Armitage was THE source (not A source) - CNN, King/Todd shilling again?

[Supersedeas]

<Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the source who revealed the identity of CIA <officer Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak in 2003, touching off a federal <investigation, two sources familiar with Armitage's role tell CNN.

...............

<Wilson and some Democrats contend Plame's identity was released by the White House to retaliate <against her husband for writing a July 2003 column in The New York Times that questioned the <administration's use of prewar intelligence on Iraq. (Full story)

<Last month, Plame and Wilson filed a civil lawsuit alleging a conspiracy that "was motivated by an <invidiously discriminatory animus towards those who had publicly criticized the administration's <stated justifications for going to war with Iraq" and culminated with the disclosure that Plame <worked at the CIA. This revelation destroyed Plame's career with the agency, according to the suit.

<However, the scenario described by the sources appears to contradict those arguments.


Only CNN - THE Corp Crony Cable News Source

[acmavm]

1. Could this be bullshit so that Rove, Cheney, etc. can't be

hauled into court?

edit: not necessarily to face charges but so that they can claim ignorance and not have to testify?

[blm]

2. That's certainly the impression CNN wants accepted.

.

[janx]

3. Doubtful.

Armitage told Novak, but where did Armitage get the information?

Answer: Cheney's office.

Edit: See post #7.

[catmandu57]

4. Who told armitage?

if Plame's id could only be known at the top.

[Warpy]

5. Oh yeah? Well who the hell told ARMITAGE?

People aren't being fooled by this one. Armitage was a notorious gossip and certainly in no position to know who was a covert agent, the name of her front business, or anything else about the CIA.

He'd be the LAST person anyone in a lawful administration would tell.

[leveymg]

9. It was in a State Dept. document that was handed around.

See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/144

[Kagemusha]

12. Which supposedly made no mention of her being covert.

Though the document itself was classified to the point that no journalist should have EVER heard of it, gossip or otherwise.

[Warpy]

24. Handed around by WHOM?

It still goes back to the criminals in the White House.

[leveymg]

6. Between Woodward and Novak there were five, possibly six, sources

Woodward, who received the original Plame identity leak, had three sources within the Administration.

Novak had at least two "highly placed" sources, and possibly a third.

This Armitage is the one source stuff is garbage.

[janx]

8. I was wondering when you or H20 would show up!

There's an LBN thread going about this that is getting far too little attention. Intriguing, isn't it?

[leveymg]

11. Thanks, Janx. I'll take a look.

[janx]

7. NYT article on the same subject:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/washington/30armitage.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"In the accounts by the lawyer and associates, Mr. Armitage disclosed casually to Mr. Novak that Ms. Wilson worked for the C.I.A. at the end of an interview in his State Department office. Mr. Armitage knew that, the accounts continue, because he had seen a written memorandum by Under Secretary of State Marc Grossman.

Mr. Grossman had taken up the task of finding out about Ms. Wilson after an inquiry from I. Lewis Libby Jr., chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Mr. Libby’s inquiry was prompted by an Op-Ed article on May 6, 2003, in The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof and an article on June 12, 2003, in The Washington Post by Walter Pincus."

[Kagemusha]

10. It still doesn't make sense.

Armitage may have known she was CIA, but Novak wrote explicitly and specifically that she'd been covert. If he'd written that she was a publicly known overt agent the fact that was not correct would not change her exposure, but well... er, well who told Novak she was covert if it wasn't Armitage?

As I said. It still doesn't make sense.

[leveymg]

13. Someone other than Armitage told Novak that she was "undercover"

Novak had two, possibly three, sources. Woodward admits to three.

[Kagemusha]

15. Well, I had a thought a minute ago...

Novak called the CIA and asked about Plame apparently, and he was told they weren't talking about her, and they didn't want him talking about her, either, or suggesting things about her.

Could Novak have simply decided, "Ok, I know she works at the CIA, they won't admit it, ergo, she's covert - great, I'll put that in my column!"

Maybe he called a couple of other sources like Rove or Libby (or both) to get a wink, wink, nod, nod, confirmation that she worked at the CIA without their saying she was a NOC. So he decides she's a NOC (non-official cover = covert) based on the CIA refusal to discuss her, which they wouldn't do if she was NOT a NOC, and prints she's a NOC with the CIA spokesman as his unwitting "source" by process of elimination.

And Fitz can't know for sure if the confirmation to Novak, taking advantage of Armitage's f-up, was a conspiracy or not with Libby throwing sand in his eyes.

[leveymg]

17. Bill Harlow at CIA cautioned Novak not to write about Plame

Harlow said that her exposure would have serious national security damage to the program she worked for, without specifying what that was. I don't think Novak merely deduced her NOC status from that warning.

[Kagemusha]

19. I'd love to know either way but, with so many liars involved...

But, the media's already off to the races.

[janx]

14. Speculation from reporters rarely makes sense.

I've seen much better deductive skills from some here at DU who have been following and archiving the documents and events as they have unfolded.

The only way we're going to find out who was ultimately responsible for this is to wait and let the Fitzgerald investigation run its course.

[janx]

16. I can't help but wonder whether or not Cheney was alone

when he scribbled these notes--or were they some scribblings from a meeting? The "wife" and "junket" parts because important pieces of the GOP lexicon and were repeated ad nauseam in the RW media.

[janx]

18. Notice how completely offensive Cheney's questions are--

they are completely and rhetorically offensive.

[Supersedeas]

20. Norah O'Donnell (subbing for Tweety on Hardball) continued to pose the ??

Isn't it legitimate to ask about Mr. Wilson's wife???

HOW NOOOOOO Brains NOOOO RAH!!!!!

HOW is that relevant to the substance of the Editorial???

[Supersedeas]

21. Link to CNN Snowjob article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/08/30/leak.armitage/index.html

[Disturbed]

22. The Busholini Regime and it's Shill Pundits love this story.

The effort now is for all of them to say that this proves that there was no concerted effort to smear Joe Wilson, that no crimes were committed and that Armatege is weasle for not coming forward at the outset with his "blurting out" V, Plame's ID with the CIA.

[janx]

23. The absence of critical thought on the part of the pundits

is mind boggling.

Armitage said he let slip Plame's name to Novak, ERGO...ARMITAGE is the ONE AND ONLY GUY INVOLVED!

Talk about fallacious logic...It's about as logical as the Karr coverage.