Guide to the Plame CIA Leak Case

Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson

Okay, for those of you who are confused about the latest case for impeachment against George W. Bush, this is a short and simple guide to the CIA LEAK CASE:

around 14 June 2003: Bob Woodward Informed of Plame's ID
according to his sworn testimony in the autumn of 2005, Woodward was informed of the identity of Valerie Plame a full month before her identity was disclosed. In any case, he did not go on to be the first to disclose it.

23 June 2003: "Journalist" Judith Miller Informed of Plame's ID
fact-manipulator and journalistic embarrassment Judith Miller of the New York Times claims that this is the date on which she was informed of Plame's identity. When weighing the considerable effort Miller undertook to sell the NYT's series of reports on Iraqi wmd's -- an effort that subsequently led to the White House quoting from her reports in its campaign to manipulate the American public and the world into believing what has now been proven as entirely false -- it makes sense that she decided not to further incriminate herself with such clearly provable treason as outing a secret service operative. The fact that her reports are leading to the mass deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, is, of course, irrelevant to her sense of journalistic integrity which she claimed she was upholding (see below).

6 July 2003: Joseph Wilson's Op-Ed Criticizes Bush Admin
retired U.S. Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IX publishes an op-ed in the New York Times titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa" in which he explained that (a) the Bush administration manipulated facts to sell the war in Iraq: "I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat" and (b) on a February 2002 CIA-funded fact-verifying mission to Niger, Wilson determined that no sale of yellowcake uranium occurred between Iraq and Niger in the 1990's.

14 July 2003: Robert Novak's Op-Ed Outs Wilson's Wife as CIA Operative syndicated conservative columnist (and, as I know from personal experience, stage-shy lecturer!) Robert Novak (formerly of the Chicago Sun Times, more recently of nationally broadcast embarrassing outburst) published a column divulging the identity of a certain Valerie Plame as a CIA operative -- an apparently treasonous act which is not entirely devoid of deviousness either, considering Mrs. Plame is the wife of said former ambassador Wilson. Behold the incriminating sentence: "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."

mid-July 2003: Wilson Claims Retaliation, Bush Admin Claims Clarification
Wilson's immediate response to the Novak column was that his wife was outed as a retaliation over his non-compliance with the Bush Administration's need to maintain the story about how Iraq's wmd's were a serious threat and therefore a justification for war. The Bush administration claimed that the column was merely an attempt to clarify and discredit Wilson's inaccurate information and to contend that Plame must have played a role in Wilson's conclusions. Much of this, including a comment made by Dick-less Cheney that he was unaware of the Niger fact-finding mission, was later confirmed as baseless.

26 September 2003: Investigation Requested
the CIA requests that the Justice Department undertake an investigation into who leaked this secret national security information to the press.

30 September 2003: Bush Defends His Admin
"If there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. And if the person has violated law, the person will be taken care of. ... I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."

2 October 2003: Karl Rove, aka Bush's Brain, Outed
In an article in the New York Times, Rove is outed as being involved in the leaking of Plame's identity. Former Attorney General Ashcroft is also implicated.

30 December 2003: Fitzgerald Named Special Counsel of Investigation
an investigation was undertaken by the Justice Department to find out who leaked the name and whether the whole thing involved any unconstitutional or treasonous activity. Former US Attorney for Northern Illinois, Patrick Fitzgerald was appointed the Special Counsel in charge of the investigation.

July - September 2005: Miller Serves Sentence for Refusing Grand Jury
in the name of journalistic integrity (a concept she has proven herself entirely ignorant of), Miller went to jail to avoid revealing her sources surrounding the Plame affair. She revealed them shortly after departing jail (and landing a hefty book deal as a result of her little sophistic sojourn behind bars).

4 August 2005: Robert Novak's Outburst on National Television

On a live CNN broadcast, in a discussion with James Carville about the Senate candidacy of Katherine Harris, Novak (possibly under the effect of medicants of some nature -- wink wink-- considering the tough week he'd just undergone with recent Plame revelations) lost control of his temper, exchanged a few angry words with Carville (who classically remained the bald-headed statue of cool he perfected in the Clinton era) then walked right off the set. He was suspended from CNN the next day.

6 October 2005 -- Bush's Brain, Karl Rove, Testifies for 4th Time
Rove, who clearly knows more than he's told the world about the Valerie Plame disclosure, was recalled for the 4th time in front of Fitzgerald's grand jury. This story will be continued into 2006 -- leaving just enough time for impeachment proceedings if the House is overtaken by Democrats, as predicted in the upcoming winter mid-term elections.

14 December 2005 -- Novak States that Bush Knows Who Done It
Novak's latest column indicates that he'd "be amazed" if Bush didn't know who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame. No doubt, this column will be used as evidence against El Prezidentay should the occasion arise.