Karl Rove was whistleblower - was the good guy in this

Real Clear Politics.com ^ | 13 July 2005 | edcoil

[edcoil]

Karl Rove, Whistleblower He told the truth about Joe Wilson.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT

Democrats and most of the Beltway press corps are baying for Karl Rove's head over his role in exposing a case of CIA nepotism involving Joe Wilson and his wife, Valerie Plame. On the contrary, we'd say the White House political guru deserves a prize--perhaps the next iteration of the "Truth-Telling" award that The Nation magazine bestowed upon Mr. Wilson before the Senate Intelligence Committee exposed him as a fraud.

For Mr. Rove is turning out to be the real "whistleblower" in this whole sorry pseudo-scandal. He's the one who warned Time's Matthew Cooper and other reporters to be wary of Mr. Wilson's credibility. He's the one who told the press the truth that Mr. Wilson had been recommended for the CIA consulting gig by his wife, not by Vice President Dick Cheney as Mr. Wilson was asserting on the airwaves. In short, Mr. Rove provided important background so Americans could understand that Mr. Wilson wasn't a whistleblower but was a partisan trying to discredit the Iraq War in an election campaign. Thank you, Mr. Rove.

The same can't be said for Mr. Wilson, who first "outed" himself as a CIA consultant in a melodramatic New York Times op-ed in July 2003. (snip)

If there's any scandal at all here, it is that this entire episode has been allowed to waste so much government time and media attention, As for the press corps, rather than calling for Mr. Rove to be fired, they ought to be grateful to him for telling the truth.

[GatorGirl]

You're right. Besides, Rove's name has already been revealed, so there's absolutely no reason for Miller to refuse to name him. It's not Rove, for sure!

[Steve_Seattle]

"Anyone open to the possibility that the 'Wilson falsely claimed Cheney sent him' spin is just that - spin?"

Again, I think two similar but different issues are being conflated. The claim is that Wilson lied in denying his wife played a role in his getting the Niger assignment, not in claiming that Cheney was the one who chose him. As I said in my other post, I think the idea that Cheney picked Wilson for the trip, or knew about him being chosen, was perhaps injected into the story in media reports, not necessarily by Wilson himself. I just re-read Tenet's 7/11/03 press release, and he says the CIA's WMD group decided to investigate the uranium issue "on their own initiative," and makes no mention of Cheney as being the one who got the ball rolling.

[Steve_Seattle]

Don't you find it odd that the CIA director wasn't briefed about Wilson's trip before it happened, that Tenet was out of the loop on this sensitive and politically charged mission? I have often wondered if this whole thing was a set-up by an anti-Bush element in the CIA.

[ConservativeMan55]

[lugsoul]

"The claim is that Wilson lied in denying his wife played a role in his getting the Niger assignment, not in claiming that Cheney was the one who chose him."

Then you aren't reading the WSJ or listening to Ken Mehlman or reading the RNC press releases. They all claim Wilson lied in claiming Cheney sent him.

[lugsoul]

I'm guessing that there was an awful lot going on that Tenet didn't know about. Remember, Tenet wasn't a 'spy,' he was a 'manager.'

[RetiredArmy]

The left took it over.

[Texas Songwriter]

Where is Joe Wilson? The self-promoter has not been heard from as this issue heats up. This is counter to his very personality. Why doesn't Russert or Blitzer or Larry have him on their shows to elucidate what happened. He is very close to this issue. Where to the hell is he? I think he is laying low because his ass is in a ringer. He's waiting for the hammer to falll.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Then you aren't reading the WSJ or listening to Ken Mehlman or reading the RNC press releases. They all claim Wilson lied in claiming Cheney sent him."

Wilson apparently believed - maybe based on what he was told by the CIA - that Cheney had directly or indirectly instigated the trip. His views on this seem to have changed over time, based on Mehlman's quotes. But according to Tenet, neither he nor Cheney had prior knowledge of the trip, which was undertaken on the initiative of the group where Plame worked. I clearly recall reading at the time that Dick Cheney was supposed to have been the one who requested this trip; Rove was trying to correct that false impression, regardless of whether it was based on a lie by Wilson or simply because Wilson was misinformed.

[lugsoul]

Sorry. Nope.

Cheney DID request that the CIA look into the yellowcake matter. That is established fact.

In response, the CPD DID ask Wilson to go, that is established fact.

The CPD sending Wilson WAS in response to Cheney asking the CIA to look into the matter. That is established fact.

"Mehlman's quotes", that you mentioned, never have Wilson saying that Cheney sent him - even though that's what Mehlman claims they mean.

All of the things I have stated as "established fact" are in Wilson's op-ed piece. Then they are all confirmed in the Senate Intel report.

In other words, any 'false impression' anyone was trying to correct didn't come from Wilson's op-ed or his public statements.

Or maybe there wasn't any false impression.

[Steve_Seattle]

Tenet's comments are therefore very misleading, because they make it sound like neither he nor Cheney knew anything about the trip prior to its happening, that it originated entirely in the CPD group. Or maybe it's that Cheney floated the idea in general, got the ball rolling, but had no knowledge of the specifics of the trip.

[Steve_Seattle]

"Or maybe there wasn't any false impression."

Yes there was. There was confusion about what Cheney's role was, and about when he learned of Wilson's involvement. It was also claimed in the press that Cheney had rejected Wilson's report because it didn't jibe with what he wanted to hear. According to Tenet, neither Cheney nor Bush nor Rice were briefed on that report; it circulated at lower levels.

[lugsoul]

The latter. The Senate Intel report is pretty detailed on the whole thing. Cheney said 'do something,' loosely paraphrased, about the yellowcake sale reports. Some within CPD, responding to the directive from above, decided to send someone over to check it out. Maybe because of Plame, maybe because of his experience with both Niger and Iraq, maybe because he had no 'spy' taint - maybe all of the above - that someone became Wilson.

So, neither Cheney nor Tenet knew Wilson had gone, but the trip was an effort by the agency to get an answer to Cheney's questions. And I'm guessing that when Cheney asks you a question you don't know the answer to, you REALLY want to get that answer however you can.

[lugsoul]

"There was confusion about what Cheney's role was, and about when he learned of Wilson's involvement."

Not from Wilson.

And, of course, before the Novak column, you pretty much only had Wilson' op-ed.

[Tannerone]

Would someone please ask those two useful idiots (Moran and jerk-off)if the MSN was all on vacation with the Sandy Berger case. This was supposed to be heard before a judge this week what happened. where is the MSN when the Liberal former Security Chief gets caught stealing the goods?

Also someone tell there useful idiots they really look like useful idiots!

[okie01]

find a quote where Joe Wilson says the Vice-President asked him to go on the Niger trip, as the WSJ claims he said.

Here ya go...

In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheney's office had questions about a particular intelligence report. While I never saw the report, I was told that it referred to a memorandum of agreement that documented the sale of uranium yellowcake — a form of lightly processed ore — by Niger to Iraq in the late 1990's. The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office.

You'll find it in What I Didn't Find In Africa, by Joseph C. Wilson IV, where this whole story is said to have begun.

And you'll note that Wilson is evidently alluding to Cheney's questions concerning the "forged documents" -- which didn't come into American possession until some eight months after Wilson sipped his sweet mint tea in Niger.

Wilson clearly identified that he was responding to a specific request from Dick Cheney.

Rove was telling Cooper that Cheney had issued no such request. There were no "forged documents" at that time to even ask about, remember.

[uberPatriot]

Wilson clearly identified that he was responding to a specific request from Dick Cheney.

Go back and re-read the statement. Wilson clearly identified that he is responding to a specific request from officials at the CIA. That's a big difference that a lot of people seem to miss.

[okie01]

Go back and re-read the statement. Wilson clearly identified that he is responding to a specific request from officials at the CIA. That's a big difference that a lot of people seem to miss.

Yes, it is a big difference. And the media was certainly missing it. Most media reports on Wilson alluded to, or strongly suggested, his being sent by the VP's office. Wilson was not correcting these reports.

Moreover, Wilson's op-ed stated that he was responding to Cheney's request for confirmation of documents which subsequently were found to be forged. The fact is those documents wouldn't be in U.S. hands for another eight months after he went to Niger.

Lots of misinformation to wade through. Almost as if it were planted...