Ms. Plames Identity Revealed, but By Who?

A relatively unbiased report on the Plame leak. Who's to blame? Is it Rove, or hubby Joe Wilson?

washingtonpost.com

Mr. Rove's Leak
PostFriday, July 15, 2005

THE UPROAR over Karl Rove's involvement in the leak of a CIA agent's identity makes this the third consecutive Washington summer to feature a tempest over what should have been a long-forgotten visit to the African nation of Niger by retired ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. There are serious questions about Mr. Rove's behavior, as well as his misleading public accounting for it during the past two years. Certainly, the revelation that Mr. Rove discussed Mr. Wilson's wife with at least one reporter undermines the White House's highhanded pronouncements that it was "just totally ridiculous" to think that Mr. Rove had anything to do with the leak of Valerie Plame's identity.

But much is still unknown, and Democratic demands that Mr. Rove be fired immediately seem premature given the murky state of the evidence. While we await more facts, it's worth remembering some from the previous episodes of this strange story -- including a few that have been mangled or forgotten.

Mr. Wilson made his trip in 2002 to look into reports that Iraq had sought to buy uranium from Niger. A year later, he publicly surfaced and loudly proclaimed that the Bush administration should have known that its conclusion that Iraq had sought such supplies, included in the president's 2003 State of the Union address, was wrong. He said he had debunked that theory and that his report had circulated at the highest levels of government.

One year after that, reports by two official investigations -- Britain's Butler Commission and the Senate intelligence committee -- demonstrated that Mr. Wilson's portrayal of himself as a whistle-blower was unwarranted. It turned out his report to the CIA had not altered, and may even have strengthened, the agency's conclusion that Iraq had explored uranium purchases from Niger. Moreover, his account had not reached Vice President Cheney or any other senior official. According to the Butler Commission, led by an independent jurist, the assertion about African uranium included in Mr. Bush's State of the Union speech was "well-founded."

That brings us to this year's dust-up, which concerns whether Mr. Rove or other administration officials should be held culpable for leaking to journalists the fact that Mr. Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA agent. Reporters were told that Ms. Plame recommended Mr. Wilson for the Niger trip -- a fact denied by Mr. Wilson but subsequently confirmed by the Senate investigation. A federal prosecutor is conducting a criminal probe that has, among other things, unearthed an e-mail from Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper revealing that Mr. Rove told him about Ms. Plame's role in her husband's trip.

This gives the lie to White House denials that Mr. Rove was involved in the leak. Mr. Rove and White House spokesman Scott McClellan can fairly be accused, at the very least, of responding to questions about the affair with the sort of misleading legalisms and evasions that Republicans once rightly condemned President Bill Clinton for employing. "I didn't know her name. I didn't leak her name," Mr. Rove told CNN last year. Technically true, perhaps, but hardly a model of straightforwardness and probity. Asked about the leak, Mr. McClellan waxed indignant: "That is not the way this White House operates," he said. Or is it?

At the same time, Mr. Rove and other administration officials had a legitimate interest in rebutting Mr. Wilson's inflated claims -- including the notion that he had been dispatched to Niger at Mr. Cheney's behest. It's in that context, judging from Mr. Cooper's e-mail, that Mr. Rove appears to have brought up Ms. Plame's role. Whether Mr. Rove or others behaved in a way that amounted to criminal, malicious or even merely sleazy behavior will turn on what they knew about Ms. Plame's employment. Were they aware she was a covert agent? Did they recklessly fail to consider that before revealing her involvement? How they learned about Ms. Plame also will matter: Did the information come from government sources or outside parties?
It may be that Mr. Rove, or someone else, will turn out to be guilty of deliberately leaking Ms. Plame's identity, knowing that it would blow her cover. Or officials may have conspired to cover up a leak or lied about it under oath. For now, however, it remains to be established that such misconduct occurred.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company

Controversial, but Important

I posted this on my other blog & was asked to remove it by someone. If you have had an abortion & do not want to read about it, then do not continue any further... Thank you.

My name could have been David
My name could have been Kelly
I could have invented a cure for cancer
I could have been the first female president
I would have had brothers and sisters
I would have been the first grandbaby.
I could have been an amazing dancer
I could have been on broadway
I could have gone to Harvard
I could have gone to Oxford
I would have loved to bring world peace
I would have opened a huge orphanage in Africa
I could have brought peace in Korea
I could have ended communism in China
But my life ended shortly
I was burned alive
I loved my mommy very much
But she didn't love me
She didn't think I was worth the sacrifice it takes to be a mommy
I died when I was 10 weeks old
I didn't know what was happening
It began to get very hot, and I couldn't breathe
I began burning alive
Then as I was being born, I saw my mommy, for the first and last time ever
The only thing I heard her say was that she was glad to be rid of me.

One abortion proceedure is done with a saline acidic solution injected into the womb of the mother. The solution than rises the temperature of the fluids inside of the mothers womb and heats up the babies body. As this takes place, it also burns the baby while it is still alive. As the baby inhales the hot womb water polluted by the saline acid, the baby's inards are burned causing the heart to stop. 1 in every 300 abortion attempts fail, and the baby is prematurely born and burned...ALIVE.Whether you admit it or not abortion is wrong there is no such thing as pro choice, the baby doesn't get a choice, and you are taking a human life.

A Good Thing

You know I was offered a political job in New Mexico. This was a position that I was MADE for. Or it was made for me. Either way, the people I know out there are telling me that it's a good thing that I did not make the decision to go out there.
I struggled with making that decision. I thought "This is what I do. I have to take this job. What else will I do?" But the more I thought about it, and the more I prayed about it, I just knew that I could NOT make that trip. I could not move again for a job.
It turns out that one of my friends that is working on this campaign has just had his salary cut almost in HALF. The chairman of the NM Republican party is totally crazy & has told him that he made the adjustments to his salary and there is nothing that he can do about it. Apparently the person that was hired in my place was already fired by this chairman.
Sometimes you just know that its a bad move, you just have to learn to listen to your instincts and that inner voice.

HELD

There is a young boy laying in a hospital bed right now fighting for his life. He is fighting a head injury. A cracked skull, broken cheek bone, contusions, crushed sinus' & a blood clot.
As of right now, I don't know what is going on in his little body, or how much longer he will be in ICC. I don't know how to fight for him, or for his family, so at this time, all I can do is sit & pray.
I ask that you would do the same.
You probably don't know him. His name is Chase Sexton & his grandfather is the famed preacher Tommy Barnett.
Little Tommy Chase & I have a special bond. He was in my Pre-school class (*called Rainbows in the Assemblies of God denomination) that I taught ten years ago. And every Sunday since he was a young child he would grin at me with a twinkle in his eye, and a look of certain mischief (he looks just like his grandfather, twinkle & all). He'd give me hugs. He would tell me that he loved me. He would share his candy with me too. (For a small boy, that's a pretty big thing.)
He was on my team at youth camp for the last two years. Last year, 2004, he let me dress him up like a girl & put makeup on him. He smiled & laughed about it. He was "Olga, the Test Tube baby." He got more laughs than anyone else on the stage. Poor guy lost his voice, so you couldn't hear him recite his lines over the laughter.
This year he begged me to let him do something cool again at camp. He dressed up like a Sumo wrestler for our skit & donned a cowboy hat. Sure enough by the time we got on stage to do our skit, he had lost his voice again! (It's from all of that team spirit & cheering for his friends during the games!) This year he played Pastor Todd. Again, he got the most laughs, and no one could hear him because of it!
He sat with me at breakfast one morning & told me how much he loved me. He told me that I was the coolest youth leader ever. He wanted to be on my team EVERY YEAR! I always think that I am going to quit youth leadership, but Chase & others like him remind me why I continue on. When you have a friend like that, sometimes you need them more than they need you.
For the last two years he was nominated as "Camper of the Year." He sacrificed for his team mates. He would do ANYTHING that was asked of him. He played all the games, he sang songs, gave input when asked for it, and even encouraged the other campers to listen and have "Happy Hearts."
When I got the news that his little body was being air-evac'd to Phoenix, from Payson (where he was visiting his paternal family), I was in shock. It has never crossed my mind that Chase wouldn't be around. Or that anything could happen to him. He was invincible. He was the kid that looked forward to goofy stunts, he did that stuff to get a laugh out of people.
Chase always wanted to make someone smile. He didn't care if he knew you or not. He didn't care if you knew who he was. If you were happy or sad, rich or poor. Chase was like a miniature version of his grandfather.
When I was four I started attending Phoenix First. I was poor. I was abused. I didn't have the prettiest dresses or the neatest hair. I rode the busses to church. Pastor Barnett used to put his arms around me and hug me & tell me that he loved me so much. It didn't matter to him that I wasn't the prettiest girl or that my parents didn't give thousands of dollars a year to the church.
Tommy Chase is the same way. I don't drive the nicest car. I don't have the most expensive clothes. I live in a good neighborhood, but its not as nice as others. Chase still gave me a hug every time he saw me. He still makes sure to tell me that I'm the best and that he loves me. Just like his grandpa Barnett.
It's because of people like Pastor Barnett & his grandson, Chase, that I have known the love of God. I have known that not everyone is concerned with the outward appearance, but with the relationship that comes from within. They understand that God looks at the innerman, not the outerman. Pastor Barnett & Chase show others that they love you for who you are inside, for who you will be inside, one day.
That is why Chase is going to be okay. Because if he isn't then there will be no one to carry on the legacy of finding a need and filling it. When I need a hug or a smile you had better believe that Chase is one person that I look for. Chase has a purpose in his young life. He knows what it is & he walks in that everyday.
This is why I know that God is holding Chase right now. He is protecting him. He is healing him as we speak. Because people need to know Christ's love & Chase may be the only way that they ever know it.

Love Lost

It's not that I want to be in DC or anything, I mean, not permanently...Obviously, since I did move home & all, but there are certain things that I miss. I miss not having to drive ANYWHERE. I hate to drive, and the fact that the beast is on its way out, makes me upset that Phoenix doesn't have a decent public transit system. (I could walk 5 blocks to the Metro station & be anywhere I needed or wanted to be in 10-15 minutes, or LESS!)
I miss getting up in the morning & looking out of my balcony.
I miss seeing the changing leaves (obviously this is not an issue right now- they would be bright green, and so beautiful anyway). I miss being near historical sites and minutes from where it all is happening. I miss that feeling of excitement you get from just walking down the streets. At any given time when you step out onto D street, or K street, or wherever, there is this hustle from all the people around you. This sense of urgency that says, "move or be moved." I moved home partly because I didn't like the people in D.C., but I really did love this aspect of life. I am a mover & a shaker. I want to be in the middle of it all. Whatever "it all" is. That's where I want to be.
I find life in Phoenix can be fast paced, if you let it. I haven't gotten back into my groove of being "in it" all the time. I am looking to be "in it" in a different way than I was before I left though. I don't want to be everywhere just for the sake of being everywhere. I want it to have meaning and purpose this time around. I dont want to be busy because I am afraid of being alone, or because I want to look important. I want to make an actual difference. I guess that's why I moved to NV and the DC in the first place, and ultimately why I moved home. I didn't make much of a difference in DC, I need to make a difference.

But, if I am honest with myself, I know that there is one thing that I miss more than anything. That is the friends that I lost when I moved. People that I shared my life with. People that I thought would be around for forever. I respected these people, and I thought it was mutual. Its a shame that their respect for me was lost when I came back to Phoenix. I know that God gives us people for a moment, a season & a lifetime & it is up to us to figure out what impact we will let them have on our lives. I am just sad that things ended so badly.

In my quest in this life to make sure that I've apologized to people that I've hurt, to make amends with people that I've loved and lost, this is my time to say, "I am sorry." I wanted it to work, but it didn't. Be happy for me that I've found my place. I will always hold a special place for you in my heart, and I sincerely hope that you will do the same for me.