Novak Says Rove Compromised National Security
Columnist and alleged Opus Dei member Robert Novak confirmed yesterday that White House Senior Advisor Karl Rove compromised national security for political purposes in 2003. In an article yesterday Novak revealed that Rove was his source confirming the story which outed Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA operative working on weapons of mass destruction. Novak could not have written the damaging article without Rove's confirmation. Journalism requires two sources for such stories.
Let's recap the affair. In the runup to the invasion of Iraq the White House was manipulating intelligence data and was in a struggle with CIA analysts over "evidence" Administration figures were using to sell the war to the American people. One of these claims was that Saddam Hussein was seeking to purchase uranium from the African nation of Niger. The CIA believed documents secured by Italy were forgeries and sent former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to verify them on eway or the other. The documents were exposed as forgeries.
Even though the CIA notified White House Deputy National Security Director Steven Hadley (now Director) they were frauds the White House continued insisting on using the claim to sell the war. This climaxed in Bush's 2003 State of the Union address when he used the claim in his speech to convince Americans Saddam was trying to acquire nuclear weapons.
As a result Ambassador Wilson went public, writing an opinion article titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa." He exposed the President's claim not only as a lie but as an intentional lie. The Oval Office then entered crisis mode by attacking Mr. Wilson. It was decided in the Vice President's office to do so by exposing his wife as a CIA agent. Thus Mr. Rove and Lewis Libby, Cheney's Chief of Staff at the time, contacted Mr. Novak with the information. It was imperative on thes emen, as two of the highest ranking persons in our national government, to protect national security by asking the CIA first if she was working undercover. Their apparent negligence in doing so compromised national security when they revealed her to Novak.
It is a federal crime to willfully reveal the name of an undercover intelligence agent. Because Valerie Plame was working undercover at the time this was an inexcusable violation of our national security. Their negligence in determining this makes them unqualified to have national security clearances. Now we've learned she was working on Iran's actual attempt to acquire nuclear technology and that those efforts were compromised simply so George W. Bush could cover his butt politically. Unfortunately these are lengths they felt they had to go to after lying to the American people about why they went to war. One monumental lie led to another monumentally bad decision after another.
What remains to be seen is if George W. Bush will actually comply with his own statement that anyone known to have compromised national security in this matter would be fired. It's time to fire Karl Rove Mr. President.
Let's recap the affair. In the runup to the invasion of Iraq the White House was manipulating intelligence data and was in a struggle with CIA analysts over "evidence" Administration figures were using to sell the war to the American people. One of these claims was that Saddam Hussein was seeking to purchase uranium from the African nation of Niger. The CIA believed documents secured by Italy were forgeries and sent former Ambassador Joseph Wilson to Niger to verify them on eway or the other. The documents were exposed as forgeries.
Even though the CIA notified White House Deputy National Security Director Steven Hadley (now Director) they were frauds the White House continued insisting on using the claim to sell the war. This climaxed in Bush's 2003 State of the Union address when he used the claim in his speech to convince Americans Saddam was trying to acquire nuclear weapons.
As a result Ambassador Wilson went public, writing an opinion article titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa." He exposed the President's claim not only as a lie but as an intentional lie. The Oval Office then entered crisis mode by attacking Mr. Wilson. It was decided in the Vice President's office to do so by exposing his wife as a CIA agent. Thus Mr. Rove and Lewis Libby, Cheney's Chief of Staff at the time, contacted Mr. Novak with the information. It was imperative on thes emen, as two of the highest ranking persons in our national government, to protect national security by asking the CIA first if she was working undercover. Their apparent negligence in doing so compromised national security when they revealed her to Novak.
It is a federal crime to willfully reveal the name of an undercover intelligence agent. Because Valerie Plame was working undercover at the time this was an inexcusable violation of our national security. Their negligence in determining this makes them unqualified to have national security clearances. Now we've learned she was working on Iran's actual attempt to acquire nuclear technology and that those efforts were compromised simply so George W. Bush could cover his butt politically. Unfortunately these are lengths they felt they had to go to after lying to the American people about why they went to war. One monumental lie led to another monumentally bad decision after another.
What remains to be seen is if George W. Bush will actually comply with his own statement that anyone known to have compromised national security in this matter would be fired. It's time to fire Karl Rove Mr. President.
posted by PA progressive @ Wednesday, July 12, 2006
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