Valerie Plame testifies(?) before circus commitee.
Page 1 of 1 [ 2 posts ]
16 Mar 2007, 6:49 pm
I guess. She was before (Democrat) Henry Waxman's House committee. She said this:
Quote:
This is what Valerie Plame Wilson just said about her husband's trip: "I did not recommend him. I did not suggest him. There was no nepotism involved. I did not have the authority."
(source)
*Her husband is Joe Wilson, who went in to write a (inaccurate) article in the New York Times whose contents have become part of accepted wisdom. Her name was leaked, apparently first by former deputy Secretary of State and Iraq war critic Richard Armitage (whose name was not mentioned in the hearing) to Robert Woodward and then Robert Novak. This was not illegal because Ms. Plame was not a covert agent. Her name, and possible connection to her husband, his trip, and his faulty article later came out from other officials (although it was apparently already common enough known in the beltway at this point), among them Dick Cheney's assistant "Scooter" Libby (mentioned in the hearing 10 times).
However Ms. Plame's story conflicts (or appears to) with the Senate investigations report:
Quote:
Some CPD officials could not recall how the office decided to contact the former ambassador, however, interviews and documents provided to the Committee indicate that his wife, a CPD employee, suggested his name for the trip. The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador's wife "offered up his name" and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12, 2002, from the former ambassador's wife says, "my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity." This was just one day before CPD sent a cable REDACTED requesting concurrence with CPD's idea to send the former ambassador to Niger and requesting any additional information from the foreign government service on their uranium reports. The former ambassador's wife told Committee staff that when CPD decided it would like to send the former ambassador to Niger, she approached her husband on behalf of the CIA and told him "there's this crazy report" on a purported deal for Niger to sell uranium to Iraq.
The former ambassador had traveled previously to Niger on the CIA's behalf REDACTED. The former ambassador was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region REDACTED. Because the former ambassador did not uncover any information about REDACTED during this visit to Niger, CPD did not distribute an intelligence report on the visit.
The former ambassador had traveled previously to Niger on the CIA's behalf REDACTED. The former ambassador was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region REDACTED. Because the former ambassador did not uncover any information about REDACTED during this visit to Niger, CPD did not distribute an intelligence report on the visit.
(source)
What is going on here? Was she sworn in? If not will she get tried for perjury by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzerald? What is the deal with this circus atmosphere? The initial leaker is has been established (the inconvenient Richard Armitage) yet this is being ignored in some witch hunt to go after Carl Rove, Dick Cheney and (I guess) George W. Bush. But no real evidence has been presented! It's like some weird show trial without any one in the box.
