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What Republican Intelligence Officials Think; About the Plame Leak
Topic Started: Jul 23 2005, 02:03 PM (272 Views)
QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
Ex-CIA official blasts Bush on leak of operative's name
Democrats' radio address focuses on White House aides' role

Saturday, July 23, 2005; Posted: 3:31 p.m. EDT (19:31 GMT)


(CNN) -- A former CIA intelligence official who once worked with Valerie Plame blasted President Bush and his administration for their response to the role of top White House aides in allegedly leaking Plame's identity as a CIA operative.

Speaking on behalf of Democrats in the party's weekly radio address Saturday, Larry Johnson said, "The president has flip-flopped on his promise to fire anyone in the White House implicated in a leak."

Johnson, a registered Republican who voted for Bush in 2000, said he and Plame have been friends since they began their training at the CIA in 1985.

Her name was disclosed in a column by Robert Novak, who is also a contributor to CNN, in July 2003 -- days after her husband, Joe Wilson, a former ambassador, questioned part of President Bush's justification for invading Iraq in a New York Times op-ed piece.

Time magazine correspondent Matthew Cooper said last week that Bush's chief political adviser, Karl Rove, told him Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but did not say her name. Cooper said also that Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, confirmed that piece of information.

In reference to the investigation, Bush told reporters last week that "If someone committed a crime, they will no longer work in my administration."

That statement shifted from his previous comment on his response to the reported leak. When asked in June 2004 whether he stood by his promise to fire whoever was found to have leaked Plame's name, Bush replied, "Yes."

A federal grand jury is investigating whether a crime was committed.

Disclosure of an undercover intelligence officer's identity can be a federal crime if prosecutors can show the leak was intentional and the person who released the information knew of the officer's secret status.

Cooper testified before a grand jury last week in connection with the probe.

In Saturday's radio address, Johnson said he was "stunned" by government officials' "ignorance about a matter so basic to the national security structure of the nation."

He strongly responded to some Republican allegations that minimized Plame's role in the CIA. "We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover," he said.

"Instead of a president concerned first and foremost with protecting this country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we are confronted with a president who is willing to sit by while political operatives savage the reputations of good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson."

"We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people and living by example the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth," Johnson added.

It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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apple
one of the angels
nudge nudge.... see that flip flopping is now a well known verb..

What do you think Quirt? really? it's hard to know what to believe.
it behooves me to behold
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
The CIA and the Bush Administration have been in some pretty well known dust-ups in the last couple of years.

If we take this ex-officio's word, then John F. Kerry is jailbait.

Dick Durbin can share the same cell.

They are both guilty of revealing covert CIA officers.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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QuirtEvans
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I Owe It All To John D'Oh
Quote:
 
What do you think Quirt? really? it's hard to know what to believe.


I don't care whether it's illegal or not. White House officials should not reveal the names of CIA officials, if there's any doubt whether they are covert. It's misconduct, whether or not it's illegal.

Senators shouldn't either.

That said, I haven't seen any evidence that either Kerry or Durbin ever did so. I don't recall ever reading that allegation before, but maybe I just missed it. What's the support for that allegation, Jolly?
It would be unwise to underestimate what large groups of ill-informed people acting together can achieve. -- John D'Oh, January 14, 2010.
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Larry
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Mmmmmmm, pie!
For someone who speaks so authoritatively about the Rove case I'm surprised you aren't aware of the things that are driving it, Quirt. The Rove thing is all politics, nothing more. We've been telling you that all along. Durbin was accused of leaking sensitive information that exposed covert CIA operations two years ago. Here is an article about it from "The Hill", literally 2 years ago to the day.

Jay Rockefeller and Ron Wyden spoke on the Senate floor in 2004 about a covert spy satellite program, and in December of 2004 senior intelligence officials were considering starting a criminal probe into their actions. Durbin went on ABC News to tell about it. Rockefeller is a vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Comittee. Leaking this information compromised billions of dollars worth of covert efforts, and severely damaged national security.

What you have Quirt, is 3 powerful Democrat Senators who are and have been under investigation for possible crimes of leaking secret information they had access to, damaging our covert operations and our national security in the process, driving a nonsense charge against Rove as a way to both exact revenge, and to divert attention from what's about to come.

It was reported by several media outlets last December that the Bush administration was concerned about public comments by Durbin, Rockefeller and Wyden, and that the CIA had requested a Justice Department probe. Today, former Deputy Undersecretary of Defense Jed Babbin gave an interview acknowledging the criminal probe against the three senators.

Rove is just a diversion tactic, Quirt. And like a good lemming, you're out there blissfully unaware of what's really going on, hammering away at the water you've been told to carry. You even admit yourself that Rove has broken no laws. But it seems that Rockefeller, Durbin, and Wyden *did*.

As far as John Kerry's guilt in leaking sensitive information, that is old news.
Of the Pokatwat Tribe

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