Ex-Ambassador Wilson to Name Names

AP via Yahoo ^ | March 2, 2004 | Curt Anderson

[Quilla]

Former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson will reveal the name of the person he thinks leaked his wife's identity as an undercover CIA (news - web sites) officer in a book due out in May, his publisher said Tuesday.

A federal grand jury has heard testimony from at least four White House officials in its investigation to identify the leaker of Valerie Plame's name to syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who published the name in his syndicated column last July. Numerous other officials have been interviewed by the FBI (news - web sites).

Spokeswoman Karen Auerbach of the Avalon Publishing Group in New York said she did not know the identity of the purported leaker.

Novak said in his July 14 column that his sources were two unidentified senior administration officials. Novak has not commented about the matter during the grand jury investigation.

Wilson's book, "The Politics of Truth," is scheduled to come out May 20.

Publication of the book and Wilson's accompanying promotional tour could have political overtones because he is now a foreign policy adviser to Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry (news - web sites). Democrats are seeking to raise questions of credibility in the minds of voters about the reasons President Bush (news - web sites) went to war.

Wilson did not return telephone calls seeking comment for this story. He has previously contended that White House political adviser Karl Rove condoned the leak but was not the actual leaker.

After Novak's column appeared, Wilson said other reporters told him that Rove had characterized Plame as "fair game" because of Wilson's criticism of the White House's uses of intelligence before the Iraq (news - web sites) war.

The White House has repeatedly denied that Rove was the leaker.

Wilson was enlisted by the CIA to investigate whether Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger. He said he found no evidence of such an attempt and has accused the Bush administration of exaggerating Iraq's nuclear capabilities to build support for war.

A description of the book on the publishing company's Web site says Wilson's conclusions about the Niger uranium were "brushed aside" by the administration.

The grand jury has continued to meet regularly in Washington under the direction of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, who was appointed by Deputy Attorney General James Comey to oversee the probe. Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) disqualified himself from the case in December in the face of Democratic criticism of his close political ties to the White House.

The leaker could be charged with a felony that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

[cyncooper]

Tenet has stated flatly that Wilson was sent without his knowledge but he later became aware of it and his "findings" such as they were.

Tenet said the administration, including President Bush and VP Cheney, were never briefed about Wilson and his useless findings. Neither was Congress. So there was nothing to brush aside. They were never told about it.

[Quilla]

This statement was rather telling:

Wilson said Aug. 21 at a public forum in suburban Seattle that it is of keen interest to him "to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs."

[cyncooper]

Something stinks...and it isn't the release of Wilson's wifes name.

Exactly.

[AmishDude]

That was the same time he accused Karl Rove of being the leaker.

[Dolphy]

Could it be...Plame herself? Who leaked to the BBC the Niger fable even before Joe's NYtimes piece?

Makes you wonder doesn't it? I'm at my office and unable to look up some of the information I have on this, but one of those Newsday journalists was at the center of a story after the first Gulf War. He claimed, based on his usual anonymous sources, that Saddam had tried to negotiate prior to military action and the the US refused. He was also involved in outing an Iraqi religious leader who was killed (in 2003) with a suitcase of CIA money. I don't trust Wilson or his wife.

[Triple]

So now we have a direct connection between Kerry and Moveon.org. Kerry is getting backing from none other than George Soros. Through Moveon, which uses Ambd Wilson in one of its anti-Bush videos. (the one they had viewing parties for)

[SpyGuy]

Thanks for setting me straight on Wilson *not* being a Clinton holdover in the Bush Administration (unlike so many others).

Still, I would argue that if Bush had replaced most of the senior positions held by Clinton appointees, then a fiasco like this would have been less likely to have occured. In essence, Wilson was sent because of two reasons: 1) No one close to this situation was watching Bush's back; and 2) There were still plenty of people in power that were intent on putting a knife in Bush's back.

[cwb]

That, I can agree on. When CLinton came in, he cleaned house...including the unprecedented, DA Massacre, which allowed him to essentially build a wall of protection from any prosecution. From the DEA to the CIA..to even the Travel Office, Clinton got rid of everybody, including non-partisan career people. And even those he couldn't get rid of, eventually left out of disgust because of mismanagement. Unfortnately, unlike the silence in the media over the Clinton purges, a similar Bush purge would've resulted in a media backlash, accusing the WH of only more deceit and secretiveness. Oh, well..he's being accused of it, anyway.

[okie01]

"...at least one French paper treated him glowingly and called him a "Francophile". Sound familiar?"

Birds of a feather.

The French-looking candidate with an affinity for photo-ops and the Francophile father has a Francophile foreign affairs advisor (who does double duty as a publicity hound).

Wilson and Kerry were made for each other. Doubtless, both see themselves as characters in a John LeCarre novel.

[okie01]

"Wasn't Wilson already working for Kerry when Wilson was sent on his "fact finding" mission in Niger?"

No. Wilson went to Niger in March, 2002. He didn't start actively participating in Democrat politics until January, 2003. He didn't formally associate with the Kerry campaign until mid-2003 -- which is when he started to agitate the Yellowcakegate story in public.

[baseballmom]

I don't know where to look for some of these past threads, but Wilson was some kind of "advisor" to Al Gore IIRC. I'll start hunting.

[baseballmom]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/993498/posts

Here is one link.

[baseballmom]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/993741/posts

One more link

[Shermy]

From today:

Novak Avoids Talk of CIA Leak

"Robert Novak, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and co-host of CNN’s Crossfire, disappointed audience members at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum last night by refusing to talk about his column that revealed the name of a CIA operative on weapons of mass destruction.

On July 14, 2003, Novak named Valerie Plame, the wife of the retired diplomat Joseph C. Wilson, as a CIA operative—an occupation she had kept secret—in his Chicago Sun-Times column.

Novak opened his talk entitled, “The Washington Overview,” with a list of five questions he is frequently asked. At the top of the list comes the question of who were the two senior administration officials who leaked Plame’s name.

“I have been told by my attorneys not to answer that question or any other questions about the CIA,” Novak said.

.....

[dirtboy]

Spokeswoman Karen Auerbach of the Avalon Publishing Group in New York

I wonder what other political books they publish?

Yikes. A subsidiary called Nation Books. Fine company that Wilson is keeping nowadays:

The Bush-Haters Handbook		January 2004 $12.95 304 pages 1-56025-569-2
An A-Z Guide to the Most Appalling Presidency of the Past 100 Years
from the book:
"The Bushiest "compassionate conservative" election strategy deserves to be remembered as perhaps the greatest deception in U.S. presidential history. It was conceived out of a recognition that the American public had moved to the left (as conservative columnist Fred Barnes put it "Bush is saying, I’m not Newt Gingrich") but served as a Trojan Horse to smuggle into the White house an army of far-right ideologues and "pro-business" radicals. Examples of the hollowness of this slogan make up much of this book . . . "
"In the Bush White House, the worship of tax cuts for the wealthy wasn’t just preached but practiced, daily and devoutly. This was one area in which Bush delivered (and delivered) on his campaign promises—although a few average Americans could have realized how little they themselves would benefit, how much of the loot would go the richest few, or the impact on federal finances, vital social needs and the economy."
"The Bush administration’s assaults on civil liberties following 9/11 were accompanied by stepped-up pressures on the public, the media, and Congress to curb any criticism of the administration’s policies. These pressures intensified in the lead-up to Bush’s war on Iraq."
back to top
How Much Money Did You Make on the War, Daddy?		January 2004 $12.95 208 pages 1-56025-561-7
A Quick and Dirty Guide to War Profiteering in the Bush Administration
Did you know that at least 32 top officials on the Bush Administration served as executives or paid consultants to top weapons contractors before joining the administration? 32! With this in mind, it's not surprising that the military budget has increased over $100 billion annually, from $300 billion to $400 billion per year, and will continue to rise to upwards of $500 billion in the coming years. How Much Money Did You Make on the War, Daddy? exposes the fact that the United States Policy is now based on what’s good for Chevron, Halliburton, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Bette—not what’s good for the average citizen. It would be a vast exaggeration to say that our democracy is in as poor shape as the republic that Rusted and company are now rebuilding in Iraq. But it is fair to say that during Bush’s term, our democratic freedoms have been diminished, while the power of the wealthy and corporations have been enhanced.
back to top
Junk Politics		February 2004 $12.95 304 pages 1-56025-565-X
An incendiary and contrarian take on the rise of no-politics politics from one of America's leading cultural critics
When George Bush’s Inaugural Address stressed civility, compassion, and character, he was continuing a decade-long trend where American politicians have been trying to get "touchy feely" with the American electorate. Who could forget Bill Clinton’s "I feel-your-pain" chatter from the 1992 election, or the party conventions of 2000, where delegate after delegate recounted learning experiences or tales of privations endured and overcome ("Let me tell you my story . . . ")? That there is a sinister and reactionary—as well as saccharine —side to this phenomenon that is rarely addressed. But what it amounts to is the growth of no-politics politics—or "Junk Politics" as celebrated essayist and social critic Benjamin DeMott names it in this deliciously contrarian book— where lack of character, civility, and feeling, rather than inequality and injustice, are seen as the root cause of our "national woes." Historically great causes—like the civil rights movement—nourish themselves on firm, sharp awareness of the substance of injustice. But those causes, DeMott warns, are losing their voice as junk politics gains ascendance. DeMott looks at the broad cultural influences and political signals that have stamped the apolitical style of those currently in power, especially in reference to the political culture of post 9-11 America. He focuses on some of the lesser-known but defining elements of Bush-era anti-politics rhetoric and action; that poverty is a character problem, that "leadership" is first of all an emollient. But he also digs deeper into the cultural soil that nourished these views, exploring celebrity and consumer culture and the sexual revolution of the last half century.
back to top
A Prayer for America		November 2003 $11.95 160 pages 1-56025-510-2
New York Times extended bestseller
He stands up for heartland Americans who are too often overlooked and unheard. Big corporations are well-represented in Washington, but Dennis Kucinich is a rare congressman of conscience and bravery who fights for the unrepresented.
“We need to create a new, clear vision of a world as one. A new, clear vision of people working out their differences peacefully. A new, clear vision with the teaching of nonviolence, nonviolent intervention and mediation. A new, clear vision where people can live in harmony within their families, their communities, and within themselves. A new, clear vision of peaceful coexistence in a world of tolerance.”

[Spotsy]

Thanks for the update Shermy.

What are your thoughts about who "leaked" Plame's name? Do you think it was a setup from holdover Clintonistas, aka the Richard Clarke circle?

[mabelkitty]

Cheesy old bureacrats are out of fashion.

Move along, loser.

[Spotsy]

"pro-business" radicals

This and Kerry's new advertising/communications guru Zach Exley, of MoveOn.org fame, with his bumpersticker, "Capitalism: Good in Theory, but not in Practice."

I never thought I would hear things like this in my lifetime. Why don't the dems just start calling themselves socialists/communists and get it over with?

[<1/1,000,000th%]

When will the commission begin hearings on this?

[Shermy]

What are your thoughts about who "leaked" Plame's name?

Well, the latest guess is Richard Clarke, who fits a "senior administration official" status. Novak also said the first person was not a "partisan gunslinger" - which could have fit Clarke, and that he and Novak had a "long conversation" - Clarke likes to talk, for sure.

Who knows? But I thought this comment reported today was curious:

“I have been told by my attorneys not to answer that question or any other questions about the CIA,” Novak said.

That answer could be read as meaning a "question about the CIA" includes the question who were the "senior administration officials."