Difference between revisions of "Valerie Plame"
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'''Valeria Plame''' is a former [[CIA]] employee whose identity was revealed by [[Richard Armitage]] and exposed in a column by political writer [[Robert Novak]]. Plame is the wife of [[Joseph Wilson]] and the center of the [[Valerie Plame Affair]]. | '''Valeria Plame''' is a former [[CIA]] employee whose identity was revealed by [[Richard Armitage]] and exposed in a column by political writer [[Robert Novak]]. Plame is the wife of [[Joseph Wilson]] and the center of the [[Valerie Plame Affair]]. | ||
| − | At the time of her outing, Valerie Plame was a "covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States." <ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2007/05/30/plame/ Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilsons CIA Employment And Cover History]</ref> | + | At the time of her outing, Valerie Plame was a "covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States." <ref>[http://www.salon.com/news/primary_sources/2007/05/30/plame/ Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilsons CIA Employment And Cover History]</ref> |
| + | Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was the head the initial investigation. Justice Department and FBI officials requested a special prosecutor be named over concerns of the veracity of interviews with Karl Rove. Attorney General Ashcroft, having connections to Karl Rove, recused himself from the case and Acting Attorney General James Comey appointed special prosecutor [[Patrick Fitzgerald]] to investigate the leak. | ||
Opponents of President's Bush [[invasion of Iraq]], particularly Democrats, accused the White House of "outing" Plame in retaliation for her husband's statement undercutting Bush's invasion rationale. | Opponents of President's Bush [[invasion of Iraq]], particularly Democrats, accused the White House of "outing" Plame in retaliation for her husband's statement undercutting Bush's invasion rationale. | ||
Revision as of 15:36, June 2, 2008
Valeria Plame is a former CIA employee whose identity was revealed by Richard Armitage and exposed in a column by political writer Robert Novak. Plame is the wife of Joseph Wilson and the center of the Valerie Plame Affair.
At the time of her outing, Valerie Plame was a "covert CIA employee for whom the CIA was taking affirmative measures to conceal her intelligence relationship to the United States." [1] Then-Attorney General John Ashcroft was the head the initial investigation. Justice Department and FBI officials requested a special prosecutor be named over concerns of the veracity of interviews with Karl Rove. Attorney General Ashcroft, having connections to Karl Rove, recused himself from the case and Acting Attorney General James Comey appointed special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the leak.
Opponents of President's Bush invasion of Iraq, particularly Democrats, accused the White House of "outing" Plame in retaliation for her husband's statement undercutting Bush's invasion rationale.
Robert Novak wrote:
- Armitage ... says he was mute because of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's request
- Zealous foes of George W. Bush ... cannot fit Armitage into the left-wing fantasy of a well-crafted White House conspiracy to destroy Joe and Valerie Wilson. The news that he, and not Karl Rove, was the leaker was devastating for the left. [1]
In May 2007, Senator Kit Bond, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee asked Plame to explain differences in the various accounts Plame gave to investigators in the Plame Affair.
- Plame told the CIA's inspector general in 2003 or 2004 that she had suggested Wilson.
- Plame told Senate Intelligence Committee staffers in 2004 that she couldn't remember whether she had suggested Wilson.
- She told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee in March that an unidentified person in Vice President Cheney's office asked a CIA colleague about the African uranium report in February 2002. A third officer, overhearing Plame and the colleague discussing this, suggested, "Well, why don't we send Joe?" Plame told the committee. [2]
See also
References
- ↑ Unclassified Summary of Valerie Wilsons CIA Employment And Cover History
- ↑ Plame called on to explain varied accounts, By Richard Willing, USA TODAY, May 29, 2007.