I find this whole Plame leak quite facinating. It's liek something from Sherlock Holmes. Piecing togetgher who knew what and when. At fiorst I didn't think Rove was involved because he couldn't be that stupid. But maybe I was wrong. Here's my take on it.
First, Rove appears to be Matt Cooper's primary source. This is what Matt wrote that Rove said.
"it was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip."
So that leads to four questions.
1) Did Rove give away the agents Identity? Obviously yes.
2) Did Rove state that Plame worked for the CIA? Yes. It could be argued that the agency could be any agency in Washington, I'm sure their were a lot of them. But earlier they were referring tio the CIA so that is definately the agency Rove is mentioning.
3) Did Rove reveal what Plame was doing as an agent? Yes. That she was working in cases involving WMD. It's not a detailed explanation of her job but it does reveal the sensitivity of her work.
4) Did Rive reveal that she was an undercover agent? No. And that's a big factor because it's leads to question number five, a big question still unasnwered.
5) Did Rove know Plame was an undercover agent? There are three possible answers.
Answer A) No he did not know she worked undercover. And had absolutely no prior knowledge or notification in any form (briefing, email, memo, etc.) that she was an undercover agent.
Answer B) Maybe. He had recieved prior information that she was an agent, but either forgot or did not noticed she was undercover. For example, maybe there was a memo that passed by his desk detailing that she worked for the CIA and what she does, But he only skimmed it and remembered that she worked for the CIA and gave Wilson approval. Not any of the particulars. In that way, it would be carelessness which caused the "leak." An unhappy accident due.
Answer C) Yes, he did know she was an undercover agent and revealed this info anyway. Either because he was stupid, didn't think it would be printed, or was attempting to be intenionally malicious.
Now, intent is a big factor. For example, it's been mentioned that Cooper called Rove, not Rove calling cooper. That's important. If rove had called cooper up and said, "Hey, the reason Wilson is full of BS is because his wife okayed the triop and they have a grudge and yada, yada, yada," then it would definately appear malicious. But from my reading of things over the past two days, It appears that Cooper called, rove, theyw ere just talkign, about other things, and Plame was one of the last things to come up in their conversation. Almost as an afterthought. Which leads me to believe it was an unintenional slip by Karl Rove. Giving him the benefit of the doubt it is.
But then why the cover-up? And this is a cover-up. The Wh ahs been stalling. Intentionally. It's obvious now. So teh question is, what did the White House know? Did the president know about Rove's involvement? Probably yes. And how do they view it? If it was an accident, and Rove just mispoke carelessly, then why not the White House just come out and say so. Especially after all their lip serive to harsh justice on the leaker.
I guess criminality is a large part. From what I've read of the legal issues, as long as the leak wasn't intentional (and there is no where enough evidence right now to prove it an intentional malicious act) the law has not been broken. It was a mistake, an unfortunate accident, but Rove would not be legally liable for outing Plame. So, assuming it wasn't intentional it would have been in the best interest iof the WH to realase the info ASAP just to get it over and done.
But then again, they may see it as an untintentional accidnet, and they don't want Rove to be hurt by any fallout from a small and simple mistake with larger consequences than he may have realized at the time he said that sentence. Therefore, that's why the cover-up. To prevent a friend of teh White House from being cruicified for an innocent mistake he didn't mean and that anyone at the WH could have done. Why out the info when it could jeapordize his job. Instead, stall as long as you can, hope the story blows over, and luckily dodge the bullet of an unfortunate mistake.
By having a cover-up, and the cover-up is always worse than the crime, that puts things in a more suspicious light. It lends greater creedence that the "leak" was intentional, and that teh WH and Rove did not want to get caught. But that alone isn't proof that when he made the leak he intentionally wanted to out an undercover agent. It's just circumstancial evidence.
And what about Judith Miller, currently in jail. It's quick to assume that Rove was also her source. But we don't know that. If Rove was her source, then that's evidence that Rove revealed the info to two people. And depending on how he revealed that info to Miller, it could give much greater insight into if the leak was intentional or not. And that appears to be key. But it's perfectly possible that Miller has a separate source, not Rove, who revealed the same information. If there was a second source, who was that? And was that someone else in the White House? And if they were in the White House does that mean there was a conspiracy to leak the information if the second source appears to have done so more intentionally.
All and all it's a really thick and interesting plot. But right now, with the information we know, it appears that Rove accidentally spoke carelessly and revealed something he shouldn't. And the White House is covering his ass because they know it was an accident and don't want to a good man (in their eyes a good man, I'm not passing judgement) lose his job over somethign anyoen could have done in teh White House by mistake.
But the WH, the President, shoudl really come forward and shed some light on the subject. The more they cover up, the more suspicious it becomes. And this "ongoing investigation" crap isn't going to cut it, because for months now they've been pleading Rove's innocence. And now when it gets shown that the WH wasn't being truthful then they clam up. Of course, it's also possible nobody at the WH knew and this is as much a suprise to them. That seems unlikely though.
Anyway, it's getting thicker and thicker.
ing queen screaming to be let out, it's not funny. I'm not criticizing, just pointing out the obvious. He's a fantastic bullshit artist, so once he comes out, the Dems will gladly take him under our wing.
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