The Plame Game
As I understand it, these are the facts of the case: A 'senior White
House official' (meaning someone whose name you would probably
recognize) was talking to Bob Novak about Joe Wilson, and the official
said something along the lines of "well, he only got the job because
his wife (Valerie Plame) works for the CIA..." which led to a further
disclosure of the facts, that she's an operative, works on WMD issues,
etc. Bob calls the CIA, and the CIA, very understandably, doesn't say,
"Yes, Bob, she's a spy", but very clearly tells him not to use her
name. That's what's in the public record and is, so far, undisputed.
Other less sure, facts include that this same senior White House
official actually told at least 5 other reporters about Plame's work
for the CIA, but Bob's the only one who bit. But our source on that is
an anonymous source, so it's hardly certain. On the other hand, no one
from the White House has come forward to dispute it.
The results? We don't really know. To find out, we'd have to track
down Plame's entire network of sources in countries like Pakistan,
Russia, North Korea and dozens of similar places and check on their
health. Not to mention all of the people she's met with who aren't
sources. It's not hard to imagine that some of those people will die
as a result of this disclosure. It's almost impossible to imagine that
anyone who might have become a source will have second thoughts after
reading about our indiscreet politician.
Joe Wilson went to Africa to learn the truth about whether one of our
enemies was seeking nuclear weapons. His expenses were paid, but other
than that, it was volunteer work. His wife placed herself at
considerable risk to try and keep us all safe from nuclear, chemical,
and biological weapons. That's what patriotism looks like. The leaker,
whoever he might be, dealt our intelligence-gathering capability a
strong blow and place who knows how many lives at risk in order to
politically damage Joe Wilson for having the temerity to speak the
truth about what he found in Iraq. That's what cowardice looks like.
When you're dealing with an unethical, incompetent sumbitch in a
professional setting, it's perfectly appropriate to go to that
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