Slate: "Karl Rove Death Watch, Part 4"

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

Karl Rove Death Watch, Part 4
What did Hadley tell Rove?
By Timothy Noah
Posted Monday, July 18, 2005, at 2:19 PM PT

http://slate.msn.com/id/2122976/

John Solomon of the Associated Press reported this weekend that Karl Rove sent an e-mail about his phone conversation with Time's Matt Cooper—the conversation in which Rove informed Cooper that the wife of administration critic Joe Wilson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency—to Stephen Hadley, who was then deputy national security adviser (and is now national security adviser). "I didn't take the bait," Rove wrote Hadley, apparently meaning that, in speaking to Cooper, he didn't try to refute the substance of Wilson's assertion that the president spoke falsely in his 2003 State of the Union address when he said that Iraq had sought to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger before the war. Instead, Rove told Cooper that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, a CIA employee, had authorized the trip. What kind of sissy-boy accepts a job assignment from his wife?

As I've explained before, Rove's insinuation, in addition to being unenlightened on the matter of equality between the sexes, was untrue; Plame merely suggested her husband for the job. But the more important point is that Rove and Hadley were in communication about Joe Wilson. This is significant because it raises the likelihood that Rove had earlier turned to Hadley for confirmation of these crazy CIA rumors that reporters kept telling him. If that's true, then any subsequent conversation Rove would have had with a reporter in which he stated that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA—including Rove's conversation with Matt Cooper—would constitute a genuine security breach. Did Rove have such a conversation with Hadley? Given what Tom Hamburger and Peter Wallsten of the Los Angeles Times report today—namely, that Rove was much more active than he'd have you believe in seeking to discredit Wilson with reporters—I don't see how Hadley could have avoided telling Rove that yes, Valerie Wilson worked at the CIA. (I'm assuming here that any knowledge Hadley had about Valerie Wilson's occupation would have been obtained from the government. Or does the entire Bush White House get all its information from Robert Novak?)

I'm doubtful that this scenario would rise to President Bush's standard of illegality ("if someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration," he said today), but it sure as hell would look like a firing offense to me. I think everybody should stop obsessing about what Bush thinks is a firing offense and start pondering what a rational person would regard as a firing offense. Bush's illegality standard is being hyped by the press, gotcha style, as a new development, but it isn't new at all; Bush has stated it before. Here he is in September 2003:

Let me just say something about leaks in Washington. There are too many leaks of classified information in Washington. There's leaks at the executive branch; there's leaks in the legislative branch. There's just too many leaks. And if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law (italics mine), the person will be taken care of.

[RagAss]

1. hell be "taken care of" with the Medal of Freedom !!!!

and he'll put it around his fat neck and smile right at us into the cameras....just like Tenet did.....Where are We ?

[skip fox]

2. No mattter where Rove got the info., he likely coordinated its release

The more we learn, the more it seems as though Rove orchestrated the leaking. Today we learn in the NYT that he was rabidly out to get Wilson, a bit rabidly even for some WH staffers. This weekend we learned Cooper probably had more than the two named sources (Rove and Libby) he gave to the grand jury. We also know Rove was the primary source for Cooper and Libby one of his confirming sources. We so know there were at least 6 primary contacts (incl. Miller, Cooper, Novak, and Pincus) as reported. We also know that there were at least two different primary sources (Libby for Novak and Rove for Cooper) and maybe more (remember Miller's source did not explicitly release her, but Cooper's gave him an explicit waver). And we know that 3 contacts confirmed their stories with one or more other "high administration officials." Therefore, there were minimally 9 calls/contacts. All this with every thing we know about Rove strongly suggests coordination, collusion, and/or conspiracy.

Anyone (including Hadley)in the administration who discovered the Plame-Wilson-Niger connection would have taken the information to the world master of personal assassination: Rove. (I'm guessing the VP's office first learned the information since they would have felt somewhat responsible for Wilson's trip to Niger. I'm also guessing the topic of leaking the Plame information was discussed at an emergency meeting of the White House Iraq Group). With 6 original calls, Rove would have to make sure that no two officials tried to act as a primary source for a single reporter (it would appear too eager) He would make sure the primary contacts pitched the information in an off-hand manner, not as the main subject, to make the contact think the source is trying to do him or her a favor ("Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt."), etc. He would also have insured that no two official had exactly the same pitch. Then he would have to arrange for a number of officials (probably 3-4) would be ready and willing to confirm the story. Some of the confirming sources could be primary sources for other reporters, but JUST DOING THE NUMBERS one realizes that there had to be at least 4 officials involved and that they coordinated the leak (and maybe later their responses to the prosecutor).

Therefore an indictment appears likely for Rove and 3 others. In addition, Rove will either be indicted for or censured for his role in the coordination.

Rove would have more to coordinate! To establish guidelines like: No source should call another's contact, Pitch the information off hand, not as the main subject, Make the contact think the source is trying to do him or her a favor ("Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt."), etc. AND Rove would have had to field a group of officials to support the sources stories.

And then we haven't even begun to ask the question of how Rove got the information. (Doesn't leaking the information to him also constitute a crime?) Did Plame give information to officials as one report suggested? Why did Ashcroft recluse himself? (This rings of possible involvement of Cheney or W.) Did Rove have the proper clearance prior to becoming Deputy Chief of Staff to have seen the material? Or were other federal laws broken to the effect that classified information was used for political purposes? Etc.

I think the great thing we have going for us on this case is Patrick Fitzgerald. By all accounts a fine prosecutor.

[cliss]

3. Also, don't forget that Sly Fox

Ari Fleischer quit right after all this blew up. (coincidence? I doubt it). Did you write this post, Skip? If you did, that was an awesome post.

Thanks for giving me hope......