Bush expresses doubt that leaker of CIA official's name will be determined

Associated Press ^ | 10-07-03

[Brian S]

President Bush questioned on Tuesday whether investigators would be able to determine who leaked the identity of an undercover CIA officer but said his staff was cooperating. "I want to know the truth," he said.

Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, urged some 2,000 White House employees to turn over any relevant documents by Tuesday night. White House lawyers will screen the materials and decide which ones to send to the Justice Department as part of a criminal inquiry into the leak, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said.

[My2Cents]

I doubt it came from the Administration.

But I wonder how Bush saying they may never find out takes the pressure off of the clammering for a special prosecutor.

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[DrewsDad]

"In my view, it is shameful and unethical that an administration that promised to govern with 'honor and integrity' and 'change the tone' in Washington has now engaged in an orchestrated campaign to smear and intimidate truth-telling critics, placing them in possible physical harm and impairing the efforts and operations of the CIA," Conyers said.

Now where is that total board listing the numbers of prosecutions and so forth from the previous administration which Conyers defended?

[steveegg]

For what it's worth, I have but 2 names in mind when I think of who leaked Valerie Plame's profession; Iosef Wilson and Val herself.

[PISANO]

It seems to me that if the LEAK is determined to be a FELONY then the FBI should ask Robert Novak for the leakers name. If he refuses.... arrest him for OOJ. Seems to me the FIRST Amendment does not have a FELONY OOJ exception. Might put a little damper on the NEXT leaker or leakee of CLASSIFIED information.

[DrewsDad]

Here are a couple of articles:

Clinton Legacy: Most Convictions, Crookedest Cabinet, 31 Deaths

Clinton OIC Status Apr 4, 2001: INDICTMENTS, PROSECUTIONS AND CONVICTIONS

[larryjohnson]

Some CIA dude dood it.

[FreedomCalls]

I agree. Novak has no special exemption from the law. "The people have a right to know" after all. It will defuse the story completely to have it appear that it is the press who is stonewalling the name of the leaker while the DOJ will appear to be the good guys trying to determine who it is using all the powers they have available.

[ex-snook]

If Bush can't find out, it makes the special a necessity.

[VRWC_minion]

Wait I know. It was Rush Limbaugh while he was in a drug inuduced stupor hanging out with Arnold groping women at the singles bar, wasn't it ?

[marron]

According to Novak, he called the CIA and they confirmed her employment. The only thing they would not confirm was the nature of her employment.

In other words, the CIA outed her.

This is something the CIA doesn't do, and yet they did it.

[Thor_Hammar]

I also doubt the leak came from inside the White House. Notice that the probe has expanded to include the Department of State and the Department of Defense. If the person or persons who leaked the name works for the White House or the State Department or the Defense Department, that individual will be caught.

But who has been claiming the individual is inside the White House and is specifically Karl Rove? None other than Joe Wilson, a DemocRAT operative. (Oops! Can I say "operative"?) Remember that Robert Novak said he did not learn of Palme from Karl Rove and he seems to have denied hearing her name from anyone associated with the White House.

What agency had the most people who might know Palme worked at the CIA as an analyst? What agency might have people who knew how Joe Wilson was picked for the fact-finding junket to Niger (and note that British intelligence did not claim Niger was a country from which Iraq attempted to purchase Yellowcake, only that it was an African nation, and there are many African nations with uranium mines.)? And what agency has career civil servants who might have been more than upset that the CIA was hiring a consultant rather than using its own people to investigate any potential Niger-Iraq Yellowcake connection?

Bingo! The answer is" The Central Intelligence Agency.

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" It seems to me that if the LEAK is determined to be a FELONY then the FBI should ask Robert Novak for the leakers name. If he refuses.... arrest him for OOJ."

Isn't it amazing,how the media creates a privilege for themselves,that doesn't exist in the law? Must be nice. And if LE wasn't so afraid of the PR backlash,they should start tossing a few of these bums in jail-especially those that print leaks affecting national security. Like we saw in the run up to the war,from anonymous sources all the time,in the WP and NYT.

[ExSafecracker]

I kind of doubt that this trophy wife of a clinton appointed ambassador was all that involved with spying on terrorist or communist or drug trafficers.
More likely, aside from this being some more non-sticking attack on conservatives, they are just pissed off that a democrat won't get her full retirement package.
Funny, I never heard this much bru-ha-ha when hillary had her hands on the throats of those travel office workers!

(please keep in mind if any of these words are mispelled,...I was absent the day they taught spelling.)

[Cicero]

Now that I think of it, I think Bush should come right out and say, "We have no idea who leaked this story. The only person who knows is Robert Novak." Novak should be called to testify since he is the one who leaked the information about Plame.

That would put the press in a cleft stick. They are the ones howling for blood. Well, let them howl. If they think the name of the leaker is so important, let them push to have the Justice Department make Novak talk. Then we'll all know, and it won't take a lot of man hours or money to find out.

Do they think a reporter's sources are sacred? Then they should shut up about this whole business. Which is more important to them, finding the truth or protecting their special privileges?

[af_vet_1981]

"This is a large administration and there's a lot of senior officials," Bush told journalists. "I have no idea whether we'll find out who the leaker is, partially because, in all due respect to your profession, you do a very good job of protecting the leakers."

Excellent, expose the media for the criminals they are!

[Captain Peter Blood]

If they really want to get at the truth on who leaked what, why don't the investigators just go to the NSA and pull all of the telephone, fax and e-mail of Robert Novak? It should not be very hard from there to narrow it down to a few suspects.

Also it was a a pretty open secret on the Georgetown cocktail circuit that Wilson's wife was a CIA employee.

Don't forget also that Wilson's wife works for a division of the CIA on weapons proliferation and indirectly recommended that her husband be hired as a consultant for the agency to go to Niger to check out the uranium story.

The more you dig into this mess the more questions that come up.

[Brian S]

If I wasn't wrapped up in the Cubs game, I would peruse my pdf of the Patriot Act again.

Surely, they thought to include a "clause" pertaining to the "Press" that compels them to reveal 'all', in the interests of the "war on terror"...

[VRWC For Truth]

Although the CIA has known to screw up, one would have to believe that Wilson was sent on purpose. If he was there to sip mint tea, he was ... a decoy. Recently Wilson starts running his mouth about no WMD and the CIA gets nervous. Who other than the CIA would want to shut him down? Which leads me to believe:

A) There is WMD evidence and sources that need protected
B) The 'Rats know nothing about it because they are a security leak