THE BIG ALL PURPOSE PLAME OIUTING SCANDAL TRIAL THREAD

[mburbank]

Time Reporter Says He Learned Agent's Identity from Rove
ABC News

Monday 31 October 2005

Matthew Cooper says I. Lewis Libby confirmed information.

One of the reporters at the center of the investigation into the leak of the identity of an undercover CIA officer, says he first learned the agent's name from President Bush's top political advisor, Karl Rove.

Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper also said today in an interview with "Good Morning America," that the vice president's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, confirmed to him that Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a covert CIA operative.



So, there it is. No more beating around the Bush. Maybe he broke the law, maybe he didn't, but Rove leaked the info. That means W's early statement that he'd fire anyone involved with the leak ought to include Rove. I know, I know, he changed his statement to 'anyone found guilty of a crime', but he needs his feet held to the fire by the press on this.

And Libby? Cooper says Libby confirmed that Plame was a COVERT OPERATIVE. Not just someone who worked at the CIA.

Any attempts to portray Libby as a forgetful guy working alone are ridiculous. Any attempts to leave Rove out of the equation are now apparently and obviously bogus. The immediatte question is how much did their bosses know and when did they know it?

I could be convinced that W was left out of the loop. It's easy for me to beleieve he doesn't do much in the way of actually governing. But Chenney? We're supposed to beleieve his chief of staff went rougue?

I don't even care all that much what laws got broken. These people deliberately outed a covert agent involved in WMD work to punish a critic and send a warning to other critics. The same people who are forever insinuating that anyone who doesn't agree with them isn't patriotic. These guys are traitors.