Here's The Original Novak Commentary That Lead Us To 'Traitorgate'

[Oilwellian]

I believe this particular Novak quote is key to the meltdown of this administration:

"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/rn20030714.shtml

I thought you guys would like a copy of Novak's original stinkbomb. :D

[Mari333]

1. KICK

:kick:

[flamingyouth]

2. Read and weep

:kick:

[Melinda]

3. Novak outted her by name....

and that's the crux of the matter, not that she was a CIA operative.

I think it safe to assume that it wasn't the CIA who compromised their agency by revealing her identity. Indeed, it does look as if all roads lead straight back to the WH on this one. Thanks for the cite. :)

[chiburb]

7. Read it again...

It MAY be parsing words, but Nofacts does NOT cite the "administration" or anyone for the outing. In the next sentence he cites 2 admin sources on Wilson's hiring. Yep, big impression that the sources were the same, but 'technically' he didn't cite anyone.
Maybe he's the one who's been had?

[Richardo]

10. "It may be parsing words" - that's ALL this bunch does...

You BET they will parse those words - they tried for the SOTU address and they'll try again for all they're worth...

It'll make the "is is" testimony look like the freakin Rosetta Stone.

[Melinda]

14. No, I don't need to read it again.

I've read it many times all the way back to Pincus' (Charter fan club member) first mention of the matter in the WP.

There are multiple issues here:

1) Ms. Plame was unmasked BY NAME thereby exposing her, her network, and compromising national intelligence - a federal crime was committed. Her sources, her 20 plus years work - all destroyed, and, as I understand, more than 70 people either dead or MIA as a result.

2) Who would risk committing a federal offense (felony) by revealing the name and position of a CIA operative?

3) Why was this information leaked?

3) And who told Novak of Ms. Plame's identity and position?

Look at the big picture instead of dwelling on one small corner. The implications are enormous in many, many ways. This thing is HUGE and must be fully investigated to ensure that our National Security is never compromised in such a way ever again.

[FlaGranny]

24. I'd really like a

link on the statement that 70 people are either dead of missing. I haven't seen that anywhere. Not saying it isn't true, but I asked before on another thread and never got an answer.

If anyone can provide a link to this information, it would be appreciated.

[FlashHarry]

26. That came from a certified loony.

(A Web 'pundit,' not a DUer, BTW--don't want to get cited for a PA... :hi:)

I can't remember his name, but he's the one who claimed that Karl Rove was actually the son of a Nazi named 'Roverer.' Al Martin. That's the guy! Total whack-job.

[Melinda]

28. I saw it posted here several times... I'll try to find the source

I know Eloriel posted something about this too - keep checking back. :)

[Melinda]

29. Al Martin aside, I'm not finding anything supporting exactly that, but

Common Dreams ran with this on 7/17:

The sources for Novak's assertion about Wilson's wife appear to be "two senior administration officials." If so, a pair of top Bush officials told a reporter the name of a CIA operative who apparently has worked under what's known as "nonofficial cover" and who has had the dicey and difficult mission of tracking parties trying to buy or sell weapons of mass destruction or WMD material. If Wilson's wife is such a person--and the CIA is unlikely to have many employees like her--her career has been destroyed by the Bush administration. (Assuming she did not tell friends and family about her real job, these Bush officials have also damaged her personal life.) Without acknowledging whether she is a deep-cover CIA employee, Wilson says, "Naming her this way would have compromised every operation, every relationship, every network with which she had been associated in her entire career. This is the stuff of Kim Philby and Aldrich Ames." If she is not a CIA employee and Novak is reporting accurately, then the White House has wrongly branded a woman known to friends as an energy analyst for a private firm as a CIA officer. That would not likely do her much good.

And from here is the following:

Wilson and a retired CIA official said Monday that the "senior administration officials" who named Plame had, if their description of her employment was accurate, violated the law and may have endangered her career and possibly the lives of her contacts in foreign countries.

On August 4th. Guerilla News reported:

At the National Press Club yesterday, Wilson fought back. Speaking "hypothetically" (he wouldn't confirm or deny that his wife is CIA), Wilson said if she was in fact an operative exposing her by name would be a "breach of national security" that would have destroyed nearly six years of important work. He compared the revelation to the crimes of Aldrich Ames. For those too young to remember, Ames, an American CIA analyst, was probably the most notorious Soviet spy to ever rock the Agency. Over a period of nine years, he told the KGB the names of every "human asset" the CIA had working for them in Russia and exposed numerous covert ops. Before he was arrested in 1994, he had sold the KGB the names of twenty-five Russian "sources," all of whom were arrested. Ten were executed.

Wilson added if his wife was actually working in the area Novak said she was, the White House had taken out a valuable "national security asset." He fell short of using the T-word.

[Oilwellian]

16. You're reaching....

as I posted in your separate thread. If you kept up with the articles written about this issue for the past 2 months, you'd know Novak as well as Time Magazine confirmed his sources were senior White House officials. Let's see what he says on Crossfire today...CNN 4:30pm EST.

[karlschneider]

22. Yeah, there is something wrong with the quotation marks as it's written:

"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. "I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The first part begins with a quote that is never closed, and is obviously Novak's own commentary. He does not imply that the "senior
...officials" specifically told him that Plame was an agent.

Well, Crossfire starting, I wanna watch...

[boxster]

4. Ugh. I stick to my belief that Novak knew

exactly what he was doing and either thought, or knew, that he could hide behind the WH when the crap hit the fan.

He deserves to go to jail.

[SoCalDem]

8. Ole Chiclet teeth thought his "close personal relationship" with the WH

would save his ass.. I hope they hang him out to dry.. Maybe then HE will out Rove and the rest of them , while he tries to avoid the orange jumpsuit:)

[janekat]

11. WRONG! Novak is fighting for his life against Bush & Co.

He may even want to bring them down... He has been writing scathing articles about going to war with Iraq, The Neo-cons, Rove. He is no fan of this administration. Check out his scathing article about the Bush Admin. and Rove today:

George W. In Trouble
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/
....failure marks current efforts of the president and his vaunted political team, headed by Karl Rove. This judgment was made to me by a well-known Republican operative experienced in two presidential campaigns: "For the first time, there doesn't seem to be a plan."

[boxster]

20. Yeah, you're right. My initial thought was....

that at the time he did it, he was still playing the WH game and did it in collusion with the WH.

Upon reflection, however, that thought just doesn't hold up to scrutiny.

It would really be something if he did it intentionally, but with the intent of taking down Rove and apparently someone else - hence, the "two senior officials" comment. The ultimate, of course, would be if he "outs" his sources.

Perhaps the snowball really has started rolling down the hill.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

5. Because she's been revealed as a CIA operative, her entire network...

...is now at risk. And what was her network? "Weapons of mass destruction"...they were tracking the movement of the various components that could be used for making WMDs. If that group gets dismantled, where does that leave the U. S. from a security standpoint?

[Drifter]

6. So why isn't ...

this fucker in Jail. It doesn't matter who told him, the fact he published this information, has put numerous people at risk.

Put this fucker in jail, then go after the traitor who told him, and string that fucker up on stick.

Cheers
Drifter

[ant]

19. I don't think he broke the law

I'm not sure about this, but I think the way it works is that it's illegal for those with access to classified info to reveal that info. Novak doesn't have a clearance and was simply reporting what he heard. I'm going to guess he's covered by first amendment. (People with clearances aren't.)

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. Wow, maybe Novack

has a conscience? His last sentence nails the real issue right on the head.

"The story, actually, is whether the administration deliberately ignored Wilson's advice, and that requires scrutinizing the CIA summary of what their envoy reported. The Agency never before has declassified that kind of information, but the White House would like it to do just that now -- in its and in the public's interest."

[janekat]

12. This is a Republican war: Novak/Conservatives vs. Neocons/Rove/Bush

Read Novaks articles form the last several months. He was vehemently against the war.

[LittleApple81]

13. There is another DU thread that says he did not mention

administration officials.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=431985

So????

[Oilwellian]

18. Which has been discredited...

handsomely by DU responders. The words can be parsed til pigs fly, but too many others are confirming the leak came from the WH.

[bobthedrummer]

15. Novack Rove mouthpiece?

I mean at times wasn't Novack Rove's mouthpiece?

[Rebellious Republican]

17. Send emails to the Ethics Committee

I sent emails to each member calling for an independent investagation, based on the fact that Ashcroft and his DoJ are to biased in favor of this administration, his boss. They should not be allowed to get away with treason while still at war!
Here is a link
http://congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://ethics.senate.gov

[Oilwellian]

21. And be sure and emphasize...

The DoJ received a letter from the CIA within a week after Novak's article was published, asking for an investigation into the leak. Ashcroft has been sitting on this for 2 1/2 months and done NOTHING. In the meantime, we still have two officials in the WH who are privy to covert CIA operations and STILL capable of leaking invaluable information that endangers our national security. This probe needs to be done pronto!

[SaintLouisBlues]

23. Operative is the operative word (sorry)

On Crossfire, she is now a "lowly" CIA analyst, not an agent or operative. Which is it Nofacts?

Anyone still think he's not firmly with the Bushistas after that disgraceful Crossfire performance?

And why the hell is he still hosting a news program when he's the center of the biggest story in the news? Imagine if Jason Blair(sp?)
was kept around the New York Times to participate in the coverage of his own scandal.

[spanone]

25. Novak just denied that this is what he said on Crossfire.

Who's lying now???

[berry]

27. Lou Dobbs was desperately trying to get John King and

James Woolsey to go on record saying that Plame was known around Washington, DC as a CIA employee (ergo, there was no leak--lots of people knew. This was apparently floated over at National Review today or yesterday.) But he failed, neither would say that this wasn't a serious leak or that her CIA employment was known by anyone outside the family. Poor desperate Lou. And no one mentioned Plame's field of investigation--which makes the leak all the more outrageous.

Can't help wondering what Woolsey is thinking. He's ex-CIA, but all his favorite PNAC schemes will fail if Bush* goes down. Wonder if he's going on record as "shocked" because he could conceivably have known who Plame was (though he denied having ever heard of her).

Also, no mention of the damage done. A poster above said the damage was severe, that people had died or disappeared. I hadn't heard that--does anyone have links to that info?