MCCLELLAN VS. BUSH VS. PLAME

My friend left another comment about the Plame case. He points out that Novak said his source was Richard Armitage. Interestingly, Armitage apologized to Plame for revealing her identity to Novak. He also said just this month that it was "foolish" for him to have revealed Plame's identity. Here's how CBS/AP puts it:

"(CBS/AP) Former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage says he was foolish to have revealed the identity of a CIA employee.

Armitage's acknowledgment Sunday came in response to comments by Valerie Plame, who said the former Bush administration official had no right to talk to a reporter about where she worked.

A year ago, Armitage publicly apologized to Plame and her husband. The former No. 2 State Department official remains the only principal in the leak to have done so.

At least three one-time administration officials in addition to Armitage discussed Plame's CIA status with reporters. They are former White House political adviser Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney's ex-chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and former presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer.
Armitage and Rove were the sources for a 2003 newspaper column by conservative commentator Robert Novak that disclosed Plame's CIA employment."

It is true that Armitage was Novak's initial source, but it is also true that Novak called Rove for confirmation of Armitage's info, which Rove provided. Rove, Bush's closest adviser, also revealed info about Plame to Time's Matt Cooper before Novak's story appeared. David Corn sums it up thusly:

Novak neglects to note that Karl Rove was the source he used to confirm the leak he had received from Armitage--and that Rove also leaked classified information on Valerie Wilson to Matt Cooper of Time magazine before the leak appeared in Novak's column. Nor does Novak mention that Scooter Libby leaked information on Valerie Wilson to Judith Miller of The New York Times weeks before Novak entered Armitage's office--and also confirmed Rove's leak to Cooper. (A source close to Rove is quoted in Hubris saying that Rove "probably" learned about Valerie Wilson from Libby.) Like Armitage, Rove and Libby kept silent, even as the White House claimed they were not involved in the leak. Maybe it's time for all leakers to come clean and tell what happened.

And Rove is definitely a White House source, and unlike Novak's description of Armitage as "no partisan gunslinger," Rove is the pre-eminent partisan gunslinger.

Our Impeachable Connection--"...and misdemeanors"

So there's our impeachable connection--Rove, Libby, and Armitage all leaked info about Plame. How Rove beat the rap is a mystery to me, but apparently it had something to do with being ultimately more forthcoming than Libby.

And that's what McClellan's getting at--Rove was in fact one of the leakers that Bush said would be fired, and McClellan was told that Rove wasn't involved. Or McClellan was told to tell us that Rove wasn't involved. So the president, through his spokesman, lied to you and me.

And lying may not be a crime, but it is a "misdemeanor," which is given in the Constitution as an acceptable reason to impeach a president. Here's dictionary.com's 2nd definition for "misdemeanor":

"2. an instance of misbehavior; misdeed."

Let the impeachment begin!

VALERIE PLAME WAS A COVERT AGENT--YES, SHE WAS

A friend of mine left the following comment on my post from yesterday (McClellan Rats Out Bush...):

"In any case, perjury is only a crime if done under oath, so the President could only be accused of lying at best, but no crime. Furthermore, there was no crime committed in the first place since Valiere Plame was not a active field spy when her career was leaked and leaked not just by the White House."

I don't know if the CIA actually has a designation of "active field spy," but they do have the designation of an employee with "non-official cover," or NOC, which is what Plame was--a NOC ("knock"). She was working on WMD issues with respect to Iran:

"The unmasking of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson by White House officials in 2003 caused significant damage to U.S. national security and its ability to counter nuclear proliferation abroad, RAW STORY has learned.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Plame Wilson, who worked on the clandestine side of the CIA in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer, was part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from Iran."

Plame WAS a covert, "active field spy"

An unclassified summary of Plame's CIA work history was released in May of this year. It explained that she was in fact covert at the time of the leak and that she also conducted CIA/national security business overseas:

"The unclassified summary of Plame's employment with the CIA at the time that syndicated columnist Robert Novak published her name on July 14, 2003 says, "Ms. Wilson was a covert CIA employee for who the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States."

Plame worked as an operations officer in the Directorate of Operations and was assigned to the Counterproliferation Division (CPD) in January 2002 at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.

The employment history indicates that while she was assigned to CPD, Plame, "engaged in temporary duty travel overseas on official business." The report says, "she traveled at least seven times to more than ten times." When overseas Plame traveled undercover, "sometimes in true name and sometimes in alias -- but always using cover -- whether official or non-official (NOC) -- with no ostensible relationship to the CIA."

That, good people, is a genuine spy. So to have George Bush and Dick Cheney and their "familiars in the media" (how I miss "The Majority Report") portray the Bush administration as the party of national security is a JOKE. What's even more of a sick, unfunny, and ruinous joke is that they blew the cover of an agent working on issues with Iran and now have decidedd that we have to attack Iran.

So by outing Plame, they killed two birds with one stone--they smeared Wilson for revealing that there was no Iraq/Niger deal for uranium (a claim based on badly forged documents), and they blew the career and cover of his wife, who might have stood between the neocons and a war with Iran.

That's why we should impeach

Either one of those offenses is worthy of impeachment, but they gave us a twofer! Forget perjury--for Bush and Cheney, that's kid stuff--their aphrodisiac is starting wars and then cashing in. Lying may not be a crime, but starting wars of aggression is [just to be perfectly clear--that's what Bush and Cheney did].

Notice those bastards never testify under oath and, as in the case of their appearance before the 9/11 Whitewash Commission, they specifically stipulate that they are not to be sworn. They used the ol' "raise your right hand" trick on Clinton--but Willie wasn't as slick as the oilbirds Bush and Cheney and he fell right into the trap.

McClellan's revelation is big, big news--of course we all knew it all along anyway, but to have confirmation is nice. Now will the Democrats do anything about it? I doubt it, but we shall see...they need to get behind my man Kucinich. And/or my man Ron Paul.

MCCLELLAN RATS OUT BUSH AND CHENEY--WHY NO IMPEACHMENT?

Scott McClellan has a book coming out in April 2008. But we have been treated to a very, very juicy tidbit, just in time for a tasty Thanksgiving political discussion with the conservative family members:

"The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," writes McClellan. "So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby."

But his press performances weren't based on the facts, McClellan continues.

"There was one problem. It was not true," he writes. "I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself."

Holy articles of impeachment, Batman!! This is big! How can Pelosi continue to spit in Kucinich's face given evidence like this? How can she continue to spit in my face and your face? Or, as put it on the Hattiesburg American forum today:

"There is NO REASON to not impeach Bush and Cheney, and everyone knows it. Bush and Cheney both have record disapproval numbers. There is nothing to be gained politically by protecting them and vice versa. A huge majority of the country and the military wants to get out of Iraq as soon as possible.

What then is the source of the Democrats' inaction on impeachment? Is it:

1. The warrantless wiretapping gave the Bushies some dirt on Pelosi and Reid
2. As Nader pointed out, Congress has been warned that martial law will be enacted if impeachment proceedings begin
3. The Democrats are in on the swindle and stand to profit as much from martial law and endless war as the Republicans

Not that the reason really matters--it's still an awful situation.

Put impeachment on the table!!"

Kucinich/Paul '08! Paul/Kucinich '08!