Kevin Drum reads the Washington Post on the Plame Affair:
CalPundit: Cue the Frogmarch Orchestra: CUE THE FROGMARCH ORCHESTRA....Holy shit. Here's the Washington Post today on the Valerie Plame scandal:
A senior administration official said two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and revealed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife. That was shortly after Wilson revealed in July that the CIA had sent him to Niger last year to look into the uranium claim and that he had found no evidence to back up the charge. Wilson's account eventually touched off a controversy over Bush's use of intelligence as he made the case for attacking Iraq.
"Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge," the senior official said of the alleged leak.
Let's recap:
This involves two top White House officials.
They systematically called six different journalists.
Only Robert Novak went with the story. (Which, by the way, actually speaks pretty well of the rest of the Washington press corps.)
There are a whole bunch of people, including Mike Allen and Dana Priest, who know who the White House officials are.
So much for my thought that the Justice Department would mount a desultory investigation and then give up. This baby is just heating up and there's no way to keep these names secret now. It's only a matter of time.
Stay tuned. Stay very tuned.
UPDATE: Kevin Drum adds:
Now that this story has been confirmed, it really makes you face up to the true contemptibility of the whole affair. Think about it: two top White House officials, the ones who run this country and are supposed to guard the security of our country, blew the cover of a CIA agent solely to gain some petty revenge on a minor political opponent.
I just don't know how much worse it gets than that. As much as I despise the team in the White House, I always thought that — in their own way — they were doing what they thought was best for America. I never thought they would betray their own country just out of spite. I really didn't.
But if they'll do something like this, they'll do anything. I guess Krugman was right all along: these are radical ideologues who care about nothing except staying in power and will do anything, no matter how craven and malevolent, to get what they want.
It's enough to make you sick. I just needed to get that off my chest.
It's not just two senior White House officials. It's also the growing circle of those who knew about this--have known about this since July 14 or before--and have not told the Justice Department of a federal crime. Accessories after the fact. Misprision.
Posted by DeLong at September 27, 2003 09:57 PM | TrackBack
Brad, don't you mean Plame as opposed to palme?
Posted by: Bobby on September 27, 2003 10:27 PMIndeed I do...
Posted by: Brad DeLong on September 27, 2003 11:02 PMWhat did Bush know, and when did he know it?
Posted by: Michael Robinson on September 28, 2003 06:35 AMI can understand why the White House wouldn't consider it a big deal. Judging from US foreign policy in Iraq, they seem to ignore US intelligence assessments anyway.
Posted by: trevelyan on September 28, 2003 07:14 AMGeorge Tenet will be dismissed and the CIA will lapse [even further] downward into demoralization. DOJ will do nothing.
Posted by: Frank Wilhoit on September 28, 2003 07:36 AMYoumay be right,Mr. Wilhoit, but it's still very early in the game. At the moment Blogistan is giving this far more coverage than the "mainstream" media. The NYT thinks some story about military chaplains ranks higher. "Pravda" (aka."The Washington Post") has run a bland summary full of quotes form undisclosed sources. And this is the heart of the problem -- undisclosed sources.
Every editor in the "mainstream" media knows perfectly well who the other six journalists who were approached with the story are, and they know who in the administration made the approach.
But they're not going to tell because they're not going to ask.
Yep -- it's just like the Mafia.
A sincere question for Bush apologists: Which is worse, in your view - perjury about sex, or exposing the identity of a CIA operative?
Posted by: joe on September 28, 2003 08:08 AMWhat has Bush ever known, and when will he start knowing it?
Posted by: C.J.Colucci on September 28, 2003 10:54 AMIt is frustrating for politicos to get away with acts that would be considered criminal offenses by the rank and file. For example if a secretary of state sits in a UN meeting with an open codeword document, thereby risking exposure of classified material, nothing happens to him (this actually happen in a prior administration). But if a staff member does the same thing, he gets a security violation, or worse. The politicos get to leak things (that are classified) for tactical political maneuvering without breaking the law. For example President Jimmy Carter through his Secretary of Defense, Harold Brown, revealed the secret existence of the Stealth Bomber. Carter did this for entirely political reasons. He was doing badly in the polls and stood accused of being soft on defense. So he had Brown announce the existence of, and details about, the Stealth. Previously Stealth was one of the most closely guarded secrets in the US government. If any of the Lockheed Skunkworks team had done that, they would have been prosecuted.
I once ask a retired FBI guy: “Could Clinton get a ‘Q’ (top secret national security) clearance if he weren’t a politician?” The answer was “probably not.” While politicans do get subjected to an FBI investigation, the standards are different; things get overlooked that wouldn’t for us ordinary folks. Here’s another. Clinton’s Secretary of Energy, Hazel O’Leary, would release top-secret NSI information after she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar. It was cleaver maneuvering. She could then claim the investigation for her original offense was retaliation for releasing classified material. She did this several times, and it worked in the political arena.
So I’m doubtful that anything will come of the Plame affair in terms of actual criminal prosecutions. But the political damage could be significant. Everyone turns on a wounded rabbit, and Bush looks more like a wounded rabbit every day.
"It is frustrating for politicos to get away with acts that would be considered criminal offenses by the rank and file. [...]"
I think they find it exhilarating. I reckon you meant "It is frustrating that politicos get away with acts that would be considered criminal offenses by the rank and file."
DSW
Posted by: Antoni Jaume on September 28, 2003 01:32 PM