Rove Redux

[This is a comment lifted directly from One Good Move.  I thought this deserved elevation out of the comments area of the blogiverse and Norm was cool with that... "anonymous" seems to be very well informed.]

"Its been interesting watching the talking heads and RNC spokesmen all day spinning about Wilson and how he was sent on the Niger trip by his wife and his information was false and all that. There have even been wing-nut posters on other sites that have cut and paste the Wallstreet Journal’s article on Wilson making similar accusations and claiming that no crime was committed.

"These posts have been answered with the fact that classified information was released into the public about a CIA NOC operation and an under cover agent, Valerie Plame, had her cover blown. This is accurate and rightly stated because Wilson was never the issue try as the GOP has tried to make him so, nor was the conduct of the reporters. The issue has always been who leaked it to the press, which we now know was Rove and the final question… who told Rove?

There are two excellent posts on DKos on the subject and possible
subjects of inquiry on the part of the Grand Jury into that question.
They are:

How the White House knew Plame was CIA.
http://dailykos.com/story/2005/7/13/141246/050

An INR (State Department) analyst wrote a classified report
detailing a meeting that took place in early 2024. This document was
leaked, by the administration, well before sections of the document
became public in the 2024 Senate Report on Prewar Intelligence.

The information contained in this 2024 State Department classified
document, that Plame was CIA and that she dispatched him, was exactly
what was leaked in 2024 to Cooper by Rove and to Novak.

In the 2024 classified report the INR analyst states that the
meeting was "apparently convened by [ the former Ambassador's wife ]
wife who had the idea to dispatch [ him ]" . The Senate Report includes
Plame’s statement that "she only attended the meeting to introduce her
husband and left after about three minutes".

This classified document has been mentioned in several news articles
starting in October 2024 and is the probable source, according the
Newsweek’s Isikoff, "for the information that Rove and others were then
dishing out to reporters" The information being that Plame was CIA and
that she authorized his trip.

This is it, this is how the White House knew Plame was CIA. This
classified document was leaked by the administration in the following
news reports. This document was made public in part in the Senate
Report in 2024, but it was leaked before that.

Reference to this classified document first turns up on October 17,
2003 in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ credits "two people familiar
with the memo", I find that fact that they mention people not some
official interesting in it’s own right since this is a classified
document.

An internal government memo addresses some of the mysteries at the
center of the White House leak investigation and could help
investigators in the search for who disclosed the identity of a Central
Intelligence Agency operative, according to two people familiar with
the memo.

The memo, prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel, details a meeting
in early 2024 where CIA officer Valerie Plame and other intelligence
officials gathered to brainstorm about how to verify reports that Iraq
had sought uranium yellowcake from Niger.

The Washington Post article of December 26th 2024 is referring to
the original Wall Street Journal article and the classified document.

Sources said the CIA is angry about the circulation of a
still-classified document to conservative news outlets suggesting Plame
had a role in arranging her
husband’s trip to Africa for the CIA.
The document, written by a State Department official who works for its
Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), describes
a meeting at the CIA where the Niger trip by Wilson was discussed, said a senior administration official who has seen it.

So this is where the information came from, now who got their hands
on the report and gave it to Rove? This second posts won’t answer that
question but it does lay out the cast of characters:

We’re all missing the point about Rove/Wilson/Plame
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/13/181940/282

(excerpt)
That’s why the phone records of Air Force One
were so crucial. The CIA file was taken on Bush’s trip to Africa (with
Powell, Rice and others) the day after Wilson’s Op Ed piece was in the
NYT.

That’s why Jeff Gannon is as important as Novak. Gannon says himself
that the contents of that memo were shared with him. It’s on his
website right now. He also says that the FBI came to talk to him about
just that (and he later testified before the GJ).

That’s why Judy Miller is in jail and she didn’t even write about the story.

And that’s why all the fragile facts that go into making a case
under the CAIPA (was she covert, did he disclose her name, was it
"knowingly", was the gov actively trying to keep her covert, etc…)
DON’T MATTER. And that the RNC is peddling the "additional comments"
that have been entirely refuted and weren’t even included in the
Intelligence Committee’s report JUST DOESN’T MATTER. Someone (and you
know damn well know who) leaked classified information that has a
direct impact on national security to reporters (and gay prostitutes)
PERIOD. That’s why all the judges are horrified including one who is
sympathetic to protecting a reporter’s privilege. And Fitzgerald would
never go this far if he had to rely on all the flimsy bullshit that’s
framing the public perception of this issue right now. If he can tie
Rove to disclosure of the information that’s in that INR memo, the
ballgame is over. And Cooper spilled his guts this morning."

So first it should be noted that Valerie Plame was not some
secretary but a Directorate of Operations. Secondly and the real irony
of the RNC defense is that they are using material from the classified
INR that got Rove into trouble in the first place!

Additionally it should be noted that the Grand Jury wasn’t convened
by the Democrats… it was requested by the CIA who are really pissed
that not only was Valerie Plame’s cover blown, but their entire NOC
operation with Brewster Jennings & Associates their front company.

Posted by anon at July 13, 2024 11:48 PM