Posted on 07/17/2005 1:12:46 AM PDT by MaineVoter2002
Plame's Former CIA Boss: Plame was No Secret
A former CIA covert agent who supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career yesterday took issue with her identification as an "undercover agent,"...
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
A former CIA covert agent who supervised Mrs. Plame early in her career yesterday took issue with her identification as an "undercover agent," saying that she worked for more than five years at the agency's headquarters in Langley and that most of her neighbors and friends knew that she was a CIA employee. "She made no bones about the fact that she was an agency employee and her husband was a diplomat," Fred Rustmann, a covert agent from 1966 to 1990, told The Washington Times. "Her neighbors knew this, her friends knew this, his friends knew this. A lot of blame could be put on to central cover staff and the agency because they weren't minding the store here. ... The agency never changed her cover status." Mr. Rustmann, who spent 20 of his 24 years in the agency under "nonofficial cover" -- also known as a NOC, the same status as the wife of Mr. Wilson -- also said that she worked under extremely light cover. In addition, Mrs. Plame hadn't been out as an NOC since 1997, when she returned from her last assignment, married Mr. Wilson and had twins, USA Today reported yesterday. The distinction matters because a law that forbids disclosing the name of undercover CIA operatives applies to agents that had been on overseas assignment "within the last five years." "She was home for such a long time, she went to work every day at Langley, she was in an analytical type job, she was married to a high-profile diplomat with two kids," Mr. Rustmann said. "Most people who knew Valerie and her husband, I think, would have thought that she was an overt CIA employee." Asked whether his wife had been compromised before the press leak, Mr. Wilson said, "I have no idea,"
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20050715-121257-9887r.htm
Ping.
Yeah right!
Can some body tell me if the President EVER said he would "Fire" anybody involved in leaking this information? All I ever heard him say is "they would be dealt with." I keep hearing reporters say the President said he would fire them but none have backed that up with footage or clips.
bttt
As far as I have seen that "they would be dealt with." quote is the example the liberal media uses whenever they cite that Bush said 'he would "fire" anybody involved with leaking this information'
http://jednet207.tripod.com/PoliticalLinks.html
From what I've heard on the radio, the President said that "anyone who broke the law would be dealt with." He did not say he would discipline anyone who was involved in this leak in any way. He said they had to break the law, and of course the mainstream media is twisting his words into a giant pretzel. Just look at the recent pictures of Bush & Rove with big grins on their faces. That tells you everything you need to know about the Plame game.
"IF law was violated they will be dealt with"
Yes, that's the only one I've heard.
Nope, President Bush NEVER said that he would fire anyone.
I have never seen a transcript of the "fire" quote.
Hmmm, I wonder why the public doesn't trust the media?
Just an FYI...
Longtime editorial director at Random House, Jason Epstein is Judith Miller's husband.
******
Jason Epstein, Judith Miller's Husband, Says She Was 'Not Dragged Off in Chains'
By Joe Strupp
Published: July 06, 2005 5:20 PM ET
NEW YORK Just hours after watching his wife, New York Times reporter Judith Miller, hauled off to jail for refusing to reveal her source in the Valerie Plame case, legendary book and magazine editor Jason Epstein told E&P it would have taken putting "a gun to her head" to make her think about revealing her source.
He did not yet know which jail she had been sent to, but said the judge had agreed to keep her out of a Washington, D.C. city jail and instead put her in a jail in the nearby metro area. "I haven't seen her since," he said. "I won't be able to see her this weekend. But as soon as they let me, I will sit down and talk to her."
E&P reached Epstein on Miller's cell phone, which she handed to her husband prior to her court appearance. He was in the law office of Washington, D.C. attorney Robert Bennett.
Epstein, who was next to Miller when Hogan ordered her taken away, said he had almost no time to say goodbye. "They took her through a door, she was their property," he recalled. "I think she was right to stand up on her principles and she knew that, she took her punishment."
Her husband said Miller was "surrounded by marshals and well-wishers" and "was not dragged off in chains. She was prepared for it. I'm not sure I would have done as well."
http://tinyurl.com/b7kvn
>>>I have never seen a transcript of the "fire" quote.
Becasue there is none.
But read thread/post " (Prosecute Plame: More Treachery in the War at Home/Frontpage Magazine/David Horowitz posted by David Telsa. . .) to see beyond the frenzy. . .'nada' may only be the beginning of something. . .
The thread appears to be unraveling, finally. . .maybe. . .
He said he would fire anyone in his adminustration that leaked ''classified information''! So .....if this ''covert CIA operative'' wasnt covert at the time . and secondly if it was a known fact in Washington, and thirdly if Wilson himself had already ''outed'' her on his own website years before. I don't think anythings going to happen to Rove. Anyway Rove didn't leak anything, David Corn a known liberal RAT did. Roves in the clear!
Is there a link you can post?
That's for sure, or Norm Mineta would already have been stuck in an airport security check on his way home for good.
True...but that isn't what I was referring too and you know it.
And Oh Yeah...... sorry I beleive the exact quote was ''If anyone leaked'' classified information ''in my administration they will be ''dealt with''.'' But to me dealt with means'' fired'' or'' let go.'' So I guess you have to interpret it the way you want!
This whole thing is ridiculous, and irritating because it depends upon the (innocent) naivete of the American public, and an overhyped, theatrical treatment of what a "CIA employee" actually is.
Most people living in the DC suburbs know several employees of letter-agencies, and it's generally no great secret where that person works.
Even when NSA meant "No Such Agency", half the kids I grew up with had fathers working there, and everyone knew it (although no one knew specifically what the job was). Others were at a collection of other agencies, and again no big deal.
To assert that it required the allegedly-unique skills of a *reporter* to "blow her cover" - or some other secret inside knowledge - is absurd and laughable. Probably everyone from the grocer to the lawncare guy to the trashman knew that Plame worked for CIA. And with a blowhard schmoozer like Joe Wilson for a husband, it's guaranteed that every one of his leftie reporter pals in DC knew about it.
Epstein is most probably as rabid a liberal as all of them, but it's refreshing to see one person in this story who's not a drama queen.
Nocs don't ever serve in HQS and the fact she did was pretty much an acknowledgment on her part she was no longer covert. If she came back in 1997 it sounds as if she was one of the NOCS who's cover was blown by Nicholson, who was arrested in 1996. Kind of hard to go out as a covert officer if your cover has been blown to the Russians. Even harder if you have had your face plastered all over Vanity Fair in order to have your 15 minutes of fame.
Yea, I just did some checking, even on ICK! Liberal blogs and looking in their comments, it seems as though the first statement paraphrasing ,"if law was violated they will be dealt with"
Then just a bunch of reporters asking questions like "will the leaker be fired?"
McClellan "at a minimum"(Yea at a minimum! IF THEY VIOLATED LAW! THEY WILL BE IN JAIL! stupid reporters!)
Then one more ask Bush about at G8 asked if they would be fired he said "yes, but that would be up to the prosecutor" AGAIN IF LAW WAS VIOLATED.... so the record is clear, if law was violated, i.e. outing an agent then they will be dealt with.
No appreciation for irony.
Everyone did know it! Her own husband admitted yesterday she was not'' covert ''at the time.All kinds of people every day saw her at high profile restaurants at lunch time with her co workers from the CIA so where is this ''classified'' status coming from. Oh yeah I forgot. THE RATS!
The White House promised that if anyone was involved in the Valerie Plame affair, they would no longer be in this administration, his administration. I trust they will follow-through on this pledge.
-- Sen. Harry Reid (D-Flamingo Hotel & Casino), June 11th, 2005
What Bush really said:
If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.
-- George Walker Bush (president-entire country), September 30th, 2003
OK, Thanks for clarifying that!
WRONG...he never said he would fire anyone. This is a made up quote, taking the real statement and twisting it until it is unrecognizable. The Pres said if someone broke the law they would be dealt with, or handled, NOT fired. Rove broke no law, this is simply Dem BS trying to discredit Rove and Bush before judicial nominations are made.
Harry, it appears you have seriously misquoted the President. Do you intend to issue a correction to your misquotations of the President?...........Harry?..........There's an overwhelming silence in here Harry........
Fat chance.
You watch the morning shows tomorrow; they'll be saying that Rove leaked the name of an undercover agent, despise all the facts that prove that's an out and out lie.
The job change since the leaks probably forbids her to recommend her husband for any trips.
No, the President never said he would "fire" anybody, he said "they would be taken care of", I believe those were his exact words in the clip the MSM played over and over. Then Kerry said Bush should keep his word and FIRE whoever leaked, and Reid said FIRE, and Pelosi (aka bug-eyes) probably chimed in too, and Chuckie-baby.
This is the root of their argument. He gave the "will be dealt with" quote and then the G8 quote. They're claiming the "YES" answers if he will stand by his pledge to fire (which he never pledged). It seems obvious that he was answering the first question about whether it was tough to identify a leaker. But then Scott McClellan erroneously stated in a press conference on 9/29/03 that "If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." No one corrected him so, since he is the WH spokesman, he speaks for the President.
Of course it's ridiculous. If there's no indictment and there's STILL a clamor for his ouster (mmm, clams and oysters) they will marginalize themselves even further with levelheaded, fair Americans. But there you go. Here's the "smoking gun":
Bush at a June 10, 2004, press conference after the G8 summit:
Q: Given recent developments in the CIA leak case, particularly Vice President [Dick] Cheney's discussions with the investigators, do you still stand by what you said several months ago, a suggestion that it might be difficult to identify anybody who leaked the agent's name?
BUSH: That's up to --
Q: And, and, do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so?
BUSH: Yes. And that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts.
If (haha) the MSM are wrong, will they fire themselves? (The MSM is already fired from my house.)
LOL! Do keep asking -- anything that keeps Harry Reid quiet is a public benefit!
A small change to your wording:
...nothing except obvious media BiaS.
"If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if a person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of. "
(((And if anyone in my administration dropped to the press how it was that that treasonous, minor-league a----le managed to get himself sent to Niger on an extremely sensitive mission, well, that person ought to get a medal!)))
The President said he would "deal with" anyone who had broken the law
This story keeps getting funnier each day.
Alright. With that said, what law has been broken? What is this investigation and grand jury all about?
They don't call in grand juries for outing "CIA employees" that wear name tags!
I've read several accounts that Plame was NOT a covert agent/operative according to her husband, supervisor, and others that should be in the know. So if Plame wasn't outed, why the investigation?
Why is it necessary to interpret what President Bush said? Our President is a fairly plain speaking person. He said "delt with", that is what he meant. You want interpretation of that?
Why is this?
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