Sunday, November 20, 2005
Untangling the Plame game
From: Saqibr
To: Mum
Date: 11/20, 8:47 p.m.
Subject: Plame Scandal link
Mom,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair
This is a reputable source. It's a long page, but you only really have to read the first page to get the basics down. The important points:
-In July 2003, American diplomat Joseph Wilson wrote an op-ed in the New York Times. In it, he basically argued that the Bush White House had overstated Iraq's access to nuclear material...why? So that they could get support for the war, he said.
-Soon after, a columnist named Robert Novak outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. He said that his sources were two senior administration officials.
-Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been tasked with finding out who talked to Novak. He also has to find out who talked to the other six** journalists who knew Plame's name & occupation, such as NYTimes' Judith Miller and Time's Matt Cooper (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/06/reporters.contempt/).
-There's a long list of suspects, and some of them are high-ranking. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are the highest-ranking suspects. This link
(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec05/libby_11-03.html) from early November confirms that Rove is still being investigated for possible charges.
-Only Lewis Libby, Cheney's top staff member, has actually been indicted. He plead not guilty. He is basically being charged with lying to prosecutors and the grand jury about knowing Plame was CIA. He is NOT being charged with leaking Plame's name. However, Fitzgerald has said
(Video embedded in article here) that, according to current evidence, Libby is likely the guy who first leaked Plame's name.
**One other journalist, editor Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, recently confessed that he has also known about Plame for over two years. He hasn't named his source, but he did say that Libby wasn't it. This won't get Libby off the hook for lying, but it may get him off the hook for being the first guy to leak Plame's name. And it makes Woodward the journalist who knew about Plame the earliest.
A full timeline: http://www.factcheck.org/article337.html
Peace,
Saqib
To: Mum
Date: 11/20, 8:47 p.m.
Subject: Plame Scandal link
Mom,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair
This is a reputable source. It's a long page, but you only really have to read the first page to get the basics down. The important points:
-In July 2003, American diplomat Joseph Wilson wrote an op-ed in the New York Times. In it, he basically argued that the Bush White House had overstated Iraq's access to nuclear material...why? So that they could get support for the war, he said.
-Soon after, a columnist named Robert Novak outed Valerie Plame as a CIA agent. He said that his sources were two senior administration officials.
-Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been tasked with finding out who talked to Novak. He also has to find out who talked to the other six** journalists who knew Plame's name & occupation, such as NYTimes' Judith Miller and Time's Matt Cooper (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/LAW/07/06/reporters.contempt/).
-There's a long list of suspects, and some of them are high-ranking. Karl Rove and Dick Cheney are the highest-ranking suspects. This link
(http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/july-dec05/libby_11-03.html) from early November confirms that Rove is still being investigated for possible charges.
-Only Lewis Libby, Cheney's top staff member, has actually been indicted. He plead not guilty. He is basically being charged with lying to prosecutors and the grand jury about knowing Plame was CIA. He is NOT being charged with leaking Plame's name. However, Fitzgerald has said
(Video embedded in article here) that, according to current evidence, Libby is likely the guy who first leaked Plame's name.
**One other journalist, editor Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, recently confessed that he has also known about Plame for over two years. He hasn't named his source, but he did say that Libby wasn't it. This won't get Libby off the hook for lying, but it may get him off the hook for being the first guy to leak Plame's name. And it makes Woodward the journalist who knew about Plame the earliest.
A full timeline: http://www.factcheck.org/article337.html
Peace,
Saqib
