September 29, 2003

Plame/Wilson: DC Smoke and Mirrors

To use McGehee's words, "not only is there no 'there' there, there isn't even a 'there' for "there" to be there, or not be there. Uh, so there." Bob Novak, who started the whole story with a forgotten column back in July declares, "'Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this." [via Drudge] According to Novak's CIA source, Plame wasn't a spy or running a covert operation.

Since the CIA turned the Plame/Wilson incident into a scandal by releasing the letter asking the Justice Department to look into whether laws were broken, CIA chief George Tenet moves right into my crosshairs. Did he authorized the sent letter? Did he know about it? If so, what's his agenda? Is he ticked he had to take the rap for the African uranium mention in the State of the Union?

Much of this depends on what the Washington Post describes as "administration officials." Somehow the reader has to distinguish this from "White House officials." If you read these stories quickly (like 90% of readers do) you'll interchange them.

Let's look with a wider scope. Why did President Bush retain Tenet from the Clinton administration? Why didn't Tenet resign or get fired after the Sep. 11 attacks? (I know of no one who got fired at all.)

Then there's Joe Wilson's role. What was the thinking of Vice President Cheney's staff to send a man antagonistic to the administration to check out an intelligence lead? His "investigation" amounted to tea parties at the U.S. embassy in Niger. The key here is Wilson's wife. From what's known so far this guy wouldn't be able to find out whether the uranium story was true or not, but his wife would know much more. If she starts talking all of DC will be listening.

What we do know is someone wanted to bring attention onto Plume. Novak says the CIA didn't want her name mentioned but didn't tell him it would "endanger her or anybody else." What they may have told him (but not mentioned by Novak) is the information wasn't life or death. Telling the world Plume's true identity and occupation would damage the intelligence pipeline, but no one's life was on the line. That's just speculation. DC is world all to its own where the Machiavellian tactics would turn the greatest idealist into a cold cynic.

But Plume might not have the secret job we've been led to believe. If her identity was to be kept secret then why does Wilson's bio on the Middle East Institute website mention his wife by name? [via Pejmanesque] With a simple Google search her connection to a former U.S. government official could be assertained.

As for Bush bashers, they now have to wipe up a lot of drool. They must have thought they finally got that poor-talking, born again, Texas business dork.

"Bush Aides Say They'll Cooperate With Probe Into Intelligence Leak"