CIA Director George Tenet was steamed when Valerie Plame Wilson’s covert identity was revealed — and his people put it to him to insist on a serious investigation. Tenet would not back off when others in the White House tried to evade at the time — and Tenet demanded that this investigation take place.
If Rove and Scooter Libby fall, George Tenet had a lot to do with it.
Now it seems that a pattern of lies and deceit about who told what to whom is emerging — and as Bloomberg reports, the Rove and Libby stories don’t mesh with what has been reported by journalists.
Cover-up? Certainly. Conspiracy? Looking more like that every day.
What did the President know and when did he know it?
What did the Vice President know and when did he know it?
From Bloomberg:
Two top White House aides have given accounts to a special prosecutor about how reporters first told them the identity of a CIA agent that are at odds with what the reporters have said, according to people familiar with the case.
Lewis “Scooter” Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, told special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald that he first learned from NBC News reporter Tim Russert of the identity of Central Intelligence Agency operative Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson, one person said. Russert has testified before a federal grand jury that he didn’t tell Libby of Plame’s identity, the person said.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove told Fitzgerald that he first learned the identity of the CIA agent from syndicated columnist Robert Novak, according a person familiar with the matter. Novak, who was first to report Plame’s name and connection to Wilson, has given a somewhat different version to the special prosecutor, the person said.
These discrepancies may be important because Fitzgerald is investigating whether Libby, Rove or other administration officials made false statements during the course of the investigation. The Plame case has its genesis in whether any administration officials violated a 1982 law making it illegal to knowingly reveal the name of a covert intelligence agent.
These guys took America into war and have relied on lies and deceit to accomplish much of what they have done. They are the most responsible for puncturing the mystique of American power, moral authority and status in the world.
It is when America is showing its limits that allies will not count on us and enemies will move their agendas.
Add that to Karl Rove’s and Dick Cheney’s roster of accomplishments.
— Steve Clemons
