Bell Curve The Law Talking Guy Raised by Republicans U.S. West
Well, he's kind of had it in for me ever since I accidentally ran over his dog. Actually, replace "accidentally" with "repeatedly," and replace "dog" with "son."

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Don't Forget the Real Traitor...

Robert Novak's July 14, 2003 column, Mission to Niger, in which he revealed Ambassador Wilson's wife was a CIA operative working on WMD, started this scandal. Then on October 1, 2003, after the official investigation began, Novak tried to explain his actions in a second column, The CIA Leak. His own explanation shows he is a liar. I ask you to consider the following full quotations, all taken from Novak's own writings.

1. In his October "explanation," Novak admits that he was asked by the CIA not to mention Wilson's wife, but explains that he did so because he needed to find the "missing" explanation for CIA's "otherwise incredible" choice of Joseph Wilson.

At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission.

2. However, in the original July column, we see that Novak already knew several obvious reasons why the CIA might select Joseph Wilson to investigate whether Saddam Hussein tried to buy nuclear materials in Niger.
(a) Wilson had served as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer in both Iraq and Niger.
(b) Wilson had risked his life to save Americans from Saddam Hussein during the Gulf War.
(c) Wilson had served admirably under both Republican and Democratic Presidents for more than 20 years.
(D) Wilson had been in charge of African Affairs at the National Security Council until his retirement in 1998.

His first public notice had come in 1991 after 15 years as a Foreign Service officer when, as U.S. charge in Baghdad, he risked his life to shelter in the embassy some 800 Americans from Saddam Hussein's wrath. My partner Rowland Evans reported from the Iraqi capital in our column that Wilson showed "the stuff of heroism." President George H.W. Bush the next year named him ambassador to Gabon, and President Bill Clinton put him in charge of African affairs at the National Security Council until his retirement in 1998.

After eight days in the Niger capital of Niamey (where he once served), Wilson made an oral report in Langley that an Iraqi uranium purchase was "highly unlikely," though he also mentioned in passing that a 1988 Iraqi delegation tried to establish commercial contacts. CIA officials did not regard Wilson's intelligence as definitive, being based primarily on what the Niger officials told him and probably would have claimed under any circumstances. The CIA report of Wilson's briefing remains classified.

Either Novak is lying or he is an idiot. Picking a retired senior national security official with personal experience in both Iraq and Niger isn't "incredible"--it's inspired. The simplest explanation as to why Novak knowingly risked causing "difficulties" for Wilson's wife is because he wanted to cause "difficulties" for Wilson's wife. What a bastard.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

They (Rove and Novak) are both traitors. Novak's no idiot - he was just lying. 

// posted by Bell Curve

Anonymous said...

Novak as a lying bastard is not news, but it is not regarded as a reason to keep him out of newsrooms. The news will only be if a major news outlet tells that to the public and unmasks the lie and makes him un-hirable outside of far right wing circles. 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

Novak has gotten a free pass on this even more than Rove. The press is starting to zero in on Rove but Novak is still largely flying under the radar. I suspect it is because journalists are nervous about saying any one of them can't just say anything they want. In short, they want all the blame to go to the officials and none of it to go to any reporter, even one who is knowingly and willingly acting as the agent of those officials (i.e. Novak).

If that is there concern, I can understand it. But I think this story has two aspects. First and foremost is the betrayal of national security secrets for political gain. But this story is also part of a broader pattern that has arisen in the Bush administration of using people with press credentials as agents of White House policy.

Novak is one example. So is Jeff Gannon (the porn star/escort turned White House correspondent/shill). Fox News is almost entirely an agent of the Republican party and the White House. The Wall Street Jounral is rapidly moving in the same direction.  

// posted by Raised By Republicans

Anonymous said...

This administration has a real nasty track record when it comes to journalists and journalism.

Novak walks free while his colleagues go to jail because he sold out and cooperated with a Grand Jury, or so we suspect.

Fox News, with Bush’s relatives sitting in high up positions, gets to decide presidential elections while Fox in general has some of the most risqué, trashy programming around. But we fine other media outlets for foul language and showing pasties during half-time.

CBS fired 4 of its people because of research technicality on Bush's military record. (Notice, no one ever said that story was wrong, just that it wasn't fully confirmed.)

The CPB is under fire for being to "liberal". And now a political appointee (former assistant Chair of the Republican Party) is basically reigning over it. And the poster child for the evil of PBS is Bill Moyers or all people.

So the lesson here (and McClellan should beware) is that failing to cooperate with the White House will get you fired, your budget cut, and your reputation sullied while cooperating (by protecting a source) will get you tossed in jail or lauded (as the case my be). You can't win- unless of course you strip naked and get photographed.
 

// posted by USWest

Anonymous said...

Fox plays both sides. It cheapens the culture and introduces lowbrow trash, then supports right-wingers who condemn it. The condemnation that our culture has gotten coarser is made on Fox, but is largely because of Fox. If you really think about what has made culture "coarser", you will come time and again to Fox shows.

Problem is, most conservatives are too dumb to see it. And I mean 'dumb' quite seriously. Saying they are "blind" would be an insult to the blind, who can be quite perceptive. 

// posted by LTG

Anonymous said...

This citation from the Ironic Times  is too good to pass up:

Columnist Bob Novak Reveals
More Names of CIA Agents
 
Judge sends more New York Times
reporters to jail. 

// posted by Bell Curve

Anonymous said...

My favorite is:

Poll: 23% Say 1st Amendment Goes Too Far 
Other 77% afraid to offer an opinion. 

// posted by Raised By Republicans

Anonymous said...

And for a party that pretends to espouse both "family values" and the rights of women in the workplace, I think it should be noted that Wilson and his wife have several small children.

Leak her name. Destroy her career. Make her a target. I guess if the kids won't be voting Republican...who cares? Grrrr.

-Seventh Sister 

// posted by Anonymous

Anonymous said...

Are there no workhouses? 

// posted by Raised By Republicans

Anonymous said...

Republicans just get so nervous when one of their own starts talking about white women, closed door activities, and "Niger."  

// posted by LTG