ON CNN NOW - A REPORTER GIVEN COVERT CIA AGENT

[Pallas180]

INFO also on Ambassador Wilson's wife. Newsday guy.
Telling whole story. But not the names of the WH people
who exposed her.

[Pallas180]

1. He ws used as a dupe. Says her cover was blown. Concern from

CIA people saod her contacts could be in trouble.

The administration denies they authorized anybody to give
out her name.

Senate Intel looking at who revealed her name.

And FBI too.

He says CIA takes care of their own and they'l;l give her
another job in office but she can no longer be undercover
since its blown.

Wahoo. I hope the CIA is mad enogh to bring Bush and Rove down.

[unfrigginreal]

2. I thought it was Novak

I'm confused, I thought Novak outed her unless we're talking about different people. I'm talking about Joe Wilson's wife. Are they trying to get ahead of the story?

[DUreader]

3. that is what I thought, who is this guy on CNN

/?

[Pallas180]

5. Yes of curse you're right. It was NOvak. But apparently this guy was

given story too, and did not use it then..but they are
apparently doing folllow up story in Newsweek, although
they as reporters could never reveal the two WH people who
gave her name and info...he was retelling all the problems
it has caused world wide for the CIA.

And that SEnator Schumer is also calling for investigation.

Rove thy name is Mudd.

Here's an aside:
You know where that expression came from? Mudd was the
doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth after Lincoln. HIs name
and reputation were ruined. So if somebody was in trouble they
would say your name is Mud or it became being dragged through
the mud.

They convicted him of conspiracy with Booth. And to this day his
descendants are trying to clear his name.

[DagmarK]

Ha! Trying to clear his name.....but can't get the mud off their hands!

Oh pity!

I love explanations for common sayings.....thanks.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

12. Re Pallas above: Roger Mudd the newsman was Dr. Mudd's great

great grandson and was instrumental in the battle to get Dr. Mudd's
name cleared

[UTUSN]

47. And Roger MUDD Is Who Did the Hit Job on Teddy K.

Teddy had not regained his confidence after Chappaquiddick, not to mention a couple of assasinations, and he was ambush-interviewed by MUDD, who asked aggressively WHY he was running for prez (what specific reason, what did he have to offer more than anybody else). This sounds tame in light of today's media screamers, but Teddy was caught totally off guard and stammered and stuttered. I saw it and I am convinced that it was the end of his chances.

MUDD was sort of a pre-Brit HUME in demeanor back then, although I don't know whether he actually went wingnut like HUME.

[Gin]

27. Novak was never mentioned.....it was on CNN though

.

[wontmoveon]

17. Is she the only one who was compromised by this exposure?

If the Dems were in office now, the Republicans would be calling firing of the entire WH staff and
the impeachment of the President.

Oh, well, this gang in charge now only applies laws to others...not themselves. They are not above the law.
they ARE the law!

[PaDUer]

22. Start making those

phone calls and faxes burning asap...Can you imagine how they'd all love to walk in and find faxes all over the place--they couldn't miss piles of paper, and phones ringing off the wall..

[calimary]

30. ABSO-BLOOMIN-LUTELY!!!!! PaDUer, you are SO CORRECT!

Everybody MUST-MUST-MUST go to their phones and fax machines as soon as possible about this!!! THIS IS PRIORITY ONE!!!!!!

You could start faxing over the weekend.

Monday morning, start making calls. I do it right after dropping the kids off at summer school.

Here's how:

Go to www.congress.org - and then to the directory section in that site. It will allow you to find the information for any Senator or Congressperson on the Hill. Just type in their last name and you're in business. They have snail-mail addresses, email addresses, phone and fax numbers for both Washington DC offices and the local office of each person.

I'd avoid emails - they just go down a black hole and all that's noted, beyond numbers of emails, is what's on the subject line - NOTHING in the body of it will be bothered with. Faxes generate a paper trail, on the other hand. And phone calls have to be taken by a live body, who has to make notes for a report that's compiled at the end of every day. This is what I've learned after having called NUMEROUS people on the Hill, my Congressman and Senators, AND other people's Congress-reps and Senators.

I started calling on this issue a week ago. A number of staffers knew about it already, some had heard a few sketchy things, and many others didn't know anything about it. In the last two cases, I was more than happy to fill them in. Some of them took notes. A few asked for links when I mentioned I had them. A few sounded extremely interested in it, and wanted to pass the information around in the office.

You can go to mediawhoresonline for details. Some kind folks here at DU have already posted many links and articles and backgrounders. It's very helpful to have the information handy.

By now, I have a BUNCH of 3x5 index cards with names and numbers on them, and I consult these cards on a daily basis. In fact, next time I go to the store, I'm gonna get a recipe box to keep them all in.

Dear DU brothers and sisters, THIS IS URGENT LIKE YOU CANNNOT BELIEVE! We NEED to stoke this fire so it keeps burning and growing. These people, these "two senior (repeat: SENIOR) administration officials," as Robert Novak's column describes them, are guilty not merely of character assassination, but of a felony, by doing this. Exposing the identity of an undercover CIA operative IS A CRIME. IT IS A CRIMINAL OFFENSE. If this were happening in the Clinton White House, the rethugs would be gnashing their teeth and rending their garments over this, and calling out the cops and then some to get to the bottom of it. They'd already be building a guillotine by this point. This isn't just some 16-little-words controversy that they can parse and spin and say isn't a problem because they couched it by pinning it on the British. THIS IS SOMETHING THEY DID. THEY DID THIS. They absolutely have broken the law. They need to be held accountable for this.

AND IF YOUR REPS IN WASHINGTON DON'T THINK YOU GIVE A DAMN ABOUT IT, THEY WON'T CARE, EITHER.

[remfan]

61. Even worse, it was done deliberately

IIRC, the two 'senior administration officials' contacted Novak, not the other way around. That means they had the information AT HAND, which means they GOT the information FROM someone, which means SOMEONE told them to PUT the information out there. THAT, my friends, is CONSPIRACY.

This WH prides itself on a tight ship, it boasts about its level of secrecy, and it's a VERY small inner circle running things -- there are no rogue agents within the WH that would take it upon themselves to try and discredit Wilson. These two DID NOT act on their own.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. I will say it again. This is bigger than Watergate

[izzie]

6. Who did it ,the dog?

Millie's pup will have to go. Maybe to Cuba.

[indictrichardperle]

10. Novak and Time

both know who ratted out Wilson's wife....which was illegal. Lets cut the bullshit, ask Novak for the name, or put him under oath.

[realFedUp]

14. Novak should have to be questioned by Congressional panel

as to who he was the delivery man for.

[baby_bear]

15. No way; he is a journalist

Like him or not, he needs to be able to protect his sources. And it was not illegal for him to report about Wilson's wife being covert CIA. It was, however, illegal for the White House contacts to give that info to him.

Let's not forget basic principles here. Congress will have to find out the source w/o Novak's help.

s_m

[Stephanie]

19. That's right. Forget Novak. Let's subpoena everyone in the WH

until somebody fesses up. This is a crime. Whodunnit?

[Emboldened Chimp]

35. Screw that. Sent the fool to jail.

There should be an investigation, and he should be brougt to the stand to testify under oath. If he refuses to divulge his source, get a court order requiring him to do so. If he still refuses, he goes to jail.

This is about integrity and honoring one's source. Can you imagine that jerk going to jail on principle? Hell, no. He'd cough up the source in a heartbeat.

[Ouabache]

54. Yes, subpoena everyone in the west wing on this !!

And, while they are under oath ask them about this and MANY other things as well. Shopuldn't be to hard to find something criminal under oath. Then the heads can begin to roll.

Rice, Wolfowitz, Feith, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

[jeanmarc]

39. Throw his ass in jail

Just like every other journalist has to suffer for not revealing their source.

It's only fair.

[short bus president]

44. deep novak throat

if the man has a shred of decency.

[juajen]

45. Do you remember

when the wh was threatening to make senators take lie detector tests to find leaks, I believe it was the Senate Intelligence Committee that was leaking info. The Senators were highly insulted. I think they should at least threaten the same thing with the "high administration officials.

[Dhalgren]

53. Wait a minute, wait a minute,

reporters are put under oath in criminal cases all the time and they either spill their guts or go to jail. It isn't just a crime to "leak" the info to a reporter, it is a crime for that reporter to publish that information. When this came up 25 years ago, the agents that were compromised were compromised by the publishing of the information. What was Novak's purpose for publishing this criminal info? Was he trying to set-up the WH? If so, it's time for the other shoe to drop - he needs to be "forced" to divulge.

[trapper914]

60. Protecting sources is one thing...

...but the actual act of getting the information from those sources IS the crime in question. It seems he could be compelled to testify in a hearing.

[Pallas180]

7. Impeachment by Thanksgiving?

heh heh heh ??

[MUAD_DIB]

16. How about hanging by their giblets?

[buddhamama]

8. i mentioned this

in salin's Nixon `72 thread in GD a little while ago.
i too, think it is bigger and won't be forgotten especially by the CIA.

[TacticalPeek]

9. and worser...

and they have NO exits and they are DOOMED.

[joeybee12]

11. They've pissed off too many people...

...it was just a matter of time. We could't depend on the Dumbocrats to do it, and now we have to be tahnful that we have the CIA. Ah, sweet irony.

[TacticalPeek]

13. Ah yes, sweet irony...

it is being reborn.

[madmax]

46. Yes, and I'm starting to believe you

:)

[JackSwift]

18. So what is pResident Bush doing

about this felony among his own staff? What is his position? Does he not care enough to do his job? Or is he happy it happened? Or is he too much of a coward to take on his staff?

[Mel]

20. really!

if I was him I'd be pretty PO'd if my staff blew a CIA members cover not only her cover but who knows who else is in danger because of it.
No One! and I mean No One would be going on vacation until I found out who did it!
Heads would roll, charges would be filed. politics is one thing but you don't put people that work to protect your country at risk like that it's bs, wrong!

Course, if I was President things would be a lot different about right now and I don't think he gives a rat's bum about this happening matter of fact, I believe he's rather glad it did.

Honor? & Dignity? What a joke this set of WH gangsters is a pox on America.

Shame! Shame! Shame! he is not my President he's pResident Select. If ever there was a President that needed to be impeached he's the one.

I've said it before and I'll say it again he's gonna' make Nixon look like a Saint in the end.

[Rose Siding]

21. I see no other legitimate reaction

than the one you describe.

But these WH thugs protect one another from their crimes. Can't last though- as the circle continues to grow. the odds on leaks get better.

[dansolo]

26. Let's not forget

People seem to forget that the reason that the White House refused to give up intelligence to the UN inspectors was because they claimed that they needed to protect their sources.

[DoYouEverWonder]

23. Give everyone in the WH a lie detector test

Just like Cheney wanted to the FBI to do, to the Senate Intelligence committee for leaking some tibbit about 9-11.

[Lostnote03]

33. Damn good point!!!!

.....BTW I have been wondering lately whether or not it would be a good idea to pass a law stating that anyone that testifies before Congress in any form our fashion are automatically sworn in under oath.......

[Lostnote03]

34. I wonder if...

....Al Frohm understands that the GOP do not pass the national security threshold.....unless there is a profit to be made!!!

[GumboYaYa]

51. That is the law already.

It applies to the SOTU also. If Bush lied in the SOTU that is as good as perjury. John Dean wrote an article about the law a few weeks ago.

[Jack Rabbit]

24. I'd rather know the names of the rat bastards

I'd rather know the names of the rat bastards who blew her cover than anything about her.

This is revenge. This is intimidation. This kind of thing comes from a visious political operative. I smell a couple of rats and their names are Bush and Rove.

I can't prove that. But it is a hypothesis that could be tested.

[MaryBear]

25. Rather than conjecture,

naming his source(s) is what is called for in this case.

[Jack Rabbit]

38. True

He doesn't have to name his source. Just name the rat bastard(s).

[MaryBear]

63. Are they not one and the same?

[Stephanie]

29. Bush & Rove are the only ones mean enough

low down and dirty enough, to do this. Except for Perle and Wolfowitz. And Dick. And Feith. And Karen and..... Well, I still think you're right, the dirty tricks department would be run by Bush & Rove. What else is Bush capable of doing? He's got HOURS to fill between sales pitches and rounds of golf.

[Jackpine Radical]

37. And Condi and...

well, actually, anybody psychopathic enough to be working in this admin.

[Divernan]

28. The White House outing a CIA agent hurts EVERY US intelligence agency.

This will make it much more difficult to convince anyone to secretly provide information to the CIA, FBI, DEA or any federal agency, for fear of ending up as collateral damage if the administration should get vindictive toward anyone in the informant's chain of contact to or within an agency. The result will be that our agents will have to pay a lot more money to persuade people to take the risk of even talking to an agent. The two high level White House administration leakers are not merely felons, but very simply traitors. If they did it with Bush's knowledge, he is similarly guilty and impeachable for this act alone.

[RainDog]

31. This is bigger than politics

yes, you're exactly right.

This is a horrific act on the part of two people within the White House administration, and the fact that Bush is not, according to what we've seen thus far, holding these people responsible is abetting this act.

According to the CIA, she was involved in WMD intelligence.

We are supposed to be at war against terrorist threats.

these two people (and Novak, cause it was a stupid thing to do, legal or not) may have set back that area of intelligence and put us at greater risk of an attack in the future.

if this is not enough to make Bush act like a goddam responsible leader, instead of a photo op meat puppet, then he's worse than useless...but I already thought that.

I think these people in power right now are the most dangerous threat to America, more dangerous than terrorists.

[calimary]

40. Yeah, but on the other hand, it's liable to anger the CIA more -

and that means more of those leaks to the press that don't make the administration look good. MANY more leaks. Remember that Will Pitt interview with that 27-year CIA veteran named McGovern? He SAID in that interview - to watch over the next several weeks, when there would be more leaks coming out from the intel community to cover THEIR butts as opposed to the White House butts. We have already begun to see that become reality.

You do NOT piss off the CIA. And now, they have many multitudes of reasons to be pissed off. And I bet they're gonna do plenty about it.

This is now a formal attack upon one of their own from their so-called bosses.

And it is a felony.

On edit -

It's also completely reprehensible on another score - she was a weapons of mass destruction specialist, whose duties included keeping tabs on attempts by various meanies around the world to acquire WMDs. So now that she's formally and officially disabled, HOW IN HELL does that serve out national security?

They screwed her out of sheer shortsighted asshole-ish vindictiveness. No other reason.

They need to be held accountable - like gangbusters!

[classics]

48. Didnt Bush run the CIA?

Is he terminally stupid or something?

[Narraback]

49. Bush Sr was head of CIA... Not *

nt

[Maccagirl]

32. This is bigger than the "16 words"

Someone in the WH acted with complete malfeasance in outing Mrs. Wilson. They can't hide behind the "dog ate my homework" excuse on this one. Didn't Novak dismiss the seriousness of this on Crossfire? Shame on him!!!

[Kolesar]

36. Recap: Did I get this right?

1. Ambassador Wilson spilled the beans on the Niger/uranium yellowcake/ SOTU speech story.
2. The White House attacked him by telling CNN reporter Robert Novak that Wilson's wife was a CIA undercover agent.
3. Revealing information or uncovering an agent is a crime because it involves national security.

(I am not too sure about #1)

[Maccagirl]

41. You have your facts correct

and Amb Wilson wrote an OP/Ed piece in the NYT. He was amazing on the Daily Show the other day. The WH messed with the wrong dude this time.

[Kolesar]

43. Thanks, and I did catch Wilson on TDS w/JS

This has been a busy news month (and I am selling my house and moving). I lost the story about the White House leaking Wilson's wife to Robert Novak. What a foible.

And you are so correct. *Shrub made a huge mistake attacking Mr. Wilson and scapegoating the CIA when his hands are dirty.

[Stephanie]

50. DU Digest link

This GD thread will get you caught up on last week's biggest stories. It was an incredible news week:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=75967&mesg_id=75967&page=7">DU Digest

[Kolesar]

64. I got the "The page cannot be displayed" message with that link

It happened several hours ago and it happened now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

42. Not just Novak ,

They also told Time Magazine.

[Capn Sunshine]

52. Its always Novak

hes a mouthpiece from the pol side of Intel CIA to the press. Always has been.
My theory: from POTUS TO offic eof VPOTUS from there to CONDI, from CONDI to one of her burnable subords who gave Novak name and clearance to blow the cover.

Without taking this too deep, this is treason.

[InkAddict]

55. Fire in the Hold!

So how does Dr. Kelly's "convenient" demise fit into this? Let's see now, Condi's Hadley is gone...and Chimpy's lookin' either out-of-it or antsy lately. Gee, what would a Machivellian second do? Indeed, what would Jesus do? Does "selected" go below ground to to speak w/God the "bunkerbuster"?

[peacetalksforall]

56. This is what they will do

they will say that it was a mistake because they didn't know that there was a policy against revelations. Then Novak will say he didn't know. Then, certain Democrats will buy the brown stuff and go on the camera and say that it was a mistake and the only statements that will get play on tv will be the words of the Dem forgivers.

[tkmorris]

57. No way

Sorry but that just isn't possible here. You are correct, that is their usual method but this case is VERY different. This is a crime which technically is punishable by death. It is Treason.

That needs to be abundantly clear. Revealing the identity of an intelligence agent, especially during time of war, is as treasonous as you can get. The Bush Admin can hardly claim they didn't know that.

[Buns_of_Fire]

58. Article III, Section 3, Clause 1 of the Constitution is pretty explicit

Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort. No Person shall be convicted of Treason unless on the Testimony of two Witnesses to the same overt Act, or on Confession in open Court. (bold mine)

http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html

I think that outing an intelligence operative would be considered giving "aid" to an enemy of the U.S. And they've got their two witnesses (and then some).

As a neat irony, you might even be able to drag in portions of the PATRIOT Act:

(g) IMPROPER DISCLOSURE- Any willful disclosure of a `record', as that term is defined in section 552a(a) of title 5, United States Code, obtained by an investigative or law enforcement officer, or a governmental entity, pursuant to section 2703 of this title, or from a device installed pursuant to section 3123 or 3125 of this title, that is not a disclosure made in the proper performance of the official functions of the officer or governmental entity making the disclosure, is a violation of this chapter. This provision shall not apply to information previously lawfully disclosed (prior to the commencement of any civil or administrative proceeding under this chapter) to the public by a Federal, State, or local governmental entity or by the plaintiff in a civil action under this chapter. (from Section 223, bold mine)

http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html

(Disclaimer: I'm still not a lawyer, and still don't play one on TV. But I DO like tossing terms like "treason" and "impeachment" towards the BFEE and their oh-so-pure-and-scrubbed minions.)

[jus_the_facts]

59. Well it all sounds like some major shit should begin to be slung......

....but WILL IT????? NOTHING has been done to them YET.....I'll NOT get my hopes up that this will bring 'em down either....I just can't allow myself to get worked up only to be smacked back down to the REALITY that the LAW DOES NOT APPLY TO THEM!!! :eyes:

[RainDog]

62. As citizens, we have to ask our representatives to investigate

Monday would be a good day to call your reps.

So would Tuesday. and Weds...

if we are outraged (and I am) by this, we need to let both the House and Senate know.