The Wilson-Plame-Rove Sideshow, Part II
By Greg Petty
September 2005

My corner last month provided most of the timeline for the sordid Wilson-Plame-Rove affair now in the news and under investigation by a Federal Prosecutor. This article discusses the remainder of the timeline and some of the questions we should be asking ourselves about our government and our media.

We pick up the timeline the same day of Novak's discussion with Joseph Wilson's friend informing him he knows Wilson 's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA agent specializing in WMD.

July 8, 2003 Novak calls Karl Rove. After discussion about another matter, he tells Rove he knows that Joe Wilson had gone to Niger at the urging of his wife. Rove responds "Oh you know about it." (Novak's version) "I heard that too" (Rove's version)

July 10, Wilson 's attempts to reach Novak are finally successful and Novak informs him that he learned his wife was an undercover CIA WMD specialist from a CIA source. Wilson asks why he would blurt out to a stranger what he thought he knew about my wife. Novak apologizes but then has the nerve to ask Wilson to confirm this. Wilson reminds him that Plame had nothing to do with his Niger report and the important point is the 16 words in the State of the Union address.

July 11 Karl Rove has a conversation with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine. Rove tells him that Wilson 's trip had not been authorized by DCIA or VP Cheney, it was his wife, who works at the agency on WMD who authorized the trip. (A complete fabrication)

July 14 Novak's article "outs" Valerie Plame. He contradicts his statement to Wilson that a CIA official told him who she was. The article states "two senior administration officials told me Wilson 's wife suggested sending him to Niger .."

July 22 Newsday quotes Novak as saying " 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."

Was the whole charade of exposing Valerie Plame an attempt by the Administration to obscure the bigger issues? Issues such as the fact that to this day no weapons of mass destruction have been found in Iraq . Almost all of our intelligence was off the mark and misused. Did America have true justification for invading Iraq ? Since when does our government expose it's own members for political expediency? Someone should go to jail for that. I can only hope that the Prosecutor produces a thorough investigation and follows the path wherever the truth takes him.

For an honest analysis, and exposure of falsified documents in Niger , Joseph Wilson incurred the wrath of the Administration. His report was the third one that had come to the same conclusion and all were ignored. His wife was potentially endangered and her ability to ever work undercover again was terminated. This is a violation of our current laws. It is a sad day when a reporter cannot exercise the judgment to withhold information no one needs to know about. Did Karl Rove, the chief strategist of the Bush Administration, complete the execution of the attempt to obfuscate the true issues and smear Joseph Wilson? This is the same Karl Rove who was fired From Bush 41's Texas campaign for leaking information about it's fired Campaign Chairman Robert Mosbacher Jr. Who was the other senior administration official involved in "outing" Valerie Plame?? Scooter Libby? Did they both break the law?

It's all the Washington insider's game. Doesn't everyone in Washington plays this game? No they do not. A government employee should not expose an intelligence agent regardless if they are undercover or not.. Nor should any member of the media. The only media person in this saga who comes out clean in my book is Judith Miller. Miller did not print her story (why expose an agent) and went to jail to protect her sources. She should not be sitting in jail for protect her sources. Perhaps it is Novak, Cooper, Rove and Libby who should spend some time in jail.

It seems very plausible to me that senior members of the Bush Administration, along with complicit reporters, confirmed and exposed an agent of the Central Intelligence Agency. Their collective political zealousness completely overwhelmed any thought they may have briefly had of considering their actions, not to mention doing the right thing. Isn't this reminiscent of Watergate? The official White House statements went from " Any official who exposes an agent of America does not belong in this Administration" in 2003 to "There has been no violation of law " and the President has full confidence in Karl Rove" in 2005. Instead of decisive action by Mr. Bush to rectify the situation and make it completely clear that this action is unacceptable, we all get to watch Scott McClellan squirm when confronted with the deception by White House reporters. Can your hear the screech of the wheels of the Administration vehicle screaming into reverse?

To the owners and editors of The Chicago Sun Times and CNN: Fire Robert Novak. He no longer possesses the judgement needed to provide responsible reporting. Ditto for Time Magazine and Michael Cooper.

Mr. President, you may be able to convince me that you still possess a small shred of decency and some vague notion of the importance of taking responsibility for the actions of your Administration. Taking this action .fire Karl Rove and any other official (Libby?) suspected immediately. I don't think you need to wait for Prosecutor Fitzgerald's report and the potential indictments. Further, you owe it to all Americans to tell us in a national broadcast why you are firing them and that you will not stand for this type of activity. Remember the pride you took upon your election of" restoring dignity to the White House" You now have your chance to prove it. Richard Nixon did not have the will or the courage to stand up and take the proper actions. He waited far too long to sweep out the deceit and lies that would forever mark his Presidency. Look what it cost him personally and the damage to the office of the Presidency. Are you strong enough to protect our democratic interests? Are you serious about it or only paying lip service? Prove to the American people that you can deal promptly and unequivocally with members of your own Administration. Anything less is not worthy of the ideals of our democracy or of a nation that prides itself on following the rule of law.