Washington Times - Rowan Scarborough - Headline: The flameout of the Plame game -
If you do not know anything about the Valerie Plame affair I suggest you go read the article for the full and 'end of story' obituary. DO NOT BOTHER BUYING ANY BOOKS ON THIS!!!!
From the article
The expectation on the left that the Valerie Plame affair would blossom into another Watergate, bringing down a second Republican presidency, has fizzled.
Liberals expected that convictions of one or more persons in the Bush administration for leaking or confirming to columnist Robert Novak that Mrs. Plame, the wife of Bush critic Joseph C. Wilson IV, was an undercover CIA operative. Echoing Mr. Wilson's claims, prominent liberals and leftists, most of them in the press, accused the White House of orchestrating a smear, and sought to drive Karl Rove either out of office or into prison, or both.
Three years on, none of that has happened, and the "scandal" is played out.
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But in the end, the exhaustive investigation produced no criminal charges against any official for leaking Mrs. Plame's name in violation of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. Moreover, it has recently emerged that the official who first revealed her name to Mr. Novak, for a July 2003 column, was not a White House official, but Richard Armitage, who was deputy secretary of state to Colin L. Powell.
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Mr. Armitage, now in private business, had never publicly acknowledged his role in the previous three years.
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Internet bloggers wrote hopefully of many indictments. One blogger even reported that Mr. Rove had been indicted, which he had not.
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Tom Matzzie, Washington director of the leftist MoveOn.org wrote in July 2005, "This conspiracy clearly reaches into the highest levels of our government. This could be among the worst presidential scandals in our history. ... Again, we call on the president to keep his promise and fire Karl Rove. How long will the cover-up continue?"
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Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean likened the scandal to Watergate, which brought down President Richard Nixon.
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Stacie Paxton, a spokesman for the committee, argues now that the Armitage disclosure does not vindicate the White House of misconduct.
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An early newspaper story asserted that two White House officials actively contacted six Washington reporters to reveal Mrs. Plame's identify and that she worked at the CIA. This was accepted as fact by liberal bloggers.
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The Senate investigators reported that Mr. Wilson did, in fact, find evidence that an Iraqi overture to buy yellowcake may have occurred. To Republicans, this meant Mr. Wilson's op-ed in the New York Times -- the essay that triggered the whole affair -- was inaccurate, just as Mr. Libby contended to Mrs. Miller that it was.
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The Wilsons are now represented by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
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Melanie Sloan, executive director and a former Democratic Senate and House staffer, said in an e-mail to The Washington Times it's wrong to infer that Mr. Wilson was sent to Niger on the suggestion of his wife. The Senate report "clearly indicates that the CIA decided to send Wilson to Niger." (HUH!!!)
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Ms. Sloan said the Armitage disclosure does not affect the Wilson lawsuit, "which is premised on the deliberate and unlawful actions of top White House officials to publicly discredit Mr. Wilson and retaliate against him by deliberately disclosing the classified identity of Ms. Wilson. Mr. Armitage's conduct in no way alters the fact that VP Cheney, Mr. Libby and Mr. Rove were engaged in a concerted effort to violate the rights of Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and they should be held accountable for their actions."
prying1 sez:
It seems that there were lots and lots of people that are/were guilty in the Valerie Plame Affair. Their credibility is shot. With many they never had any in spite of appearances at the time...
Richard Armitage, ex-deputy secretary of state to Colin L. Powell and now in private business, could have stepped forward a bit sooner. Remember that when you see his name in print. Especially if it is on a contract and your money is on the line.
Bottom line is Bush Hatred started this nonsense and that plus love of money will try to keep it going. - Fact is, "The Valerie Plame Affair is Dead!" May it soon be buried.
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Hattip to Hugh Hewitt for leading me to the article - Thanks Hugh! -
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