Enceladus
2003-09-30 21:10:32 UTC
The Daily Briefing: September 30
Conventional wisdom in Washington over the past few weeks has held that the
failure to achieve notable progress in Iraq and the continued slumping
economy would be the two biggest roadblocks standing in the way of President
Bush's reelection chances. But the announcement of a Justice Department
investigation into a potential White House leak has political analysts
lighting flares around this new boulder that has tumbled into Bush's
seemingly once-easy path.
The White House has announced today that the Justice Department is set to
begin an all-out investigation over the blown cover of CIA operative Valerie
Plame, wife of former State Department envoy Joseph Wilson. Plame's identity
was revealed in a July column by conservative Robert Novak, who initially
said he was supplied the information by top administration officials, after
Wilson returned from a fact-finding mission to Niger and published an op-ed
disputing Bush's beloved yellowcake claim. It was a case of political
revenge most foul.
The White House has already circled the wagons around Rove, but
administration officials would be wise not to turn their backs on the wily
adviser. He's got a Texas-sized mean streak.
"I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't even need to go ask Karl,
because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone that is
committed to the highest standards of conduct," said White House Press
Secretary Scott McClellan at yesterday's press briefing. And yes, he was
speaking about the same Karl Rove.
The same Karl Rove who successfully torpedoed the business of his former
partner John Weaver by planting dirty stories about his personal life after
Weaver signed away one of Rove's clients (Weaver is now a Democrat, thanks
in large part to Rove's tactics.).
The same Karl Rove who Esquire reporter Run Susskind caught yelling into a
White House phone, "Tell him we'll f*** him. We'll f*** him like nobody ever
has."
The same Karl Rove who was unceremoniously booted off George H.W. Bush's
presidential campaign for planting a negative story about his gripes with
the campaign's fundraising chief and another Bush loyalist. What journalist
did Rove use to leak that story? Robert Novak. Read more here.
James C. Moore, co-author of "Bush's Brain," a definitive look at Karl Rove'
s influence, offered this commentary on Rove's involvement in the White
House:
"Politically, and strategically, nothing has happened in the Bush
Administration without Rove's imprimatur. Reporters have discovered Rove's
steely control in the form of what they call a 'leak proof' White House.
Nothing comes out of the Bush White House without Rove's approval.
Generally, that means nothing comes out of the White House. Until Karl Rove
wants something to leak." Read more here.
Wilson revealed on Sunday that the leaks might have extended farther than
Novak's column. Back in July he was contacted by four reporters from three
separate television networks who told him that the White House was
encouraging their networks to run stories including his wife's identity.
"Each of the reporters quoted the White House official as using some
variation on, 'The real story isn't the 16 words [Bush's State of the Union
yellowcake claim]. The real story is Wilson and his wife," said Wilson. He
believes that Rove at least condoned the leak, saying, "My knowledge is
based on a reporter who called me right after he had spoken to Rive and said
that Rove had said my wife was fair game."
Novak tried yesterday to extricate himself from the brewing political mess
by quickly backtracking. "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to
leak this," he asserted. He went on to call Plame "an analyst, not a spy,
not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives." It was
clear that he was ruffled by the charges, however, because he retreated to
conservatives' favorite last line of defense - blaming Bill Clinton.
He, for no other apparent reason than setting up a smoke screen, called
Wilson "a former Clinton administration official." When informed of Novak's
defense (and subsequent attack), Wilson responded, "In actual fact, my first
political appointee was as ambassador. And I was appointed by George H.W.
Bush, the first President Bush. So I really am apolitical in all of this.
Secondly, somebody with Novak's self-described 46 years experience will know
the difference between operative and analyst. And his report clearly says --
his article says operative."
For your convenience (and because it helps point out how worthless Novak's
explanation is) here is the information as Novak wrote it in his July 14
column:
"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an
agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration
officials told me his wife suggested sending Wilson to Niger to investigate
the Italian report."
Of course, Novak's dodging and weaving pales in comparison to the evasive
maneuvers already employed by the White House.
Step One has been to talk tough.
"The president believes leaking classified information is a very serious
matter, and it should be pursued to the fullest extent by the appropriate
agency," said McClellan.
"I want to get to the bottom of this," said President Bush at a staff
meeting, according to an administration official.
Step Two is to muddle the issue and hope everyone forgets.
Bush hasn't ordered an internal investigation into the matter, even though
it arose back in July. Instead, he has been content to allow administration
ally Attorney General John Ashcroft to handle the issue. Ashcroft,
meanwhile, must be hoping that everyone forgets all those tough-sounding
quotes he blurted out earlier in the year about cracking down on government
leaks.
We didn't. Here's one: "Leaks of classified information do substantial
damage to the security interests of the nation."
Leading Democrats couldn't agree more, and four of them - Sens. Daschle,
Biden, Levin and Rockefeller - have drafted letters to the attorney general
and the president urging them to follow up their talk with meaningful
actions. The following is excerpted from both letters:
"Such disclosures are a matter of utmost seriousness that could threaten
the security of every American. As you know, the sources and methods of our
intelligence collection system are among the federal government's most
sensitive and highly protected secrets. Revealing the identities of our
intelligence assets undermines our national security and is a felony
punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Public disclosure places agents'
lives at risk and will also have a chilling effect on our intelligence
community's ability to recruit future agents."
The senators have called upon the Bush administration to deal with this
matter in a manner that befits such a serious charge: by removing politics
from the equation and appointing a special counsel to investigate the
matter. People For the American Way has also led the calls for an
independent investigation into the matter, citing the weight of the charges
and Ashcroft's right-wing agenda. Read more here.
Thus far, the administration has refused.
The White House has also been laggard in delivering phone records. CIA
officials initially approached the Justice Department about a possible
investigation into the issue back in July, and CIA Director George Tenet has
recently fired off a letter to the DoJ into the matter as well. Phone
records are notoriously easy to compile; Last May, the White House delivered
phone records regarding Ken Lay's calls within four hours of being issued a
subpoena. Of course, if it takes a subpoena to get them released in this
case, then Bush will not have lived up to his initial promise to get to the
bottom of the matter.
Read more here and here.
Almost lost in the rush to find the leak in the wake of this political
avalanche has been the ongoing quest to find WMDs in Iraq. On Sunday,
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice declared on "Fox News Sunday,"
that new intelligence about Iraqi capabilities helped push the nation to
war. "Yes, I think I would call it new information," she said.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the leading Democrat on the House intelligence
committee, refuted Rice's claims today.
"We don't see any support for that. As we moved to war, did the claims the
policymakers made, where those claims supported by the intelligence? My
conclusion is no," she stated. Read more here.
But Harman is not the only one who claims the war wasn't based on new
information. Check out this quote from (of all people) Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld back in July:
"The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new
evidence of Iraq's pursuit" of WMDs, he said before the Senate Armed
Services Committee.
Normally when administration officials have problems with overspinning
stories, they consult Rove, who helps them regain their footing. For years
he has been President Bush's political Sherpa, guiding him first to base
camp as governor of Texas, then to dizzying heights as president of the
United States. But in light of recent leaks, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice and the
rest might have to hike all alone to the bottom of the political barrel to
meet their once-vaunted guide.
Conventional wisdom in Washington over the past few weeks has held that the
failure to achieve notable progress in Iraq and the continued slumping
economy would be the two biggest roadblocks standing in the way of President
Bush's reelection chances. But the announcement of a Justice Department
investigation into a potential White House leak has political analysts
lighting flares around this new boulder that has tumbled into Bush's
seemingly once-easy path.
The White House has announced today that the Justice Department is set to
begin an all-out investigation over the blown cover of CIA operative Valerie
Plame, wife of former State Department envoy Joseph Wilson. Plame's identity
was revealed in a July column by conservative Robert Novak, who initially
said he was supplied the information by top administration officials, after
Wilson returned from a fact-finding mission to Niger and published an op-ed
disputing Bush's beloved yellowcake claim. It was a case of political
revenge most foul.
The White House has already circled the wagons around Rove, but
administration officials would be wise not to turn their backs on the wily
adviser. He's got a Texas-sized mean streak.
"I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't even need to go ask Karl,
because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone that is
committed to the highest standards of conduct," said White House Press
Secretary Scott McClellan at yesterday's press briefing. And yes, he was
speaking about the same Karl Rove.
The same Karl Rove who successfully torpedoed the business of his former
partner John Weaver by planting dirty stories about his personal life after
Weaver signed away one of Rove's clients (Weaver is now a Democrat, thanks
in large part to Rove's tactics.).
The same Karl Rove who Esquire reporter Run Susskind caught yelling into a
White House phone, "Tell him we'll f*** him. We'll f*** him like nobody ever
has."
The same Karl Rove who was unceremoniously booted off George H.W. Bush's
presidential campaign for planting a negative story about his gripes with
the campaign's fundraising chief and another Bush loyalist. What journalist
did Rove use to leak that story? Robert Novak. Read more here.
James C. Moore, co-author of "Bush's Brain," a definitive look at Karl Rove'
s influence, offered this commentary on Rove's involvement in the White
House:
"Politically, and strategically, nothing has happened in the Bush
Administration without Rove's imprimatur. Reporters have discovered Rove's
steely control in the form of what they call a 'leak proof' White House.
Nothing comes out of the Bush White House without Rove's approval.
Generally, that means nothing comes out of the White House. Until Karl Rove
wants something to leak." Read more here.
Wilson revealed on Sunday that the leaks might have extended farther than
Novak's column. Back in July he was contacted by four reporters from three
separate television networks who told him that the White House was
encouraging their networks to run stories including his wife's identity.
"Each of the reporters quoted the White House official as using some
variation on, 'The real story isn't the 16 words [Bush's State of the Union
yellowcake claim]. The real story is Wilson and his wife," said Wilson. He
believes that Rove at least condoned the leak, saying, "My knowledge is
based on a reporter who called me right after he had spoken to Rive and said
that Rove had said my wife was fair game."
Novak tried yesterday to extricate himself from the brewing political mess
by quickly backtracking. "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to
leak this," he asserted. He went on to call Plame "an analyst, not a spy,
not a covert operative, and not in charge of undercover operatives." It was
clear that he was ruffled by the charges, however, because he retreated to
conservatives' favorite last line of defense - blaming Bill Clinton.
He, for no other apparent reason than setting up a smoke screen, called
Wilson "a former Clinton administration official." When informed of Novak's
defense (and subsequent attack), Wilson responded, "In actual fact, my first
political appointee was as ambassador. And I was appointed by George H.W.
Bush, the first President Bush. So I really am apolitical in all of this.
Secondly, somebody with Novak's self-described 46 years experience will know
the difference between operative and analyst. And his report clearly says --
his article says operative."
For your convenience (and because it helps point out how worthless Novak's
explanation is) here is the information as Novak wrote it in his July 14
column:
"Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an
agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration
officials told me his wife suggested sending Wilson to Niger to investigate
the Italian report."
Of course, Novak's dodging and weaving pales in comparison to the evasive
maneuvers already employed by the White House.
Step One has been to talk tough.
"The president believes leaking classified information is a very serious
matter, and it should be pursued to the fullest extent by the appropriate
agency," said McClellan.
"I want to get to the bottom of this," said President Bush at a staff
meeting, according to an administration official.
Step Two is to muddle the issue and hope everyone forgets.
Bush hasn't ordered an internal investigation into the matter, even though
it arose back in July. Instead, he has been content to allow administration
ally Attorney General John Ashcroft to handle the issue. Ashcroft,
meanwhile, must be hoping that everyone forgets all those tough-sounding
quotes he blurted out earlier in the year about cracking down on government
leaks.
We didn't. Here's one: "Leaks of classified information do substantial
damage to the security interests of the nation."
Leading Democrats couldn't agree more, and four of them - Sens. Daschle,
Biden, Levin and Rockefeller - have drafted letters to the attorney general
and the president urging them to follow up their talk with meaningful
actions. The following is excerpted from both letters:
"Such disclosures are a matter of utmost seriousness that could threaten
the security of every American. As you know, the sources and methods of our
intelligence collection system are among the federal government's most
sensitive and highly protected secrets. Revealing the identities of our
intelligence assets undermines our national security and is a felony
punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Public disclosure places agents'
lives at risk and will also have a chilling effect on our intelligence
community's ability to recruit future agents."
The senators have called upon the Bush administration to deal with this
matter in a manner that befits such a serious charge: by removing politics
from the equation and appointing a special counsel to investigate the
matter. People For the American Way has also led the calls for an
independent investigation into the matter, citing the weight of the charges
and Ashcroft's right-wing agenda. Read more here.
Thus far, the administration has refused.
The White House has also been laggard in delivering phone records. CIA
officials initially approached the Justice Department about a possible
investigation into the issue back in July, and CIA Director George Tenet has
recently fired off a letter to the DoJ into the matter as well. Phone
records are notoriously easy to compile; Last May, the White House delivered
phone records regarding Ken Lay's calls within four hours of being issued a
subpoena. Of course, if it takes a subpoena to get them released in this
case, then Bush will not have lived up to his initial promise to get to the
bottom of the matter.
Read more here and here.
Almost lost in the rush to find the leak in the wake of this political
avalanche has been the ongoing quest to find WMDs in Iraq. On Sunday,
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice declared on "Fox News Sunday,"
that new intelligence about Iraqi capabilities helped push the nation to
war. "Yes, I think I would call it new information," she said.
Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), the leading Democrat on the House intelligence
committee, refuted Rice's claims today.
"We don't see any support for that. As we moved to war, did the claims the
policymakers made, where those claims supported by the intelligence? My
conclusion is no," she stated. Read more here.
But Harman is not the only one who claims the war wasn't based on new
information. Check out this quote from (of all people) Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld back in July:
"The coalition did not act in Iraq because we had discovered dramatic new
evidence of Iraq's pursuit" of WMDs, he said before the Senate Armed
Services Committee.
Normally when administration officials have problems with overspinning
stories, they consult Rove, who helps them regain their footing. For years
he has been President Bush's political Sherpa, guiding him first to base
camp as governor of Texas, then to dizzying heights as president of the
United States. But in light of recent leaks, Bush, Rumsfeld, Rice and the
rest might have to hike all alone to the bottom of the political barrel to
meet their once-vaunted guide.