Karl Rove

A drip or a leak?

July 24, 2005

 

 

L' affaire Rove betrays much about this administration and its political cheerleaders. In light of a war gone south -- due to tragically poor planning,and after being sold to the American public and the UN on a thin pack of lies -- the Rove/Plame scandal reveals the particular viciousness and vindictiveness of this administration, and the feral tenacity of their lackey cheerleaders in the right-wing media. Blaming everyone but the true culprits, the conservative chattering class has come up with predictable excuses as well as some imaginative contortions and of course, outright lies.

After Karl's scorched-earth political tactics, we think the public and the media are in no mood the let a hurried judicial nomination divert attention from this one.

Myth:  Plame was not a covert operative

Despite all the hype, it appears that Plame works a desk job at the CIA. That's an admirable and important line of work. But it doesn't make her a covert operative, and it didn’t make her a covert operative when Bob Novak mentioned her in his July 14, 2003.

-- Mark R. Levin, Valerie’s No Victim, National Review, 07/18/05

Reality

Most CIA employees—besides Director of Central Intelligence, Porter Goss, for instance, and a few other individuals in management capacity—have some level of cover.  Analysts, for instance, have light cover.  They can tell friends and family what they do, but they do not want to make their employment at the CIA public knowledge.  For instance, they would not want Bob Novak writing an article about their identities in the Washington Post.  And these are just analysts.  But Valerie Plame was not an analyst.  She was a covert operative working on Weapons of Mass Destruction issues.  According to Ed Finn, “Plame…had been known as an ‘energy industry analyst’ until political commentator Robert Novak divulged her real profession in a July column” (Ed Finn, "How Deep is CIA Cover," Slate, 09/30/03).

It is true that she had not been working abroad for a few years, but that does not change the fact that she was covert.  According to former CIA Operations Officer, Fred Rustmann, “And it was probably — well, it was definitely an official cover status which she retained and then worked at the headquarters under that official cover status.”  (Was Valerie Plame Really a Covert Agent, Hannity and Colmes, 07/18/05).  So even if she was just under light cover as an analyst or a scientist, Novak’s article would have left her uncomfortable.  But since she was a covert operative, his article approaches treason.

Myth:  Wilson lied about who sent him to Niger

Wilson was so concerned that his wife's aggressive and clandestine efforts in securing his assignment would become known that he lied about who sent him to Niger to cover her (and his) tracks. 

-- Mark R. Levin, "Valerie’s No Victim," National Review, 07/18/05

 

In their zeal to dispatch Rove, the Left willfully ignores that Wilson not only lied about his findings but also about who sent him, denying his wife recommended him for the job, and sometimes alleging that Vice President Cheney, who didn't know him from Adam, sent him. 

-- David Limbaugh, Rove Trumps Wilson—It’s Not Even Close, Newsmax, 07/15/05

 

Mr. Wilson had, in fact, traveled to Niger as a CIA consultant to investigate the matter, and publicly asserted that he had been tapped by Vice President Dick Cheney.” 

-- Lee Casey and David Rivkin, "Washington Blood Sport," Washington Times, 07/15/05

Which brings us back to the fundamental problem faced by the "get Rove" crowd: they need Wilson to be credible.  He's not. That’s all Rove was pointing out to Cooper—and only after the Time reporter asked him about it. 

-- Joel Mowbray, "Karl Rove’s Saving Grace: Joe Wilson," Townhall, 07/18/05

 

Reality

According to Joe Wilson:  “In February 2002, I was informed by officials at the Central Intelligence Agency that Vice President Dick Cheney's office had questions about a particular intelligence report. While I never saw the report, I was told that it referred to a memorandum of agreement that documented the sale of uranium yellowcake — a form of lightly processed ore — by Niger to Iraq in the late 1990's. The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office.”  (Joe Wilson, :What I Didn’t Find in Africa," New York Times, 07/06/05).

Wilson never said that Vice President Cheney sent him to Niger. He said very clearly that CIA officials sent him but that the trip was related to questions Cheney had about “a particular intelligence report."  Now, according to Karl Rove, Scooter Libby and the right-wing media, Wilson’s wife sent him to Niger. In fact, this accusation started this entire mess; but it is false. Asked if it was Wilson’s wife that sent Joe Wilson to Niger, former CIA Operations Officer Fred Rustmann replied, “No, it was not. No, apparently she recommended him.”  ("Was Valerie Plame Really a Covert Agent," Hannity and Colmes, 07/18/05).  Valerie Plame did, in fact, recommend her husband for the Niger trip; she believed that his diplomatic experience in Africa coupled with his Niger business connections made him uniquely qualified. But ultimately, the decision to send him was made by more senior CIA officials who must have agreed with her assessment.

Myth:  Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Africa

In fact, the only lying sonofabitch turned out to be Yellowcake Joe. Just about everybody on the face of the Earth except Mr. Wilson, the White House press corps and the moveon.org crowd accepts that Saddam was indeed trying to acquire uranium from Africa.

-- Mark Steyn, "The Plame Facts About Distraction," Washington Times, 07/18/05

So, Wilson lied about what he found (or didn’t find) in Niger, he lied about discussing with his CIA debriefers certain documentation and signatures he never saw, and he lied about the CIA telling him of certain classified documents and sources. His New York Times op-ed was fiction, as was information he later leaked to the Washington Post, information he gave to other media outlets, and significant aspects of his book. 

-- Mark R. Levin, "Valerie’s No Victim," National Review, 07/18/05

But I hope, when the investigation is concluded, the light will be where it belongs, which I think is on Joe Wilson, who has lied throughout this thing. I mean, his statements are inconsistent on "Meet the Press," inconsistent elsewhere. There obviously were efforts on the part of the Niger government and Iraq to get together and talk about uranium.

-- Bill Bennett, Bill Bennett Weighs in on the Plame Game, Hannity & Colmes, 07/19/05

Reality

It is unclear why Hannity and Colmes think the former drug czar is qualified to speak with authority on matters of defense and counterterrorism, but it is not surprising.  However, what is so obvious to Bill Bennett is not as obvious to more reputable sources. According to UN nuclear inspector, Mohamed El Baradei, "Based on thorough analysis, the IAEA has concluded, with the concurrence of outside experts, that these documents - which formed the basis for the reports of recent uranium transactions between Iraq and Niger - are in fact not authentic. We have therefore concluded that these specific allegations are unfounded."  (Report to the UN Security Council, 03/07/03).

Obviously, it would be foolish of me to presume that the right-wing media’s convictions can be shaken by the word of a UN official (or the truth for that matter), but what about the word of Ari Fleischer or George Tenet?  In a White House press briefing two years ago, former press secretary Ari Fleischer modified claims Bush made about Iraq seeking Niger yellow cake in his State of the Union address: “The president's statement was based on the predicate of the yellow cake [uranium] from Niger. So given the fact that the report on the yellow cake did not turn out to be accurate, that is reflective of the president's broader statement." (White House Press briefing, 07/08/05). Three days later, former Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet asserted, "These 16 words should never have been included in the text written for the president."  (BBC News, 07/11/05).

Any revisionist claims that Joe Wilson lied about what he found in Niger conflict with the UN, the CIA, and the White House press secretary. If Ari Fleischer thought he could spin this issue the way Bennett, the Washington Times, and the National Review have, he would have.

Of course, each of these media myths—that Plame was not covert, that Wilson lied about who sent him, and that Wilson’s conclusions were incorrect—are meant to distract us from what Karl Rove did. It was Rove who, in a conversation with Bob Novak that took place before Novak wrote his now infamous article, confirmed the identity of a covert CIA operative. Novak initiated the phone call, which ultimately yielded a confirmation that Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA. According to the New York Times, “After hearing Mr. Novak's account, the person who has been briefed on the matter said, Mr. Rove told the columnist: ‘I heard that, too.’”  (David Johnson and Richard Stevenson, "Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on CIA Officer," New York Times, 07/15/05).  Rove then contacted Matt Cooper of Time magazine and, in an attempt to discredit Joe Wilson’s criticism, told him, "it was…Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMDs [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip…the genesis of the trip is flawed“ (Michael Isikoff, What Karl Rove Told Time Magazine’s Reporter, Newsweek, 07/18/05). And in so doing, Rove leaked a covert CIA operative’s identity to a magazine reporter. 

It is hard to prove that Karl Rove knew he was leaking classified information when he did it, although the fact that he was speaking on “double super secret background” is suspicious.  Cooper’s recollection that Rove ended the conversation abruptly by saying, “I’ve said too much” casts further doubt on Rove’s claim that he was unaware of her covert status. 

Though Rove may not have broken a law, there is no doubt that he has participated in a cover-up. Since he “told investigators that he learned from [Novak] the name of the CIA officer, who was referred to by her maiden name, Valerie Plame,” Rove’s assertion that he “didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her name” is a lie.  (Rove:  “I didn’t know her name and didn’t leak her name.”  (David Johnson and Richard Stevenson, Rove Reportedly Held Phone Talk on CIA Officer, New York Times, 07/15/05, Audio:  Rove Denied Outing CIA Agent).  When the President’s most important adviser attacks a critic’s credibility by outing his CIA operative wife, and then publicly lies about it, the public has a right to demand his termination.