Plame was a covert, undercover agent for the CIA? When?

Actually, everything in the article is true. That is why George Tenet is in prison awaiting sentencing, and federal warrants are out for Dick Cheney, and nearly everyone else in the White House. This was all accomplished by the fearless work of the special prosecutor, Fitzgerald, who now is under the Federal witness/prosecutor program.

The brave whistle blowers at the CIA, who, despite this being a time of war, have summoned the courage and cleverness to overcome that bastion, that anchor, of right-wing propaganda- the New York Times-, and thereby stop the President from trying to usurp Presidential prerogatives.

These counter-operatives were also the "deep throat" for the fact that on the stroke of midnight at Y2K, because of computer glitches, planes would fall from the skies, hammers would pound backwards, and the ozone layer would fall from the sky onto Manhattan.

With that in mind, the Republicans need to collapse their spines and their minds, and agitate to "get out of Iraq" and thus free the terrorists from the straight-jacket of Iraq. Since they will no longer be blowing up brother Arabs, they can rehabilitate their images in the Arab world, and move operations away from where we can concentrate military forces... and into a thousand cities and claim a million new million victims.

Do stupid people get elected to the Senate, or does the Senate building slowly melt brain cells.... ?

The Sidney Daily News, November 14th, 2005. That's Sidney, Ohio.

The CIA and the rest of our intelligence agencies were saying there were no terrorist ties to Saddam Hussein.

LOTS of links below.

Saddam and Osama Bin Laden Worked Together for Over a Decade

So the administration renewed charges that Saddam Hussein had a massive program under way to create WMD's and we would be in danger if he supplied the terrorists with them.

Clinton bombed "select targets" in order to destroy Saddams WMDs. We also have a laundry list of stuff he had.

WMDs Found in Iraq

Experts: Saddam's Uranium Enough for One Nuke

Forty-one Sarin-filled Rockets found in Iraq

This was very damaging to the administration being the other lies already fell through. Wilson had to be shut up so his wife, covert operative and WMD expert, was leaked to the press putting their lives at risk.

National Review: Did the CIA “Out” Valerie Plame? (REPEAT, REPEAT & REPEAT-THE MSM MAY NOTICE?)

From the above article:

36 news organizations confederated to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

The thrust of the brief was that reporters should not be held in contempt or forced to reveal their sources in the Plame investigation. Why? Because, the media organizations confidently asserted, no crime had been committed.

I do not want to change HIS views, I want to present the Truth to those who were exposed to his letter of misinformation.

I agree entirely. We marginalize liberalism one reader at a time.

WOW! Thanks!

"According to a July 10, 2004, Washington Post article on the Senate Intelligence Committee findings about Wilson's investigatory trip to Niger, Africa, unanimously agreed by all committee senators, including Democrats, “The panel found that Wilson’s report, rather than debunking intelligence about purported uranium sales to Iraq, as he has said, bolstered the case for most intelligence analysts.

And contrary to Wilson’s assertions and even the government’s previous statements, the CIA did not tell the White House it had qualms about the reliability of the Africa intelligence that made its way into 16 fateful words in President Bush’s January 2003 State of the Union address.

”In March, 2003, when U.S. tanks rolled into Iraq, 500 tons of yellow cake uranium was found at the Iraqi nuclear research center of al-Tuwaitha. This included 1.8 tons of partly enriched uranium. On June 23, 2004, the U.S. military, working with the U.S. Department of Energy removed this material to the US where is held at an unnamed Department of Energy facility."

Source

My fist reaction was to wonder what conspiracy theory this is, but poster answered that. But a logical discrepancy jumpred out at me that I have not perceived before. They typically rrgue that they supported the war in Afghanistan because Bin Laden did 9/11. As Iraq was not linked to 9/11, they do not support it. Would they if it were, No that's a lioe. This is very circuitous reasoning. The invasion of Iraq ha its own rationale I suppose you might be in a better position to understand that if you belonged to the CFR instead of the AFL/CIO.

link?

Also, for the Iraqi nuclear reactor that Israel "took out" in 1981.......

With French assistance, Iraq built the Osiraq 40 megawatt light-water nuclear reactor near Baghdad. When Israeli intelligence confirmed Iraq's intention to produce weapons at Osiraq, the Israeli government decided to attack. According to some estimates, Iraq in 1981 was still as much as five to ten years away from the ability to build a nuclear weapon. Others estimated, at that time, Iraq might get its first such weapon within a year or two. On June 7, 1981 Iraqi defenses were caught by surprise and the reactor at Osiraq was destroyed.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/iraq/facility/osiraq.htm

thanks for the links!

Hank, my take is as follows.

The writer is very confused--as are most people, including the talking heads.

He believes undercover and covert mean the same thing. In common usage they do. As best I can determine, under the law they do not.

The word covert has a very specific meaning under the law. It is defined in the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. At the time Bob Novak published her name, Valerie Plame did not remotely qualify as "covert" and the CIA had to have known this. (Victoria Toensinig has written a couple of op-eds suggesting that because the CIA had to have known that she wasn't covert, it must have had motives other than concern about the leak when it asked the Justice Dept for a special prosecutor. Like bringing down the Administration for instance.)

Undercover is a much broader term. I think it is fair to say that yes, Plame was undercover in her job at Langley in the sense that her job status was classified. Supposedly there is a law against releasing classified info but if I understand this correctly no one is ever prosecuted under it; classified info is released to the press everyday. Again, if I get this straight, the law in question was intended to prevent the leaking of classified info to our enemies, not to stifle reporters from doing their jobs investigating government agencies when they foul up.

Since I'm just a layman, maybe one of the FReeper lawyers would chime in here and confirm whether my reading of the legal distinction between undercover and covert is correct.

HERE SOME STUFF

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Libby Indictment News Media Should Be Careful What They Wish For
MND ^ | Sunday, October 30, 2005 | by Jim Kouri, CPP
For the stalwarts of the mainstream news media, Friday was both a day of celebration and a day of disappointment. Celebration that a key White House official, Lewis "Scooter" Libby faces serious charges as a result of a grand jury indictment and disappointment that their main target, Karl Rove, is not facing Libby's fate.
During the congenial press conference by the prosecutor in the Valerie Plame-CIA Leak Case, Patrick Fitzgerald, one sensed the only thing missing was the sound of corks popping from French champagne bottles. And the prosecutor knew how to play this crowd of the media's true elite: he made certain to keep their hopes up about the possibility that he would find something with which to indict Karl Rove.
Fitzgerald also dramatically portrayed Plame as a victim whose life is now in jeopardy because of the leak of her identity. Of course, posing for Vanity Fair with her husband wouldn't be helpful in protecting her.
But the media's celebratory feeding frenzy may be short-lived. When Libby hopefully unleashes his attorneys on Fitzgerald's investigation including his witnesses, reports and notes, the mainstream news media may end up with more than they bargained for.
In the Saturday Washington Post, on page 23 -- far from the page one headlines -- two Washington attorneys, David Rivkin and Lee Casey, analyzed the Plame Game. They wrote:
"It is clear that, at least by sometime in January 2004 -- and probably much earlier -- Fitzgerald knew this law [against divulging the identity of a covert CIA agent] had not been violated. Plame was not a "covert" agent but a bureaucrat working at CIA headquarters. Instead of closing shop, however, Fitzgerald sought an expansion of his mandate and has now charged offenses that grew entirely out of the investigation itself. In other words, there was no crime when the investigation started, only, allegedly, after it finished. Unfortunately, for special counsels, as under the code of the samurai, once the sword is drawn it must taste blood."
In fact, during the prosecutor's press conference, he chose to use the term "classified" rather than "covert" during his performance. He is allowed to say whatever he wishes to say, but the fact of the matter is that this was not an espionage case dealing with classified material. One wishes Fitzgerald had been tapped to investigate Clinton crony Sandy "Pants" Berger's indiscretion in which he pilfered classified documents, going as far as destroying some. Berger got community service and a $50,000 fine, while Libby faces 30 years imprisonment.
As the Libby case progresses, there will be attempts by the mainstream media to demonize his attorneys and canonize the prosecution team, Joe Wilson and the martyr herself, Valerie Plame. It will be the polar opposite of the Clinton scandal days when whistleblowers were demonized, victims or witnesses were smeared, and the special prosecutor was vilified in order to help prop up a dishonest and corrupt liberal president. For, like it or not, we must acknowledge that the mainstream news media do choose sides while they cover the political battlefield.
But in this case, an extraordinary paradox has occurred: in their haste to "get" President Bush and his staff, the news media became part of the investigation. Valerie Plame would be an unknown Washington bureaucrat instead of a glamorous Vanity Fair heroine had the news people not run stories about her identity.
New York Times reporter Judith Miller, Newsweek's Matt Cooper and NBC News' Tim Russert all testified in front of the Fitzgerald grand jury. And be certain they will be called as witnesses during a Libby trial. Which means they will be subject to cross examination by some of the best trial lawyers in the business.
In addition, defense lawyers have their own weapon of mass destruction: subpoena power. I'm not saying they will use it to carpet bomb the Times, Newsweek and NBC, but they just may wish to subpoena their records. Therefore, investigators working for the Libby defense team will be empowered to search for evidence of collusion between the mainstream media and the Democrat Party. It's no secret that Senator Chuck Schumer has taken Joe Wilson under his wing. Plus, the news media suddenly decided to bury the overwhelming evidence that Wilson is a Democrat Party hack whose credibility was shot to hell during his time in the media limelight.
The mainstream media want Americans to forget, for instance, that Wilson served as presidential hopeful John Kerry's foreign policy adviser. Wilson's photograph and biography were placed on Kerry's campaign website and they mysteriously disappeared from the website when it was revealed that Joe Wilson is a liar. The mainstream media in turn backed off, at least until after the 2004 election. Then they resurrected Wilson.
If you read anything in the news about Wilson and Plame, you will not be told:
* Wilson was recommended by his CIA wife for the job of going to Africa to investigate the allegation that Saddam Hussein tried to obtain yellow-cake uranium for his nuclear program. Wilson denied his wife had anything to do with his mission until a memorandum written by Plame recommending her husband surfaced.
* Wilson has absolutely no experience in intelligence gathering or investigation. His experience consists of glad-handing other elites who know nothing about intelligence gathering and analysis or investigation.
* Wilson never had to go through the usual CIA procedure of signing a nondisclosure agreement to prevent his blabbing to the people about his so-called fact-finding mission. If he did, he wouldn't be blabbing like a lonely housewife to the mainstream media.
* Wilson is very cozy with members of the elite media. They share the same friends in Washington and party at the same parties.
* Wilson and Plame have visions of themselves as Mr. Steed and Mrs. Peel, the cartoonish spooks in the 1960s show "The Avengers." This may seem irrelevant, but it goes to the issue of their credibility as serious government employees.
There is so much more, but the reader gets my drift. The two-year grand jury investigation was a vehicle for discrediting the Bush Administration and its war against terrorists, especially actions against Iraq. It's purpose was not to protect a CIA agent, as is being touted by the liberal news people, because the CIA agent was not harmed. Her husband used the investigation to resurrect himself so he could be placed on a pedestal by the Democrats and their media stooges. He knows the media hate Bush as much as he does, so they won't reveal his lies, half-truths and left-wing politics.
It would be helpful if the GOP took the offensive, but if history repeats itself, look for the Republicans to curl up in a big ball and hide.

REVIEW

Originally published October 1998. Partially updated 9/21/00
Please send corrections and additions to THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW

THE REVIEW HOME PAGE

NOTES

Some of the data has not been updated recently and thus understates conditions. In certain areas, such as anomalous deaths, we have used an extremely conservative count. It is important in considering these fatal incidents to bear in mind the following:

(1) The fact that anomalies need to be investigated further carries no presumption of how a death actually occurred, only that there remain serious questions that require answers.

(2) The possibility of foul play must be taken seriously in a major criminal conspiracy in which over two score individuals and firms have been convicted and over 100 witnesses have pled the Fifth Amendment or fled the country.

(3) If foul play did occur in any of these cases, that fact by itself does not carry the presumption that the White House was involved. Given the footprints of organized crime, drug trade, foreign espionage, and intelligence agencies on the trail of the Clinton story, such a assumption would not be warranted.

ADMINISTRATION RECORDS SET
- The only president ever impeached on grounds of personal malfeasance
- Most number of convictions and guilty pleas by friends and associates
- Most number of cabinet officials to come under criminal investigation
- Most number of witnesses to flee country or refuse to testify
- Most number of witnesses to die suddenly
- First president sued for sexual harassment.
- First president accused of rape.
- First first lady to come under criminal investigation
- Largest criminal plea agreement in an illegal campaign contribution case
- First president to establish a legal defense fund.
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions
- Greatest amount of illegal campaign contributions from abroad

HISTORICAL CONTEXT
- Number of independent counsel inquiries since the 1978 law was passed: 19
- Number that have produced indictments: 7
- Number that produced more convictions than the Starr investigation: 1
- Median length of investigations that have led to convictions: 44 months
- Length of Starr-Ray investigation (7/00): 67 months.
- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions to date (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 15
- Median cost per Starr investigation conviction: $3.5 million as of 3/00
- Total cost of the Starr investigation (3/00) $52 million
- Total cost of the Iran-Contra investigation: $48.5 million
- Total cost to taxpayers of the Madison Guarantee failure: $73 million
- Number of Clinton cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3

CRIME STATS
- Number of individuals and businesses associated with the Clinton machine who have been convicted of or pleaded guilty to crimes: 47
- Number of these convictions during Clinton's presidency: 33
- Number of indictments/misdemeanor charges: 61
- Number of imprisonments: 14
- Number of congressional witnesses who have pled the 5th Amendment, fled the country to avoid testifying, or (in the case of foreign witnesses) refused to be interviewed: 124

CAMPAIGN FINANCE INVESTIGATION
- As of June 2000, the Justice Department listed 25 people indicted and 19 convicted because of the 1996 Clinton-Gore fundraising scandals.
- According to the House Committee on Government Reform in September 2000, 79 House and Senate witnesses asserted the Fifth Amendment in the course of investigations into Gore's last fundraising campaign. [These figures are included in the larger figures elsewhere].
-James Riady entered a plea agreement to pay an $8.5 million fine for campaign finance crimes. This was a record under campaign finance laws.

STARR INVESTIGATION

- Number of Starr-Ray investigation convictions or guilty pleas to date (including one governor, one associate attorney general and two Clinton business partners): 15
- Number of Clinton Cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 5
- Number of Reagan cabinet members who came under criminal investigation: 4
- Number of top officials jailed in the Teapot Dome Scandal: 3

SMALTZ INVESTIGATION
- Guilty pleas and convictions obtained by Donald Smaltz in cases involving charges of bribery and fraud against former Agriculture Secretary Espy and associated individuals and businesses: 15
- Acquitted or overturned cases (including Espy): 6
- Fines and penalties assessed: $11.5 million
- Cost of investigation: $22.2 million through 9/99
- Amount Tyson Food paid in fines and court costs: $6 million
- Amount Tyson Food still has in annual government contracts: $200 million
- Reasons individuals other than Espy were convicted or pled guilty: Concealing knowledge of gifts to Espy and his girlfriend (1), providing illegal gratuities to Espy(4), illegally supplementing the salary of a government official (2), concealing receipt of illegal funds on behalf of Espy (1) (Espy's chief of staff sentenced to prison in this case)

CRIMES FOR WHICH CONVICTIONS HAVE BEEN OBTAINED
Drug trafficking (3), racketeering, extortion, bribery(4), tax evasion, kickbacks, embezzlement (2), fraud (12), conspiracy (5), fraudulent loans, illegal gifts(1), illegal campaign contributions(5), money laundering (6)

POSSIBLE CRIMES AND SUSPICIOUS MATTERS INVESTIGATED BY SPECIAL PROSECUTORS, CONGRESS,
AND/OR INVESTIGATIVE REPORTERS
Bank and mail fraud, violations of campaign finance laws, illegal foreign campaign funding, improper exports of sensitive technology, physical violence and threats of violence, solicitation of perjury, intimidation of witnesses, bribery of witnesses, attempted intimidation of prosecutors, perjury before congressional committees, lying in statements to federal investigators and regulatory officials, flight of witnesses, obstruction of justice, bribery of cabinet members, real estate fraud, tax fraud, drug trafficking, failure to investigate drug trafficking, bribery of state officials, use of state police for personal purposes, exchange of promotions or benefits for sexual favors, using state police to provide false court testimony, laundering of drug money through a state agency, false reports by medical examiners and others investigating suspicious deaths, the firing of the RTC and FBI director when these agencies were investigating Clinton and his associates, failure to conduct autopsies in suspicious deaths, providing jobs in return for silence by witnesses, drug abuse, illegal acquisition and use of 900 FBI files, illegal futures trading, murder, sexual abuse of employees, false testimony before a federal judge, shredding of documents, withholding and concealment of subpoenaed documents, fabricated charges against (and improper firing of) White House employees, as well as providing access to the White House to drug traffickers, foreign agents and participants in organized crime.

UNEXPLAINED PHENOMENA
- FBI files misappropriated by the White House: c. 900
- Estimated number of witnesses quoted in FBI files misappropriated by the White House: 18,000
- Number of witnesses who developed medical problems at critical points in Clinton scandals investigation (Tucker, Hale, both McDougals, Lindsey): 5
- Problem areas listed in a memo by Clinton's own lawyer in preparation for the president's defense: 40
- Number of witnesses and critics of Clinton subjected to IRS audit: 45
- Number of names placed in a White House secret database without the knowledge of those named: c. 200,000
- Number of persons involved with Clinton who have been beaten up: 2
- Number of women involved with Clinton who claim to have been physically threatened (Sally Perdue, Gennifer Flowers, Kathleen Willey, Linda Tripp, Elizabeth Ward Gracen): 5
- Number of men involved in the Clinton scandals who have been beaten up or claimed to have been intimidated: 10

ARKANSAS SUDDEN DEATH SYNDROME
- Number of persons in the Clinton machine orbit who are alleged to have committed suicide: 9
- Number known to have been murdered: 12
- Number who died in plane crashes: 6
- Number who died in single car automobile accidents: 3
- Number killed during Waco massacre: 4
- Number of one-person sking fatalities: 1
- Number of key witnesses who have died of heart attacks while in federal custody under questionable circumstances: 1
- Number of medications being taken by Jim McDougal at the time he was placed in solitary confinement shortly before his death: 12
- Number of unexplained deaths: 4
- Total suspicious deaths: 46
- Number of northern Mafia killings during peak years of 1968-78: 30
- Number of Dixie Mafia killings during same period: 156

ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S
- Number of times Hillary Clinton said "I don't recall" or its equivalent in a statement to a House investigating committee: 50
- Number of paragraphs in this statement: 42
- Number of times Bill Clinton said "I don't recall" or its equivalent in the released portions of the his testimony on Paula Jones: 271
- Total number of facts or events not recalled before official bodies by Bill Kennedy, Harold Ickes, Ricki Seidman, Bruce Lindsey, Bill Burton, Mark Gearan, Mack McLarty, Neil Eggleston, John Podesta, Jennifer O'Connor, Dwight Holton, Patsy Thomasson, Jeff Eller, Beth Nolan, Cliff Sloan, Bernard Nussbaum, George Stephanopoulous, Roy Neel, Rahm Emanuel, Maggie Williams, David Tarbell, Susan Thomases, Webster Hubbell, Roger Altman, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton: 6,125
- Average occurrence of memory lapse by top administration figures while before official bodies: 235

ARKANSAS MONEY MANAGEMENT
- Amount of an alleged electronic transfer from the Arkansas Development Financial Authority to a bank in the Cayman Islands during 1980s: $50 million
- Grand Cayman's population: 18,000
- Number of commercial banks: 570
- Number of bank regulators: 1
- Amount Arkansas state pension fund invested in high-risk repos in the mid-80s in one purchase in April 1985: $52 million through the Worthen Bank.
- Number of days thereafter that the state's brokerage firm went belly up: 3
- Amount Arkansas pension fund dropped overnight as a result: 15%
- Percent of Worthen bank that Mochtar Riady bought over the next four months to bail out the bank and the then governor, Bill Clinton: 40%.
- Percent of purchasers from the Clintons and McDougals of resort lots who lost the land because of the sleazy financing provisions: over 50%

THE MEDIA
- Number of journalists covering Whitewater who have been fired, transferred off the beat, resigned or otherwise gotten into trouble because of their work on the scandals (Doug Frantz, Jim Wooten, Richard Behar, Christopher Ruddy, Michael Isikoff, David Eisenstadt, Yinh Chan, Jonathan Broder, James R. Norman, Zoh Hieronimus): 10

FRIENDS OF BILL
- Number of times John Huang took the 5th Amendment in answer to questions during a Judicial Watch deposition: 1,000
- Visits made to the White House by investigation subjects Johnny Chung, James Riady, John Huang, and Charlie Trie. 160
- Number of campaign contributors who got overnights at the White House in the two years before the 1996 election: 577
- Number of members of Thomas Boggs's law firm who have held top positions in the Clinton administration. 18
- Number of times John Huang was briefed by CIA: 37
- Number of calls Huang made from Commerce Department to Lippo banks: 261
- Number of intelligence reports Huang read while at Commerce: 500

POLITICAL FALL-OUT
- According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Democrats held a 1,542 seat lead in the state bodies in 1990. As of November 2000 that lead had shrunk to 288. That's a loss of over 1,200 state legislative seats, nearly all of them under Clinton. Across the US, the Democrats controlled only 65 more state senate seats than the Republicans.

Further, in 1992, the Democrats controlled 17 more state legislatures than the Republicans. After November, the Republicans control one more than the Democrats. Not only was this a loss of 9 legislatures under Clinton, but it was the first time since 1954 that the GOP had controlled more state legislatures than the Democrats (they tied in 1968).

Here's what happened to the Democrats under Clinton:

- GOP seats gained in House since Clinton became president: 48
- GOP seats gained in Senate since Clinton became president: 8
- GOP governorships gained since Clinton became president: 11
- GOP state legislative seats gained since Clinton became president: 1,254
as of 1998
- State legislatures taken over by GOP since Clinton became president: 9
- Democrat officeholders who have become Republicans since Clinton became
president: 439 as of 1998
- Republican officeholders who have become Democrats since Clinton became president: 3

HERE IS SOME MORE STUFF

New York times pissed Miller cant remember who told her Plame name

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'NY Times' Publishes Devastating Article on Judith Miller Case
Editor Publisher ^ | Oct 15 05 | Greg Mitchell
Posted on 10/16/2005 10:56:58 AM CDT by churchillbuff
Shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, The New York Times delivered its long-promised article probing Judith Miller's involvement in the Plame case. It reveals many devastating new details about her experience -- and dissent within the newspaper about her role and the way the Times handled her case.
Among other things, the 5,800-word article discloses that in the same notebook that Miller belatedly turned over to the federal prosecutor last month, chronicling her July 8, 2003, interview with I. Lewis Libby, she wrote the name "Valerie Flame." She surely meant Valerie Plame, but when she testified for a second time in the case this week, she could not recall who mentioned that name to her, the Times said. She said she "didn't think" she heard it from Libby, a longtime friend and source.
The Times' article is accompanied by Miller's own first-person account of her grand jury testimony. In it, she admits that the federal prosecutor "asked if I could recall discussing the Wilson-Plame connection with other sources. I said I had, though I could not recall any by name or when those conversations occurred."
In this memoir, Miller also claims that she simply "could not recall" where the "Valerie Flame" notation came from, "when I wrote it or why the name was misspelled."
But her notes from her earlier talk with Libby, on June 23, 2003 -- belatedly turned over to the prosecutor last week --also "leave open the possibility" that Libby told her that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, though perhaps not using the name "Plame."
The article concludes with this frank and brutal assessment: "The Times incurred millions of dollars in legal fees in Ms. Miller's case. It limited its own ability to cover aspects of one of the biggest scandals of the day. Even as the paper asked for the public's support, it was unable to answer its questions."
It follows that paragraph with Executive Editor Bill Keller's view: "It's too early to judge."
The article includes this note: "In two interviews, Ms. Miller generally would not discuss her interactions with editors, elaborate on the written accounts of her grand jury testimony or allow reporters to review her notes." Thus, the article appears to be less than the "full accounting" with full Miller cooperation that the editors promised.
Just as surprising, the article reveals that Keller and the Times' publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, did not review her notes. Keller said he learned about the "Valerie Flame" notation only this month. Sulzberger knew nothing about it until told by his reporters on Thursday.
The article (written by Don Van Natta, Jr., Adam Liptak and Clifford J. Levy) says that Miller is taking some time off but "hopes to return to the newsroom," and will write a book about the case.
Meanwhile, newsroom leaders expressed frustration about the Times' coverage (or lack of) during the entire ordeal. Asked what she regretted about the paper's coverage, Jill Abramson, a managing editor, said: "The entire thing."
The article details how the paper's defense of Miller, coming from the top, crippled its coverage of Plame case, and humiliated the paper's reporters on numerous occasions.
Saturday's story says that Miller was a "divisive figure" in the newsroom and a "few colleagues refused to work with her." Doug Frantz, former chief investigations editor at the paper, said that Miller called herself "Miss Run Amok," meaning, she said, "I can do whatever I want."
The story also paints a less-than-flattering picture of Keller. At one point it dryly observes: "Throughout this year, reporters at the paper spent weeks trying to determine the identity of Ms. Miller's source. All the while, Mr. Keller knew it, but declined to tell his own reporters."
(See Greg Mitchell's latest Pressing Issues column: After 'NY Times' Probe, Keller Must Fire Miller and Apologize to Readers)
* During the July 8, 2003, talk with Libby, he told her that Plame worked on weapons intelligence and arms control, and Miller allegedly took this to mean that she was not covert, but she didn't really know one way or the other.
Revealing her working methods, perhaps too clearly, she writes that at this meeting, Libby wanted to modify their prior understanding that she would attribute information from him to an unnamed "senior administration official." Now, in talking about Wilson, he requested that he be identified only as a "former Hill staffer." This was obviously to deflect attention from the Cheney office's effort to hurt Wilson. But Miller admits, "I agreed to the new ground rules because I knew that Mr. Libby had once worked on Capitol Hill."
She talked to Libby again on the phone four days later, and the CIA agent's name shows up in her notes yet again, with her married name this time, "Valerie Wilson." Miller had by then called other sources about Plame, but she would not talk about them with the Times.
Two days after her third chat with Libby, Robert Novak exposed Plame.
In her first-person account, Miller writes that when asked by the prosecutor what she thought about the Robert Novak column that outed Plame as a CIA agent, "I told the grand jury I was annoyed at having been beaten on a story."
* For the first time this clearly, Miller, in Saturday's article, admits, "WMD--I got it totally wrong," but then goes on to say that "all" of the other journalists, and experts and analysts, also were wrong. "I did the best job I could," she said.
The article reveals, also for the first time, that Keller took her off Iraq and weapons issues after he became editor in July 2003. Nevertheless, he admits, "she kept drifting on her own back into the national security realm," making one wonder who was in charge of her.
Another mystery the article may solve: Critics have long suggested that Miller was not even working on a story about the Joseph Wilson trip to Niger when she talked to Libby and others in 2003. But the Times' article reveals that she had been assigned to write a story about the failure to find WMDs in Iraq, but this was her beat, so it's hard to understand why she would need an assignment. In any case, in talking to Libby on June 23, 2003, he wanted to talk about Wilson.
In a somewhat amusing sidelight, Miller at the end of her piece addresses the much-discussed "aspens are already turning" letter from Libby last month that some thought was written in code or somehow had something to do with Aspen, Colo. Well, the Aspen part is right, Miller confirms, recalling a conference in that city in 2003 and an expected encounter with Libby -- in cowboy hat and sunglasses -- shortly afterward.
Another side note: The article was originally posted on the Web with the headline: "The Miller Case: From a Name on a Pad to Jail, and Back." Later this was revised to "The Miller Case: A Notebook, a Cause, a Jail Cell and a Deal."
The article and Miller sidebar contain a great deal about the controversial "waiver" deal with Libby and the conflicting accounts of lawyers, but it's too complicated (though fascinating) to summarize here.
At last report, Miller was still scheduled to received a First Amendment Award given by the Society of Professonal Journalists at their convention on Tuesday.

Here is the definition of covert agent. You can see that Plame did not qualify.

http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/casecode/uscodes/50/chapters/15/subchapters/iv/sections/section_426.html

Even if she had, the attorneys in the know say that the CIA could not have passed another required hurdle in the law for her to meet the test of covert agent--that the agency had actively been trying to conceal her identity. Sending her husband to Niger and allowing him to write the op-ed piece and having her work openly at Langley are just a few examples given as to why the agency could not argue that it was trying to keep her employment secret.

NEW YORK TIMES HAS PROBLEMS WITH MILLERS STORY>

NY Times Publishes Devastating Judith Miller Article, Raising Serious Questions...

'NY Times' Publishes Devastating Judith Miller Article, Raising Serious Questions...
Editor and Publisher ^ | October 15, 2005 | Greg Mtichell
Posted on 10/15/2005 6:35:48 PM CDT by Laverne
NEW YORK Shortly after 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, The New York Times delivered its long-promised article probing Judith Miller's involvement in the Plame case. It reveals many devastating new details about her experience -- and dissent within the newspaper about her role and the way the Times handled her case.
Among other things, the article discloses that in the same notebook that Miller belatedly turned over to the federal prosecutor last month, chronicling her July 8, 2003, interview with I. Lewis Libby, she wrote the name "Valerie Flame." She surely meant Valerie Plame, but when she testified for a second time in the case this week, she could not recall who mentioned that name to her, the Times said. She said she "didn't think" she heard it from Libby, a longtime friend and source.
The Times' article is accompanied by Miller's own first-person account of her grand jury testimony. In it, among other things, she admits that the federal prosecutor "asked if I could recall discussing the Wilson-Plame connection with other sources. I said I had, though I could not recall any by name or when those conversations occurred."
In this memoir, Miller claims that she simply "could not recall" where the "Valerie Flame" notation came from, "when I wrote it or why the name was misspelled."
But her notes from her earlier talk with Libby, on June 23, 2003 -- belatedly turned over to the prosecutor last week --also "leave open the possibility" that Libby told her that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, though perhaps not using the name "Plame."
The article concludes with this frank and brutal assessment: "The Times incurred millions of dollars in legal fees in Ms. Miller's case. It limited its own ability to cover aspects of one of the biggest scandals of the day. Even as the paper asked for the public's support, it was unable to answer its questions."
It follows that paragraph with Executive Editor Bill Keller's view: "It's too early to judge."
Somewhat buried in the article is this note: "In two interviews, Ms. Miller generally would not discuss her interactions with editors, elaborate on the written accounts of her grand jury testimony or allow reporters to review her notes." Thus, the article appears to be less than the "full accounting" with full Miller cooperation that the editors promised.
Just as surprising, the article reveals that Keller and the Times' publisher, Arthur Sulzberger, did not review her notes. Keller said he learned about the "Valerie Flame" notation only this month. Sulzberger knew nothing about it until told by his reporters on Thursday.
The article says that Miller is taking some time off but "hopes to return to the newsroom," and will write a book about the case.
Meanwhile, newsroom leaders expressed frustration about the Times' coverage (or lack of) during the entire ordeal. Asked what she regretted about the paper's coverage, Jill Abramson, a managing editor, said: "The entire thing."
The article details how the paper's defense of Miller, coming from the top, crippled its coverage of Plame case, and humiliated the paper's reporters on numerous occasions.
Saturday's story says that Miller was a "divisive figure" in the newsroom and a "few colleagues refused to work with her." Doug Frantz, former chief investigations editor at the paper, said that Miller called herself "Miss Run Amok," meaning, she said, "I can do whatever I want."
The story also paints a less-than-flattering picture of Keller. At one point it dryly observes: "Throughout this year, reporters at the paper spent weeks trying to determine the identity of Ms. Miller's source. All the while, Mr. Keller knew it, but declined to tell his own reporters."
*
During the July 8, 2003, talk with Libby, he told her that Plame worked on weapons intelligence and arms control, and Miller allegedly took this to mean that she was not covert, but she didn't really know one way or the other.
Revealing her working methods, perhaps too clearly, she writes that at this meeting, Libby wanted to modify their prior understanding that she would attribute information from him to an unnamed "senior administration official." Now, in talking about Wilson, he requested that he be identified only as a "former Hill staffer." This was obviously to deflect attention from the Cheney office's effort to hurt Wilson. But Miller admits, "I agreed to the new ground rules because I knew that Mr. Libby had once worked on Capitol Hill."
She talked to Libby again on the phone four days later, and the CIA agent's name shows up in her notes yet again, with her married name this time, "Valerie Wilson." Miller had by then called other sources about Plame, but she would not talk about them with the Times.
Two days after her third chat with Libby, Robert Novak exposed Plame.
In her first-person account, Miller writes that when asked by the prosecutor what she thought about the Robert Novak column that outed Plame as a CIA agent, "I told the grand jury I was annoyed at having been beaten on a story."
* For the first time this clearly, Miller, in Saturday's article, admits, "WMD--I got it totally wrong," but then goes on to say that "all" of the other journalists, and experts and analysts, also were wrong. "I did the best job I could," she said.
The article reveals, also for the first time, that Keller took her off Iraq and weapons issues after he became editor in July 2003. Nevertheless, he admits, "she kept drifting on her own back into the national security realm," making one wonder who was in charge of her.
Another mystery the article may solve: Critics have long suggested that Miller was not even working on a story about the Joseph Wilson trip to Niger when she talked to Libby and others in 2003. But the Times' article reveals that she had been assigned to write a story about the failure to find WMDs in Iraq, but this was her beat, so it's hard to understand why she would need an assignment. In any case, in talking to Libby on June 23, 2003, he wanted to talk about Wilson.
In a somewhat amusing sidelight, Miller at the end of her piece addresses the much-discussed "aspens are already turning" letter from Libby last month that some thought was written in code or somehow had something to do with Aspen, Colo. Well, the Aspen part is right, Miller confirms, recalling a conference in that city in 2003 and an expected encounter with Libby -- in cowboy hat and sunglasses -- shortly afterward.

Final one Have fun and let us know how you did.

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Leaks Lies and Libby and Wilson 11 2005
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Subject: Sunday's Chron article in the Insight Section
"Leaks, Lies. and Libby"
by James Sterngold
Dear Mr. Sterngold,

After reading your article over a couple of times in today’s paper it is clear you seem to believe this administration led us unnecessarily into war with Iraq. While that may be your opinion and you may have concluded that from what you feel is sound reasoning - the omission an mischaracterization of salient facts in your article does not allow the reader to make a reasoned judgment.

I will cover a few important points:

Mr. Wilson is a strident Democratic partisan(not mentioned by you),and while he may have been an experienced ambassador he had no known experience in intelligence work. He claimed he was chosen by Cheney’s office to go to Niger - which was simply untrue - but was actually recommended by his wife Valerie Plame, a CIA agent,. Also, he never filed a written report upon his return but what he did report verbally made some of his superiors even more concerned that Saddam was attempting to obtain WMD’s - unlike what he claimed. You make no mention that Wilson has been thoroughly discredited on these and other claims.

When you mention Bush now referred to British intelligence concerning Niger you do not mention that Brit Intell still stands by their claim.

US and UN Inspectors never had a full and free run of Iraq - as there were always concerns about Saddam’s cat and mouse game with them over the years. Saddam had even kicked then out a few years earlier during Clinton’s reign. Also, the UN inspectors as well as Hans Blix were reporting to what we now know was a thoroughly corrupt institution that was double dealing. This corruption clearly is germane as to why the UN Security Council declined it's support to invade - after first voting unanimously to give an ultimatum that included serious consequences for failure to comply - which everyone new was war.

The UN had given many resolutions for Iraq over the years to comply with the terms of the cease fire agreement after Gulf War 1. It took many months as well as several ultimatums by this administration before actually attacking Iraq for their refusal to comply properly. They had many more opportunities to comply than Afghanistan ever received. Your reference to "clear" ultimatums for Afghanistan leads one to believe it was different for Iraq.

Every major intelligence agency in the world as well as most of the top Democrats believed Saddam had WMD’S. David Kay said after the war that they were “all” mistaken but that working with what they had it was proper to believe Iraq was an imminent threat (by the way - imminent threat was not the language of the administration). He went on further to say that Iraq was even a more dangerous place, potentially, than they originally had thought before the war. It was found out that Saddam had production capabilities and delivery systems in the works that we did not know about before the war.

I respectfully believe some of these points and others not made here would give a proper perspective to your article. Telling only part of the story and leaving out important portions that might change the entire context of your article leaves a reader to question the credibility of the entire article.

Sincerely,

Mike Singer
SF CA

Thanks for the links.
From Newsmax:

In fact, the myth that laws were violated in the Plame case began to unravel in October 2003, in a column by New York Times scribe Nicholas Kristof, who explained that Valerie Plame had abandoned her covert role a full nine years before.

"The C.I.A. suspected that Aldrich Ames had given [Plame's] name [along with those of other spies] to the Russians before his espionage arrest in 1994. So her undercover security was undermined at that time, and she was brought back to Washington for safety reasons."

Kristof also noted that Plame had begun making the transition to CIA "management" even before she was outted, explaining that "she was moving away from 'noc' – which means non-official cover ... to a new cover as a State Department official, affording her diplomatic protection without having 'C.I.A.' stamped on her forehead."

As Iraq was not linked to 9/11

{SIGH...}

"So, when the Clinton administration wants to justify its strike on al Shifa," this official tells me, "it's okay to use an Iraq-al Qaeda connection. But now that the Bush administration and George Tenet talk about links, it's suddenly not believable?"

Weekly Standard

More at the link, including verification of the links by Bill Richardson, Joe Lieberman and Evan Bayh.

Clinton first linked al Qaeda to Saddam

Also...from my files:

In in 1998, an Arab intelligence officer, who knows Saddam personally, predicted in Newsweek: "Very soon you will be witnessing large-scale terrorist activity run by the Iraqis." The Arab official said these terror operations would be run under "false flags" --spook-speak for front groups--including bin Laden's organization.

Then there were the predictions by an Iraqi with ties to Iraqi intelligence, Naeem Abd Mulhalhal, in Qusay's own newspaper several weeks before the attacks that stated bin Laden would “demolish the Pentagon after he destroys the White House and ”bin Laden would strike America “on the arm that is already hurting.” (referencing a second IRAQI sponsored attack on the World Trade Center). Another reference to New York was “[bin Laden] will curse the memory of Frank Sinatra everytime he hears his songs.” (e.g., “New York, New York”) which identified New York, New York as a target. Mulhalhal also stated, “The wings of a dove and the bullet are all but one and the same in the heart of a believer." which references an airplane attack.

The Arabic language daily newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabic also cited the cooperation between Iraq, bin Laden and Al December 1998 editorial, which predicted that “President Saddam Hussein, whose country was subjected to a four day air strike, will look for support in taking revenge on the United States and Britain by cooperating with Saudi oppositionist Osama Bin-Laden, whom the United States considers to be the most wanted person in the world.” This info is in the link provided below. How could these people have had foreknowledge without Iraq being involved?

Source for this info

Warning...slow loading .pdf file. This was from a lawsuit filed against Iraq after 9/11...the court ruled against Iraq.

There was also another lawsuit filed by the family of John O’Neill (a former FBI agent who captured Ramzi Yousef after the 1993 WTC bombings) after he died in the WTC on 9/11. His personal files from his years of traveling around the world investigating al-Qaeda are were used as evidence in the lawsuit. The evidence includes documents unearthed in the headquarters of the Mukhabarat (Iraq's intelligence service) and information gleaned from the interrogation of both al-Qaeda and Iraqi prisoners. (Link below). It also quotes Vincent Cannistraro, the former CIA counter-terrorism chief, who stated in October 2000 that Iraq had been wanting to carry out terrorist attacks, and that the Iraqi military had been in contact with Osama bin Laden.

Click Here

We know from these IIS documents that beginning in 1992 the former Iraqi regime regarded bin Laden as an Iraqi Intelligence asset. We know from IIS documents that the former Iraqi regime provided safe haven and financial support to an Iraqi who has admitted to mixing the chemicals for the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. We know from IIS documents that Saddam Hussein agreed to Osama bin Laden's request to broadcast anti-Saudi propaganda on Iraqi state-run television. We know from IIS documents that a "trusted confidante" of bin Laden stayed for more than two weeks at a posh Baghdad hotel as the guest of the Iraqi Intelligence Service.

Abu Nidal, September 11 and Saddam The terrorist network may be closer knit than we think.

Weekly Standard: The Mother of All Connections

List of newspaper article in the 90's which mention the world's concern regarding the growing relationship between OBL and Saddam: