Plame- Step #11

First, the edit to part #9:

9.) After the Wilson op-ed appeared, there was a renewed focus on the pre-war WMD intelligence, and within the media at large, a heavy focus on the ‘sixteen words’ that appeared in the President’s State of the Union address. A little over a week after Wilson’s NY Times op-ed, Robert Novak’s 14 July 2003 column appeared, containing the following paragraph:

Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him. “I will not answer any question about my wife,” Wilson told me.

Wilson himself responded by publicly and appeared frequently on news shows and in other forums. He repeatedly attempted to rebut those seeking to discredit him, causing a perception that he was escalating the war of words. Contentiously, He also stated during this period that his wife had nothing to do with his selection to go to Niger.

Now, on to the re-write of #10:

10.) The initial Novak story was not published until 14 July 2003, it hit the AP Wire on the 11th. Also on the 11th (11:07 am), Matt Cooper of Time sent the following email to his supervisor:

Cooper wrote that Rove offered him a “big warning” not to “get too far out on Wilson.” Rove told 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 [sic] wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD (weapons of mass destruction) issues who authorized the trip.”

Also during this time period, the following (as later described in the Washington Post on 28 September 2003), reportedly occurred:

“Yesterday, a senior administration official said that before Novak’s column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson’s wife. `Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge,’ the senior official said of the alleged leak. A source said reporters quoted a leaker as describing Wilson’s wife as `fair game.’

Now, on to #11:

11.) In a column on 1 October 2003, Novak described his sources. The first source “offhandedly” mentioned the link between Wilson and
his wife. The second source, contacted by Novak, stated, “Oh, you know about it.”

According toa NY Times report on 15 July 2005, Rove was Novak’s second source. The report describes a phone conversation between Rove and Novak, initated by Novak, that took place on 8 July 2003. According to the NY Times report, that is when Novak informed Rove of Plame’s maiden name.

A third source described by Novak on 1 October 2003 was a CIA press official. This source denied that Plame motivated Wilson’s selection but agreed that Plame assisted with the selection. The source discouraged the use of Plame’s name. However, according to Novak, the source did not indicate that
the use of Plame’s name would be dangerous.

Novak’s ‘first’ source, the individual described as ‘not a partisan gunslinger,’ remains unidentified to the general public.

All of the 15 July 2003 revelations regarding Novak appear to contradict earlier Novak statements, in which he claims:

“I didn’t dig it out, it was given to me. They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.”

Check all three, but mostly #10 and #11, as #9 has been hashed out pretty thoroughly. Add comments, corrections, re-writes, and possible directions for #12, which we will pick up with on Monday morning. IF you disagree totally, with anything, write it down. Also helpful is to not only lodge criticisms, but to offer re-writes.

If I have missed any previous criticisms, I apologize. Get ’em down again. Otherwise, if you agree, vote “Yes, Yes, Yes.”

Again, this is it for this week, and we will pick up again on Monday.