Ex-Ambassador Wilson to name names

[buff2]

http://www.salon.com



Ex-Ambassador Wilson to name names

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By Curt Anderson


March 2, 2004 | WASHINGTON (AP) -- Former Ambassador Joseph C.
Wilson will reveal the name of the person he thinks leaked his wife's
identity as an undercover CIA officer in a book due out in May, his
publisher said Tuesday.

A federal grand jury has heard testimony from at least four White
House officials in its investigation to identify the leaker of
Valerie Plame's name to syndicated columnist Robert Novak, who
published the name in his syndicated column last July. Numerous other
officials have been interviewed by the FBI.

Spokeswoman Karen Auerbach of the Avalon Publishing Group in New York
said she did not know the identity of the purported leaker.

Novak said in his July 14 column that his sources were two
unidentified senior administration officials. Novak has not commented
about the matter during the grand jury investigation.

Wilson's book, "The Politics of Truth," is scheduled to come out May 20.

Publication of the book and Wilson's accompanying promotional tour
could have political overtones because he is now a foreign policy
adviser to Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry. Democrats
are seeking to raise questions of credibility in the minds of voters
about the reasons President Bush went to war.

Wilson did not return telephone calls seeking comment for this story.
He has previously contended that White House political adviser Karl
Rove condoned the leak but was not the actual leaker.

After Novak's column appeared, Wilson said other reporters told him
that Rove had characterized Plame as "fair game" because of Wilson's
criticism of the White House's uses of intelligence before the Iraq
war.

The White House has repeatedly denied that Rove was the leaker.

Wilson was enlisted by the CIA to investigate whether Iraq tried to
buy uranium from Niger. He said he found no evidence of such an
attempt and has accused the Bush administration of exaggerating
Iraq's nuclear capabilities to build support for war.

A description of the book on the publishing company's Web site says
Wilson's conclusions about the Niger uranium were "brushed aside" by
the administration.

The grand jury has continued to meet regularly in Washington under
the direction of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of Chicago, who was
appointed by Deputy Attorney General James Comey to oversee the
probe. Attorney General John Ashcroft disqualified himself from the
case in December in the face of Democratic criticism of his close
political ties to the White House.

The leaker could be charged with a felony that carries a sentence of
up to 10 years in prison.

[barbaraann]

1. This book is ranked 2,377 in sales on amazon right now!

Wow! It's not even due out until May 11.