
Novak, who leaked the CIA operatives name, in my mind at least, committed treason. The new guy is only guilty(?) of contempt. Yet Novak is protected, while the news guy is threatened? Yeesh, sometimes I wish Remo Williams really existed.
I think the odd thing is that NOVAK HIMSELF is not getting subpeonaed or contempt citations. He’s the guy that opened this can o’ worms. I’ve written the man a few times as other reporters are getting threatened, asking why he doesn’t step up and take the heat.
Well, if he isn’t a traitor according to the legal definition, he is still scum. I prefer to call him a traitor, even if it isn’t strictly correct. Hang on, gonna make a quick call to the Emperor Smith. Be right back.
It pays to be careful about things like this. There are those who call Kerry a traitor because he came back from Vietnam and publicly revealed that some U.S. soldiers had committed atrocities over there. “Traitor” is a charge that shouldn’t be tossed around lightly.
He was not the SOURCE of the leak, yet he was certainly PART of the leak. It became a leak when he printed it.
And I don’t claim he committed a crime. More accurately we witnessed one, and several other reporters who were contacted by the White House officials also may have been witneeses to crimes. HE, Novak, leaked the name just as the White House wanted. Yet it’s all the OTHER reporters who are being fed to the grand jury. Why not him?
And it’s plausible as the ONLY witness of the crime. Again, IANAlawyer, but it seems possible that communications NOT resulting in public exposure are not crimes. I’d like to see a real lawyer comment on this. Is it conceivable his actions in effect created a crime, even though he himself would not be guilty of it? Doesn’t seem right, but maybe possible. Anyway, if that IS the case, all this stuff about other reports is just bullshit to hold this off till after the election.
I have to disagree. It is a crime to make public the identity of a CIA operative. Saying it to a reporter, any reporter, is what makes it public. Not that the reporter wrote a story about it.
This,
is reprehensible, though. And you are right that it should be Novak that does time to protect his source.
I agree with everything you say Boyo Jim. I’ve been following this case fairly closely since the beginning and I don’t understand why Robert Novak is still walking the streets. However, I don’t believe it’s been disclosed whether he’s been called before the Grand Jury yet. No one knows.
Maybe, but I’m not so sure. There are groups of people, not directly involved with the investigation but who range from the very knowledgable to the very connected, who are trying to fit the puzzle pieces together. From what I hear the Grand Jury investigation is fairly comprehensive and very complicated, and going into areas way beyond Plame and Novak, but ultimately related. For instance, word is that Plame wasn’t just any old CIA operative who happened to be married to Joe Wilson. She was, (fox mode) some say (/fox mode) an expert on Weapons of Mass Destruction and was working on something VERY specific, and was targeted to kill two birds with one stone. It sounds intriguing. I suspect, hope, that when the whole story is written, it’ll be mind-boggling. Sorry to leave it hanging like that with no real info. I do realize how lame this paragraph is.
My main point is that Something’s Coming, and even if it doesn’t come until after the election, it’ll be huge and complicated. Which means, of course, the media will completely ignore it because anything more simple than “make America safer flip flop terror terror terror” hurts their brains. I saw the report (“NYT reporter Judith Miller ordered jailed”) on MSNBC today, while waiting for Kerry to speak. The talking head ditz, reading the story from a piece of paper, said “Ambassador George Wilson” and then “Victoria Plam” (rhymes with ham). I mean Jesus, really, even if the clunkhead who wrote whatever she was reading didn’t know who these people were, you’d think the anchor would know and correct it. It wasn’t a slip of the tongue either, because she repeated Victoria Plam shortly after. A lawyer talking head, not connected with the case but commenting on it to the anchor, didn’t use names, but didn’t make corrections either.
I noticed they got Judith Miller’s name, and the judge’s name, correct.
What reporters? Sources of what information? Information about Whitewater? What are you talking about?