WaPo Whacks Wilson

The editors of the Washington Post have had enough of the Joe Wilson saga.  Writing on the denouement - Richard Armitage provided the first leak to Bob Novak - they deliver this broadside:

...it now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame's CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming -- falsely, as it turned out -- that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush's closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It's unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.

Ouch.

This editorial makes a book-end with the controversial WaPo editorial from a while back which explained that the related leak of portions of the National Intelligence Estimate was "A Good Leak".  Since that editorial prompted a response from the NY Times (helpfully titled "A Bad Leak"), perhaps this latest WaPo effort will prompt a Times response as well.

As to why the WaPo might think that Wilson's "I am hero and victim" story was a load of nonsense, let's reprise the views of a few of their reporters.  Quotes are (or will be) below, but briefly:

Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize winner and leak recipient, thought the story was overdone and national security was not harmed;

Walter Pincus, Pulitzer Prize winner and leak recipient, thought the behavior of the Administration was obnoxious but not criminal, and that partisan Democratic hype led to the investigation;

Dana Priest, Pulitzer Prize winner for her story on the CIA secret prisons, was not able to  sleuth out any harm to national security as a result of the Plame leak.

Here is an eerily prescient Bob Wodward on Larry King Live (before his own role was announced):

WOODWARD:  Now there are a couple of things that I think are true. First of all this began not as somebody launching a smear campaign that it actually -- when the story comes out I'm quite confident we're going to find out that it started kind of as gossip, as chatter and that somebody learned that Joe Wilson's wife had worked at the CIA and helped him get this job going to Niger to see if there was an Iraq/Niger uranium deal.

And, there's a lot of innocent actions in all of this but what has happened this prosecutor, I mean I used to call Mike Isikoff when he worked at the "Washington Post" the junkyard dog. Well this is a junkyard dog prosecutor and he goes everywhere and asks every question and turns over rocks and rocks under rocks and so forth.

     KING:  And doesn't leak.

WOODWARD: And it doesn't leak and I think it's quite possible that though probably unlikely that he will say, you know, there was no malice or criminal intent at the start of this. Some people kind of had convenient memories before the grand jury. Technically they might be able to be charged with perjury.

But I don't see an underlying crime here and the absence of the underlying crime may cause somebody who is a really thoughtful prosecutor to say, you know, maybe this is not one to go to the court with.

And a bit later:

WOODWARD: ... They did a damage assessment within the CIA, looking at what this did that Joe Wilson's wife was outed. And turned out it was quite minimal damage. They did not have to pull anyone out undercover abroad. They didn't have to resettle anyone. There was no physical danger to anyone and there was just some embarrassment.

So people have kind of compared -- somebody was saying this was Aldridge James or Bob Hanson, big spies. This didn't cause damage.

Walter Pincus:

Pincus believes that the Bush administration acted obnoxiously when it leaked Valerie Plame’s identity, but he has never been convinced by the argument that the leaks violated the law. “I don’t think it was a crime,” he says. “I think it got turned into a crime by the press, by Joe” — Wilson — “by the Democrats. The New York Times kept running editorials saying that it’s got to be investigated — never thinking that it was going to turn around and bite them.”

Dana Priest in two WaPo chats:

Columbia, S.C.: Great Work!

How do you answer critics who point out this may be a 'leak' that could potentially compromise national security, ala the Plame leak?

Dana Priest: I don't actually think the Plame leak compromised national security, from what I've been able to learn about her position.  As for my article, we tried to minimize that by not naming the countries involved and, otherwise, no, I don't believe it compromised national security at all.

And more Dana Priest from May 4, 2006:

Valley Forge, Pa.: Hi Dana,

Thanks for doing these chats.

Now we are reading that Valerie Plame was involved with tracking nuclear proliferation/capabilities in Iran. Isn't this old news? (I seem to remember reading this same thing quite a while ago in the MSM - I don't generally read blogs)

From what you hear, was Ms. Plame working on Iran, how important was she to the tracking efforts, and how much has her "outing" really set us back?

Dana Priest: It was reported before that she worked on proliferation issues for the CIA. The leap in this new round of information is that her outing significantly impacted our current intel on Iran. I don't buy it. First, no one person who quit clandestine work four years ago is going to make that big of a dent in current knowledge. But also, nothing like this came up at the time of her outing and I believe it would have. Think we need some actual details. At present it just doesn't smell right.

KEEPIN' HOPE ALIVE: The chorus from the left will harmonize in response to this from the Wapo:

Unaware that Ms. Plame's identity was classified information, Mr. Armitage reportedly passed it along to columnist Robert D. Novak "in an offhand manner, virtually as gossip," according to a story this week by the Post's R. Jeffrey

...It follows that one of the most sensational charges leveled against the Bush White House -- that it orchestrated the leak of Ms. Plame's identity to ruin her career and thus punish Mr. Wilson -- is untrue.

Not necesarily!  Although it takes a fantasist to imagine that the White House orchestrated the leak to Novak by way of Armitage (I bet I could find one!), what about the leaks to Matt Cooper and Judy Miller?

With Cooper, it is clear (to some) that after Karl Rove learned from Novak that a column about Wilson and Plame was imminent, Rove ruthlessly sat by the phone and waited for Matt Cooper to call him and ask about Niger.

Then when Cooper interviewed Libby the next day, Libby was so brutal and crafty that he never raised the subject of Ms. Plame, but offered something like "I heard that, too" when Cooper asked him about her.

And the Judy Miller leak?  Libby was so intent on besmirching Wilson with the nepotism charge that he forgot to tell Judy that Ms. Plame had a role in arranging her husband's trip to Niger.

And Special Counsel Fitzgerald still can't prove that Libby was aware of Ms. Plame's classified status back when he was conspiring to punish Joe by outing hs wife.  (Too bad Libby didn't use his psychic powers to get the truth about Saddam's WMDs...).  Oh well - Fitzgerald only had two years to look into this.  The truth will emerge any day now, or at least, within the next 24 business hours.

OVERLY OPTIMISTIC:  I don't think this will work.

THE BEGINNING OF THE END:  The WaPo thumped Joe Wilson when the SSCI report came out in July 2004, so they aren't exactly new to Wilso-phobia.  John Kerry dropped Wilson from his campaign shortly thereafter.

CREATIVE LAWYERING:  All of this will impact the Wilson lawsuit against Cheney, Libby, Rove et al, yes?  Here is a clever suggestion from The Brainster:

...it looks like Rove and Libby didn't leak her name. But, considering that the money [Valerie Plame] was offered for her book was largely based on them doing so, it strikes me that she may still have a case. After all, now she's not going to make nearly as much dough. So maybe she can sue them for not leaking her name?

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE:  An email from Joe Wilson is printed at the Dem Underground:

You may have seen this morning's editorial in the Post. It manages to recycle pretty much every lie and smear over the past three years in a last ditch effort to divert attention from the facts, and the role the Post itself played both in the march to war and in the leak (see Woodward).

I know many of you are better versed in Plamegate than either Valerie or I and I also know that some of you will be addressing the editorial.

I want to let you know how much Valerie and I continue to be buoyed by your support and your dedication to getting the truth out and holding the administration and its lackeys accountable for the terrible policies they have foisted on our country and on the world. We must keep fighting.
   
As you think about this, our website (Wilsonsupport.org) has a copy of the letter I sent to the SSCI when its report first came out, challenging some of its conclusions. The LeftCoaster has a terrific study by eriposte on the whole Niger forgery case from beginning to end. Firedoglake and the Next Hurrah both have highly informative analyses of the case by skilled researchers and former prosecutors. I recommend them all as resoruces to jog memories. by this afternoon, I expect that our own team will have an updated set of talking points to distribute for your use as well.

First, I think there is a breakdown in the parallel structure - Firedoglake has the former prosecutor and The Next Hurrah has the skilled researcher.

Secondly, where is the mission-critical info about tin-foil hats?

MORE:  It's only 6:15 PM on the East Coast, but at this writing I see nothing from the firedogs about the WaPo op-ed [Ahh, but at 4:05 PM, presumably Pacific time, we get this - see SELF AWARENESS WATCH, below]; The Emptywheel at The Next Hurrah has this post:

I'm not surprised by several things in the WaPo's disingenuous editorial on the Plame Affair today. For example, I'm not surprised it relies on the word, "primary."

But all those who have opined on this affair ought to take note of the not-so-surprising disclosure that the primary source of the newspaper column in which Ms. Plame's cover as an agent was purportedly blown in 2003 was former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage. [my emphasis]

It's a word Novak conjured up when he went clean last month, and it seems designed to cast the majority of the blame on Armitage and away from Rove. Yet it relates solely to Plame's purported role in Wilson's trip to Niger; Novak never says that Armitage was his source for Plame's classified identity or name (he reverts to much less convincing stories to explain away his use of the word "operative," "Plame," none of which come from Armitage but which are more important to the story than Plame's general role)...

Uh huh.  And nearly three years later, the lights will be burning in Special Counsel Fitzgerald's office this Labor Day Weekend as he continues to plumb these mysteries, right?  Wrong.  Well, according to the Times and WaPo, anyway - regardless of the gaps in the stories Novak has told us, Fitzgerald seems to have thrown in the towel on further investigations last June.

Next, call in the auditors!

First, Fitzgerald's investigation has been anything but costly (Christy, you think you could smack down Fred on this issue? because since you beat Byron silly on it, he has not made such a baseless suggestion).

The link is to a firedog post telling us that "In its first 15 months, the investigation cost $723,000, according to the Government Accountability Office."

Since The Next Hurrah has the skilled researcher, I am sure she will want to square that with this GAO report telling us (Appendix III) that in the six months from March to Sept 2004, Fitzgerald spent $584,899, including $487,089 for personnel compensation and benefits.  Total expenditures for the six months ending in March 2005 were $112,550 and for the six months ending in Sept 2005 were $178,077.  [OK - weirdly, the expenditures for the three months ending March 2004, while Fitzgerald took a lot of grand jury testimony, was only $27,000 - that seems way out of line with the other figures, but how am I going to audit the GAO?]

SELF AWARENESS WATCH:  Classic comedy from Jane "Rape Gurney Joe" Hamsher as she describes "the perpetually bile-choked right wing blogosphere".  Say it with me - I know what you are, but what am I?

To compound the comic effect Ms. Hamsher analogizes the Plame leak thusly, a few short, bile-free sentences later:

Incredibly it is somehow okay to rob the liquor store, shoot the owner, rape the cashier and spatter the walls with blood because someone else was caught shoplifting there the week before.  It is the Sistine Chapel of bad faith editorials.

Always temperate, just as her readers like it.

Comments

[clarice]

My thoughts exactly, kate.

[Verner]

CLARICE!!!! BRAVO BRAVO! You have knocked it clear out of the ballfield.

This is a MUST READ!

[clarice]

Thank you, ma'am

[Sue]

Clarice,

Great article. One thing that I'm not clear on, though is this passage...

Since Woodward has come forward, he has said he might well have approached Libby about that time about Wilson and Plame, right after his conversation with Armitage on June 12, 2003. His notes indicate he intended to ask Libby about Wilson and Plame and may well have. He does not believe Libby responded to this because he has no notation that he did.

I thought Libby's conversation with Russert happened in July.

[Bob]

Yes Clarice a wonderful roundup.

Bravo!

If you haven't, go read this now... that's an order! http://www.americanthinker.com/articles.php?article_id=5819>American Thinker

[clarice]

Thank you, Bob.

[Bob]

Sorry clarice, I've changed my mind. I've just found this website that tells the real story... and they put it to music - ROCK music man!

If http://www.takebackthemedia.com/>this doesn't convince you, nothing will.

Sung to the tune of Secret Agent Man

SECRET AGENT PLAME

There's a gal who led a life of danger
Everyone she met she stayed a stranger
With every move she makes, another story breaks
Odds are her old pals won't see tomorrow
Secret agent Plame, secret agent Plame,
Rove took away your number and gave away your name
Beware of yellow cake that you can't find, gal
The news'll drag your name right through a minefield
Not caring what they'd say
The White House gave you away
Odds are Bush's pals will get a medal,
Secret agent Plame, secret agent Plame
Rove took away your number and gave away your name

lead guitar

Secret agent Plame, secret agent Plame
Rove took away your number and gave away your name
Spying on the Saudi Arabs one day
Being in the paper's Headlines on next day
Oh Karl - let the wrong word slip
And Novak had loose lips
Traitors in the White House can't be fired,
Secret agent Plame, secret agent Plame
Rove took away your number and gave away your name
Secret agent Plame

Another one for the "You can't make this shit up" folder. Be sure to listen to the fine MP3 sample. But don't blame me if you wet your pants.

[clarice]

I have the sound turned off. Is this one of those performance artist things where the taxpayer underwrites a show consisting of a naked woman caressing the body of a dead pig?

[sad]

Way to go Clarice!!! Real Clear Politics needs to feature this.

[Bob]

No it's worse than that clarice... they use a heavy "echo" to cover up the performance... the same reason Paris Hilton can't tour!

I guess if your stoned it sounds fine!

And if the Government paid for this, we can now consider the $600 toilet a bargain, since it makes better music.

[sad]

Clarice

Your AT article is featured at Lucianne.

[sad]

Can't help wondering many times a day how many "journalists" were aware all along of Armitage as leaker and just hoped it wouldn't be known. Also can't help speculating as to whom those "journalists" might be.

[Syl]

I have a bit of disagreement with Larwyn over her disgust at Maher and the convert to Islam thing she quoted.

My feeling is that, just because we don't agree with his politics, nor his view of Christians, doesn't mean we can't appreciate and admire his MOCKING of the jihadist demand we convert to Islam!

I think it's too easy to get defensive about your own religios beliefs instead.

What maher did was the equivalent of one of those cartoons.

And with Zawahiri coming out today inviting us all to convert or face the consequences, the more we laugh at it the better.

[owl]

Thanks for a good one clarice.

[sbw]

Larwyn, if you're going to be disgusted with Maher, be disgusted with his misrepresentations and his care-less remarks. Humor is best when it pokes holes in bogosity.

Since when has Bill Maher shown a mirror on the left -- or on himself, for that matter?

[Sue]

Maher is the left's Ann Coulter. They use shock value to get their points across. Anything Maher says should be taken with the same grain of salt that is used to digest Coulter.

Ignored if you can't understand their underlying premise.

[sbw]

So what is the difference between Bill Maher's blind spots and those of the New York Times? Not much that I can see. Either they can't see what is important and why, or they don't care. What other answer is there?

My own interpretation is that both cases illustrate that schooling does not often result in education.

[larwyn]

Sly,Sue & SBW,
What's with the S's?
Hope you will actually take a look at the segment.
I am a firm beleiver in the power of RIDICULE. I have written that many times. I want all to use the knightly "Sir" for Armitage for that very reason. It just nails his cowardice. (Raising
grandsons gives one lots of hours spent with knights)
Maher's performance including using the actual words that are part of coverting, that Centanni and Wiig were forced at gunpoint to repeat, in a "comedy routine" is
not funny. I don't think even the
"moderate" Muslims will find it funny and I do hope that CAIR's
Hooper was watching in addition to
that Ahmed Mohammed whatever, who will escort Bill to Friday prayers for the rest of his life, or else!
I laugh at the very un PC jokes all the time.
Carter appointee Mary Katherine Berry laughing her butt off was just icing.
Hope you'll actually view it and
realize he opened with comments on Centanni and Wiig.
This is probably the 2nd time I have watched the full hour of Maher, last week was the first and that was due to the Hitchen's taking on both Maher and Cleland.
I don't find all the potty humor appealing - it's 10/12 year old "fart" jokes.
I am certainly not a fuddy duddy
- see it and then I'll take your comments as informed as to actual event and not second hand impressions.
Evidence! Isn't that what the JOMers work thru?

[sbw]

Larwyn, If I failed to make myself clear, I apologize. I'm with you, not ag'in you. I can only look at Maher for the single instant it takes to click the remote. He's not worth my time. I could only read the transcript of Hitchens, not watch it.

He's a siren song that drives the gullible onto rocky shoals. If his shows were only entertainment, it might be okay. But, no, it's an alienating force to the gullible -- of which there are too many.

Nobody seems to care. What a dangerous world we are in! One where too few have the wit to flail it away, and those that do, don't seem to use their gift for the benefit of society.

[MJW]

JM Hanes, Thanks for the nice welcome. It's good to be back - at least in the sense that it makes me feel like more responsible human being to know what's going on in the world, rather than being in the mode, "I get the news I need on the weather report" (to quote Paul Simon).

[JM Hanes]

You seem to be surviving your re-immersion -- unless you're posting as you go, of course! This story is sort of like a continuing soap: it doesn't require much review; the plot will cycle back on itself soon enough. :)

[Syl]

Larwyn

No, I don't watch his show--at all! I didn't see the segment. I don't like his superior I'm-the-only-one-who-knows-how-the-world-works attitude when he pops up in other venues.

But his mockery of forced conversions is fine with me even though it is embedded in all the other garbage he spouts. By saying the words, he is showing that they hold no magic.

It was a cartoon moment.

[Foo Bar]

TM,

I'm going to assume you didn't read my first comment. Let me try again.

The "call in the auditors" section of this post is DEAD WRONG. You are leaving your readers with the incorrect impression that you fact-checked empytwheel and firedoglake on the $723K figure and found some sort of discrepancy that needs explaining. What actually happened was that you apparently failed to realize that since Fitzgerald was appointed on Dec. 30, 2003, the first fifteen months of his investigation encompasses a period ending at the end of March of '05. The $178K total he spent in the six months ending September '05 was therefore spent during months 16 through 21. If you leave that out and add in the $26,592 he spent in the first 3 months of '04, you arrive at $724,041. So can we agree that the $723K figure has been "squared" with the GAO reports? Or was your point that there is a $1K discrepancy?

Granted, this was a fairly minor, throwaway observation you made, but you chose to make it, and it is FLAT WRONG.

You really should not continue to sully your otherwise fine blog by continuing to leave that section up there without an accompanying correction.

[ChrisO]

Boy, it doesn't take much for you guys to declare victory, does it? The Post editorial page is far from sympathetic to the left. So they publish an editorial criticizing Wilson, and you declare that the case is closed? What possible effect could this have on Wilson or Plame? The Post editorial board has never been their friend. You all might want to take a break from your crowing for a minute to note that nothing has changed in the case since Armitage's role was revealed. Again, you start yelling "case closed," but in acutal fact nothing has changed. Has Fitzgerald dismissed the Libby indictment? Have the Wilsons dropped their suit? Has Armitage been shown to be a lone gunman, with no one else in the administration involved in outing Plame? I don't think so. So keep partying, but when you wake up tomorrow you'll find that nothing has really changed. Boy, one thing you guys on the right are good at is declaring victory in the face of all available evidence. I understand things are going great in Iraq, too.

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