Robert Novak going to be indicted??

[strk]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11208-2003Sep27.html

The intentional disclosure of a covert operative's identity is a violation of federal law.

The officer's name was disclosed on July 14 in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak, who said his sources were two senior administration officials.

Yesterday, a senior administration official said that before Novak's column ran, two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife.

Shouldnt a federal grand jury be meeting to indict Novak and those two officials once they are identified?

strk

[capt. apathy]

yes

[Erlkonig]

I don't care about Novak.  Who are those two "senior administration officials"?  Why hasn't Bush fired them?  What possible good could come from protecting these criminals?

[capt. apathy]

"the senior officials" are the bigger problem, but novak should have known better.  how about a little responsable journalism (I know it's so rare we don't really believe it exists).  

where I him I'd have ran a different story.  "Senior whitehouse officials tell me the name of a covert operative".  it's a much bigger story and by providing the name of the operative to the FBI (or whoevers juristiction this is) you prove it as fact without risking anyones life or nat'l security.  he should never have printed that name and should be held accountable

[john9001]

so whats the covert operative's name , i missed the column.

[k2cok]

Ambassador Joseph Wilson revealed on August 29 the identity of the leaker (to the Washington Post) that Wilson’s wife is a CIA agent of 26 years.

Her team was tasked with WMD proliferation issues.

As a consequence of this leak, her entire team of overseas assets were liquidated. (70 agents)

The leaker, it turns out was Karl H. Rove, White House advisor.

Looks like the Bush team is following in Clintons foot steps, except they are not "downsizing" the intelligence apparatus by firing people.

They just get them killed.  

[Dowding]

How much salt do we need to take with this story? Is it really true that 70 agents were killed because of this disclosure?

[ra]

As a consequence of this leak, her entire team of overseas assets were liquidated. (70 agents)

Where did you get this?

Novak did nothing wrong.  If people in the administration leaked this they should be sent to Guantanimo Bay for a long vacation.

ra

[k2cok]

It's hard to say Dowding, we may never find out if it's true.

The media in the U.S. is in the pocket of the right wing, and the Democrats are too scared to stand up to the Bush cabal.

When Ambassador Wilson was asked how he knew it was Rove, he stated he had documents in his possession identifying Rove as the leaker from a secret investigation of the State Department's Internal Security Unit.

Wilson has announced that he will have his private attorneys petition the Department of Justice demanding that Karl Rove be prosecuted under the 1982 Intelligence Identity Protection Act.

This law was specifically supposed to prevent what has happened in this case, retaliation against a senior government official who tells the truth about that administration by revealing the identities of intelligence members within their own families.

The law specifically states in this case (and this depends on how much Secretary of State Colin Powell is prepared to get involved, if he signs a formal complaint from the State Department) that the Attorney General has no choice but to prosecute. He is required to prosecute, even if he doesn't want to do so.

If true Rove is well and truly screwed, I'm sure it won't hurt Bush - he will just order one of his flunkies to fall on this grenade like Tenet did for his SOTU lie about Iraqs nuclear program.

Even if the 70 CIA assets angle isn't proven, the law was broken by outing Valerie Wilson, the question that remains is, will Colin Powell have the courage and integrity to see that Rove is penalized for it.

[popeye]

I think the Washington Post just discovered their next "Watergate".

Pass the popcorn.

[Eagler]

you are too funny

have you ever considered stand up comedy?

unless of course you are serious - then you are just sad

[muckmaw]

You guys crack me up.

70 Agents "Liquidated"

The next watergate!!!

Cue ominous music!

Can't you get out of the partisan BS..>EVER???

Here's the deal.

Crucify the writer. Step one. He should know better. Crucify the leaks. Step 2. They're traitors. Find out how high it goes, and  investigate, but don't let ashcroft do it. Non-appointed personell only on the investigation. See? Non-partisan answer from a conservative.

Let the chips fall where they may.

And if 70 agents were liquidated, don't you think the media would be all over it? Right wing media? Democrats afraid to stand up? Was'nt that Ted "Chappaquidick" Kennedy basically calling Bush a felon the other day? Oh year, they're terrified. Good Call, Y2****.

If 70 agents were eliminated, don't you think 1 parent, or spouse would say, "Hey, let me call the paper, and tell them, Johnny aint coming home. Weird huh?"

Stop watching those Bond movies.

[Dowding]

Muckmaw - the 70 agents probably weren't American nationals. They were more likely to have been local contacts. Do you know how many agents were lost by Western intelligence services during the Cold War? Thousands - and you didn't see any waves then. Things haven't changed that much.

Besides, I don't see anyone getting too hot under the collar about the '70 agents' aspect of it. Most people can see it is pretty unsubstanciated.

[muckmaw]

If there's a chance to hang Bush and his Admin., you know the world press would be all over it. If there was any way to put blood on their hands, you know the media would seize it. Not because they hate bush, but because they can pander to a large population that does.

Now, I know nothing about the spy game, but if they can get the real name of an operative, I wonder why the media could not investigate the possible death of that agents associates.

I'm sure if there was even a hint of their demise, it would be headline news, worldwide.

[Dowding]

I think the intelligence services have real problems if getting hold of an agent's name allows some two-bit journo access to all the people the agent deals with. I don't think things are as bad that.

Like I said this angle of it is unsubstanciated. Perhaps it is even a red herring to discredit the story. Either way, I think the real meat of the issue is the disclosure of Wilson's wife as an agent and the veracity of that.