Why the Outing of Plame Is Important

With all the attention riveted on Fitzgerald news conference about the indictment of Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff for Vice President Cheney. Fitz is clearly a very competent man. Scooter Libby is the sacrificial lamb for Cheney.
I have to believe that Libby was doing the bidding of his boss. That is why he lied to cover Cheney as the source of the information about Plame. I also believe Rove is Official "A" listed in the document, so do many news sources:
Yahoo! News

It has been known that columnist Robert Novak spoke to Rove on July 9, 2003, saying he planned to report over the weekend that Valerie Plame, the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, had worked for the CIA. Rove told the columnist he had heard similar information.


Friday's indictment says "Official A" is a "senior official in the White House who advised Libby on July 10 or 11 of 2003" about a chat with Novak about his upcoming column in which Plame would be identified as a CIA employee.


Late Friday, three people close to the investigation, each asking to remain unidentified because of grand jury secrecy, identified Rove as Official A.

During major events, some important news sneaks by. How many people have you heard say the outing of Plame was no big deal? Juan Cole would beg to differ.
Informed Comment

I think this interview by Wolf Blitzer with Larry Johnson on CNN's Situation Room on Wednesday is extremely important and worry that it may be missed. I'm quoting some excerpts below. I was struck by the information that Plame Wilson has had death threats from al-Qaeda, and that the CIA has declined to offer her any special protection even though she still works there.


So the Bush administration is throwing our own counter-proliferation intelligence operatives to al-Qaeda by outing them, and Porter Goss refuses even to provide any security? Oh, yeah, we're going to recruit a lot of capable, competent people into counter-terrorism after this.


At one point former CIA officer Larry Johnson slams Clifford May as "not credible." May, a far rightwing Zionist, has been a hatchet man for the Neocons, smearing Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, the husband of Valerie Plame Wilson, with innuendo and half-truths. The principle on American television news (aside from Fox, which gets a pass because Rupert Murdoch is so rich and crazy) is that some sort of partisan balance has to be maintained. So Johnson's going after May required Wolf to step in to defend May's credibility, since he didn't have a guest on to counter Johnson.


Johnson's anger and bitterness, as a US intelligence professional, about the damage done by Rove and Libby in leaking Plame's name to the press for petty political advantage, are well worth considering.

Then read this article from Whitley Strieber. Now read Juan's background article in Salon. MORE