WaPo's "Steno Sue" Says Wilson didn't tell truth/Confirms Plame's CIA Role

[KoKo]

All DU "Plame Investigation" watchers need to read this story. I can't wait for Josh Marshall to talk about it.

"Steno Sue Schmidt" gets the spin out that the Administration didn't "intend" to out Plame, which means that they can't be indicted (if you listen to her) but it confirms that Valerie Plame was an investigator for "nuclear proliferation" rather than a "low level CIA employee as was reported before:

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Plame's Input Is Cited on Niger Mission
Report Disputes Wilson's Claims on Trip, Wife's Role

By Susan Schmidt
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, July 10, 2004; Page A09

Former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, dispatched by the CIA in February 2002 to investigate reports that Iraq sought to reconstitute its nuclear weapons program with uranium from Africa, was specifically recommended for the mission by his wife, a CIA employee, contrary to what he has said publicly.

SNIP

The report turns a harsh spotlight on what Wilson has said about his role in gathering prewar intelligence, most pointedly by asserting that his wife, CIA employee Valerie Plame, recommended him.

Plame's role could be significant in an ongoing investigation into whether a crime was committed when her name and employment were disclosed to reporters last summer.

Administration officials told columnist Robert D. Novak then that Wilson, a partisan critic of Bush's foreign policy, was sent to Niger at the suggestion of Plame, who worked in the nonproliferation unit at CIA. The disclosure of Plame's identity, which was classified, led to an investigation into who leaked her name.

The report may bolster the rationale that administration officials provided the information not to intentionally expose an undercover CIA employee, but to call into question Wilson's bona fides as an investigator into trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. To charge anyone with a crime, prosecutors need evidence that exposure of a covert officer was intentional.

(Much more of this Spin to trash Joe Wilson)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39834-2004Jul9.html

[NewJeffCT]

1. why a special prosecutor then?

If there was no crime, why a special prosecutor? Is this just their first stab at spinning potential high level indictments?

[spotbird]

19. How does this have anything to do with whether there was a crime

committed? If every word of it is the truth, it was still illegal to out Plame. Am I missing something?

[NMDemDist2]

2. Wilson's bona fide's

Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1998 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During ''Desert Shield'' he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of ''Desert Storm.''

Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State Department Brueau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria, South Africa, 1981-1982.

http://www.cpsag.com/our_team/wilson.html

[madrchsod]

3. do i dare say it???

steno sue-go fuck yourself- and if you don`t know how ask Dickie. does anyone take her seriously? if i ever get into trouble can i use the "unintentional defense"?

[demgrrrll]

4. Pretzel logic. It doesn't make any sense. They outed a C I A

agent. There are no excuses for that action. Go away Sue.

[AP]

5. Whether done to expose Plame or to undermine Wilson, they intentionally

revealed that Plame was an agent.

It's the same as if you have a gun and a guy you want to kill is standing behind his wife, whom you don't want to kill, but you know they only way to kill your target is to shoot through the wife.

You're going to get convicted of shooting both of them if you knew that shooting through the wife was going to kill her. Your only defense would be that your intention wasn't to kill her and that you aimed slightly to her right or left or thought that the bullet would pass through soft tissue and not kill her. If you shot right through her heart and if you're a good shot and it's obvious that you weren't aiming to the right or left, no jury is going to decide that you're not guilty of that murder too.

Furthermore, who doesn't believe that they wanted to shoot the wife in this case. They were destroying his wife's ability to work, which they knew would hurt the family professionally. They may have been trying to hurt Wislon, but they were doing it by hurting his wife. They definitely aimed that bullte at Plame's heart with the intention of it killing both Plame and Wilson.

Duh.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

8. Not only did they reveal Plame's name, but they also revealed....

...the name of her front company which, in turn, compromised her entire global network of about 70 people.

I find it enormously interesting that Plame's network was charged with the tracking of materials that go into the making of WMDs. Evidently, this group was NOT finding the information that the NeoCons wanted to hear in regards to Iraq buying materials to build WMDs. Perhaps the exposure of Plame and her network goes far beyond the desire to get revenge on Joe Wilson. It's VERY possible with what we now know that the NeoCons DELIBERATELY compromised the Plame network to ensure that the actual truth about the lack of Iraqi WMDs would never come to light.

[Mandate My Ass]

12. Karl Rove told reporters Wilson's wife was "fair game"

There are many ways to discredit someone, or to smear them, as was their obvious agenda in this case. They not only did it in the lowest and most vicious way possible, but did it in a way that revealed their willingness to commit treason to accomplish their goals.

What Steno Sue, and the rest of the media fail to point out, is that two other republican sources came to the same conclusion as Wilson, only they didn't publicly speak out when Bush included the false claim in SOTU '03.

The WH knew exactly what they were doing and what was at stake. THis act confirms not only that they will go to any lengths to destroy their detractors, but that the War on Terra has nothing to do with protecting the American people from rogue states with WMDs and everything to do with war profiteering and dismantling gov't checks and balances.

[keithyboy]

15. Now you're talking!!! This is the point. They intentionally outed her.

The motive for doing so has no leagal basis. It is the act that is the crime!

[Media_Lies_Daily]

6. This will have absolutely NO impact on the special prosecutor's...

...work with the grand jury trying to determine who (or how many) exposed Plame and her network.

Schmidt, as usual, is getting her highly selective info from rightwingers trying to protect the White House. During the Clinton presidency, she was constantly fed information by the anti-Clinton faction, information that she apparently took on face value without EVER checking the facts.

Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor, is getting his info from sworn statements and a mountain of documentary evidence to include the copious notes taken by Scooter Libby at various meetings. This information was presented over time to the grand jury in complete secrecy. The results...hopefully indictments...are expected very soon.

[KoKo]

11. I agree, that's why I posted this. She's a "stovepipe" for info from Rove

I did think it was interesting that it's the first time I've heard them admit that she worked on Nuclear Proliferation.

[diamond14]

7. soooo, bush* now claims that it was just "un-intentional TREASON"

while at the same time, bush* is sheltering and harboring the person who committed TREASON in the White House....

"un-intentional TREASON" is no problem for bush*....who sells out OUR COUNTRY for 'petty spite'....

[lovedems]

10. LOL! At least they aren't saying, "I don't recall if I outed a CIA agent"

However, that lame excuse could be on the horizon. "I don't recall" is a Bush mantra.

[AP]

9. One thing that's encouraging is that it sounds like they're testing...

...arguments they'll use at trial. What she's transcribing for the WH is a subtle legal argument about the nature of intent. In civil law, you only need to intend to act, and not intend the consequences, to be responsible for the consequences of your actions.

In criminal law, you need to intend the consequences of your act.

They're trying to plant seeds in the public's mind that intending that Wilson is hurt isn't the same thing as intending that Plame is outed (but the fact is, to hurt wilson, they had to intentionally out Plame).

That they're testing defenses they might use at trial in the pages of the Wash Post suggests that they're expecting a trial.

I think it's a good sign if you're looking for indictments on the horizon.

[spotbird]

20. Here's the part I don't get about intent.

If, to accomplish a lawful end I must break the law, is my intent then lawful and no crime committed?

"I only wanted to feed my baby, that's why I stole the bread."

Isn't the intent specific to the crime? In other words, I knew it was theft to steal the bread so I have the specific intent for the crime. In this case, they had the intent to out Plame in violation of the law, the reason they did it doesn't go to intent, only motive.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

23. ..or in the court of public opinion.

This is very interesting as this tells us that the WH is concerned. They are already cranking up the spin machine.

And, no, this isnt about the outcome of a court case, this is an effort to mold public opinion if there is a court case....and it sounds like the WH is concerned there might be.

[KoKo]

13. But, check out what Dana Priest/ Pinkus, et al say A CONTRADICTION?

(This article is in the same edition of WaPo and it lists "Steno Sue" as one of the contributors, but seems to contradict what "Steno" wrote in her article in the same paper! :eyes:)
washingtonpost.com

Panel Condemns Iraq Prewar Intelligence
Senate Report Faults 2002 Estimate Sent To Hill, Accuses the CIA of 'Group-Think'

By Dana Priest and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, July 10, 2004; Page A01

Staff writers Barton Gellman, R. Jeffrey Smith, Dan Eggen, Susan Schmidt and Walter Pincus, and research editor Margot Williams contributed to this report.

© 2004 The Washington Post Company
The committee also concluded that the CIA overstated what it knew about Iraq's attempts to procure uranium in the African nation of Niger, and that it delayed for months examining documents that would prove to be forgeries, resulting in reports to policymakers that were "inconsistent and at times contradictory." No one at the CIA told the National Security Council of concerns about the credibility of the Niger intelligence as President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech was drafted, contrary to officials' previous assertions, the report said.

In evaluating the 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, the committee blamed intelligence leaders who "did not encourage analysts to challenge their assumptions, fully consider alternative arguments, accurately characterize the intelligence reporting, or counsel analysts who lost their objectivity."

Senate aides, who conducted hundreds of interviews with intelligence officials throughout the government as well as with United Nations weapons inspectors and others, said they found no evidence that junior or senior officials knowingly distorted or withheld information to make a particular case. Nor did they find evidence of undue political pressure by policymakers. But they did conclude that contradictory information was often ignored or dismissed.

[Monte Carlo]

14. Oh, then the info was ACCIDENTALLY leaked to 15 news outlets...

... before the slime Novak decided to report it?

Trash, trash journalism. Sue has become part of the cognitive dissonance surrounding Bush.

[jackstraw45]

16. Email your comments to Sue

[e-mail]

[funkybutt]

18. thanks for the link!

I intend to :)

[annxburns]

17. Check talking points memo

... Josh is all over Steno Sue. Apparently she spent more time talking to Republican spin doctors than actually READING THE REPORT ....


http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com

[KoKo]

21. Great! when I checked early this a.m, Josh didn't have it up yet!

Going over now to check it out! Thanks for "heads up!"

[G_j]

22. kick

[KoKo]

24. Josh "rips" Schmidt! Calls her "Life Cereal's" Mikey! Here's a snip..

« previous | Main
(July 10, 2004 -- 12:09 PM EDT)

I'll dispense with the literary prologue and get right to the point.

Susan Schmidt is known, happily among DC Republicans and not so happily among DC Democrats, as what you might call the "Mikey" (a la Life Cereal fame) of the DC press corps,


This morning she has an article on the Senate intel report and Joe Wilson, specifically focusing on the relevance of Wilson's reporting on Niger (the report says analysts did not see Wilson's findings as weakening claims that Iraq had sought to purchase uranium from Niger) and his wife's role in recommending him for the assignment.

We'll discuss the broader issues of Plame's role in Wilson's assignment and the underlying question of the alleged Iraq-Niger negotiations. A clearer-eyed take on Wilson and report can be found here in this story by Knight Ridder. But for now a few points on Schmidt's treatment.

Josh's article is a MUST READ!!! About the lies and the truth!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/