A Final Debunking
Oh, I know that's overly optimistic. The professional victim team of Plame and Wilson are approaching their fifteenth minute of fame asymptotically - they will never get to that end point if they have anything to say about it. But Jack Kelly, writing in Real Clear Politics has written what should be the last word on the Plame affair, although it won't be.
Mr. Wilson's charge was important because it marked the beginning of the "Bush lied" meme about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. But investigations by the Senate Intelligence Committee; the Robb-Silberman Commission on prewar intelligence, and the British Butler Commission all concluded it was Mr. Wilson who was not telling the truth. Saddam had indeed tried to buy uranium in Africa, as even Mr. Wilson himself had acknowledged to the CIA officers who debriefed him after his Niger trip.
One of the false claims Mr. Wilson made was that he had been sent to Niger at the request of Vice President Dick Cheney. In his July 14, 2003 column, Robert Novak disclosed that he had been sent instead at the insistence of his wife, Valerie Plame, who worked at the CIA.
Ms. Plame had once been an undercover operative. Concern was expressed that the leaker had violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Mr. Wilson blamed the leak on White House political guru Karl Rove, claiming it was payback for his "whistle-blowing." A special prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, was appointed to investigate the charge. Mr. Fitzgerald eventually indicted I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, then the chief of staff to the vice president, on a charge of having lied to a grand jury about from whom he had learned of Ms. Plame's occupation. He is awaiting trial.
No indictments have been brought on the charge Mr. Fitzgerald was appointed to investigate, because it is clear there was no violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The act applies only to those who are operating under cover overseas, or who have done so within five years of the disclosure of their identities. Ms. Plame had been manning a desk at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. for longer than that.
Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn disclose that it was then Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage who disclosed Ms. Plame's identity to Bob Novak, which is not exactly news to those who have been following the case. But Mr. Isikoff and Mr. Corn provide details which reflect poorly on Mr. Armitage, Mr. Fitzgerald, and the journalists who knew the truth at the time.
This is a very thorough, and very harsh debunking of the foundation for the "Bush Lied" meme. But as in the idiotic jihad against Wal-Mart, too many people have too much invested in the meme to let it go. So they will continue to bluster about it, even to the point of making themselves laughing stocks. As Kelly points out, the journalists knew full well that Armitage was the source for a long time, but only now speak the truth in exchange for money. Armitage never spoke out and let the media and the left bring endless false charges against people that were not guilty of anything.
That says a lot about the whole situation if you really think about it.
Blogosphere, Media, Politics | Gaius Tuesday, 29 August , 2006
By patch, Tuesday, 29 August , 2006 @ 5:21 pm
What is really disgusting is that not only did Armitage, Powell, and Fitzgerald know the Plame/Wilson leak was BS, but so did members of the media.
I’ll bet that Miller, Cooper, Russert, Mitchell and a whole bunch of other reporters knew that Rove and Libby had nothing to do with the Plame/Wilson leak, yet stood by and watched this whole thing unfold.
All of these people are like rubber necking drivers at a bad accident scene. They are also scum.