Ex-Colleague Says Armitage Was Source of CIA Leak (Plame)

[WillyT]

Ex-Colleague Says Armitage Was Source of CIA Leak

By R. Jeffrey Smith
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 29, 2006; Page A06

<snip>

The leak of information about an undercover CIA employee that provoked a special prosecutor's investigation of senior White House officials came from then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage, according to a former Armitage colleague at the department.

And...

Fitzgerald has never commented on Armitage's role and has not brought charges against him.

Armitage's role in the case -- which he confirmed to the FBI in 2003 and later described to Fitzgerald and to the grand jury, his colleague said yesterday -- raises questions about when the White House became aware of the origins of Novak's story. President Bush said as late as 2005 that he was eager to learn all the facts behind the leak.

The case's origin in a conversation between Novak and Armitage is one of Washington's worst-kept secrets. Neither Novak nor Armitage has confirmed it, however, leaving a measure of uncertainty until now. A story this weekend by Newsweek magazine was the first to cite confirming statements by former Armitage associates.

Armitage did not return a phone call to his office yesterday, but his former colleague, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Armitage had described disclosing Plame's employment to Novak in an offhand manner, virtually as gossip, at the end of a conversation in Armitage's office. Armitage did not know at the time that Plame's identity was considered secret information and senior State Department officials concluded he did "not do anything wrong" when they learned about it months later, the former colleague said.

<snip>

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/28/AR2006082801278.html

Hmmm...

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Something tells me...

That Bullethead is being set up as a patsy. I do hope he sings.

[Bucky]

2. Sadly, he may prove to be all too human.

Armitage may have burned out on their reckless adventurism, but the fact that he hasn't spoken out or slapped them around much in the past two years raises the possibility that he knows he's vulnerable on something. If he leaked Plames name, he's a criminal.

Despite being a conservative, like Powell Armitage is a basically honorable man whose bad political judgment led him to fall into a den of neocon theives. Like Powell, he passed up his chance to speak out and stop their tossing away American and Iraqi lives in a rush for oil and dickless posturing. He worked with them and it wouldn't surprise me a bit if they made sure that he got his hands dirty while he was in with them.

I'm not saying it's not a frame up, but I think the more likely possibility is that after working with Cheney and Rumsfeld & company for four years, it's hard not to be complicit in lots of immoral, illegal, and corrupt activities. A team player like Armitage would probably swallow down his reservations and common sense and play along with whatever shit they cooked up.

In fact, I think we know already that he did that somewhat on the Iraq invasion. The moreal of this story is "You lay down with dogs; you get fleas."

[Kagemusha]

3. Please, don't fall for the 'I didn't expose her NAME' Novak defense.

It's not her name, it's her being a covert operative. If Armitage didn't even know she was covert, but should have known enough to keep his mouth shut, that's terrible, that's irresponsible on his part, but it is by no means a criminal offense. Not whatsoever.

So if Armitage didn't know, how did Novak find that out to put it in his column? Because Novak was explicit about it.

[shraby]

4. I'm calling bullshit on the whole story!

If Armitage did it, why didn't he inform the C.I.A. to avoid wasting money on Fitzgerald's investigation? Why did the C.I.A. turn it over to the F.B.I.? I don't buy the story.

[Disturbed]

5. The RW Whore Pundits are real happy about this story.

They now say that there was no case against the Busholini Regime at all and that Fitz bought into the bogus scenerio of left wingers that there was a concerted effort to out V. Plame in order to discredit Joe Wilson. This is all bullshit; a CYA OP.