Twenty Seconds Equals
Twenty seconds equals millions of words of newsprint.
Twenty seconds equals millions of hours arguing.
Twenty seconds equals gazillions of bytes of data on blogs.
Twenty seconds equals thousands of pounds of stomach lining eaten by excess acid.
Twenty seconds equals 85 days in jail for a reporter.
Twenty seconds equals millions upon millions of dollars in tax money thrown away.
Twenty seconds is how long Robert Novak spoke with Karl Rove about Valerie Plame.
The Novak-Rove conversation became a focus of the investigation by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into who leaked Plame's identity to the news media. A month ago, the prosecutor said he doesn't anticipate seeking criminal charges against Rove.
Novak said he called Rove in July 2003 to talk about a CIA-sponsored mission to Africa by Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson pertaining to an alleged Iraqi deal to acquire yellowcake uranium from the government of Niger. Wilson, who is Plame's husband, had accused the Bush administration a few days earlier of manipulating prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat from weapons of mass destruction.
Regarding Wilson's CIA-sponsored trip, Novak said he told Rove, "I understand that his wife works at the CIA and she initiated the mission." The columnist said Rove replied, "Oh, you know that, too."
"I took that as a confirmation that she worked with the CIA and initiated" her husband's mission to Africa, Novak said. "I really distinctly remember him saying, 'You know that, too.'"
"We talked about Joe Wilson's wife for about maybe 20 seconds," Novak said.
According to Rove's legal team, the White House political adviser recalls the conversation regarding Wilson's wife differently, saying that he replied to Novak that "I've heard that, too" rather than "You know that, too."
Was it worth it?
By FormerRighty, Wednesday, 12 July , 2006 @ 11:18 pm
The fact remains, President Bush said he fired whoever outed Valerie Plame. Karl Rove did it, the President likely knew about it a long time ago, but has not fired Karl Rove.
By Roland Hesz, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 1:53 am
And he was telling the truth, and only the truth, the whole truth.
Being a bit skeptic. But then, why shouldn’t we believe him? He is a politician after all, genetically incapable of lying or even bending the truth.
Now the question is: Why did Valerie Plame leaked that she works for the CIA?
By Gaius, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 5:17 am
False, FR. Confirming a rumor a reporter already knows is not outing her. That particular bit of nuance will be met with absolute disgust by the average person. I personally wouldn’t try using it.
By Roland Hesz, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 6:53 am
Then confirming a rumor terrorists has already known is not leaking confidential information?
By Gaius, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 6:58 am
Different situation, Roland, I think.
By Roland Hesz, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 7:58 am
Endagering human life vs. shouting loud thing everyone has knew of.
Yes, I can see the difference.
In the former case, someone, serving her country could have died as the result.
By Neo, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 8:36 am
You are left with the feeling that all they talked about is Ms. Flame. Missing from the article is that the “twenty seconds” was part of a 4 or 5 minute conversation.
Joe Wilson “outed” his wife when he sent the op-ed piece to the Times. Val “outed” herself when she didn’t try to stop him. CIA employees are told to maintain a low profile; that goes for their significant other as well.
As Novak pointed out in his various interviews, the first question that came up when the op-ed appeared was .. who sent this guy to Niger ?
“The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador’s wife “offered up his name” and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12,2002, from the former ambassador’s wife says, “my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.”
Select Committee on Intelligence
By FormerRighty, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 10:50 am
Lost in all of this is that Joe Wilson found no evidence that Iraq tried to by uranium from Niger, even though the administration claimed that it had, and used it in building its case for war.
Those of us who read left-leaning news sources knew before the Iraq invasion that the case was built on lies, but that information was not in the mainstream media. Instead, they were embedded with military units, and largely spewing the administration line.
By Gaius, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 10:53 am
And those of you reading left-leaning news have it wrong. Somewhere around here is a post about a Hitchens column that showed that it was Wilson who lied.
By FormerRighty, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 11:49 am
Yeah, we got it wrong, and Rick Santorum got it right. Oh, wait, it turns out the WMD he was claiming was found was found before the FIRST Gulf War.
I’m looking up some debunking of Hitchens, but I need to investigate further, and I don’t have time at the moment.
By Gaius, Thursday, 13 July , 2006 @ 12:02 pm
No, they dated from before the first war, but they were there and they were found. Please don’t twist things like that. It’s beneath you.