Nbadan
07-28-2005, 05:11 AM
Case of C.I.A. Officer's Leaked Identity Takes New Turn
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: July 28, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 26 - In the same week in July 2003 in which Bush administration officials told a syndicated columnist and a Time magazine reporter that a C.I.A. officer had initiated her husband's mission to Niger, an administration official provided a Washington Post reporter with a similar account.
The first two episodes, involving the columnist Robert D. Novak and the reporter Matthew Cooper, have become the subjects of intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But little attention has been paid to what The Post reporter, Walter Pincus, has recently described as a separate exchange on July 12, 2003.
In that exchange, Mr. Pincus says, "an administration official, who was talking to me confidentially about a matter involving alleged Iraqi nuclear activities, veered off the precise matter we were discussing and told me that the White House had not paid attention" to the trip to Niger by Joseph C. Wilson IV "because it was a boondoggle arranged by his wife, an analyst with the agency who was working on weapons of mass destruction."...
***
Mr. Pincus did not write about the exchange with the administration official until October 2003, and The Washington Post itself has since reported little about it. The newspaper's most recent story was a 737-word account last Sept. 16, in which the newspaper reported that Mr. Pincus had testified the previous day about the matter, but only after his confidential source had first "revealed his or her identity" to Mr. Fitzgerald, the special counsel conducting the C.I.A. leak inquiry.
Mr. Pincus has not identified his source to the public. But a review of Mr. Pincus's own accounts and those of other people with detailed knowledge of the case strongly suggest that his source was neither Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, nor I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and was in fact a third administration official whose identity has not yet been publicly disclosed....
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/politics/28leak.html)
Pincus, clearly didn't fall for the allegation that Plame arranged the trip to Niger for Joe Wilson. One call to a confidential CIA source for which Pincus is known for would have proven that false, but whomever exposed this fabrication to him clearly was a close administration official since this has been the WH spin on the Niger trip all along. Could we have more than one administration leaker, maybe, but Fitzgerald probably already knows Pincus's source anyway...
Was It Proper for 'WP' Reporter to Talk to Plame Prosecutor?
By Allan Wolper
Published: May 31, 2005 11:35 AM ET
NEW YORK Washington Post investigative reporter Walter Pincus insists his two-hour deposition in the Valerie Plame CIA-leak case was within ethical guidelines, even though it remains hidden from public view. "My source's lawyer spoke to my lawyer," Pincus told me. "The special prosecutor knew who my source was."
Editor and Publisher (http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?schema=&vnu_content_id=1000938744)
My guess is is that after the 16 word SOTU address mishap the adminstration went into COY mode, including an all out bombardment to try and discredit Joe Wilson by any means possible, but especially using the infamous Republican echo-chamber of right-wing radio and it's group of bought-and paid-for shill writers. If there really was another leaker in the administration, it would go a long way toward proving that there was a consorted effort to expose Valarie Plame, but for now Fitgerald seems more interested in Powell's plane trip with administration officials in which Powell was seen carrying a file that was marked 'confidential' and contained information about Valarie Plame being a covert CIA agent. Speculation is that a spot reporter on the flight may have over-heard at least some administration officials talking about Plame and her connection to Joe Wilson. Maybe this is why the Special counsel is so interested examining phone logs of Air Force One during this trip.
By DOUGLAS JEHL
Published: July 28, 2005
WASHINGTON, July 26 - In the same week in July 2003 in which Bush administration officials told a syndicated columnist and a Time magazine reporter that a C.I.A. officer had initiated her husband's mission to Niger, an administration official provided a Washington Post reporter with a similar account.
The first two episodes, involving the columnist Robert D. Novak and the reporter Matthew Cooper, have become the subjects of intense scrutiny in recent weeks. But little attention has been paid to what The Post reporter, Walter Pincus, has recently described as a separate exchange on July 12, 2003.
In that exchange, Mr. Pincus says, "an administration official, who was talking to me confidentially about a matter involving alleged Iraqi nuclear activities, veered off the precise matter we were discussing and told me that the White House had not paid attention" to the trip to Niger by Joseph C. Wilson IV "because it was a boondoggle arranged by his wife, an analyst with the agency who was working on weapons of mass destruction."...
***
Mr. Pincus did not write about the exchange with the administration official until October 2003, and The Washington Post itself has since reported little about it. The newspaper's most recent story was a 737-word account last Sept. 16, in which the newspaper reported that Mr. Pincus had testified the previous day about the matter, but only after his confidential source had first "revealed his or her identity" to Mr. Fitzgerald, the special counsel conducting the C.I.A. leak inquiry.
Mr. Pincus has not identified his source to the public. But a review of Mr. Pincus's own accounts and those of other people with detailed knowledge of the case strongly suggest that his source was neither Karl Rove, Mr. Bush's top political adviser, nor I. Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and was in fact a third administration official whose identity has not yet been publicly disclosed....
NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/28/politics/28leak.html)
Pincus, clearly didn't fall for the allegation that Plame arranged the trip to Niger for Joe Wilson. One call to a confidential CIA source for which Pincus is known for would have proven that false, but whomever exposed this fabrication to him clearly was a close administration official since this has been the WH spin on the Niger trip all along. Could we have more than one administration leaker, maybe, but Fitzgerald probably already knows Pincus's source anyway...
Was It Proper for 'WP' Reporter to Talk to Plame Prosecutor?
By Allan Wolper
Published: May 31, 2005 11:35 AM ET
NEW YORK Washington Post investigative reporter Walter Pincus insists his two-hour deposition in the Valerie Plame CIA-leak case was within ethical guidelines, even though it remains hidden from public view. "My source's lawyer spoke to my lawyer," Pincus told me. "The special prosecutor knew who my source was."
Editor and Publisher (http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/article_display.jsp?schema=&vnu_content_id=1000938744)
My guess is is that after the 16 word SOTU address mishap the adminstration went into COY mode, including an all out bombardment to try and discredit Joe Wilson by any means possible, but especially using the infamous Republican echo-chamber of right-wing radio and it's group of bought-and paid-for shill writers. If there really was another leaker in the administration, it would go a long way toward proving that there was a consorted effort to expose Valarie Plame, but for now Fitgerald seems more interested in Powell's plane trip with administration officials in which Powell was seen carrying a file that was marked 'confidential' and contained information about Valarie Plame being a covert CIA agent. Speculation is that a spot reporter on the flight may have over-heard at least some administration officials talking about Plame and her connection to Joe Wilson. Maybe this is why the Special counsel is so interested examining phone logs of Air Force One during this trip.