Fess Up, Mr. Armitage

opinionjournal ^ | August 30, 2006

[bnelson44]

Time to put the Plame conspiracy to its final rest.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT

From its very start, the ballyhooed case of who leaked the name of CIA analyst Valerie Plame to columnist Robert Novak has been drenched in partisan politics and media hypocrisy. The more we learn, however, the more it also reveals about the internal dysfunction of the Bush Administration and the lack of loyalty among some of its most senior officials.

The latest news is that the Bush official who first disclosed Ms. Plame's identity was none other than former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage. According to a new book by liberal journalists David Corn and Michael Isikoff, Mr. Armitage was Mr. Novak's primary source for his now famous column of July 14, 2003, that first publicly revealed Ms. Plame's CIA pedigree.

In other words, the leaker wasn't Karl Rove or Scooter Libby or anyone else in the White House who has been accused of running a conspiracy against Ms. Plame as revenge for her husband Joe Wilson's false accusations against the White House's case for war with Iraq. So what have the last three years been all about anyway? Political opportunism and internal score-settling, among other things.

[wvobiwan]

Some of the most dangerous enemies to US security and freedom are the career beaurocrats at State. State, like CIA, has been purposely infested with leftists in order to leak and secretly undercut US intelligence efforts around the world.

Putting Condi there was a good idea, but someone forgot to tell her to ignore, or better, do the direct opposite of any advice given to her by State careerists.

[Blogger]

This non-story has gotten more press than it ever deserved. Of course, we can't count on the Media to give nearly the amount of coverage to the exonerating facts as they do their own fantasy. Isikoff is so, "Clinton-days". Still trying to be a hot-shot newsbreaker in an administration that hasn't nearly the fodder. As for Corn, I wish he would go somewhere and look for an upper lip!

[Blogger]

being the scholar, she should have known

[Suzy Quzy]

Will Bush even KNOW about this story???

[doesnt suffer fools gladly]

It used to be that I disliked liberals, but I can honestly say now that I despise them. This can't be good for the blood pressure.

[steamroller]

didn't wilson "out"her in "who's who"?-wilson is a real scumbag and valerie plame(name sounds made up)got him appointed to an investigative job-the more i see of wilson,the more i think he's a traitor working for the un internationalists-who cares how she got exposed-she must be the only cia operative the liberals ever gave a tinker's damn about

[ordinaryguy]

didn't wilson "out"her in "who's who"?

How?

[ElderEdda]

While our nation has been at war for the past 3 years, nearly the same amount of time this scandal has been in play, our President has been slandered and his administration's credibility has been diminished, ultimately diminishing the credibility of the U.S.

And what did this former "warrior" do? He stayed quiet, sneaky, avoided the question and refused to engage. And to what do we owe him? Perhaps a protracted war and murdered soldiers because "Bush Lied" and he did nothing but stand by in the safety of the shadows that are so bravely--with tremendous sacrifice-- provided to him by our military men/women. When the opportunity (and there were many) arose for him to stand up, he stood down.

So Armitage didn't like Libby or Rove or war. So what. He has shown his courage to be lacking and his integrity to be zilch. And for that America has suffered.

Warrior? What does it say about a man who cares more about his hide, than about his nation?

Disgusting. And Powell too. spit...

[Humidston]

Colin Powell must be laughing himself silly.

....a$$

[river rat]

Powell proved himself to be way over his head as Secretary of State -- and a back stabber to boot.

We are not well served by most of our "Public Servants"...

Semper Fi

[AmeriBrit]

didn't wilson "out"her in "who's who"? How?
--------------------------------------------------------
The same way he 'outed' her in his Bio dated FEBRUARY 8th 2003 which was long before the Novak story came out.

http://web.archive.org/web/20030208060730/http://web.archive.org/web/20030208060730/http://www.cpsag.com/our_team/wilson.html

FEBRUARY 8th 2003

Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, IV

Ambassador Wilson served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council from June 1997 until July 1998. In that capacity he was responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa, He was one of the principal architecs of President Clinton's historic trip to Africa in March 1998. Ambassador Wilson was the Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, 1995-1997. He served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1998 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad, Iraq as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. During ''Desert Shield'' he was the acting Ambassador and was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of ''Desert Storm.'' Ambassador Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. His early assignments included Niamey, Niger, 1976-1978; Lome, Togo, 1978-79; the State Department Brueau of African Affairs, 1979-1981; and Pretoria, South Africa, 1981-1982. In 1982, he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Bujumbura, Burundi. In 1985-1986, he served in the offices of Senator Albert Gore and the House Majority Whip, Representative Thomas Foley, as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Brazzaville, Congo, 1986-88, prior to his assignment to Baghdad. Ambassador Wilson was raised in California and graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He is a graduate of the Senior Seminar (1972), the most advanced International Affairs training offered by the U.S. Government. He speaks fluent French. Ambassador Wilson holds the Department of Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. Additionally, he has been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by the El Paso County Commissioners.BR>
He is married to the former Valerie Plame and has two sons and two daughters.

----------------------------------------------------------

Here's the 'Who's Who' entry from July 1998 on.

[mware]

Bump to the top

[visitor]

"At a minimum, there appears to be a serious question of disloyalty here. By keeping silent, Messrs. Powell and Armitage let the President take political heat for the case, while also letting Mr. Rove, Mr. Libby and other White House officials twist in the wind for more than two years. We also know that it was the folks in Mr. Powell's shop--including his former chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson and intelligence officer Carl Ford Jr.--who did so much to trash John Bolton's nomination to be Ambassador to the U.N. in 2005. The State Department clique that Mr. Bush tolerated for so long did tremendous damage to his Administration."

http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110008872

AND FOR YOU JOHN MCCAIN FANS, THESE PEOPLE "Messrs. Powell and Armitage" ET AL HAVE JOINED HIS 2008 PRESIDENTAIL CAMPAIGN. ALSO, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT SOME OF THESE PEOPLE TESTIFIED DURING THE SHAM "9/11 COMMISSION HEARINGS" AND THAT POWELL WAS ONE OF THE LEADING OPPONENTS TO FINISHING OFF SADDAM IN '91 ...RTO

[bigjoesaddle]

AND FOR YOU JOHN MCCAIN FANS, THESE PEOPLE "Messrs. Powell and Armitage" ET AL HAVE JOINED HIS 2008 PRESIDENTAIL CAMPAIGN. ALSO, IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT SOME OF THESE PEOPLE TESTIFIED DURING THE SHAM "9/11 COMMISSION HEARINGS" AND THAT POWELL WAS ONE OF THE LEADING OPPONENTS TO FINISHING OFF SADDAM IN '91 ...RTO

That puts it in perspective nicely, thanks.

[Albertafriend]

They are as despicable as comrade c.

[steamroller]

by saying she worked for the cia-unless that isn't true-to be honest i didn't care enough to research it

[ordinaryguy]

Dunno. I read something about Novak looking something up in Who's Who. I thought he was just finding out the name of Wilson's wife, but I could be very wrong.

[ordinaryguy]

The same way he 'outed' her in his Bio dated FEBRUARY 8th 2003 which was long before the Novak story came out.

Thanks for the post. I'm unclear as to how he 'outed' her in that entry. That she was married to Joseph Wilson wasn't at issue. I thought that her status at the CIA was at issue. I don't see any reference to that in the entry.

[STARWISE]

JEEZE .. work is definitely getting in the way of my FReeping. Missed these entirely BUMP!!

Oh ... the house of cards is definitely tumbling down. WaPo knows it, and so the editorial today. They don't want to be the last one standing, with their finger in their ear.

What President Bush Should Do About Plamegate

(While he works night and day to protect US and suffers burdens of terrifying knowledge we'll never fathom. God bless him.

Back to the article excerpt .. go, Clarice!!

"I’m so livid at this tangible and intangible harm that I cannot imagine that the President doesn’t share my fury at such damaging perfidy. If I were advising him, here’s what I’‘d tell him:

(1) He should have Attorney General Gonzales report to him everything the Department knows of the Armitage revelations and when they occurred to ascertain whether any of the Isikoff-Corn report is false.

2) Former Secretary Powell should be summoned and asked when he learned of the Armitage admission and why he failed to report this to him.

(3) If the reports that he knew in September 2003 that Armitage was the leaker prove true, the President should publicly say that he is deeply disappointed in the conduct of the former State Department officials, that he doesn’t question their belief that the Armitage leaks were inadvertent but that there failure to notify him of those leaks was inexcusable.

(4) If the facts indicate that former Attorney General Ashcroft and Comey knew who Novak’s source was, the President should indicate his disappointment in them for having yielded to the press frenzy in appointing a special prosecutor rather than simply having the courage to tell what happened and why.

(5) He should express regret to the country for this unnecessary and longstanding distraction occasioned by these failures.

(6) He should express special regret to Scooter Libby and his family who have been forced to endure so much for no reason whatsoever.

(7) Finally, he should express disappointment in the unprofessional conduct of the Special Prosecutor who misled the public and the Courts, among other things, and he should announce that he is instructing the Atttorney General to dismiss Fitzgerald and drop the case against Libby.

The President is an honorable man who naively believed that these officials shared his courage and sense of honor and probity.

He has so far not spoken on this matter nor criticized the evident failures of the Prosecutor or his former appointed officials, but it is now time to move, to place the blame for this longstanding and damaging distraction where it belongs, and to act to prevent further injustice and distraction from truly pressing matters of critical significance to this country."