In its latest issue, Newsweek reveals some emerging details of White House adviser Karl Rove's communications with Time magazine correspondent Matt Cooper - in the critical time period just before the unlawful disclosure of the identity of a CIA operative.
Cooper's e-mail to his bureau chief, Michael Duffy:
"Subject: Rove/P&C," [for personal and confidential], Cooper wrote in the 2003 electronic mail. "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation. ..."
According to the Newsweek report, Cooper then proceeded to spell out some guidance: "Please don't source this to Rove or even WH [White House]."
Cooper further wrote in the e-mail to his chief that Rove offered him a "big warning" not to "get too far out on Wilson."
Rove informed Cooper that Wilson's trip had not been authorized by "DCIA" - CIA Director George Tenet - or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rather, "it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip."
The e-mail about the Rove-Cooper conversation continued: "not only the genesis of the trip is flawed an[d] suspect but so is the report. he [Rove] implied strongly there's still plenty to implicate iraqi interest in acquiring uranium fro[m] Niger. ... "
Newsweek noted that it is significant that Rove was speaking to Cooper before Novak's column appeared - before Plame's identity had been published - and added that the e-mail provided a glimpse into what was unfolding at the highest levels as the administration defended a part of its case for going to war in Iraq.
1 comment:
We should remember where the whole Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame story started:
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"... Joe Wilson's wife is not a foreign spy - she's a desk jockey at Langley (with a cushy place in Georgetown) who's responsible for ... wait for it ... tracking down WMD for our country!"
"Why on earth did someone with that very important responsbility pre-judge the Niger-Iraq-yellowcake story as "this crazy story"? I mean, its only our national security and stuff - no biggie."
"Someone let Val Plame know: the Niger-Iraq-yellowcake "crazy story" turned out to be true."
"How many other WMD leads has Ms. Plame given short shrift? Do you know about any more "crazy" WMD leads, Val? Maybe you should go look at those files again. Does her high security clearance prevent her from getting fired for not giving a whit about national security risks for which she's the responsbile agent?"
"Not only did Ms. Plame dismiss one of the key pieces of intelligence regarding Iraq potentially creating the Arab bomb - she successfuly recommended her gadfly husband to be the sole investigator to go check out the lead! How many millions of dollars go to the CIA for intelligence gathering each year? And yet the only person we have to send to Niger to see if Saddam is building a nuke is ... the house husband of an agent at Langley?"
"What's next? Will Valerie Plame send the family golden retriever to look for missle silos in North Korea?"
"This is the real story that the mainstream press won't touch with a ten foot pole. What heads should roll at Langley for entrusting our national security to the whims of the Wilson-Plame family travelogue?"
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Unbelievable. Shameful. Typical Dem crap - putting politics (and nepotism) above national security - and then lying about it when they get busted.
Fire Valerie Plame now. She's a very real risk to our national security.
-nikita demosthenes
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