Valerie Plame Wilson and the Ultimate Betrayal
By Larry Johnson on October 21, 2007 at 8:50 PM in Current Affairs
[UPDATE: On Larry King Live tonight we learned that George Tenet told Larry that he has the highest regard for Valerie (or some crap like that, I’ll pull the transcript). Isn’t that precious? And what did the asshole do to show support or solidarity for Val when it might have made a difference? ZERO, ZIP, NADA. Tenet, you are despicable. Also, www.fairgameplame.com is up and running.]
Valerie’s problem is her decency and humanity. She has reasons most Americans don’t know to be really angry with George Bush and George Tenet but she has contained her rage. In a new tasty nugget in her book, Fair Game, she gives some details on the 2004 Al Qaeda threat to kill her. The response of the Administration, or more accurately, the lack of any response, is enough to make the Pope curse. What the Bush Administration failed to do and what George Tenet, CIA Director, failed to do, goes beyond cowardice.
What am I talking about? In 2004 the FBI received intelligence that Al Qaeda hit teams were enroute to the United States to kill Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Valerie Plame. The FBI informed Valerie of this threat. This was just more “good” news piled on the fact that her intelligence career was in shambles, that intelligence assets she had recruited/managed were destroyed, and that she was unable to rebut publicly false and malicious smears of her character and reputation by a bunch of partisan Republican hacks. As the mother of two pre-school children, her first thoughts were about protecting her kids. She took the threat seriously and asked for help.
When the White House learned of these threats they sprung into action. They beefed up Secret Service protection for Vice President Cheney and provided security protection to Karl Rove. But they declined to do anything for Valerie. That was a CIA problem.
Valerie contacted the office of Security at CIA and requested assistance. They told her too fucking bad and to go pound sand. They did not use those exact words, but they told her she was on her own.
Before learning of this I credited George Tenet with doing a good job of restoring morale at the CIA but criticized him strongly for playing politics with the White House and helping set the table for scamming the American public into the Iraq war. Now, in light of this revelation, I realize the man is a despicable coward. He refused to come to the aid of one of his CIA officers who faced a specific death threat. In fact, Georgie boy never once reached out to Valerie to provide any comfort or encouragement. He wanted to stay on good terms with the White House so he effectively cut her loose.
So if you have wondered why Joe and Val are a little pissed off, this might help shed some additional light on the matter. Not only did the Bush Administration out a covert intelligence officer working on the most sensitive national security issues in a time of war, but when that officer faced a direct threat to her life and her family’s safety because of that public exposure, they did not do a goddamn thing to help. I don’t know about you, but that fries my ass.
Its hard to imagine her death at the hands of AQ helping the administration avoid further contempt for their actions… but expecting them to do otherwise would require intelligence on their part.
Our administration is so shameful. Every month, I am further astounded that their actions over the course of the last 6 years are even lower than previously known.
No morals. No ethics. No principles. No true patriotism, and not even a shred of human decency.
What kind of animals are these?
Whatever we want to call them they’re simply the worst tyrants this nation has ever had to deal with, they’re not done yet and the worst of their tyranny has yet to come. Just wait and see how long the pardon list will be, talk about astounding!
Jcricket, they’re not animals. Animals act by the natural decency of their inborn instinct. Even if they’re predators, they act by their nature. This gang is worse. They must be the most corrupt, treacherous lot to hold power since the Emperor Nero. Just when you think you’ve heard it all, you find out something like this. How much lower can we go?
Just a question - any reason for the choice of targets? It seems odd - why those 3?
I think just because they were in the news. No real idea.
Could also be that her work is viewed as working for the Great American Satan, no? Spies aren’t viewed as good simply because Cheney outs one.
I don’t have such a stupid thought about spying because I’ve been taught what purpose Spies have in maintaining peace as well as succeeding in warfare. But to AlQaida, she’s someone who was working for the US spy system I guess.
Yes, it’s certainly an odd three, isn’t it? Almost makes me wonder if Tenet just didn’t take the threat seriously due to its seeming absurdity. I don’t think that excuses his inaction, but it might help to explain it.
I forgot to add thanks to the Wilsons for being great examples to all, they exude integrity! I am also very exited about Mrs.Wilsons book, it will let us understand much more about how vital her work was.
How about some of the slander that she wasn’t covert? The post above just makes all of that look even more insane. Why would she be up for a hit by AQ when she was only a desk jockey?
Great segment on 60 Minutes. I don’t guess Val’s book tour will be bringing her to Houston?
We should bring her to Houston. I can help sponsor and promote it.
that would be great if she came to Houston! Keep me posted or let me know if I can help in any way.
I was given the proper reference today from Simon Schuster to set something up here. You can contact me at: mizyongyi7 - at - hotmail
to help set it up and get the word out.
I’d love to have Larry here on panel too, perhaps moderating the discussion, and have put some people to task to find timings and settings. Perhaps at the local University of Houston.
There are a good core of people here who would come. And I’m sure KUHT and that yellowbelly KPFT would advertise the event.
I can see if Amy Goodman would want to come down and cover it for Democracy Now.
anyway, tons of options, just be in touch.
I cought part of Valerie’s interview tonight on 60 Minutes. (http://60minutes.yahoo.com/segment/103/valerie_plame) She is just great!!!
As for those who wish her ill, karma will catch up with them, specially that taritor Tenet.
yes, that traitor Tenet…
She was the last article, but it was good to see. I missed the Today show, because Matt Lauer sucks, and the show is so long, caught Olbermann.
Larry still has the best interview, and npr.
To try to echo the outrage Larry so eloquently said above would be futile by my poor writing skills.
So Larry thanks for expressing what all of us feel for Valerie and her family and please pass along our thanks to them, true American Patriots.
BTW, Valerie did an excellent job on 60 minutes..
And in the 60 Minutes interview, I thought both Valerie and Joe responded with grace, dignity and great rhetorical skill when Katie Couric acted like a rightwing tool and tried to push both of them in turn into admitting that they were partisan hacks or taking advantage of all the publicity or enjoying it all.
Both Valerie and Joe were great.
Valerie did such a fine, measured, professional job on 60 Minutes tonight, even when faced with some of the lamest questions by Katie Couric making it seem as though it was somehow her fault that the most senior officials in the White House would cavalierly out a CIA officer. She did us all proud tonight, and I hope the interview and her book prompt a whole new raft of questions about these weasels.
George Tenet shouldn’t have received the Medal of Freedom…he should have been awarded the Medal of BrownNoseDom, for his sucking up to and blindly doing the bidding of the criminals in the Bush White House.
The Bush administration is an abomination, a bloody and vile stain on American history…that will have evil and far-reaching repercussions for years to come.
The Bush/Cheney crimes are too numerous to list all of them here.
Outing a covert NOC CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson, destroying her career and busting up her intelligence-gathering network which had a nuclear counter-proliferation mission, not only endangering the lives of any overseas contacts made by Mrs. Wilson, but also endangering the lives of every man, woman and child in America, because of this major national security breach.
Blowing a British counter-terrorist effort involving a Mr. Kahn in Pakistan who was providing a way via the internet to track down al Qaeda operatives worldwide, a Bush administration leak done solely for political gain, that (just as in the Valerie Plame Wilson case) blew a highly-successful covert intelligence operation…that didn’t involve torture.
Some of these captured al Qaeda operatives caught in this British/Kahn dragnet are probably among the 14 “high-profile” al Qaeda detainees at Gitmo, who are going to be trotted out in political “show trials” next year just before the 2008 presidential election, in an attempt to politically boost the chances of Republicans running for office, in “show trials” that are already being called “war crimes tribunals,” as Republicans try to equate the trials of these “state-less” al Qaeda gang members with the Nuremberg trials.
Too bad that at the same time this Republican political campaign trick is being pulled the U.S. Congress will not be conducting its own “war crimes tribunals,” holding the war criminals in the Bush administration accountable for all their lying, cheating and thieving, for all their “tortured” policies and obstruction of justice, for all their outright treasonous and traitorous acts against our country.
I do hope, though, no matter how many record-breaking pardons Bush and Cheney issue as they leave the White House, that the incoming president (who I hope is a true rule-of-law progressive liberal Democrat…like Sen. Chris Dodd) will immediately launch thorough and open investigations into the criminal acts of the outgoing Bush administration, leaving no stone unturned. This is the only way that all the damage done to our democracy can be revealed and hopefully reversed.
Oracle,
I consider the Medal of Freedom to be akin to the Booby Prize. The King of Siam was on to a good thing when he gave Ministers who displeased him a White Elephant. This honor was no honor at all, since the gift was considered sacred and couldn’t be gotten rid of. The victim of the honor was condemned to go broke feeding the darn thing until one of them died.
Wonderful etymology lesson, Montag, many thanks.
I first encountered the phrase “white elephant” as a teenager when the local pastor shocked his congregation by pointing out in exasperation that no church wants a donated “free piano” (they’re always hopelessly detuned, string-shy, unmaintained monsters).
Scandal ensued.
[…] in another posting today, Johnson gives us some details from Plame’s new book, Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by […]
Couric asked Valerie questions that would let her answer the slanders the rightwingnuts are sure to repeat now that she’s able to defend herself. “Lame” questions? Sure. But Couric didn’t pull them out of nothing; she just fished them out of the wingnuts’ swamp.
[…] This from Larry Johnson at No Quarter, Valerie Plame Wilson’s colleague and friend for twenty some years since they met in CIA boot came: In 2004 the FBI received intelligence that Al Qaeda hit teams were enroute to the United States to kill Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, and Valerie Plame. The FBI informed Valerie of this threat. This was just more “good” news piled on the fact that her intelligence career was in shambles, that intelligence assets she had recruited/managed were destroyed, and that she was unable to rebut publicly false and malicious smears of her character and reputation by a bunch of partisan Republican hacks. As the mother of two pre-school children, her first thoughts were about protecting her kids. She took the threat seriously and asked for help. […]
It’s amazing, isn’t it? Bush, Cheney, Tenet, Rove….they all think if they don’t talk about any of this….it won’t really exist in anyone’s minds. Really, to me, this is one of THE most shocking stories (and I haven’t received my book yet!) in modern history. Because it DOES go all the way to the top. Because it DOES amount to TREASON. Shocking. And, all the more so, because nobody (translate Democrats) is doing anything about it. You have impeachment proceedings for a blow job…..but not for outing a CIA agent working on THE most sensitive issues — war capabilities….DURING A TIME OF WAR….and there ARE no impeachment proceedings? What? What? What?
By now people are just so numbed by the surreal numbers of criminal activities and corruption….(maybe that was their strategy all along….) that every thing is just allowed…..and just keeps on going. It’s quite amazing, actually, that there even WAS a Scooter Libby trial given the ways in which they get out of everything. Of course, his sentence was commuted….so it was quickly forgotten.
But not by us. Oh no. We do not forget. I only hope that Valerie’s book….and hopefully the coverage it gets….will start some things moving.
Valerie was wonderful on 60 Minutes…..she DID contain herself amazingly when Couric needled …..stupidly….and so obviously tried to trip her up. She didn’t know who she was dealing with! Cool! Composed. Very impressive.
Straight from the heart…..honest…..genuine. My heart goes out to both of them and all they’ve been through. It’ll all come out….eventually.
Thanks, Larry. They are lucky to have you and your colleagues as supportive, loyal friends. They need them. They’ll have to go through a lot of stupidity….that goes with being “out there” in the public eye…being scrutinized. We haven’t heard yet from the Coulters and her Swift-boaters. sigh
Congratulations, Valerie and Joe! We’re behind you all the way. So proud of your patriotism and service to this country. Thank you for that.
When will we see the last of Katie Couric? This waste-of-womanhood has the demeanor of a poison-pus cobra. That she was rude, boorish and mindless in her questioning certainly added nothing but insult to Valerie Plame’s plight. I’m sure Katie is in the back-pocket of the wingnuts anyway.
Just send Katie back to the Today show where she can discuss . . . recipes or something and not do any damage.
Katic Curic is no Barbara Walters.
I sure hope CBS is getting their 15 mil worth.
Yeah, Katie Couric proved that in her smear tactics with Elizabeth Edwards….who had just learned her cancer was back. The time for get-tough interview tactics….riiight. She can’t be too smart, obviously. What a twit!
Just thought I’d come back and tell everyone that Valerie is over at Huffington post with a blog and inviting comments there. Fun to see all the positive comments she’s already gotten from everyone. No Swift-boaters yet.
Valerie did a great job acting calm during some of those odious questions that Couric asked. I woulda kicked her in the shins.
Can’t wait to get the book!
Couric has to use the plausible line and ask her questions she knows the right wing skeptics would regurgitate, so cut her some serious slack.
What she did is help typecast a recruitment film for future prospects, with the help of the dazzling Ms.Wilson.
Valerie speaking is a plus for the Agency, in the long run.
In the news, chatter banter, and of course a way of providing perks and possible clearances to Karl he’d otherwise not get, in the twisted nether regions of new legislation such as the Patriot Act, etc.
They’d really want to Kill Karl Rove, who helped elevate dubya, lie about Iraq to bring down Saddam who was a barrier to Al Qaeida, and of course to swell their own recuritment numbers, give them almost 200k AK 47’s in Persia, and break NATO’s back in Afghanistan. BTW Pakistan is about to go up in flames, and Osama’s strongest support is there.
Please don’t let them throw Karl Rove in the briar patch!
Not surprising a bit.
Yes, we’re all getting conditioned to expect the worst from our White House - that they lie, that they steal, that they murder,etc.
We seem to think it’s normal and are happy when they just don’t - yet again - redefine the limits of “worst”.
The world is changing its definition daily, the notion of America as we once knew is gone too.
Deck chairs on the Titanic, quite a view, just before we go under.
Couric’s defining work was the colonoscopy.
The climax of which was the discovery of her head…
Valerie Plame on 60 Minutes…
Valerie Plame was on 60 Minutes on Sunday Night. C&L reports:
In the first segment, Plame Wilson spoke frankly about being betrayed by this administration, as well as her assessment of the damage done to the nation’s security by revealing her ide…
I’m a daily reader of your blog, Larry, and greatly value your thoughts and courage. What I cannot understand is that you still call yourself a Republican. Why?
The party brand that Teddy Roosvelt and Dwight Eisenhower wore with pride and honored, is no more. What remains is largely just an evil conspiracy. There may be some good Americans who are Republicans, but few who truly understand where the Junta is leading them. And you understand what is being done to our country.
I grew up an Eisenhower Republican, but have come to detest all that the modern GOP stands for. And I don’t think they intend to turn over the keys, on !/20/09 to anyone, especially the Democrats. The Neo-cons know what’s coming….they’re sure Bush is going to attack Iran….the blowback from that may give the Junta the excuse they are seeking to “postpone” the elections and stay in power indefinitely. In 51 years as a current events junky, I’ve never feared for my country; I now think it may be too late. I’m an enraged Independent, who can’t gladly support the Democrats….they’re spineless. Jim Webb is the only one I could support enthusiastically, but he’s not in the running.
Thanks for all the patriotic work that you do Larry. Unlike today’s Repulicans, you believe in the Constitution, the rule of the Law, and all the other values sent down to us by our enlightened founders. The Junta and its supporters don’t. As Cheney stated, they believe in the rule of men, not law. That is damning…. And portends a ruinous conclusion to this nightmare.
Comment by Rick…
“….I don’t think they intend to turn over the keys, on !/20/09 to anyone, especially the Democrats. The Neo-cons know what’s coming….they’re sure Bush is going to attack Iran….the blowback from that may give the Junta the excuse they are seeking to “postpone” the elections and stay in power indefinitely.”
Exactly what I have been saying for months but so many people are so awed with Hillary they can’t see the Forest for the Trees where Robin Karl and his band of merry men are planning the take over of the entire country by the Junta (BTW that is an excellent term to call them) how ever they have too, steal it, declare martial law or whatever is necessary. Someone on another blog said the following “if you think these people (the Neocons) are going to go quietly away in the night and let the Democrats take over, think again.”
Personally don’t think they even have to worry about losing the WH.
Why?
Because unless my math is bad I believe Bush got more votes in 2004
then 2000. So I ask the Dems where are your extra votes going to come from in 2008?. Dissatisfied Republicans, if so where are they? Yeh there has been a lot “news” about retiring and unhappy Republicans and various Repug pols saying there are going to “distance’ themselves from the WH.
But Robin Rarl isn’t about to let this happen. They are lying low to first see how the Repug pres candidates cluster f**k is going to shake out which won”t take much longer. When Rudy has the edge they’ll get behind him, push the democrats-are-weak-on-national-security-soccer-mom-nascar-dad buttons and all those who have strayed will come running back to fold.
Then after the last Democratic primary slugfest when Hillary comes out on top (karl etc are praying that Hillary wins) they will rev up the ol’ slime machine and the rest will be history.
Even then, the Democratic party will be so fractured after the bloody primaries that Hillary will have to spend all her time trying to unify the party prior to the Dem Convention in Denver.
Does Hillary really believe that all the Obama supporters, and all of us who are pissed off at the Dem Congress for their wimpy-kissing-bush’s-ass record in congress are just going to roll over and blindly follow her into the unset? If you believe that I got a bridge……..well you get the point.
The Dem Convention will hardly be a love fest for Hillary, but she can revel in it for about 3 days because at the Repug convention, which starts AFTER the Dems, Robin Karl and his minions will be whipping the masses behind MR 9/11, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy…who will win easily and then the entire slime machine lead by Rush, Sean, Bill O, etc will go after Hillary like a junk yard dog chasing someone trying to steal a car at noon on a cold day in Hell opps I mean late Jan 2009, the Chief Justice of the Supremes will be saying,
Mr. Guilliani, Do you swear to…….
[…] cultivate sources in operations to thwart the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and the threats put upon her and her family by her outing. Finally, she says, she is able to tell her side of the […]
The interview with Val was pretty good.. To bad 60 minutes couldn’t find a good interviewer on thier staff.
Shame on Tenet for thinking about himself instead of his people. I now think he has another serious character flaw to go along with everything else we have learned about him since he sat behind Colin Powell at the UN that fateful day. I wonder how the other CIA agents feel about him learning the newest revelation from the FAIR GAME book.
[…] Seixon stalker Larry Johnson: Valerie’s problem is her decency and humanity. […]
I consider Couric’s interview of Plame in the context that Couric’s employer CBS news, and Plame’s publisher Simon Shuster, are both owned by the same parent company.
So Couric’s interest is career, CBS’s is economic, and Plame’s is personal. It looked to me from watching the interview that Couric’s ‘devil’s advocate’ questions allowed Plame an opportunity to present her perspective.
In this context, whatever other failings Couric may have, the interview looked like a win-win all around.
An interesting exchange occured in the 60 Minutes interview when Joe Wilson was briefly brought in.
Wilson described how bad it was that WH went after his family, while no one went after the families of Rove Libby Armitage and Fleischer. Couric started to question that their wives were not covert… at which point Wilson leaped in said “HOW do you KNOW” repeatedly. Then he said, the answer is you DON’T know, and THAT’S the way it SHOULD be! …at which point the interview moved on, but it was a powerful moment.
I agree that this was a powerful moment. But I don’t agree that Couric was merely playing devil’s advocate in the interview. If you as a journalist are trying to be objective and neutral, you would phrase the questions differently, i.e., “What do you say to your critics who charge that you’re being overly partisan by claim x, y, and z?” Couric wasn’t doing that. She was making the charge of partisanship, etc., herself.
And while I’m at it, Larry didn’t explicitly state the most treacherous implication of this whole affair. “Will no one rid us of this troublesome agent?” Lo and behold, here’s a chance that maybe the designated bad guys will do it for them if they just stand aside.
Joe and Valerie better be damn careful.
Again, thanks, Larry, for fleshing out the story the WH thinks they can stifle. I can’t imagine you get much satisfaction from it beyond knowing the truth will out. The level of disappointment in the government you served must be deep and I value your effort tremendously.
[…] with the CIA. These comments were originally printed at Mr. Johnson’s blog, No Quarter. http://noquarterusa.net/blog/2007/10/21/valerie-plame-wilson-and-the-ultimate-betrayal/#more-975 His comments are also in a DailyKOS diary this morning. […]
Larry, that had to make you furious, to see a friend and former co-worker basically thrown to the wolves. I don’t, however, imagine that by then it surprised you at all.
It’s good to know that Joe and Valerie have each other, and have been strong throughout this all, and that they have loyal friends like you. Their government that they spent many years defending now sees them as just so much inconvenient truth.
Do you know if they have security, Larry?
The Betrayal goes beyond one person, Valerie’s instance is simply a crucible to highlight focus upon.
The Betrayal is about a sham of a gov’t in Iraq being propped up, as was South Viet Nam in its heyday.
Money and political capital wasted for war profiteering. Anyone in the way gets attacked on a personal and professional level.
The problems we’re breeding in Iraq will come home soon, not just that of neglected troops. The contractors, the mid level management and distribution thieves, the subculture of selloffs and buyouts along the lines of a black market or brothel atmoshpere… they’re coming back to get GOP appointments.
This is not the end, it’s only the beginning.
[…] And through it all, Plame has made considerably little noise, though she would be most definately justified in doing so. What am I talking about? In 2004 the FBI received intelligence that Al Qaeda hit teams were enroute … […]
Why should we take at face value Ms. Wilson’s comments regarding the CIA and Administrations’ “cutting her loose?”
Really?
If we don’t believe her, then who should we believe?
Also why would she lie?
Just to write a book and make a lot of money?
Let’s see..
Who has a proven track record of lying…….the Bush Admin or
Ms. Plame??
Hmmmmmm….
That might take a while….
Guess I will have to get back to you on that.
…..Really? If we don’t believe her, then who should we believe? Also why would she lie? Just to write a book and make a lot of money? Let’s see.. Who has a proven track record of lying…….the Bush Admin or
Ms. Plame…..
Excellent comments, Bill. I’m going to start writing my book too! Let’s see now, it might open something like this. “It was October 30, 1996. Snow was already on the ground in Billings and the children were shivering in their light Holloween costumes as they….”
[…] Intel Community leftist Larry Johnson, offers a hair-raising (and characteristically foul-mouthed) story of poor Valerie, a mother with two pre-school children, abandoned to the mercies of Al-Qaeda by the […]
TROLL ALERT!!!…..TROLL ALERT!!!!!
I went to your website and I found, this quote by you apparently describing yourself as……
“Another Right-Wing Web Aggregator”
You sure got that right, at least you admit who you are!
But take your fucking right wing agitating bullshit and put it where the sun don’t shine and get he hell off this site and take your trash talk else where!
Valerie’s book tour dates for you lucky people in the DC area…
Confirmed events
Thursday, October 25, 7:30 PM
Borders
5871 Crossroads Center Way , Baileys Crossroads, VA, 22041
I just left a message with Valerie’s publicist at S & S to see if she has any info on where Val is scheduled to be on her tour.
Will update if I receive anything.
I wonder. Plame was CIA. The CIA has not always been the friend of truth and justice. Most often not, in the view of many. Her husband Joe Wilson was Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq from 1988 to 1991 in the period from the end of the Iraq-Iran War to the beginning of first Gulf War when various ‘ambiguous’ messages, to put it charitably, were delivered to Saddam Hussein about the US attitude towards his problems with Kuwait. By the interpretation of some informed analysts at least, a green light.
Now today on NBC’s Today show Plame says that “there is no doubt that Iran has intent” to obtain nuclear weapons. Intent, said Yehoshafat Harkabi in _Israel’s Fateful Hour_, means actually taking action towards a goal, as opposed to having a wish for some outcome.
If indeed there is “no doubt” that Iran is taking such steps why does the IAEA have no evidence of this? And see Hersh’s interview with Remmick at the New Yorker site:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/festival/2007/HershRemnick
regarding the utter failure of US intelligence to come up with any evidence for Iranian action to obtain a bomb.
And of course there is the problem of the ‘grand bargain’ proposed by Iran in 2003, a negotiation of everything, rejected out of hand by Bush.
Finally Ms Plame says that Iran is “malevolent.”
ma·lev·o·lent 1 : having, showing, or arising from intense often vicious ill will, spite, or hatred 2 : productive of harm or evil
An entire country “malevolent.”
She is a very bright woman, and can be assumed to have chosen her words carefully. So what is she actually saying?
What side is she on, really?
Leading up to the 60 Minutes interview, they had on their website a trailer stating Valerie monitored the proliferation of WMD’s specifically in Iran. However, not once was Iran mentioned in the horrible interview Couric did. We need to ask CBS why that particular piece of profound information was edited out.
There are also other reports surfacing that suggest Cheney purposely outed Valerie, not because of her husband’s op-ed piece, but because of his involvement via Halliburton of selling nuclear components to Iran via Dubai & Turkey. And isn’t it interesting how Pakistan’s AQ Kahn (sp?) was able to just disappear into the sunset?
Valerie wasn’t outed because of what her husband wrote…she was outed because her organization could have exposed American involvement in supplying Iran with nuclear technology.
Comment by Oilwellian | 2007-10-22 16:01:16
Valerie wasn’t outed because of what her husband wrote…she was outed because her organization could have exposed American involvement in supplying Iran with nuclear technology.
A very astute observation…I am putting it over on Huffpo in the hopes that Valerie will see it if she doesn’t see it here…obviously, what she thinks of your observation would be very interesting, and of course, she probably won’t say, knowing Dick Cheney’s record so far on her behalf.
OT:
Last night before the Plame segment they did a segment on starving children in Africa.. Doctors without Borders came up with a peanut butter, vitamin, sugar mix that is working miracles for childrens hunger. It had a funny name..Can anyone recall that name?
I don’t know about any of you folks but that segment really touched my heart..It is so sad that there is such misery in our world living next door to such wealth. I’m going to search the internet and see if there is an opportunity to contribute to this miracle for starving children.
While we are OT..let’s go all the way..
Did anyone see the postings of that Robert Thair guy here?
Man Larry tore his ass up..well i flamed him alittle too, but it seems once a week a nutjob posts here and somebody has to bury the jerk..
I think it’s pretty funny..After about 6 months or so of being a blogger i’m beginning to catch the drift of trolls and assholes..
You know what i found cool? I asked larry a question the other day and he replied to me..Now that’s cool for me..As an expert in counter-terrorism and former CIA he said he agreed with me…Damn..my head won’t hardly fit through a doorway anymore..
I really enjoy this blog and think leslie, susan and larry do a bang-up job on today’s current events.
although i bring a light-hearted version of the world it is only because after raising 6 children i have kind of a laid back view of the world..( esp. 4 big, bad boys )
But i have a son in Iraq so our family lives in tensions that only other families in a similar situation can appreciate.. i sleep a couple hours a night and wake up wondering if Jordan is Ok and what he is doing..Thanks to Bush and his pals i feel like we are in Hell..I catch my wife crying for no reason..she packs care packages to keep sain and you can just see the pain in her eyes..
That’s our life..that’s our family..that’s our government…that’s our world.
Kind Regards No quarter..keep up the good work.
Hoosier, I think the stuff they’re feeding the starving children is called “pumpynut,” although I won’t swear to it. It was an amazing story.
Hoosier,
It was called Plumplynut.
Plumpy’nut, more commonly known as Plumpy, is a peanut-based food for use in famine relief which was formulated by André Briend, a French scientist in 1999.
It is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste in a foil wrapper that can be distributed to children at home rather than in specialist feeding stations and can be eaten without any preparation. It tastes like a slightly sweeter kind of peanut butter. It is categorized by the WHO as a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF).
Could not beLIEVE the Couric questions and implications. Valerie did well with what she was given, and I’m truly pissed about the non-security allowed her, along with everything else flung at her and her husband.
Please, Larry, give them both my best. Is the lawsuit still in the game? I know one court threw it out, but aren’t there other options?
I read Valerie’s book yesterday and she was over at FireDogLake earlier today.
She and her husband are owed a great deal by this country.
I was hoping to see Larry pop in at the lake this morning, it was a great time.
“George Tenet shouldn’t have received the Medal of Freedom…he should have been awarded the Medal of BrownNoseDom, for his sucking up to and blindly doing the bidding of the criminals in the Bush White House.”
Oh, haven’t you heard? That is the new definition for freedom now.
That fries my ass, too!
I used to be able to understand Republicans, but they no longer give a shit about our country, just their own power and fame.
I just heard Valerie on All Things Considered,on NPR. She said outing her was treason! Finally it’s entering the national dialogue.
PLUMPYNUT.
Hoosier
I think it was “Plumpynut?”. Powerful show. Love this site and it was great to visit FDL and see Valerie, Joe and John Dean there — what great people. Thank you Larry for all you do.
Speaking of treasonous bastards.
they are running a hit piece on Valerie and Joe on FAUX NEWS’s Hannity and Colmes tommorrow reavealing “the truth” as they see it …They are insinuating that she is not who she says she is and are implying they have “the papers” to prove it.
Larry is there any way to get her to go into the belly of the beast and request to be on that show?
I would love to see her carve up Hannity with this one sentence.
“Sean, you know not of what you speak.
Amazing,,,,
on larry king just now he told Valerie he had dinner with Georgie boy (tenet) who said he (tenent) had nothing but praise for Valerie.
Valerie a great classy lady said..
“I wish him well…….”
What else can you say….
Sorry Larry, but immediately anyone mentions AlQaeda hit squads roaming the Globe, I switch off. Where have these squads disappeared to?
Looking at the situation as I do, I don’t know if the ficticious power centre you call AlQaeda would have any objective in assassinating Plame, Rove or Cheney. But 2004 was too long ago for me to remember all the power plays then.
Mind you she certainly has her name in the headlights.
Also Larry, loyalty is not decency. If you look at the history of World problems it is hard to find an instance where loyalty doesn’t creep in. Loyalty in some ways is the most despicable behaviour, for it implies double standards, where conscience can take a back seat to duty.
What happened is Valerie got shafted by her own and her pride has come before a fall. She has been mercilessly disposed of by a system she dutifully served to protect. By being dutiful she continues to protect that same system that failed her [and presumably everyone else]. I don’t think there’s too much to congratulate here.
Saddness for her predicament, but no feeling of empathy with her from me. Of course, if she takes an about turn and plays hardball, she might win a supporter in me yet.
In addition to forgetting 2004, you also seem to forget that all of the people Valerie was working UNDERCOVER with at Brewster Jennings were compromised as well. When intelligence operations are compromised (and the lives of the operatives are put in danger, in case you can’t catch the drift) that’s denagerous for the United States.
But don’t let reality get in the way of your theories. That might be inconvenient.
I am somewhat baffled by this reply.
What’s your point?
I have no theories, that’s done by those who personify a hush hush agenda. Theories, frankly, shoefone are the basis of your comment. And I feel sure you are absolutely correct in your summary of the compromises.
However what’s dangerous for the United States of America is what is dangerous and not what’s supposed to be dangerous.
Personally, I have no wider agenda, so you won’t get double standards with anything I say [touch wood]. Therefore I stick by it.
The Biggest “NATIONAL DISASTER” We Have long Endured..is the George W. Bush administration..
It IS Dangerous..
Agreed PH, but it stretches far, far wider than Bush.
Hard to play hardball when you don’t have a safe space. Valerie Plame Wilson has played nothing but hardball her whole career. The lack of meaningful counterterrorism support for employees in the CIA is breathtaking.
2004 was not so long ago. The last time I was summoned by a member of al qaeda was about two months ago and I first met him in 1995. Does that span the period of currency, at least for terrorism in Florida, for you?
….But 2004 was too long ago for me to remember all the power plays then….
I bet you would rememer what was going on if you were affected. When in 2004 was Valerie in danger? There were a whole lot of power plays