Does anyone remember that there is a leaker inside the administration? This is from the November 26, 2004, Washington Post:
Plame’s name was leaked to reporters “purely and simply for revenge,” the official alleged in the report.
“Prosecutors are interested in the sourcing of that story and whether it’s accurate. If it is not accurate, they would like to know that and move along,” said an attorney for a witness in the case.
:::flip:::
It seems that someone in the ‘administration’ was outraged enough by the thuggery toward Wilson and his wife, that he/she felt compelled to speak out.
Whoever the leaker was, they are a real danger to the administration. How much do they know? Are they quietly cooperating with Fitzgerald? Or was the leaker actually a high level person in the CIA?
The CIA is not an enemy that you want to have. I can only imagine the kind of testimony they could give about the damage the leak did to national security. They can heap it on as thick or thin as they like.
On the other hand, if the leaker is employed in the White House, they may have first-hand testimony on what the political motives were. When they said the leak was done “purely and simply for revenge”, were they expressing an opinion, or characterizing a conversation they participated in?
Looking at the original article, it feels like the leaker was in the White House:
It is rare for one Bush administration official to turn on another. Asked about the motive for describing the leaks, the senior official said the leaks were “wrong and a huge miscalculation, because they were irrelevant and did nothing to diminish Wilson’s credibility.”
Meanwhile:
While Novak’s column did not run until Monday, July 14, it could have been seen by people in the White House or the media as early as Friday, July 11, when the Creators Syndicate distributed it over the Associated Press wire.
Rove talked to Cooper on the morning of the 11th. So, we now know that origin of the information that started circulating more widely on the 12th.
What we don’t know is whether Rove’s conversation with Cooper took place before or after Novak’s column appeared on the AP wire.
It might be possible for Rove to assert that he only learned of Wilson’s wife’s role at the CIA after he read Novak’s column.
But I don’t think it will fly, because there was no reason to tell Cooper that information on deep background, if Rove knew it was available on the wire.
“the official alleged in the report.”
What report, BooMan?
I think they mean the article from 2003, that I also linked to. At first I was thinking the same thing, ‘what report?’ But it seems to be a synonym for ‘article’.
Oh I remember that time frame. May I take a stab in the dark about the WHO in reference? Mary Matilan (sp). She was in Cheneys office and had privy to this before she quit.
What makes you think it might be she, Brenda?
well, just a stab in the dark. I think she soon left afterwards and that she has been called to testify is all….I really do not know. I am like everyone else. I do like Karen Kolwiski, not sure how to spell her name that resigned her commission from the pentagon, who tells it like it was in the beginning when rummy and his crew took shape. If only congress and those who can do something about something would listen to her and those like her…<hanging head in dispair> deep breath…….:o(
..and another thing, if I am correct on my remembering of things, I think Wilson said that his wife did not make the arrangements for him to be chosen to make the trip, she just suggested him among others to do it. That she had not one thing to do with the whole fiasco and that the committee doing the selection did not have her on it.
Anyhow, that is how I remember it being said..I could be wrong.
Like I’ve written before: no one has any idea of the full scope and depth of the investigation except the Grand Jury, and Fitzgerald.
From WH Counsel‘s third memorandum re: leak investigation:
[edit]
For purposes of this memorandum, the term “documents” includes
“without limitation all electronic records, telephone records of
any kind (including but not limited to any documents that memorialize
telephone calls having been made), correspondence, computer records,
storage devices, notes, memoranda, and diary and calendar entries”
in the possession of the Executive Office of the President, its
staff, or its employees, wherever located, including any documents
that may have been archived in Records Management.
All three memos are part of FindLaw’s record [one of the best I’ve seen], which also includes the full report of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
I can look myself but, if you have it handy, i’d like to see a bio of Fitzgerald.
Try this: http://www.chicagomag.com/stories/0702fitz.htm#more
on Daily Kos.
Here is the diary:
Tenet, Anyone? 9/28/03 WAPO Source Rovelation!
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/6/21355/03466
It makes a lot of sense to me that the head of the CIA would be furious about a NOC being outed for such petty reasons.
although the phrasing of the article makes me feel like it was someone closer to the President.
I don’t know.
I can only imagine that Tenet fell on his sword by allowing that ‘slam-dunk’ comment to be made to Woodward.
In reality, it appears that the CIA was waging a war over the intelligence with Cheney’s outfit, and when no WMD turned up, and the CIA was vindicated, Cheney’s group blamed the CIA.
Tenet may have lost his temper after the Plame leak, and it would have hurt morale at the agency if he didn’t fight back.
It also explains the purge at CIA after Goss came in. But they will not so easily win a battle with the agency, which has the ability (below Goss’s level, and outside his control) to stick the knife in at any time.
well, that blew my Mary Matalin therory to hell…….
I’ve been going on the theory it was George Tenet. No proof and only one very thin piece of circumstantial evidence, they refer to him as an administration official rather than a White House official and make the distinction that Plame’s identity was leaked by 2 White House officials, other than that it is just my gut feeling.
So I take it the “unnamed official” has never been identified? Surely Fitzgerald has been going after the Post to out him. If he could find the alleged six journalists to whom the story was peddled he’d have a shocker.
I must say, my faith in Fitzgerald was starting a waver for a while there, but he seems to be in like a bulldog. The guy is tough enough and has enough ego that he’s as incorruptible-seeming as it gets. This side of maybe Spitzer, we couldn’t have a better prosecutor for this case. Actually, it makes me a little uneasy that the Bushies didn’t try to get somebody else — like they thought they had impunity not matter what. But then look at Nixon’s incredible screwup of HIS coverup.
the constant talk about yellowcake makes me hungry!
I just have to share that the Seattle local TV news is covering the Rove story BIG TIME … they included footage from the 2003 appearance by Joseph Wilson here.