It's a pretty clear cut discussion of Valerie Plame's job status at the CIA. Here's his conclusion:
Read and memorize it. You may need it the next time you talk one of dubya's defenders.The CIA knew that Valerie was a covert agent. But they did not know if the Novak leak was an intentional disclosure. That was for the FBI to determine.
Here is the irony? If Valerie had been an overt employee or a covert employee not covered by IIPA then Scooter Libby would not have had to lie to FBI agents because there would not have been an investigation. But Valerie was a covert agent. Dick Cheney, Scooter Libby, Karl Rove, Ari Fleischer, and Richard Armitage, among others, put her name in circulation with members of the press. They harmed a covert agent and in the process did serious damage to our nation's security. This may not be relevant to the charges Scooter faces, but it is relevant to our nation's security. We now know that the Bush White House was as cavalier with the identity of a CIA officer as they have been of late with the medical care for wounded Iraqi war vets at Walter Reed. And in both cases people have probably died because of their carelessness.
Are there any left? I mean outside of the wingnut space in the blogosphere...
2 comments:
It is outragious to charge that lives have *certainly* been lost because of Valerie Plame's exposure. With what we know and might guesstimate, not even *probably*.
Or for that matter because of medical care for Iraq War vets (care has been wonderful for them thus far, and we can fix what's coming down the line).
But I agree with the larger point: the cavalier risk Bush and Cheney sanctioned, and Rove and Libby endorsed, was a colossal blunder. Great post.
Bram: Inasmuch as Larry Johnson started his CIA career with Valerie Plame, you might want to express your outrage to him directly at TPM Cafe rather than arguing with Dayvoe or me. Somehow, though, I suspect he may have a better idea about the effects of this particular act of treason than you do.
It's interesting that you should describe the Plame incindent with words like "cavalier" and "blunder" rather than, say, "traitorous." Would you call the 9/11 attacks "a big boo-boo?"
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