Valerie and Joe Wilson: Treason is Not Old News, Mainstream Media Wants to Suppress McClellan Story

http://alternet.org/blogs/peek/68676/#more

Treason is Not Old News, Mainstream Media Wants to Suppress McClellan Story

Posted by Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson, HuffingtonPost.com at 2:02 PM on November 22, 2007.

Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson: Where is the outrage? Where is the "contempt and anger?"


This post, written by Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame Wilson, originally appeared on The Huffington Post

"I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors." George Herbert Walker Bush, CIA dedication ceremony, April 26, 1999.


When Bush administration officials I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Karl Rove, Richard Armitage and Ari Fleischer betrayed Valerie Plame Wilson's identity as a covert CIA operations officer, they fell into the category of "the most insidious of traitors." Now we learn from the president's former press secretary, Scott McClellan, that the president himself "was involved" in sending him out to lie to the American public about the betrayal. If his direction to McClellan was deliberate and knowing, then the president was party to a conspiracy by senior administration officials to defraud the public. If that isn't a high crime and misdemeanor then we don't know what is. And if the president was merely an unwitting accomplice, then who lied to him? What is he doing to punish the person who misled the president to abuse his office? And why is that person still working in the executive branch? Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald made clear his suspicions about the culprit when he said "a cloud remains over the office of the vice president." But we may never know exactly what happened because President Bush thwarted justice and guaranteed the success of the cover-up when he commuted Scooter Libby's felony sentence on four counts of lying, perjury and obstruction of justice.

With the exception of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, and the intrepid David Shuster, the mainstream media would have you believe that McClellan's revelation is old news. "Now back to Aruba and the two-year old disappearance of a blond teenager." But treason is not old news. The Washington press corps, whose pretension is to report and interpret events objectively, has been compromised in this matter as evidence presented in the courtroom demonstrated. Prominent journalists acted as witting agents of Rove, Libby and Armitage and covered up this serious breach of U.S. national security rather than doing their duty as journalists to report it to the public.

So far there is no apparent desire for redemption driving the press to report on the treachery of senior officials. Instead, the mainstream press has compounded its complicity by giving the Bush administration yet another free pass and shifting blame. The New York Times failed to publish an article on McClellan's revelation and The Washington Post buried it at the end of a column deep on page A-15 in the newspaper. Earlier in the week, Newsweek magazine, owned by the Washington Post Company, proudly announced the identity of its new star columnist -- Karl Rove, one of the key actors in this collective treason. Robert Novak, who willfully disclosed Valerie's identity, having been twice warned not to do so by the CIA, and who transmitted his column to Rove before it was published, remains a regularly featured columnist in The Washington Post.

With nearly 70 percent of the public now believing that our country is on the wrong track, it is no wonder that many feel let down by major institutions, including the Washington press establishment that increasingly resembles the corrupt Soviet propaganda mill. One reporter from a major news organization even asked whether McClellan's statement wasn't just "another Wilson publicity stunt." Try following this tortuous logic: Dick Cheney runs an operation involving senior White House officials designed to betray the identity of a covert CIA officer and the press responds by trying to prove that the Wilsons are publicity seekers. What ever happened to reporting the news? Welcome to Through the Looking Glass.

Fearful of its access to the powerful, and defensive about its status in the high school social culture that permeates the capital of the Free World, much of the press has forgotten its responsibility to the public and the Constitution.

Presidents and those who aspired to be president in the past once took strong positions in defense of U.S. national security. Today, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson has tried to build his support through fronting for the Scooter Libby Defense fundraising efforts. Meanwhile, other Republican candidates accuse Patrick Fitzgerald of being "a runaway prosecutor" and remain silent about the stain on Bush's presidency.

Where is the outrage? Where is the "contempt and anger?"

May your lives be long and filled with happiness. You will never get the vindication and justice you deserve, and neither will the rest of us. The boa is constricting, and I fear your kind of fight for our country is in vain.

Happy Thanksgiving.

There is still hope that this will be in Court one day.

and facts came out..well, you know our corporatemediawhores would bury it on page d26.

They should keep fighting the good fight, just as the rest of us should. This story must stay in the public eye, front and center by any means possible. I have to believe and may-be I'm nuts, that there are still good and decent folks out there who understand the treasonous act that took place, at the highest levels of our government. History will not be kind to George Bush and his legacy will be not only the worst, most incompetent president in history, but a traitor as well.

Randi Rhodes talked about it. We the people are getting restless. And a backlash will come when the rent is due and the plasma is repossessed.

Except Keith, Tweety (lately) and Shuster.

The Wilson family deserves justice. Well over twenty years of service to our country, putting their lives in danger to keep us safe and this is the treatment they get from the talking heads?

FUCK it makes me NUTS just thinking about it! :nuke:

How Joe and Valerie Wilson can keep from going insane after what they've been through is beyond me. And it isn't just about them!

WE'RE ALL AT RISK BECAUSE OF THE ACTIONS OF THIS ADMINISTRATION. WE WERE ALL COMPROMISED!

WHY DOESN'T ANYONE UNDERSTAND THAT? :nuke:

tweety yesterday, this admin managed to shut this story down, and it seems they're still doing that.

IT IS THE REPUBLICAN CORPORATE MEDIA COMPANIES

DAMN THEM

CNN especially is complicit in the cover-up. :mad:

Gergen said this was only a political story, not a legal story (CNN).
They are out with shovels now as spinning just can't cover this one.

Joe and Valerie Plame will go down as American heroes. Mark my word. Scotty "Traitor" Mclellan will go down as a puppet mouthpiece of a two bit idiot dictator and his book and it's profits notwithstanding, we should persecute Mr. McClellan just as vigourously and with the same war crimes tribunal as we persecute Bush/Cheney/Rice/Libby/Rove/Rumsfeld, and yes, even Colin Powell for their participation in treason, their betrayal of all america stands for.

THE RAGE is here... with me now.

and the way to democratically deal with rage is to force a tribunal of these war criminals and try them in public and then imprison them for life for their aggregious crimes against humanity.

SCOTT MCLELLAN was not a victim. he knew exactly what was going on. his book is a farce.

but I"m damn glad he's turning into the rat fink we know republicans to be, and ratting out his old bosses.

It's so obvious they try to burry it - from the day it started - but somehow it keeps popping back up.

and yellow journalists cared about a stained blue dress, but the media covered it to no end. When we stop buying what they're selling they'll change the product. It would be a safe bet to say most of us here do not rely on the corporate media for valuable information. The same can't be said for the majority, but that is changing. With each passing day more people ignore the corporate media outlets for good cause.
By the time the corporate media figures out that its captured audience has moved on, it will be too late for a recovery. The lesson they seem to ignore is that once a customer is lost, it's permanent.

Trust me. I've tried. I try all the time-- I cannot, for the life of me, understand why more people are not screaming in the streets-- but they aren't. Most, when I attempt to share with them some of what is going on, get glazed over and start to give me that"there she goes again with her politics stuff" look or they nod to each other that I'm going to go into one of my tirades- it's been like this for years for me, growing to a crescendo, growing more with the electronic voting machine rigging and has only continued to grow since them. But, for most people, their lives are either too full or they are too busy or they feel to helpless or they just don't see how any of this relates to THEM. It's beyond infuriating and the corporate mainstream media is partly to blame- ok more then partly to blame but some responsibility here has to fall on our fellow citizens as well I believe.

Thank goodness for DU and Raw Story and Kos and Huffpost and Keith Olbermann and the few investigative reporters who are doing an amzing job and the best that they can- but the truth that most of America is still not hanging here or watching MSNBC or even really paying all that much attention to any of it. Most aren't watching the debates yet or focused on the election yet- never mind the Valerie Plame story.

Besides, the Natalie Holloway drama is far more exciting anyway. This story, by the way, seems to very well timed-- as was the original time that it broke as I recall, to coincide with some major event being buried by the White House by the way. I can't remember what exactly was going on when this story was being barraged all over the corporate media but it was major because I do remember remarking to someone about the timing and what an excellent media diversion that story was providing when it was happening then too. Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not.

I don't know how many people consider me a pain-in-the-ass when I mention what's going on. What I do know is that I've been treated to "I don't talk politics," "Let's just agree to disagree," or, worst of all, "Let's change the subject." They don't know and they don't want to know. One woman I know told me she's only interested in "entertainment news." How's that for burying one's head in the sand?

In the lead up to Iraq I warned some friends at a party that Saddam had nothing on Bush in terms of being somebody to fear, and that Bush and Cheney would do more damage to the country than Saddam could dream of. They laughed at me and steered the coversation back to the fate of Laci Peterson.

Thank God for DU, because if I didn't have the intelligent, politically involved and aware people here to learn from and commiserate with, I'd have gone nuts by now.

I don't mean to sound condescending but what seems to be going on in many cases, is that most people are just too buried in their own daily lives- kids, jobs, carpools, soccer, trying to make ends meet, whatever- so whatever "news" they hear is minimal and doesn't really make an impact. I don't think- at least I don't want to believe that it's a deliberate oblivious-ness (not sure that's a word)- it's more about there being too much else going on in people's immediate lives every day to have room for anything else- much less anything that involves things like politics. 911 stopped everyone- and I mean everyone- in their tracks. But once things went back to normal (remember- we all were told to go shopping?), the crisis was over and people went back to where they were before, except for the occasional terror alert or rise in the terror color of the day.

When we started bombing Iraq, I remember sitting in my living room watching it on t.v., weeping and weeping. I knew it was wrong- thousands of us knew it was wrong. But most folks didn't care, didn't question, didn't want to know anything unless it directly effected their daily lives.

Another time I remember sitting in my car crying as I listened on Air America to reports of teenagers in Abu Grabbe being tortured while their mothers listened the screams outside the prison walls. I cried so hard that day I thought my heart would break.

A few years back at Thanksgiving, my family asked me if I would "please give everyone a break from talking about that election stuff" at the dinner table.

Lacie Peterson, Natalie Holloway, Brittany Spears - even Terri Schiavo got more of a response then something as apparently meaningless as whether our votes counted or how many civilians we've murdered during the occupation in Iraq or how many people we've tortured or how many of our military forces are returning home wounded not only physically but scarred so deeply emotionally that there's a good chance they will never really be able to heal. Who could after such an experience?

I've actually lost friends because I became so relentless about doing everything I could to get people to pay attention- For God's sake- our elections were rigged- our machines are rigged- thousands were disenfranchised and almost no one gave a shit. Sure a few seemed a bit concerned- the common response was "Oh come on- if it's that widespread, how come we never hear about it on the news?". I thought I was going to loose my mind. I walked around with little red mini-flyers that said "Question the Election- Things are NOT as they would appear" or "Our Democracy is in Danger" and would leave them places when I traveled.

What a relief it would be to have the ability to tune it all out or never let any of it in or simply remain uninvolved emotinally- not to question things, letting the world go by, learning about what's going on from the evening news perhaps or news at 11pm or from the first page of the local newspaper (after reading the entertainment section in depth).

But alas, those are not the genes I showed up with this time around. Maybe next time I can request a different life path....

the gym, kids' soccer games, their favorite tv shows, going to the mall, and on and on. They could find a few minutes a day to find out what the hell is going on in the world, but they just don't have the interest. The repukes could never get away with the crap they routinely pull if the populice was the least bit engaged in the political process. They count on people being willfully ignorant.

And ask questions or want to learn more about what is going on. Feeling a sense of responsibility or a desire to participate is something I find most people just not feeling. Sometimes, in all fairness, they are simply exhausted from their days and have no energy to spare for anything else at the end of the day except plopping down in front of the t.v. As a single person with no kids, this is not something I can relate to frankly but my sisters tell me this often.

I also wonder sometimes, given the HUGE number of people currently taking anti-depressants medications, if perhaps- just maybe- this is contributing to people being less involved, less interested or less attentive. I have no idea whether this is a coincidence or if this is even remotely related but the number of people currently taking some type of daily medication so that they can function through their daily lives is staggering. I actually took them for a while myself during a personal crisis but I weaned myself off after just under 2 years because I was concerned about being "dulled" to any experiences. But most people at least the ones I know (which are many of my closest friends who are mostly women in their 40s and 50s) have been on then for years.

I wish I knew the answer or what the key is to waking people up. Sometimes I just want to take them by the shoulders and scream, other times I want to BEG them to simply listen...

It could be any one of a hundred and one scandals - slash that - a THOUSAND and one scandals that this administration has going on. Scott Peterson, and as though one Perterson distraction wasn't enough we have another along with Holloway, or whatever rich, dumb, bimbo celeb is doing now to distract the masses from the truth.

But this is nothing new. It's that same thing that happened in Mussolini's Italy, Hitler's Germany, and Stalin's Russia and it's happening here and those that refuse to see this are in for a rude awakening and those of us - at least for me - won't be happy in telling them I told you so.

I encounter the same denial and reaction with near everyone I know that you have encountered. But as many that avoid me now or are unwilling to discuss politics with me is as many as I now have seeking me out to do such and we ALL feel the same way. Many of us have even become estranged from our own family members.

But you can trust your own observations on this, it is NO coincidence anymore than it was that we had training exercises going on Sept. 11, 2001 of planes being hijacked and flown into the Twin Towers the very same day as planes were actually hijacked.

Is that I can kick and recommend this once.

one of the great lines of all times.

their wonderful life together and yet they continue to intrude upon their own solitude in order to keep this story front and center. Thank you, Ambassador and Mrs. Wilson. Now it is up to us in the blog world to be sure this continues to stay alive. We alone can do that now. NO LET UP until the evil doers are in jail. Ditto to Sibel and all other unreported patriots who are standing against tyranny.

is to boybott it. This is hard to do when so many believe they actually get news when tuning in. When this end of our democracy plays out, it will most likely be due to the end of the fourth estate.

"When this end of our democracy plays out, it will most likely be due to the end of the fourth estate."----mmonk

Exactly. A free, independent press is essential to democracy. Mainstream media outlets, even those traditionally seen as liberal, are failing us. Something smells rotten in Washington, and it is spreading beyond the administration.

An informed public is the most effective guard against tyranny.

There talking points will be - he should have said something when we was employed - why is he talking now - he's just disgruntled - don't listen to him - his complete book is not out yet, so there is not comment until it is.


yea - like if he actually spoke his mind while working in the w.h. he would have been fired.

with the story. Instead of dealing with it, Pedro goes to story about the new Rummy doll. :eyes:

...continues to grow. When will there be some accountability for what has happened during the past six years? WHEN ? ? ?

dealt with by our next President? And why aren't the main candidates speaking to it (if you don't think they are).

...betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors."

You got that right Poppy! Your son is a fucking traitor!:grr:

any story that doesn't fit in their plans of world domination.

corporatemediawhores=rove..shit, they even gave the goebbels wannabe a job.

It must come as a shock to Joe and Valarie that the nation the put their lives on the line for is a fraud.

Welcome to my world. I don't know if I ever "believed" in this country. The idles that we were taught in school all seemed fine and well, but the reality never seemed to match them. Maybe it was coming of age during the Vietnam era. Maybe it's because even as a child I was the one that pulled Santa's beard and looking at the Easter Bunny and seeing nothing but some guy in a dumb bunny outfit.

Whatever it was I can't fantom what it must feel like to have believed so strongly in your country to spend your whole life serving it only to have those at the top of the government you defended with your life turn on you.

And the irony. The statement made by H. W. bush and then to have his own son be the one to do the most despicable of all acts - Shakespeare couldn't come up with this.

on the hook. Busholini prolly has "plausible deniabilty" on this. No proof that he either directed &/or covered up the exposing of V. Plame & Brewster Jennings. I have believed that Cheney spearheaded this & still maintain that he did so.

boys, when it all falls apart you guys won't be able to show your faces in public.

the only thing free is the Internet and it ain't free either

Democracy has little chance of survival without participation. And by God, the MSM will do everything in their power to keep the masses inured to their agenda.