The spy who was thrown into the cold (more on Plame/Wilson)

Who outed Valerie Wilson as a CIA secret agent? Clue: her husband, Joseph, had just criticised the Bush administration. Julian Borger talks exclusively to the man who may have started a new Watergate

Wednesday October 22, 2003
The Guardian

It is early autumn in Washington. The leaves are falling, another election season is limbering up, and the nation's capital is once more embroiled in a gale-force scandal. It is an extraordinary affair that combines espionage, political dirty tricks and weapons of mass destruction - a heady mix normally found only in airport thrillers. But fact has had a knack of trumping fiction in Washington lately. In principle at least, this is worse than Watergate and far worse than Bill Clinton's sexual liaisons. According to the claims now under scrutiny by the FBI, senior officials in the Bush administration (possibly including aides close to the president himself) blew the cover of a high-ranking CIA agent in order to punish and discredit her husband, a critic of the administration. In doing so, they endangered the very national security in the name of which the administration has so far invaded two countries. Ironically, the agent in question was a leading player in the monitoring and pursuit of weapons of mass destruction around the world. Her outing has undoubtedly hamstrung that pursuit.

If caught, the culprits could face jail sentences of 10 years. Even if they escape jail, the affair could seriously tarnish a president who, in the early stages of a re-election campaign, has made the restoration of "honour and dignity" to the White House his central goal. What happens in the next few days and weeks will determine the extent of the damage.

Meanwhile, the man at the centre of the row, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, is scarcely 100 yards from the White House, contemplating his epitaph. It was going to be "the last American diplomat to meet Saddam Hussein". Now he prefers "the husband of the CIA agent outed by her own government".

Valerie Wilson, the woman in question, is not talking about her experience. She has authorised her husband to say only "that she would rather cut off her right arm than speak to the press". But her discretion will not bring back her secrecy. Whoever leaked her name did not just jam a spoke into the work that her department was doing, Joe Wilson believes, but also exposed her family to serious danger.

more..................

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1068124,00.html

This is a Travesty! :bounce:

...when Hell freezes over:mad:

John Conyers wrote a letter to the White House pointing out that it was against the law NOT to appoint a special prosecutor, and there were definite rules for that special prosecutor, and rules for what would trigger the appointment of a special prosecutor.

Does anyone know what came of this attempt by the brave John Conyers?

In the letter he quoted the actual law in place today when a US Attorney General was facing his own administration's White House.

I cannot remember where I read this. I think it was on Buzzflash.
INFO anyone?

Joe Wilson would go into politics, he's great. :think:

*

will determine the extent of the damage."

I hope something is cooking, haven't smelled anything from the kitchen for a while.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1067924,00.html

... worse than Watergate
.... far worse than Bill Clinton's sexual liaisons.

... endangered the very national security in the name of which the administration has so far invaded two countries.

... could seriously tarnish a president who, in the early stages of a re-election campaign, has made the restoration of "honour and dignity" to the White House his central goal.

..she is an officer with "non-official cover": a Noc, CIA parlance for spy. ...The Noc operates under deep cover, as a business executive, tourist, journalist or, in Plame's case, an energy consultant. If the Noc is caught, he or she has no diplomatic protection. "It was the most dangerous assignment you could take. It takes a special sort of person," says Marcinkowski, now a prosecutor in Michigan.

Wilson says he still holds Rove responsible, although he can now see how Bush's trusted adviser might escape charges. His calls to "push" the story along may have come after Novak printed his article, by which time Plame's identity was no longer a secret. "I have every confidence from what I was told that Karl Rove specifically as well as others in the White House were pushing the story," he says. "Whether or not illegal, even by Washington's bare-knuckle political standards, it's pretty slimy." <snip>