UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY"

basso · Mar 15, 2007

rimrocker said:

Fact is, Victoria's a hack and dressed up a bunch of wingnut talking points into a brief.
Click to expand...

facsinating that Victoria Toensing has been called as a witness in mr. waxmans show trial tomorrow. just can't imagine why they'd call a hack like her unless she had, oh, i dunno, some expertise on the matter at hand.

rimrocker · Mar 15, 2007

basso said:

facsinating that Victoria Toensing has been called as a witness in mr. waxmans show trial tomorrow. just can't imagine why they'd call a hack like her unless she had, oh, i dunno, some expertise on the matter at hand.
Click to expand...

Or perhaps to use a public forum to drive a stake through her idiotic theories and expose her hackitude.

basso · Mar 16, 2007

rimrocker said:

Or perhaps to use a public forum to drive a stake through her idiotic theories and expose her hackitude.
Click to expand...

if i may paraphrase the great steve landesberg, she wrote the law by her DAMN self, so i'd imagine henry's gonna have trouble "exposing her hackitude."

gifford1967 · Mar 16, 2007

Plame is testifying right now. You can see it here-
http://www.cspan.org/watch/cs_cspan_wm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS

There's not going to be any question about Plame's covert status after this hearing. They are spending a lot of time on this.

And I think Toensing is going to walk into a buzzsaw.

gifford1967 · Mar 16, 2007

Here's a much better stream than C-Span's.

http://www.oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1205

rimrocker · Mar 16, 2007

basso said:

Fact: Plame status: unproven. Fitzgerald claims "classified" but does not claim "covert". although alledged, neither is proved.
Click to expand...

Here you go basso. Here's what Plame says UNDER OATH, a status many administration officials have been loathe to accept... and oh yes, it was confirmed by the CIA yet again.

Plame Testifies Before Congress Today: She Confirms She Was 'Covert' -- Calls Outing a 'Travesty'

By Greg Mitchell
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003558908

Published: March 16, 2007 10:45 AM ET

WASHINGTON Valerie Plame told a congressional committee today that she indeed did work in a "covert" status at the CIA, and referred to the "travesty" of the disclosure of that by administration officials and the media.

"I know I am here under oath, and I am here to say that I was covert," she said, disputing claims to the contrary.

Finally, today, she got to tell her story before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where Democrats are eager to explore the circumstances of her outing and how the White House responded to the leak of her identity.

Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the committee, kicked it off, by revealing what the CIA had cleared for him to state. Despite long claims by conservatives, she was indeed a "covert" agent, the CIA said, and "undercover," despite not being abroad at the time of her outing.

Plame then said she was honored to testify and "grateful for this opportunity to set the record straight."

She said she had served her country "honorably and as a covert agent" until her name was exposed in the media "after a leak by administration officials." Both the CIA and Plame declared that she was "covert" on the day Robert Novak outed her in a column in 2003.

She said she had worked as a covert officer and classified position on Iraq's presumed WMD programs in the runup to war. While working out of Washington she also traveled to foreign countries on vital missions: "I was dedicated to this work. It was not common knowledge on the Georgetown cocktail circuit that everyone knew where I worked....But all that service was abruptly ended when my name was disclosed."

She was"shocked" with news that emerged in the Libby trial. Administration officials knew about her working at the CIA and should have been "diligent" to protect that. "The harm that is done when a CIA's cover is blown is grave," she said. She referred to the "travesty of what happened to me."

Noting that the CIA tries to hide identities from foreign officials, she found it "a terrible irony that it was administration officials who destroyed my cover." She added: "My exposure arose from purely political motives."

She denounced the "creeping, insidious politicizing of intelligence operations....politics and ideology must be stripped from our intelligence services." That's why she was happy to assist Congress, she said.

After her five-minute statement, Plame answered questions. She said no one -- such as Vice President Cheney, or Scooter Libby or Karl Rove -- approached her
to ask if her name could be disclosed.

Asked if she had any theories on who told Rove about her status, she declined to speculate.

How did she feel about Rove telling Chris Matthews that she was "fair game." She said she would feel awful about hearing that about any CIA agent.

She said no one who had leaked her name had expressed any apology or misgivings to her.

Questions from the Republican side raised issues about whether those who leaked her name knew she was covert. She said she they should ask the federal prosecutor about that.

Asked about the famous Vanity Fair photo of her, she said her identify had already been "blown" by the end of 2003.
Click to expand...

rimrocker · Mar 16, 2007

basso said:

Fact: Plame status: unproven. Fitzgerald claims "classified" but does not claim "covert". although alledged, neither is proved.
Click to expand...

This proves my point that 'classified" has a legal meaning while "covert" does not... thus Fitzgerald's choice of the legal term over the popular one used by Repubs to confuse people...

Some news stories created initial confusion over Plame's status by suggesting that disclosure of her name and employment may have violated the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982. That law, passed in response to disclosure of the names of CIA officers serving overseas by former CIA employee Philip Agee, made it a crime to disclose the names of "covert agents," which the act narrowly defined as those serving overseas or who had served as such in the previous five years.

"Covert agent" is not a label actually used within the agency for its employees, according to former senior CIA officials. Plame, who joined the agency right out of Pennsylvania State University, underwent rigorous spycraft training to become an officer in the Directorate of Operations. (The term "agent" in the CIA is only applied to foreign nationals recruited to spy in support of U.S. interests.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502448_pf.html
Click to expand...

More on the "covert" status...

Former CIA officers, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, provided a broad outline of Plame's career. They said she spent most of her time as one of the elite spies who travel overseas under "non-official cover" and are known as NOCs within the agency. Most CIA case officers living or traveling overseas have "official cover" by working at U.S. embassies as State Department or other government agency officials -- and thus have the protection of diplomatic immunity and the chance for rescue by the U.S. government.

But NOCs, posing as businesspeople, scientists or others, rely on a carefully crafted false identity. If detected or arrested by a foreign government, they're on their own.

In the CIA's eyes, the revelation of Plame's name in any context, whether she was stationed here or abroad, gave away a national security secret that could have dangerous repercussions. When Novak's column unmasking her as a CIA operative was published on July 14, 2003, the CIA general counsel's office automatically sent a routine report to the Justice Department that there had been an unauthorized disclosure of classified information.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/15/AR2007031502448_pf.html
Click to expand...

basso · Mar 16, 2007

Victoria Flame said:

It was not common knowledge on the Georgetown cocktail circuit that everyone knew where I worked.
Click to expand...

hah! it shouldn't be known at all.

gifford1967 · Mar 16, 2007

Toensing is about to testify now.

rimrocker · Mar 16, 2007

basso said:

hah! it shouldn't be known at all.
Click to expand...

Idiot. She was using irony. Repubs have been saying for years that it was "common knowledge on the cocktail circuit." She's using the words of your side to make the point it wasn't. Notice she makes this comment after she and Waxman both clarify her NOC status.

El_Conquistador · Mar 16, 2007

What an incredible waste of time all of this is. The American public has no clue what it all means. Heck, most of them haven't even heard of Obama, much less be counted on to understand such a complicated non-story such as this.

It plays as vindictive sour grapes from the libs. Plame's identity was known by enough people that her silly desk job couldn't have been that important to begin with. The liberals' wet dream is Rove/Cheney/Bush are implicated -- none of which happened. Yawn.

basso · Mar 16, 2007

rimrocker said:

Idiot. She was using irony. Repubs have been saying for years that it was "common knowledge on the cocktail circuit." She's using the words of your side to make the point it wasn't. Notice she makes this comment after she and Waxman both clarify her NOC status.
Click to expand...

then i would come back to the central issue. if she was indeed covert, UNDER THE LAW, why has no one been charged with "outing" her?

rimrocker · Mar 16, 2007

basso said:

then i would come back to the central issue. if she was indeed covert, UNDER THE LAW, why has no one been charged with "outing" her?
Click to expand...

One reason is because your gal VT wrote such a crappy law, tied it to only one specific incident, and made it incredibly difficult to prove and prosecute unless the facts were tremendously close to those in the Ames case.

What you see from VT today is symbolic of the neo-con cabal and the authoritarians who have so damaged this country... not very bright, but incredibly cocky and ambitious.

basso · Mar 16, 2007

rimrocker said:

One reason is because your gal VT wrote such a crappy law, tied it to only one specific incident, and made it incredibly difficult to prove and prosecute unless the facts were tremendously close to those in the Ames case.

What you see from VT today is symbolic of the neo-con cabal and the authoritarians who have so damaged this country... not very bright, but incredibly cocky and ambitious.
Click to expand...

nice to see you finally admit no law was broken.

mc mark · Mar 16, 2007

basso said:

nice to see you finally admit no law was broken.
Click to expand...

The law obviously was broken. Someone outed a covert CIA operative.

They were just good at getting rid of the fingerprints.

basso · Mar 16, 2007

mc mark said:

The law obviously was broken. Someone outed a covert CIA operative.

They were just good at getting rid of the fingerprints.
Click to expand...

so obvious no charges have been filed and none are contemplated even tho we know who "leaked?"

mc mark · Mar 16, 2007

basso said:

so obvious no charges have been filed and none are contemplated even tho we know who "leaked?"
Click to expand...

Fuked up ain't it?

El_Conquistador · Mar 16, 2007

mc mark said:

The law obviously was broken. Someone outed a covert CIA operative.
Click to expand...

I agree except for the part about the law being broken and her being covert.

mc mark · Mar 16, 2007

Trader_Jorge said:

I agree except for the part about the law being broken and her being covert.
Click to expand...

The woman (under oath) just said she was. Are you called her a liar?

mc mark · Mar 16, 2007

Bush speaking of "the leak" September 30, 2003

“Listen, I know of nobody -- 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. And this investigation is a good thing.

And again I repeat, you know, Washington is a town where there's all kinds of allegations. You've heard much of the allegations. And if people have got solid information, please come forward with it. And that would be people inside the information who are the so-called anonymous sources, or people outside the information -- outside the administration. And we can clarify this thing very quickly if people who have got solid evidence would come forward and speak out. And I would hope they would.

And then we'll get to the bottom of this and move on. But I want to tell you something -- leaks of classified information are a bad thing. And we've had them -- there's too much leaking in Washington. That's just the way it is. And we've had leaks out of the administrative branch, had leaks out of the legislative branch, and out of the executive branch and the legislative branch, and I've spoken out consistently against them and I want to know who the leakers are."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030930-9.html
Click to expand...

today

Top Bush Official Reveals White House Never Investigated Plame Leak

Dr. James Knodell, director of the Office of Security at the White House, revealed today that to his knowledge the White House has never ordered a probe, report, or sanctions as a result of the outing of a covert CIA operative.

“I have no knowledge of any investigation in my office,” he said.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) said he was “shocked” by Knodell’s testimony, adding that the White House’s lack of action was a “breach on top of a breach.”

Knodell claimed the White House did not investigate because there was an outside investigation taking place. But Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) noted that the investigation “didn’t start until months and months later, and [only] had the purpose of narrowly looking to see whether there was a criminal law violated.” Waxman asked, “But there was an obligation for the White House to investigate whether classified information was being leaked inappropriately, wasn’t there?” Knodell answered, “If that was the case, yes.”

http://thinkprogress.org/

Forums

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY"

basso Member
Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member
Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member
Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

rimrocker Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member
Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

basso Member
Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

mc mark Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

mc mark Member

El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

mc mark Member

mc mark Member

Share This Page

About ClutchFans

Rockets Content

Support ClutchFans!

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. I. LEWIS LIBBY, also known as "SCOOTER LIBBY"

basso Member Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

basso Member Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

rimrocker Member

basso Member Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

basso Member Supporting Member

rimrocker Member

basso Member Supporting Member

mc mark Member

basso Member Supporting Member

mc mark Member

El_Conquistador King of the D&D, The Legend, #1 Ranking

mc mark Member

mc mark Member

Share This Page

basso Member
Supporting Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member
Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member
Supporting Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

gifford1967 Member
Supporting Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

basso Member
Supporting Member

basso Member
Supporting Member