Leaky pipes: revealing the identity of C.I.A. agent Valerie Plame has damaged the nation
Examining the leak: from run-up to war to indictment
Chris Dieterich, Editor-in-Chief
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This account is based on reporting by the major news organizations, including the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Associated Press, and NPR.
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, resigned his post Friday, October 28, after being indicted on five felony charges. The charges followed an almost two-year investigation into the leaked identity of C.I.A. operative, Valerie Plame.
Background
At the heart of this issue is the rationale for war in Iraq (which began March 19, 2003). The Associated Press reported that during the run-up to military operations in Iraq, the Bush administration claimed that Saddam Hussein's government was uncooperative in terminating weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs (chemical, biological and nuclear) and in accounting for all WMD byproducts. On October 31, Newsweek reports that at the time of that run-up, high-ranking advocates for war--Vice President Dick Cheney, Cheney's Chief of Staff "Scooter" Libby and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz--sought any and all evidence to further their argument that Saddam possessed WMDs and needed to be taken out. Some of this evidence would later turn out to be spurious.
In his January 28, 2003 State of the Union Address, President Bush made the now infamous statement that there existed British intelligence proving Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from Africa, (read Niger) ostensibly to be used as fissile material in a nuclear device.
Wilson speaks out
But Iraq never attempted to purchase uranium from Niger, at least according to Joseph Wilson. Wilson, a career ambassador and former U.S. ambassador to Iraq, traveled to Niger for the C.I.A., at the behest of Cheney, in February 2002 to investigate the validity of the claim. His conclusion: there is no evidence linking Nigerian uranium and Iraq.
Meanwhile, by the summer of 2003, Operation Iraqi Freedom had toppled effigies of Saddam all over Baghdad, but had yet to discover the stockpiles of WMDs that provided the primary justification for war. When scrutinized, documents that provided the evidence for the Niger story turned out to be "crude forgeries," according to Newsweek.
On July 6, 2003, Joseph Wilson published an opinion editorial in the New York Times, titled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," to tell of his experiences in Niger. In his column, Wilson spoke out as both an insider and whistleblower, stating, "Some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."
The plot thickens
On July 14, 2003, syndicated columnist Robert Novak revealed in his column that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was working as an undercover C.I.A. agent and probably played a role in getting Wilson assigned to investigate the Iraq-Niger link. Novak cited "two senior administration officials" with providing him with the identity of Plame. To many, the move seemed like an obvious attempt to punish and discredit Wilson for voicing his dissent for a war just entering critical stages, according to the Associated Press.
Not long after the Novak column was published, questions surfaced about whether a federal law protecting C.I.A. operatives had been broken when information about the identity of Plame was passed on to Novak. The Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982 made it a federal crime "to knowingly reveal the identity of a covert C.I.A. agent," according to www.findlaw.com.
On December 30, 2003, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was named as special counsel to decipher whether blowing Plame's cover was intentional, and grounds for felony indictment. The federal investigation has had to conclude not only whether the information was leaked, but when, and with what intentions.
Speculation surrounding the roles of Karl Rove, President Bush's Deputy Chief of Staff and "top political adviser," and "Scooter" Libby in the leak has kept the Bush administration on edge for the better part of two years. Both men carry enormous sway in dealings with President Bush and Vice President Cheney.
Fallout
In the end, charges were finally brought against Libby, but not Rove last Friday. These charges do not attempt to pin Libby with illegally leaking Plame's identity, however. Instead, according to his nationally televised press conference last Friday, Fitzgerald will attempt to prove that Libby lied to the federal grand jury and was uncooperative during the investigation proceedings. Libby faces one count of Obstructing Justice, two counts of False Statements and two counts of Perjury. According to the New York Times website, Libby could face a maximum of 30 years in prison with $1.25 million in fines.
According to Fitzgerald's press conference Friday, Libby initially claimed to have heard about Plame's idendity from reporter Tim Russert. Only after hearing for the first time about Plame's identity did Libby then pass on the information to other reporters such as Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time. Fitzgerald finds this story problematic. Indeed, the indictment will bank on evidence that Libby discussed Plame "at least half a dozen times" before he ever spoke to Russert. This would make a scenario where Libby unknowingly or unintentionally passed along information about Plame seem implausible.
Fitzgerald also stated at a press conference following the announcement of Rove is still currently under investigation.