That Armitage was the leaker of Plame's identity.
Wha?
Now they claim that they knew Plame's leaker was no partisan with an axe to grind.
The entire liberal conspiracy-theory coalition of leftist blogtopia is reeling from the "revelation" that our suspicions from last March were confirmed: Richard Armitage was the leaker described as "no partisan gunslinger" by Novakula in October of 2003.
We're beyond shocked, dismayed, chagrined, disappointed or disa ... ponied that the original source turned out to be (ta dah!) exactly as advertised — someone with no axe to grind. Although the fact that he's a Kool Aide drinking neo-con boob with an Iran/Contra skeleton in the closet is no surprise. (My personal torture remains that Elliot Abrams's name still hasn't surfaced in this case.)
The news content of this story ranks right up there with how many prawns John Mark Karr had for lunch.
Well, I just searched both Ara's site and Mark's and I found nothing indicating they suspected anyone but Rove before this past week. Perhaps, it was a silent suspicion, you know how much bloggers like to keep those to themselves...
Smooth talking Ara seems confused by the hullabaloo:
So what's the big deal here? I mean, Libby is still accused of perjury, false statements and obstruction, right?
Well, first off if Fitz knew it was Armitage all along and continued the hunt for bigger more Republican scented game, I'd say it's a big deal. A big deal. Kinda in the way that Ken Starr went fishing for Whitewater and came up with a cum stained blue dress. That was a big deal, was it not?
Second, it makes the Grand Jury thingie and the long jailhouse stay of Judith Miller pretty shitty. If he knew it was Armitage and still persisted investigating and questioning Rove and Libby et al. Well, that's just low. It's quite obvious that he was looking to just trip someone up.
Oh and it makes Armitage a class A arsehole. He could've come out and stopped this monstrosity long ago. He did not. He sat there, like I picture most liberals when faced with terror threats, with his head in the sand. What a fucking schmuck.
R.I.P. Steven Malcolm Anderson
Minion
of the Week
Or he could just keep sitting in an elementary school classroom for 10 + minutes with a dumbass look on his face.
Run from the room scaring litle children? (Overreaction I'm sure is how the papers would play it.)
Left calmly, confidently saying it's "a little problem"? (The news would have played he was making light of the situation at hand.)
Told little children 3000 people are DEAD at the hands of terrorists???
Come on now you dickhead, WTF would YOU have done as President? No, maybes, no possiblies, I want the full-on plan of attack from YOUR point of view. What could Bush have done that you WOULDN'T bitch about later? Oh, I know, never get elected in the first place (damn stupid majority of Americans...Not doing as king Tim demands - off with their heads!)
You are a total wanker. You won't be happy until the US plays nice with terrorists - oh I'm sorry one of your favorite "news" groups calls them FREEDOM FIGHTERS I do believe. Care to eleborate on THAT idea? Or do you only like to dabble in lunacy, trying to keep the crocodile from eating you too??
As for Armitage - throw his ass on a chaingang! Take his money, his house, his job, his cars, his bank accounts, his EVERYTHING!! When that's enough to pay the bill for this fiasco make him pay to take out ads in EVERY major newspaper in the US (including Stars and Stripes) admitting HE's the one that leaked - HE's the one that started this shit and HE could have stopped it at any time but decided bushitlerchimpymcshrub needed to be brought down by a made-up scandal.
Make him spend 1 year for every month he didn't admit he caused this in jail. On a chaingang, cleaning up south central LA or...I know! New Orleans, they whine all the time Bush doesn't do enough to "fix it" make him clean up the storm damage!
Make a complete and utter example of the fact he's a lying ass scumbag that wants to waste as much money as possible to smear people because he doesn't like their politics.
I have also lost my respect for Powell. He knew the truth, but did nothing.
Notice the Bush haters, with the Plame incident proving to be nothing more than a myth, are desperately trying to change the subject.
Rhianna, very well said (even the swearing was apropos)
Ted, I am loving the strategy of calling "deflection". If you go on vacation, I'll pick up the slack.
I'm too lazy to look it up but the lefty sites kept screaming for Bush to vigorously prosecute the leaker (as they say he promised) when they thought/pretended it was someone they actually hated. Where is that hue and cry now?
Not to lessen what Ted wrote, but that's the standard tactic. Whenever the latest gossamer scandal is shown for what it is they fall back on My Pet Goat or plastic turkeys or "nukular".
It's what makes them so cute. And why this makes me laugh so hard. It's just about perfect.
If you don't know, or at least suspect who was circulating the memos to discredit Wilson that Armitage saw, and why, then you simply don't have enough interest in the case to have looked at the facts. Novak said back in Octover of '03 that one of his sources was "no partisan gunslinger." His other confirmed source, Rove, was diseminating the same info for political purposes -- actively calling journalists. And the tibit Rove added was beyond what Armitage knew -- Plame's covered status. Rove wasn't just gossiping, his was acting like a political hit man.
Think about the fact that Armitage did indeed fess up long ago, where it counted, to the Grand Jury.
The fact that he elected not to say anything to the press about something nobody privy to the secret proceedings except him was legally allowed to disclose has you up in arms?
Have you grown so used to the confidential nature of Grand Juries being thwarted by witnesses grabbing microphones at the courthouse steps that you've come to think you're entitled to know everything that goes on behind those closed doors?
Armitage didn't lie to federal investigators that he said anything to Novak, but went to Fitzgerald voluntarily once he realized he was ONE of the sources. He didn't try to say he found out from Tim Russert or some other reporter like Libby, but that he read the memo abord Air Force One. A memo Fleischer denied existed then recanted. Ditto Rove.
I don't believe Armitage, who to tell the truth I've respected for years, was trying to screw Wilson. I can't say that for Libby or Rove. Those two went too far, and compounded their error with lies to the Feds. Rove got down on his hands and knees in Fitz's office and went back to the Grand Jury spilling his guts about what he and Libby were up to. Saddly for the soon-to-be-pardoned fall guy, Libby dug his hole a little deeper.
What they did was wrong, period.
A special investigator discovers a widespread White House conspiracy and cover-up, including the exposure of a clandestine CIA operation combating weapons of mass destruction proliferation, to discredit a whistleblower revealing the government’s intentional use of bad intelligence to justify an unnecessary, horrible war and you wonder why: 1) the he didn’t just fold his investigation and say “never mind” and 2) he isn’t prosecuting the one person who wasn’t participating in the conspiracy.
You people aren’t just deluded partisans. You’re stooo-pid.
/obscure?
Because his investigation was about a supposed leaking of an "undercover" agent. He knew who did it within 2 weeks and he isn't prosecuting anyone but Libby. And he's after Libby for lying, I thought lying under oath was just fine with you liberals.
He uncovered nothing else since it's been established that y'all aren't getting your pony. Are you?
Oh wow, Mark. Now that you put it that way, I am so totally changing my party affiliation to Democrat. Plus, I'm joining the Code Pink fast. I don't see how I had clung to my odious conservative beliefs for so long.
/heavy sarcasm
If this was my blog, you'd be banned. Calling people foul names does nothing to further the debate or your ideology. You continue to resort to ad hominem because your ideology is bereft of logic and veracity. At least Tim has half a chance when he tries to change the subject. Your approach just marks you as a cretin.
Ken Starr's investigation was about a supposed 20-year-old corrupt land deal in Arkansas. So what? Anyway, Fitgerald's investigation is all about the multiple leaks of an undercover agent and the subsequent attempts to cover it up. If you're upset that no one in the White House has been charged with a crime, there's still plenty of time.
I just love that. Information can only be leaked once. Once it's out in the public, it can't be leaked. Nice try though.
I look forward to Truthout explaining how Karl Rove has already been indicted for Armitage's leak.
You'll be disappointed. Everyone knows that Rove squealed like a pig (five times) and punked-out Libby like the cowardly slimeball that he is.
BTW, Mike, anyone ever told you that you're a moron?
Yeah, usually people who can't tell me why I'm a moron, they just state it because usually they are a little too dim to come up with a good response.
Occasionally by people who make me look stupid.
Guess which category you fit into?
I will give you a suggestion though, I was being an asshole and not a moron. You really should try to figure out the difference.
I call double standard. Shame on you for resorting to my level by calling me names, like "cretin."
I was just going with the flow of Rhianna's post. She called Tim a "dickhead," a "total wanker," and implied he would apologize for terrorists by calling them "freedom fighters." AND YOU APPROVED!
Empty-R(etard): Rhianna, very well said (even the swearing was apropos)
Do you even understand the words you type?
As for Rhianna's ignorance, allow me to expand. I already explained that Armitage's alleged "crime" of not coming out sooner is ludicrous.
He "confessed" long ago -- to Fitzgerald as well as his superior -- but because he didn't run to Fox News for absolution she demands extreme punishment? That alone is moronic unless she's simply mouthing off with no idea of the actual facts. Then it's only ignorant ranting of a partisan shrew.
It's obvious she doesn't know who Armitage is, what his politics have always been, or his actual role in this matter. Shep's incredulity is spot on. Armitage is the one administration official involved in the Plame mess who wasn't trying to virtually whack Wilson, or cover it up.
She concludes by twisting the notion that Armitage was the one conducting a smear of political enemies -- by not going to the press. That is a logical leap of the highest order.
Calling her a "fucking moron" is insulting to morons.
Because, obviously, all of the leaks (Rove's, Libby's, Armitage's, etc.) took place before Novak made the imformation public.
"I will give you a suggestion though, I was being an asshole and not a moron. You really should try to figure out the difference."
Let's call it a twofer.
I knew a man whose name was Frank Schmuck. True story.
Yours,
Wince
Ummm, Novak didn't make it public. Whoever told him made it public. He is not cleared for classified data. That's why he was neither indicted nor accused of leaking classified material.
Rove said to him, "Oh, you know (or "heard" depending on which version you believe) that too?"
Had Rove leaked it he would have said something like, "Valerie Plame is a super secret CIA agent and she sent her husband, Joe Wilson, ..."
See the difference?
The only justifiable reason for Bush to bail on those kids would be to escape an attack by a force superior to the Secret Service agents on hand and/or to draw an attacking force away from the children. Or to make an urgent decision based on reliable information. Neither of those scenarios played out.
Going back to the 9/10 mindset, (not hard for shep and his like), IF the crash had turned out to have been an accident, and Bush had decided to leave early, you Libs would have been all over his ass about the scaredy-cat act (which you did anyway when his plane hopped around the country while the folks whose job it was decided whether he would be safe back in DC.)
Your subsequent exposition on the reasons you disagree with Rhianna show that you are not a cretin, but merely a boor. An angry boor, at that.
Rosemary knew on day one that I was not impressed by her not infrequent use of blue vocabulary. Rhianna often goes that way too. However, there is one thing that distinguishes both of them in this thread from Mark and shep. They took the time to explain why they thought that instead of just throwing rocks.
FWIW, none of you would be allowed to talk that way in my house, especially in front of my children. Some day my girls may be interested to know what I think about various things and why and I will not be ashamed to show them my contributions to this site.
If Rosemary, Rhianna, and Mark are cool with their kids swearing like sailors, then I guess they won't be ashamed either.
Where did that idea come from?
The name calling started when Rosemary called Richard Armitage a bleeping schmuck.
And I was right. He is. He sat on his butt and let this tiny little nothing turn into a great big something and he didn't have the courage to stop it. He's worse than a schmuck.
I've no problem with namecalling. As long as it can be backed up. Mine can.
Actually the law doesn't see any difference whatsoever. Leaking classified info, or mere confirmation of the same, are equally criminal. Thanks for playing. Wanna try again?
If you'd like a link to the proper statute, I charge $150/hour to do legal research. So just trust me, (and we all know what that really means.)
MTR: Legalities are often boring, comes with the territory, but nonetheless important. (Yes, I'm implicitly rejecting your preferred definition of the word. Sue me. No, really.)
I do understand why Bush sat there for what seemed forever in that classroom. This guy still needs to ask permission to go to the bathroom, just like those students.
Gawd, does that make me an apologist like the rest of you. If it does, I apologize.
Eek! I did it again, sorry about that.
Dammit, I got to stop that, but it is addictive. I see why you guys have trouble quitting. I should be more sensitive to your affliction. Damn, that sure sounded apologetic....sorry -- Doh!
I'll be here all night, try the veal.
I'd hazard a guess that a significant number of the folks reading this have been required at one time or another to attend a parenting class or two.
I teach them. Bite me.
Nope.
"Assron" or "Morhole", which sounds better?
The daughter, now almost 20, hardly ever swore, aside from once when she was seven and I was tucking her in for the night. She said "Dad, give me my blanket." I said, jokingly, "Can you think of a magic word to add to that that would make it better?" And she said "Dad, give me my fucking blanket."
"That's better," I said, and kissed her good night while trying not to laugh. And that was the only time I heard her swear before semi-adulthood.
The boy, now 15, went through a wild swearing phase at about six. One day he was under some furniture doing something, and suddenly he yelled "Ow! FUCK you!" That was a bit much for even me, so I told him to watch the language. "But Dad," he complained, pointing at the cat, "the son-of-a-bitch scratched me!"
It was a phase that passed as soon as he realized that no one cared.
Yours,
Wince
My sister has a friend who's a teacher. And her last name is "Dickout". No foolin'. And her brother is a teacher as well.
If that was my surname, teaching would be the very last profession on my career wishlist.
Sorry, I went to High School with an Indian kid named Harry Anus. The whole school just about shut down one day when he was announced on the PA. He used to say, I wish you would say, "Anoose". True story.
Gravel dink.
I've known at least a dozen Ron's, each an AssRon. That's got my vote.
++UG: The "Fucking Blanket" story is a keeper! Me likee. The Gravel Dink moniker would be much funnier if it was Gravel DiCk. I take it you laughed at the English teacher too. ;^)
Why? Don't you guys use the word "dink" for penis?
Oh lordy, I just checked Wikipedia, and "dink" is a Candianism. I had no idea. I really should get out more often.
Bet you guys don't use "gaunch" either.
But what do we Yanks know anyway. We still refuse to go metric.
He had to get an unlisted number.
Although that's a better name than the Lipschitz who lived in my town. "If your lip shits, my ass whistles" I believe was the most likely phone call they got.
Every time Fred Hiatt writes an editorial, the Post is made to look foolish. In this case, foolish to blame Plamegate on Joe Wilson.
What a slimeball.
Ditto the slimeballs who still won't admit that the White House is owed a gigantic apology.
That, of course, is a proven Rovian lie. Just curious, how much of that 300 lbs. is pure, putrid horseshit?
I wish it were that innocent, my friend.
I wouldn’t be so disgusted if this were the honest mistake of (even) a partisan, reading too much into a quote (e.g., “she had nothing to do with [my selection as CIA Niger investigator]”) or simply knowing not much of anything except that they should hate all Democrats (‘cause Rush said so) and opponents of (only) Republican government malfeasance.
But this isn’t even a close call. This “White House [which] is owed a giant apology” for being accused of exaggerating the Niger intelligence and of attempting to smear Joe Wilson, has admitted before the media and a grand jury that it exaggerated the Niger intelligence and attempted to smear Joe Wilson.
This is Republican Mighty Wurlitzer historical revisionism – before it is even history, I might add – of the most naked and ugly kind. It is yet another nasty, mendacious smear of a person who appears to have no nefarious motive, simply because the important truth they take great personal risk to say makes George W. Bush look bad.
I would ask them, before they soullessly ravage another good person for partisan (or pathological) reasons: “who or what doesn’t make George W. Bush look bad – most especially George W. Bush?” The term “Slimeball,” as it has been used in this thread, is yet another partisan projection.
You're claiming his wife did NOT recommend him for the trip?
From what I read, there is a dispute and assumptions by the GOPers that are not backed up by the available evidence -- yet conclusions wholly unsupported by the facts are freely flying from the likes of Dean and assorted other wingnuts.
When it comes to the idea of "proven," that depends on the burden of proof we're looking for. To my mind, there is reasonable suspicion to back up both theories, but neither have made the case beyond a reasonable doubt so far. I do think it more likely than not, however (preponderance of the evidence) that Plame was in no position to to other than recommend him -- for the 1st trip, and that was approved at a higher level.
For the second trip -- the one in question -- his name came up before Plame or Wilson were consulted (according to their story) because he had done this kind of thing before.
This fact pattern seems to comport with the way I would hope our professional bureaucrats would work. And all things being equal, the presumption of actions comporting with normal course of business is a proper inference.
I have seen no evidence that Wilson was undermining the administration prior to the "16 words" SOTUA. Therefore, without evidence of alterior motive I find Wilson's characterization of event more credible than incredible.
It's a judgment call, which does paint Rove, et al. as serial exaggerators (liars).
Both the Wilson’s said so, so, I’m going with that. And I couldn’t care less.
Once the administration has gone on record that Plame was outted, "purely and simply out of revenge," what possible difference could it make? It. Was. A. Smear.
What difference does it make anyway? Wilson was clearly qualified for the mission and the CIA obviously thought so as well, unless you think Valerie booked the trip herself on Priceline.
Let’s face it, (at least parts of) the CIA went to war with Cheney because they knew that he and his neocon buds were trying to to get to Iraq (even the CIA figured it out) using crap intelligence, no doubt hanging it on the CIA once it was shown to be crap – oops!
Wilson and Plame got caught in the middle and either Joe was coaxed into coming forward or he just couldn’t manage to swallow the tragic, traitorous mendacity he witnessed from the President and the Vice President of the Unites States and allow an ill-considered war to be launched, based upon an official deception. Wilson had been Embassador to Iraq so he knew a lot more about what was likely to take place than the occupants of the White House and most of the rest of us.
If you’ve got a more plausible motive for Joe and Valerie Wilson to take on the Cheney Administration and the Rove smear machine (everyone had seen plenty of that horror show by then), please do let me know. We know what the administration’s motive was.
Wilson found the Iraqis had indeed been to niger to discuss trade and Niger does not export coffee.
Wilson also reported (by his statements since for some reason his actual report is still classified) there was no evidence that the attempted "deal" existed at all, or was rebuked ab initio. It was a non-starter by some reports, others have said that the attempt wasn't even made because it was known that it was a non-starter. Either way, hardly the stuff of mushroom clouds.
I have no reason to disbelieve Wilson's account to date. His conclusion that POTUS deliberately or incompetently misled us in this regard has not been effectivly disputed in my opinion.
The involvment of the Italian secret service providing forged documents which started the mess, and all the subsequent nasty reports going on with them and their dealings with the CIA and especially Elliot Abrams' and Doug Feith's henchman Michael Ledeen's involvement with them, (not to mention the AIPAC scandal) makes it all the more naferious. Given these guys' proven willingness to fight illegal wars in Central America, they are capable of anything.
I have a lot of reasons, including felony convictions for perjury, not to believe many administration officials. None to disbelieve Wilson's credibility.
And you know what, Mr. and Mrs. Philips are adequately qualified -- but wouldn't be where they are without Dick. Simone Ledeen OTOH had no business being one of the 6 people in charge of Iraq's 13 Billion Dollar budget -- except everybody kept bailing as this little eager gopher moved up the ranks.
That's what nepotism is, getting your kids a job, a career they wouldn't otherwise be considered for. Someone saying to Val Plame, "Hey, do you think Joe might be right for this errand the VPOTUS's office wants done in Niger?" is a different kind of use of well qualified and experienced government assets.
None? None?
Not the sudden canning by the Kerry campaign?
Not the evidence that Iraq did send top level people to Niger to try to obtain uranium?
Not the editioral staff of the Washington Post?
Not Wilson's own notable partisanship?
None?
Note, you didn't say that failed to have sufficient reasons to disbelieve Wilson. You said you had none.
Yours,
Wince
BTW, I left out the word "Danube to the Himalayas" Liz Cheney's in charge of Near Eastern dipolomacy -- South and Central Europe and all of the Mid East.
As to your points, they have some circumstantial validity, but I'm simply not persuaded. Kerry "dumping" him I chalked up to the campaign wanting to distance itself from the controvery, not necessarily Wilson alone. Kerry needed the election to be about him and Bush, and not a referrendum on whether you believed Wilson.
As for the "Top Level People," I'd like to see that original classified report before I make up my mind about that. Maybe that was addressed, and since it's classified he still can't talk about it. Who knows.
The Post's editorial staff, not for the first time, is embarrasingly out of touch with it's news division.
Partisanship? Hell, if they did to Tenant what they did to Wilson, he would have told Bush where he could stick that medal and wrote the tell-all book of all time.
Oooo, call up the 101st fighting keyboard brigade to get to the bottom of THAT threat!
Just trying to bring you back to a more reasonable position. Thanks for walking back towards the middlw with me.
Yours,
Wince