CIA seeks probe of White House
Agency asks Justice to investigate leak of employee’s identity
http://a799.g.akamai.net/3/799/388/2ebefc7104d681/www.msnbc.com/Site_Elements/CLEAR.GIF EXCLUSIVE
MSNBC AND NBC NEWS
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 — The CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations that the White House broke federal laws by revealing the identity of one of its undercover employees in retaliation against the woman’s husband, a former ambassador who publicly criticized President Bush’s since-discredited claim that Iraq had sought weapons-grade uranium from Africa, NBC News has learned.
THE FORMER ENVOY, Joseph Wilson, who was acting ambassador to Iraq before the first Gulf War, was dispatched to Niger in 2002 to investigate a British intelligence report that Iraq sought to buy uranium there. Although Wilson discredited the report, Bush cited it in his State of the Union address in January among the evidence he said justified military action in Iraq.
The administration has since had to repudiate the claim. CIA Director George Tenet said the 16-word sentence should not have been included in Bush’s Jan. 28 speech and publicly accepted responsibility for allowing it to remain in the president’s text.
Wilson published an article in July alleging, however, that the White House recklessly made the charge knowing it was false.
“We spend billions of dollars on intelligence,” Wilson wrote. “But we end up putting something in the State of the Union address, something we got from another intelligence agency, something we cannot independently verify, in an area of Africa where the British have no on-the-ground presence.”
WHITE HOUSE DENIALS
The next week, columnist Robert Novak published an article in which he revealed that Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert CIA operative specializing in weapons of mass destruction. “Two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate,” Novak wrote.
The White House has denied being Novak’s source, whom he has refused to identify. But Wilson has said other reporters have told him White House officials leaked Plame’s identity.
NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell reported Friday night that the CIA has asked the Justice Department to investigate whether White House officials blew Plame’s cover in retaliation against Wilson. Revealing the identities of covert officials is a violation of two laws, the National Agents’ Identity Act and the Unauthorized Release of Classified Information Act.
ATTEMPTS TO REMOVE CLAIM
When the Niger claim first arose, in February 2002, the CIA sent Wilson to Africa to investigate. He reported finding no credible evidence that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger.
The CIA’s doubts about the uranium claim were reported through routine intelligence traffic throughout the government, U.S. intelligence officials said. Those doubts were also reported to the British.
The Niger report included a notation that it was unconfirmed when it was published in the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate, the classified summary of intelligence on Iraq’s weapons programs.
The CIA had the Niger claim removed from at least two speeches before they were given: Bush’s October address on the Iraqi threat, and a speech by U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte.
As the State of the Union address was being written, CIA officials protested over how the alleged uranium connection was being portrayed, so the administration changed it to attribute it to the British, who had made the assertion in a Sept. 24 dossier.
By MSNBC.com’s Alex Johnson with NBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_infobeat.asp?/news/937524.asp Subj: Ambassador Joe Wilson on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" This Monday
Date: 9/28/03 12:01:14 AM Pacific Daylight Time
From: MORRIS434
Hi All,
We need to try to get on C-SPAN (C-SPAN can be viewed on BBC Parliamentary Channel) this Monday at 4:45 AM on the west coast and at 7:45 AM on the east coast of the USA (live) when Ambassador Joe Wilson is on C-SPAN's "Washington Journal" program (as we need to mention the JINSA/CSP/PNAC Neocons and www.nowarforisrael.com as Ambassador Wilson is also very much against the Neocons as we need to call to give him an opportunity to discuss them):
http://www.c-span.org/homepage.asp?Cat=Series&Code=WJE&ShowVidNum=6&Rot_Cat_CD=WJ&Rot_HT=204&Rot_WD=&ShowVidDays=15&ShowVidDesc=
LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE
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These comments are anonymously submitted by the website visitors.
TITLE |
AUTHOR |
DATE |
Robert Fisk: Lies, mischief and the myth of Western intelligence services- Syria |
America Firster |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 1:35 AM |
Ahh, Robert Fisk. |
nonanarchist |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 4:16 AM |
one of the best sources there is |
Hex anon w/ encryption |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 5:14 AM |
You've GOT to be kidding. |
nonanarchist |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 5:16 AM |
prove it - kobe/duke/fresca/nonbrain |
Hex anon w/ encryption |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 5:20 AM |
I'll prove it when... |
nonanarchist |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 5:24 AM |
25 Rules of Disinformation: How to Fight Back |
Oracle |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 6:08 AM |
No thread would be complete... |
nonanarchist |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 6:21 AM |
Fisk is on another planet |
Barney |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 6:30 AM |
You can say that again. |
Oracle Admirer |
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003 at 7:40 AM |
The Plame Facts |
Ffutal |
Tuesday, Sep. 30, 2003 at 2:01 PM |
Plame-Out? |
Ffutal |
Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2003 at 1:21 PM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2003 at 2:10 PM |
....I think there is blood in the water now.... |
lksjfkl |
Wednesday, Oct. 01, 2003 at 2:26 PM |
Plame-Out?--II |
Ffutal |
Thursday, Oct. 02, 2003 at 11:13 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Thursday, Oct. 02, 2003 at 12:03 PM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 9:18 AM |
Is She Covert? |
Ffutal |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 10:29 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 11:06 AM |
I don't see the big deal |
Max |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 11:11 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 11:31 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 11:36 AM |
KPC=OneTrickPony |
kskldfj |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 11:44 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 12:01 PM |
KPC=OneTrickPony |
adkfjs |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 12:54 PM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 1:12 PM |
KPC=AngryLeftPoodleBoy |
lkdfjs |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 1:44 PM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 2:12 PM |
Attn: AngryLeftPoodleBoy |
lksdjf |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 2:19 PM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 2:24 PM |
Attn: AngryLeftPoodleBoy |
jdfkl |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 2:35 PM |
"....oh, that's right, your JOB is to defend the indefensible..... " |
the hammer |
Friday, Oct. 03, 2003 at 2:59 PM |
"...witness the moral backbone of th Republican party..." |
Max |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 2:09 AM |
undermine our leadership |
this is funny (not) |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 2:24 AM |
Not a clue, you got that right. |
Max |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 2:33 AM |
ha ha |
nonantichrist |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 2:44 AM |
not for Max |
The Cocain/Herion Import Agency |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 2:52 AM |
You've got to be kidding. |
Max |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 3:05 AM |
Ahh...more |
Guns n Drugs |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 3:13 AM |
"America Firster" |
Psyop Hunter |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 5:53 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 7:36 AM |
"it's from Liechtenstein...they talk funny over there....." |
Max |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 7:46 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 8:15 AM |
"I didn't post the link, numbnuts" |
Max |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 8:19 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 8:24 AM |
good come-back, KFC. |
Max |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 8:32 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Saturday, Oct. 04, 2003 at 8:41 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2003 at 8:35 AM |
Someone Get a Judge and a Rope |
All together now - Treason |
Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2003 at 11:32 AM |
No Legs |
All together now - DOA |
Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2003 at 11:37 AM |
Settle down Warren |
calm yourself |
Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2003 at 11:37 AM |
OneEyedMan |
KPC |
Wednesday, Oct. 08, 2003 at 1:33 PM |
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