That Armitage leaked first doesn't make the rest of what happened OK!

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

I got so tired of hearing this on the talk shows and radio today and this week, so I wrote this to one media outlet:

Regarding the idea that is going around these days that liberals and Democrats are ignoring the fact that Armitage was the original leaker:

Armitage may have been been engaged in nothing more than gossip.

But that does not then absolve everyone else who continued to disseminate the information for purely political purposes of any blame, does it?

I don't think so. Nor does it give anyone else license to spread the classified information.

That one person inadvertently spilled a secret, a very important secret, should have caused the administration to close ranks around Plame and Wilson and help out anyone associated with Plame and her work be safe.

However, nothing even remotely like that happened. The Libby trial revealed how the only reactions at all were calculated attempts to perpetuate lies being told to justify going to war with Iraq, as well as attempts to smear Joe Wilson.

These shameful efforts have continued, and still do to some extent. Once an idea gets into the hands of the media or some GOP politicians, it is like pulling teeth often to put a stop to it even when it is all wrong.

I am very disappointed in the lack of perspective on these issues, and that some in the media seem to continue to carry on as before and unquestioningly put out the administration spin.

[rainy]

1. I don't believe that Armitage really leaked it first, do you?

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

3. Not necessarily, but even if it were true, the argument being put out is just plain wrong!

I don't know how we could know if he was the one who first leaked.

I trust Fitzgerald's judgment a lot more than any of the people whining about Libby's conviction etc. It is a shame that more people couldn't have been caught at it, ie Rove, Cheney, etc.

[lligrd]

2. Exactly. Hopefully Waxman Can Get To The Bottom of This.

I find the Armitage story suspect anyway.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

4. Yes! Has anything been heard about Fitzgerald testifying at Waxman's hearing?

[MADem]

5. Armitage did NOT

Lie to federal prosecutors or investigators.

Obstruct justice.

Amazing how the GOP can't wrap their peabrains around those key facts.

Who gives a shit that Toothy McNoNeck gossiped FIRST? It's not the issue, and it never was.

The old adage "It ain't the crime, it's the coverup" continues to apply. If they'd admitted to the CRIME, and denied aforeknowledge or intent, they'd have gotten away with it with few if any consequences.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

7. I think they still get their talking points from one source, business as usual.

A lot of them still lie, they still distort the truth, they still try to smear the messenger or anyone threatening to them (Obama).

It's like they only have a couple of plays in their gamebook, and to them it IS only a game, not a real world with real people's lives destroyed or damaged forever.

I don't think most of them realize how many people are now on to their slimey ways, and that the old playbook isn't going to keep working like it used to.

[ProSense]

6. Armitage did not leak first:

Two articles (from Sept. and Aug.):

How Obtuse Is the U.S. Press?

Missing the Point on CIA Leak Case

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

8. Your post demonstrates again the insidiousness of the "big lie" told repeatedly.

Once it is out there and repeated, the truth is so easily lost to the lies that follow.

[MADem]

10. The point though, isn't when he leaked at all. He didn't lie when asked.

That's the big difference.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

11. As far as Armitage being prosecuted, the point is he didn't lie.

But the right wing spin machine has tried to make the issue that Armitage leaked first in a gossipy sort of way and therefore there wasn't a case to pursue right from the beginning of Fitzgerald's investigation. A totally bogus view, if you ask me.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. Armitage could not have leaked first.

The CIA is not in the habit of sending State, where Armitage was posted, intelligence briefings on their NOCs. They might see product, but that's all. Most of that information is TS/SCI and guarded by the CIA like the family jewels they are. "Need to Know" is not just a phrase with them, it's canon, their First Commandment, only more religious. Also, there are institutional antagonisms, long-standing, between State and the CIA.

That information had to come from someone who had the code word clearance to see the documents and learn the names of those under the Directorate of Operations and pass them onward to those in the maladministration who wanted it for their own nefarious purposes. The DO doesn't even publicly acknowledge its operators who die in the line of duty.

The real questions are: Who had the codeword clearance or the juice to get those with said clearance to give up her name, job classification and posting?

Anything else is smokescreen.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

12. I imagine that as soon as Wilson's point of view hit the OpEds, a few not so good

men very busily set themselves and others to finding anything at all they could use vs Wilson.

Rove, Cheney, etc unfortunately had clearances.

Once it was known to them, I don't doubt that it could have spread around the inner circles of the admin rather rapidly without regard for its classified nature.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. I don't think so.

TS/SCI is set up so things like can't, won't and don't happen. Even Cheney doesn't see DO inside stuff without being briefed into it, and that is not done casually or for political purposes.

I would have to say that someone in the Top rungs of the CIA, probably in the DO and likely briefed into the whole Brewster-Jennings operation was gotten to, or was a highly partisan insider.

Or, Negroponte just gave it up.

[Humor_In_Cuneiform]

14. That fits my theory. That they have contacts in the highest levels is mostly taken for granted.

Since they appointed many of them.

Do you have some special first-hand knowledge of how it works? I only ask because what you write seems to indicate that you are very familiar with the ways of the intelligence community.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

15. No.

Nothing special or inside. Just an observer.

[Garbo 2004]

16. State classified INR memo had Valerie Wilson's name in it. Did not indicate she was covert.

Armitage saw the memo, dated June 10. Armitage spoke to Woodward June 13. Grossman used the info in the memo to brief Libby. Declassified memo available here: http://truthout.org/imgs.art_01/fordmemo.pdf

Based on the Woodward tape played at Libby's trial, it's clear that Armitage was saying that both State and the CIA had said the Niger claims were crap but the WH overruled them and put the claims in the SOTU. Armitage may not have been a fan of Joe Wilson, but he was confirming Wilson's assessment of the Niger claims.

Libby "recollected" eventually, since his notes were turned over to the investigators, that Cheney had told him around June 12 that Wilson's wife worked at CPD. Presumably Cheney had been briefed by CIA.

June 23 Libby met with Judy Miller and again on July 8. But Libby tells her that Wilson's wife works at WINPAC. I figure Libby knew quite well, from his dealings with the CIA, the sensitivity of CPD and also knew that Judy would know. Hence with Judy he refers to the "safer" WINPAC. And of course, unlike Armitage, Libby was defending the Niger claims and trying to get Judy to steno for him as usual.

Armitage spoke to Novak on July 8. But Novak also spoke to Libby and Rove July 8 or 9. Novak's "recollection" is that Libby didn't tell him anything of note. And both Novak and Rove claim that Rove only "confirmed" what Armitage told him.

At any rate, doesn't matter if Armitage indeed leaked first. 1. The info still wasn't public knowledge since Woodward didn't publish it, 2. Libby and Rove were engaged in a concerted effort to get the info public and Libby at least was most likely in a position to know the potential sensitivity of the info (he wouldn't speak to Edelman, an aide, about Niger and Valerie Wilson on an unsecured phone line), 3. Libby and Rove were still obligated to protect classified info regardless of what Armitage did (whether or not they knew of it) and 4. Libby and Rove both lied to cover up what they did, Armitage didn't.