Valerie Plame, the "Spy" Who's Ready to Speak for Herself (The case against pardoning--Fitzgerald)

Washington Post ^ | 3/16/07 | Richard Leiby and Walter Pincus

[JohnHuang2]

She has been silent nearly four years. Today, the CIA officer whose unmasking fueled a political uproar and criminal probe that reached into the White House is poised to finally tell her own story -- before Congress. Full article...

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The Libby "Trial": The case against pardoning Fitzgerald

Former Democrat Congressman Gary Condit lied his butt off to police to cover up an extra-marital affair with an intern who went missing and later turned up dead in a D.C. park. Condit obstructed the investigation -- a charge liberals are trying to jail Libby for -- but the investigation failed to turn up any evidence that Condit worked for Dick Cheney, so Condit's obviously innocent.

West Virginia Democrat Congressman Alan Mollohan lied about his real estate holdings on financial disclosure forms, omitted reporting major loans which Mollohan used to buy other financial assets and flagrantly undervalued assets. Mollohan also earmarked mega taxpayer money to his business partner, funneling the big bucks through groups linked to him. The FBI has been investigating Mollohan and his investments, probing whether they were properly disclosed, but have been unable to nail down any link to Dick Cheney, so Mollohan's obviously innocent.

For forty years former Democrat Congressman and current New Mexico Governor (and presidential hopeful) Bill Richardson insisted he was drafted in the 1966 Major League Baseball amateur draft. The Albuquerque Journal investigated and found no evidence of Richardson being drafted by any team, let alone the A's. Told of the Journal's findings, Richardson concluded that his memory must have been failing him for all those forty years! He said he forgot he wasn't drafted. Maybe he was too busy all those years sucking up to dictators to remember. Libby, as Cheney's chief of staff, was busy (post-911) with gazillions of daily briefings, meetings and phone calls on national security, but a jury of D.C. idiots maintain he couldn't have forgotten one phone conversation with Russert. This was a jury that had to ask the judge what "reasonable doubt" meant because they forgot. Or maybe they had never heard of it. They couldn't even remember who said what when and where, but Libby should've remembered one or two phone conversations years after-the-fact.

Democrat Congresswoman Maxine Waters for years has been using her position to make her family rich by having them do business with companies she had direct connections to -- all documented by the Los Angeles Times. Despite the damning evidence, most analysts expect Waters will never face charges since she doesn't work for Cheney.

Democrat Congressman John Conyers forced his staff to chauffeur and baby-sit his kids and forced them to work on various local and state campaigns -- violations of House ethics rules. Busted after his aides came forward, Conyers then absurdly claimed mistakes were made because of a "lack of clarity" when communicating with his staff about their official duties. The House Ethics Committee subsequently dropped the matter because, after reviewing the case, committee members concluded Conyers's innocent since he doesn't work for Cheney.

New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez took $300,000 in rent money from the North Hudson Community Corp, a non-profit agency already getting federal money. Then, in '98, the proletarian comrade helped his tenant get qualified to apply for even more federal moolah by helping it get designated as a federally qualified health-care center. One major conflict-of-interests violation deserves another, so Menendez had his trusted advisor -- Donald Scarinci -- pressure a psychiatrist in '99 to hire a doctor Menendez favored, or lose a million bucks in government contracts. The bribe/threat was caught on tape but at no point did Scarinci hint of a Menendez connection to Cheney, Halliburton, Skull & Cross-bones, Big Oil, the Iraq War -- so clearly Menendez's innocent.

The evidence against Democrat Congressman William "Frozen assets" Jefferson is so overwhelming, it's a slam-dunk case. It would be so easy to prosecute, a caveman could do it. No charges have been filed two years after he was caught on videotape collecting a $100,000 bribe.

Sandy Berger pled guilty to a "misdemeanor" charge two years ago. The minor "misdemeanor" here consisted of stealing and destroying top secret documents from the National Archives building, then lying about it to investigators. He got a small fine and community service. Berger's not considered dangerous nor a threat apparently because he's never used the word "faggot."

In the Libby case, Tim Russert perjured himself and obstructed justice when he knowingly filed a false affidavit to keep from testifying before the grand jury. In his affidavit, he denied having spoken to investigators about the case. No charges were ever filed because Russert changed his story so he could become FitzMagoo's star witness in the Libby trial.

Democrat Judith Miller perjured herself throughout the probe about who said what when and where. No charges were filed because this trial was about Fitzgerald getting Libby's scalp, not about who REALLY said what when and where.

Unlike Menendez, Jefferson, Waters, Conyers and Mollohan, the "case" against Libby did not involve financial corruption nor personal gain. Unlike Condit, Libby isn't suspected of having killed anyone. Unlike Berger, Libby wasn't pilfering top secrets papers nor endangering America's security. What Libby was convicted of was the political "crime" of disagreeing with liberals on a policy matter. Since the whole Libby affair was political, I have no doubt that if the appeals process doesn't result in getting this travesty of a verdict overturned, Bush will pardon Libby.

Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"

[JohnHuang2]

Have a great weekend, y'all!

[Darkwolf377]

But her standing inside the agency dropped sharply after she and Wilson posed in their Jaguar convertible for a photograph in Vanity Fair, published in January 2004. The photo may have added an element of intrigue to her image but turned many of her colleagues against her. "That mocked the seriousness people had for her status and helped trivialize the situation," said one former CIA official. Plame, three officials said, flouted CIA rules by not seeking permission to be photographed. With her cover long blown, Plame hasn't avoided the limelight in recent years, but her conversations rarely go beyond pleasantries. Her and her husband's fame give them access to top politicians (including, last week, Sen. Hillary Clinton, with whom the couple had dinner) and Hollywood types. In his book, Wilson described a dinner in Los Angeles where "Valerie found herself seated between Norman Lear and Warren Beatty.

This section says it all, really.

[Lorianne]

I'll wait for the movie.

[conservative in nyc]

This is the real money quote (of course buried in the article):

Some news stories created initial confusion over Plame's status by suggesting that disclosure of her name and employment may have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. That law, passed in response to disclosure of the names of CIA officers serving overseas by former CIA employee Philip Agee, made it a crime to disclose the names of "covert agents," which the act narrowly defined as those serving overseas or who had served as such in the previous five years.

"Covert agent" is not a label actually used within the agency for its employees, according to former senior CIA officials. Plame, who joined the agency right out of Pennsylvania State University, underwent rigorous spycraft training to become an officer in the Directorate of Operations. (The term "agent" in the CIA is only applied to foreign nationals recruited to spy in support of U.S. interests.)

[Darkwolf377]

To be honest I don't think that terminology is so significant. More significant, to me, is how this supposedly life-destroying incident led the Wilsons to parody their "serious" occupations in Vanity Fair photo shoots, and having dinner with has-been movie stars.

One of the numerous errors the Bush Administration made was in saying the President shouldn't have said those "16 words" or whatever. This Administration is really chicken in so many ways; they have the Newt Gingrich "I wanna be liked!" attitude, which is so childish and stupid.

[conservative in nyc]

It also doesn't seem to follow the actual law.

[Michael.SF.]

She has been silent nearly four years.

Yeah, right. She has maintained a remarkably low profile..................

[DWPittelli]

I don't see the relevance of the Vanity Fair article; by that time she had been outed by Novak. However, her prospects of returning to overseas NOC work were pretty slim just for having married an ambassador, and were made nonexistent by Wilson's op-ed in the New York Times -- before the Novak outing. I don't know how an honest journalist could skip around this issue while writing such an article.

[Dahoser]

The Libby case and the firing of the US Attorneys are among the examples that no matter how much you wish reality to be different, it isn't. The MSM still have an awful lot of power. They have the power to move events to their liking by what they focus on and what they ignore like that laundry list of RAT liars.

They have lost some of their previous power for sure, but not enough that they can be dismissed as irrelevant. I think too many on our side have been lulled into thinking that.

As well, we have to always contend with spineless Republicans who cower in the corner on these matters lest they take a stand opposite the big boys in the MSM and get called bad names like mean-spirited and partisan. When the time finally comes that the MSM are put on the ash heap of history, these Republican cowards will be the last to know.

[YaYa123]

I really appreciate your walk down the democrats' memory lane. All those scoundrels going unpunished....a crock isn't it?

"Unlike Menendez, Jefferson, Waters, Conyers and Mollohan, the "case" against Libby did not involve financial corruption nor personal gain. Unlike Condit, {and Kennedy}, Libby isn't suspected of having killed anyone. Unlike Berger, Libby wasn't pilfering top secrets papers nor endangering America's security.""

You make such a good point reminding us how the media & democrats would politicize and punish republicans for doing their jobs, and lest we forget: When republicans do commit real crimes, we punish our own, we don't excuse them.

[tobyhill]

That is such BS because the law that protects "agents" specify it as being "covert agents". An agent is any professional working within their job description, FBI Agent, Free Agent, Airline Agent, etc.

Job openings where they are called "agents".

http://jobprofiles.monster.com/Content/job_content/JC_deleted/JSC_InactiveMilitary/JOB_CIAAgent/jobzilla_html?jobprofiles=1

[angkor]

The term "agent" is utterly meaningless when applied to Valerie Plame, as is Fitzgerald's description of her as "classified".

[ReleaseTheHounds]

One of the numerous errors the Bush Administration made was in saying the President shouldn't have said those "16 words" or whatever. This Administration is really chicken in so many ways; they have the Newt Gingrich "I wanna be liked!" attitude, which is so childish and stupid.

So right! Throughout his presidency, Bush has been way "too nice" and seeking affirmation where none should have been expected or sought. "Looking into Putin's eyes and seeing his soul"... Having Teddy over to view the JFK movie... and letting him co-write the Education Reform Act... Not firing George Tenant on the spot after 9-11... Not cleaning house of clowns like Richard Clarke at the outset of his Administration... Allowing his judicial appointments to linger like jailed prisoners without pressing the nuclear option... Unfortunately, this kind of criticism could go on for paragraphs.

[stockpirate]

I listed to Fox news thismorning and they still refer to her as an outed "covert agent".

[justrepublican]

I wonder how many mothers of 7 year old twins are employed by the CIA as covert ops.

[doug from upland]

(Note: this is intended to be humor)

TOP SECRET: AFFIDAVIT OF WILSON AND PLAME'S PIZZA DELIVERY GUY
DFU's super secret source in the Justice Department | 7-2005 | Doug form Upland

Posted on 07/27/2005 3:44:11 PM PDT by doug from upland

AFFIDAVIT OF JAMES H. DONNER

My name is James H. Donner, and I am 19 years old.

No one has paid me for these statements. No member of the RNC, no one from the Bush administration, and no one from FreeRepublic.com has solicited this information.

For the past three and a half years, I have delivered pizza to the home of Joseph Wilson and Valerie Plame as well as to the homes of many others in the neighborhood. I live on the next street.

Everyone in the neighborhood knew that Plame worked for the CIA. It was no secret. Wilson was constantly bragging about it. She passed out her CIA business cards. Her Jaguar had a custom license plate: I SPY. At a costume party held by my parents, she and Wilson engaged in cross-dressing. She went as James Bond, and he was Pussy Galore. They used lines from Bond movies.

Sometimes when Wilson and Plame were in the spa in their backyard, some of us would peek through the fence from the house next door. They often drank French wine and ate Betty Crocker yellow cake with coconut pecan frosting. On several occasions we caught them having sex in the spa. They would be playing the soundtrack from FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, she would have a loaded Walther PPK on a ledge next to the spa, and at the moment of her maximum excitement, she would scream out, "Oh, Joe. Oh, Joe. I'm a spy, I'm a spy. Don't tell anybody or I'll have to kill you!" They got the biggest laugh out of that. Once, we even got some of the little kids in the neighborhood to pay us so they would get to watch through the fence.

One night in early 2002, they were in the spa and a few of us were peeking through the fence. I overheard Plame tell Wilson that she was going to tell people in our government that Wilson should go to Niger and check out a story about uranium. That night they were drinking sweet mint tea instead of French wine. They started to play the little spy game again but Plame got really mad. She was chewing Wilson out, yelling at him for not being able to perform. She said something like, "I have ways to find out, and I had better not find out that Little Joey has been wandering." He seemed to turn pale.

Once when I delivered pizza in late 2004, Plame paid me with a check. She gave me the wrong check. I got out to my truck and realized that it was for $2,000. Gino's makes great pizza, but we've never gotten $2,000 for one before. The check was made out to the John Kerry Presidential Campaign. She was grateful I gave it back, and when she paid me the right amount, she gave me another check of $50 for a tip. She also warned me not to tell anyone about the Kerry check. She said it in a way that kind of scared me.

The last time I delivered pizza to Wilson and Plame was in February of this year. I heard them laughing and talking about how they were going to F*** Karl Rove and F*** George Bush. I heard a couple of other voices. One, whom I think they called Chrissy, was talking about the days when he worked for Tip O'Neill. The other one sounded really drunk . One of them must have been the owner of the rusted out damaged 1968 Oldsmobile I saw in the driveway.

I swear that the statements made above are true and correct.

July 25, 2005


James H. Donner

[basil]

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[StoneColdTaxHater]

Will any RINO on the committee have the BALLS to ask her the tough questions? I doubt it