Matthew Cooper will testify in CIA leak case

[oceanview]

if I had to wake up and see her every morning - I would have taken the jail sentence.

[CDB]

Thanks so much, Howlin.

I'd hate to bump into her in a dark alley. Probably mistake her for a trash can.

[Howlin]

LOL!

[Howlin]

So her father was over Time during Watergate.

It's all so damn incestuous, isn't it?

[cyncooper]

Great job! There are a few minor dates off (Wilson's op-ed was July 6), but otherwise you have summed up a lot of what I think, too.

I also agree that the Bush administration's response was one of the worst we've ever seen. Not because they were in the wrong, but they clearly didn't really have an idea of what the facts were before they conceded ground (which they should not have).

[Miss Marple]

I am back, and have read all the interesting stuff that has surfaced on the news channels this evening. Of all days to be babysitting! After I posted earlier I had to take the grandkids home and just got back!

From what I have read, it seems to me that the press is diving for cover. Other than Miller's jailing, the only thing on the radio news was that the President had a bike accident but managed to show up in a tux at the Queen's dinner in his honor.

Interesting. And Bob Bennett surfacing is also intriguing.

Bonus: France lost the Olympics and HIllary's international influence is shown to be ZILCH!!

[cyncooper]

My comments that follow are directed to the vain and deceitful Wilson:

President Bush’s refusal to enforce his own call for full cooperation with the Special Counsel has brought us to this point.

Blow it out your ear, Joe. The administration has fully cooperated and they've all waived any reporter confidentiality, you pompous ass.

[Miss Marple]

Didn't this story break while the President was in Africa? It seems to me that a lot of the problem was because all the principals (Bush, Rove, Rice, Powell) were out of the country.

[cyncooper]

Yes but we don't know who or what the target of the investigation is.

You're right.

I was very disappointed in the Fox panel today. Fred Barnes, Jeff Birnbaum and Bill Sammon.

Brit Hume finally seems to realize Fitzgerald has branched out from the Plame name nonsense. But Fred aggravated me (as did Sammon, who should know better---complaining about sources drying up).

Fred was the worst, though: He claimed that the way he figured it, the reporters' testimony was wanted simply to compare what they would say their sources said to them with what those sources testified to the grand jury.

What kind of logic is that? The prosecutor provided reams of documentation to the judges that heard the contempt case. It was explicitly pointed out that fishing expeditions are not allowed. And you can bet the proffer (including lots of intriguing redacted pages) was not hypotheticals of perjury.

[cardinal4]

Judy won't drop the dime on George Tenet.

Tenet, eh? Hmmmmm...I hadnt thought of him. I have always thought Wilson was the leak, but Tenet makes sense..

[cyncooper]

Plus, Novak's original article started with a repeat of Wilson's claim that he went to Africa for the CIA without Tenet's knowledge. That made Tenet look "not in control" and he certainly would have been pissed.

Wilson did got to Africa without Tenet's knowledge. Tenet stated that when he said the non-proliferation group sent Wilson on their own volition.

[cyncooper]

The grand jury wants to hear from Miller from someone in particular. The Appeals Court used the term (to preserve the grand jury secrecry, presumably) "a specified government official".

I have no doubt reporters were blabbing to each other and telling officials (like Libby heard about Plame from a reporter), but the investigation is on another tack.

[Rokurota]

It's not the point of truth or not. It's the point that Wilson publicly stated that Tenet didn't know what was going on. This may be routine, but publicly criticizing and indicating "Well, Tenet didn't know what all was happening in his CIA" doesn't look great to the public.

[debg]

.

[cyncooper]

Didn't this story break while the President was in Africa? It seems to me that a lot of the problem was because all the principals (Bush, Rove, Rice, Powell) were out of the country.

Yes, it did (by design, I'm sure) and I agree that led to the problems on responding to the charges.

[Enchante]

"Senior Administration official" and non-political....

could well have been Tenet?!? He may have been p-ed off at how the Joe Wilson travesty was unfolding, and he may have known with confidence that Plame was NOT in any way a covert agent any longer, so that the legal/criminal issue would not arise. Gee, could it be that the MSM has flogged and manipulated these stories for so long, working diligently to damage the administration, when it was perfectly appropriate from the get-go to challenge Wilson's performance and motives in the whole Niger fiasco??

[Fishtalk]

That made Tenet look "not in control" and he certainly would have been pissed.

Oh he was pissed all right. He also lost his job over it all.

[cyncooper]

That was not my sentence. I quoted another poster.

[Peach]

Fishtalk...what an outstanding summary and timeline you have provided. I am quite impressed.