Posted on 07/23/2005 8:53:56 AM PDT by YaYa123
WASHINGTON - Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., revealed Friday that two years ago he discussed the blown cover of CIA operative Valerie Plame with then CIA director George Tenet and that Tenet "was furious." Tenet promptly called the Justice Department to demand an investigation into who in the Bush administration leaked Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak, Schumer said at a hearing held by House and Senate Democrats.
Novak revealed Plame's identity in July 2003 in a column in which he said she played a key role in having her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, sent to Niger to investigate reports that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had tried to buy materials for a nuclear weapon there.
The Democratic panel heard from five former CIA operatives who said the disclosure of Plame's classified identity was a breach of the law that forbids government officials from revealing the identity of an undercover intelligence officer and a violation of trust that has harmed America's intelligence-gathering capabilities.
(Excerpt) Read more at buffalonews.com ...
Although I couldn't tell it from this article, I think House & Senate Democrats convened a "gotcha Rove" joint hearing yesterday. A hearing without clout, since Democrats are in the minority and can't convene official hearings. But it did create more anti-Rove buzz, which was the intent. "Buzz", but nothing new, since the former CIA members who "testified" aren't new or surprising, familiar cable news analyst talking heads, sympathetic to the Wilson party line
I want to know how badly Schumer misquoted Tenet. Of course Tenet would have been angry about a leak, especially one that had to originate from within the CIA, but Schumer's obvious intent is to imply "Bush administration officials" can only mean Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.
The sticky point in this case is that Judith Miller is protecting someone, and if the media had any sense of duty to its own profession, they would be falling over themselves to get that information out of her.
I am sick and tired of the underhandedness and the political sniping of the Democrats. What's the next dirty tactic they will pull with the help of their Democrat friends in the media?
Was he furious when the CIA stupidly revealed her identity to the Cubans? Who lost their jobs over that bumble fu**
This is the Dems new "Citizens Group".
Well there goes any sense of real credibility.
Yes, there was a "Democratic hearing" yesterday, as the Philly Inquirer described it. Their story centered on how the CIA people who testified say this "leak" now makes it more difficult to recruit informants.
Yeah, it's more difficult to find leakers in our government, hopefully.
Would it be off the mark to suspect Tenet of leaking the info? I wonder if he did & that's why he left. Also, why President Bush changed the tone of his "if anyone in my administration leaked the info" pronouncement...the person was already gone.
I don't think Rove would have been so stupid as to leak a name & the Dems know that would be the case. They just hate him.
Didn't Novak later say that his source was in the CIA?
Tenet's tenure at the CIA was marked by displays of "Diversity Quilts" and celebration of "Gay Days" but not with protecting the American people. I wish he'd spent more time going after the people that leaked those airplanes into the Pentagon & WTC.
I don't believe a word that comes out of the spit Schumer's leftie mouth, but for Tenet to be furious about anything is a joke. It was under his tenure that the US lost its way in the war on islamic terrorists and got involved in a useless exercise in terror in the balkans in order to cover his escapades.
I still cannot fathom as to why he was rewarded by the Bush administration.
Getting rid of some of the incompetent deadwood, such as the Democrats' new-found friends the former CIA agents, will greatly improve the CIA's performance.
The supposed anger of Tenet is interesting; that is, if true. If untrue, the only interesting thing would be why Schumer would invent or embellish such a story.
However, this article goes on to say how the ex-CIA political hacks raved on about the supposed crime that has been committed. Uhhhhh, the news media itself has filed a legal brief in this case in which they argue vociferously that NO CRIME HAS BEEN COMMITTED BY ANYONE, THEREFORE, REPORTERS CANNOT BE PUNISHED FOR WITHHOLDING THE NAMES OF THEIR SOURCES.
Now that is EVER SO MUCH MORE interesting than Chuckles (the clown) Schumer's story that Tenet was angry over the leak...
You mean the bumbling head of the CIA who was appointed by Bill Clinton and oversaw the dismantling of the CIA's ability to deliver clear concise and accurate information? The same guy who then was allowed to keep his job by the President whom he failed?
Is that same George Tenent? Should he not have been a little more irritated with the people responsible for the disintegration of the CIA's network of sources in the mid east?
Don't forget, Mandy Grunwald is Hillary's media advisor AND BEST FRIEND. Grunwald is married to Mr. Cooper.
"Some of the CIA employees even went as far as to say that their leaks were protected by the first amendment"
And I'll bet a few of those employees are the ones now whining for the Democrats' "committee".
One of the "committees" former CIA analysts who testified, was "former CIA agent Larry Johnson." He's been out from the beginning of this, even back in 2003 and 2004, all over NBC and MSNBC, attacking the Bush administration for leaking Plame's name. He's been a wild-eyed attack dog from the beginning. Today...get this...he's the one giving the Democrat's radio response to the President's weekly radio address.
I just heard a snippet of what Johnson said, on CNN Headline news. He names Rove and Libby as the culprits, and demands they be fired. He attacks the President for not doing so.
If we ever wanted proof the democrats have made the decision to "get Rove and Libby", it's this radio response today. No mention of Judge Roberts at all.
"What did Chuck Schumer know, and when did he know it?"
Is that same George Tenent? Should he not have been a little more irritated with the people responsible for the disintegration of the CIA's network of sources in the mid east?
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Just more of the GROSS LYING HYPOCRISY of left, and wow, little Chuckie Pinko is really stretching, isn't he? Trying to "out-Hillary" Hillary...for the media play...what a disgusting lot of losers...and the MSM is just eating it up, printing the hypocrisy as fast as the left can generate it...(that is their full time job now, by the way)...
Yes, they did. I caught just a bit of it yesterday. It was a Conyers style to do, but they got a real hearing room, I guess because it wasn't just House members or Sensenbrenner would have sent them to the basement again. It is archived on the C-Span site. I tried to watch it earlier today, but I couldn't get it to load.
zzzat right? Sacre bleu, Sacajaweau. That's an amazing fact. I did not know that. Thanks.
You are right about that "hearing" yesterday...this was NOT an official congressional hearing...
Dorgan is FAMOUS for holding these, and the only get witnesses that support their point of view....
It seems to me, if Tenet was THAT upset, we would have heard about it long, long ago.
Translation: Schumer and Tenet plotted how they could use Valerie Plame to bring down the Bush administration.
I think Wilson and Plame were the original plotters, but evidently Schumer and Tenet, a clintonoid, became involved at least this early, if not earlier.
Bush never should have let that clintonoid traitor remain as head of the CIA. As a result, he was constantly undermined by leaks and subversion, including Tenet's very loud insistance, contrary to the evidence, that there were no connections between Saddam and al Qaeda.
I'd say this is evidence of treachery.
I've bee trying to post those dots to every Rove report...I had to HUNT to find it.
Howlin, thanks for this link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050722/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/cia_leak_democrats
Larry Johnson identifying himself as a Republican is laughable.
"You mean the bumbling head of the CIA "
__________________________________________________
A bumble clod - perfectly worded - amazing how someone so stupid could rise to this position...possibly deliberately given the traitorous nature of the clintons. I will never understand how/why Bush kept him for so long.
From Novak's second column in 2003:
"This story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger.
I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one.
During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife.
It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue."
He may have been rewarded, but he is GONE. And in his place we have a Republican Congressman, Porter Goss, who has let go a number of people. And the agency has been put under John Negroponte.
I believe the first President Bush was fond of Tenet, if one can trust the stories that say so. He felt about him almost like he was a family member, I think. Then, if you give the guy a medal for all his years of fighting the battles there, right or wrong, perhaps he would be less likely to turn on you...if he has even a shred of decency, anyways.
I would bet you, President Bush knows why he gave Tenet a medal. And so does VP Cheney.
I dunno, Arlen Specter called Schuuuumah (his questions over Roberts anyway) a "DumbAss" - twice.
The Dems have a washed up, bitter ex-CIA guy, that just wants TV time, do their Saturday Radio message?
Dang, they are more desparate than I thought...do they not realize the "wienie factor", in having him do that?
The Dims are desperate to keep this non-story alive. BTW, didn't they just spend two months idolizing a government leaker?
Check this out:
It's a letter Johnson sent to the GOP and DNC congresscritters, on behalf of these "rogue agents," and look who signed it:
Sincerely yours, Larry C. Johnson, former Analyst, CIA
JOINED BY:
Mr. Brent Cavan, former Analyst, CIA
Mr. Vince Cannistraro, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. Michael Grimaldi, former Analyst, CIA
Mr. Mel Goodman, former senior Analyst, CIA
Col. W. Patrick Lang (US Army retired), former Director, Defense Humint Services, DIA
Mr. David MacMichael, former senior estimates officer, National Intelligence Council, CIA
Mr. James Marcinkowski, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. Ray McGovern, former senior Analyst and PDB Briefer, CIA
Mr. Jim Smith, former Case Officer, CIA
Mr. William C. Wagner, former Case Officer, CIA"
Wanna bet that all these mouthy ex CIA guys are security guys for Hillary.
Perhaps Tenet was ticked to learn about this group sending asshat Wilson to Niger without his knowledge or approval and the subsequent articles and op-eds lying about intelligence and what the President and VP knew and when they knew it.
Funny Tenet would say this to Schumer, who voted against the law in question.
I hope we don't forget that the Democrats cared so much about the CIA and the other US intel agencies, that they gutted them in the Church era.
They've never really recovered.
Exactly (and I've pointed that out here before but some are wedded to hating Tenet).
The important thing to remember is, these are EX-CIA agents.
Thanks, Yaya. Could you possibly stretch this any further out of shape?
Yes, but I recall reading that later Novak said his source was CIA. If my memory is on target (and I'm not saying it is), then the senior administration official is CIA.
Are the deputy directors at the CIA appointed by the President? If so, one of them might have been Novak's source.
Or, I might be working off a false memory of reading something in the past few weeks.
It is also Mandy Grunwald, perhaps more than any other single person, that is responsible for Hillary's success in the NY Senatorial election. It was Mandy that brought the Moynahan's (who despise Hillary) on board to at least fake their support of her.
My question is the same as yours. What's the real deal, sans the Schumer spin.
This article shows what lousy, literally half-ass reporting goes on in Washington! The headline, sub-title, and text is based on what Chuck Schumer claimed George Tenet said. We get Schumer's partisan spin on a conversation which happened 2 years ago, and this reporter doesn't verify it's truthfulness with George Tenet himself.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRrrrr
Well at least we find out Tenet can get upset! Wonder why he wasn't upset over the lousy job his agency has done during his tenure.
Larry Johnson is the author of the July, 2001 article, archived in FR, in which he famously stated that the threat of terrorism is exaggerated. One of our national security geniuses. Yes, I think the Democrats should hang on his every word.
BLA, BLA, BLA, yada, yada, yadad
Nothing and always.
My guess all along has been that Tenet or his immediate deputy was Novak's original source. So put me down as highly skeptical of Chuckie's claim. Or if it happened, Tenet was putting on a show to hide his own involvement.
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