Explain to an Australian?

Can someone explain something to me?

I just need help understanding the definitive and achievable strategy that the Bush Admin had for the Plame Plan.

1. Bush says "Saddam... Uranium... Africa... etc"

2. Wilson says "No he didn't. I told 'em so too."

3. Bush admin says "Tell everyone his wife is a covert CIA agent."


My question is... why?

If the revelation was Wilson is a Communist Nazi lesbian, THEN I could understand why the revelation would damage his credibility. But revealing the occupation of his wife? How does that discredit HIM?

Destroys his WIFE's career, endangers countless Americans, etc... but him? I don't see it.

FENCE-SITTER: "Well gee, I was thinking maybe Bush DID lie when he mentioned that whole Uranium/Africa thing, but now that I know this Wilson guy has a wife who's an undercover CIA agent... well that changes everything!"

I don't get it.


(And can you guys stop using GATE for every scandal? Watergate worked because it was new. Calling EVERY scandal xxxxx-gate is annoying. For starters, none of them stuck. Jinx much? Think of a new word, and history will *remember* it.)


Kisses XXOOXX
Jen

and of course, what their official story is, is:

by revealing that his wife is CIA, they claim nepotism in why he was chosen for the job -- in other words, he wasn't necessariy qualified, his wife got him the gig.

Main point being that he wasn't qualified.

Course, it then begs the question of why the WH retracted the Niger claims....

It's all absurd, who can know the mind of a repub?

that people would regard Wilson's trip to Niger as some sort of "boondoggle" vacation arranged by his wife - like that's where we all go to sip mai tai's and soak up the sun? Oh, yeah, right. Bottom line, I think, is that they were so angry that their little game was being foiled, they didn't think too much. I know, it is really stupid, isn't it?

One is that saying that his wife sent him diminishes his credibility. Wilson says that he was sent after Cheney's office requested more info from the CIA. The leak helps dispute that.

The second theory is that Valerie Plame was a specialist in WMDs. She may have been outed because her investigations showed that there were not WMDs in Iraq and that * et al lied about the reasons for the war.

a way to send a warning to anyone else who thinks about crossing Bush and his crooked pals. In other words, "get out of line, and think what might happen to YOUR family!" Bush is a vindictive and cruel little prick, and this would be just like him.

I also wish "gate" would die a quiet death. It's been 30 years, folks.

The Bush cabal is evil. :(

1. Credibility: I have never thought this was a strong argument. I think those who do say that by claiming that Plame recommend that J. Wilson go to Niger, it makes the trip look like a boondoggle rather than a serious investigation, and they had to reveal that she was in the CIA, since the CIA was said to have recommended him. If I were going to take a boondoggle, it would be to Aus., not to Niger.
2. Retaliation and a message to others who might reveal information that discredits *'s policies: Clearly the destruction of your spouse's career, and jeopardizing her safety, affects you. I think this is a good argument that is consistent with the facts we know so far. Would-be whistle-blowers might think, "it's just not worth the risk. They're vicious and powerful and there's no way i can stop them."

In fact, I think that is why the freepers think that she and Wilson should be indicted, because they believe that she and the 'liberal CIA' were trying to sabotage the president's evidence for war.

To my understanding, she was a WMD expert and Brewster Jennings, the CIA front company, were doing work related to WMDs in the middle east, and bushco didn't like the results of her work, just like they didn't like Joe Wilson's results of his Niger trip.

They went after Wilson because of what he said about the Niger forgeries and also because his wife was getting much too close to the truth about Junior's bedfellows in Saudi Arabia and other places. They went after the entire CIA soon after that. Luckily, the CIA asked for a formal investigation because someone outed one of their "covert" agents - the CIA's word. And I do think they would know if Plame was covert or not. To the CIA, she certainly was.

was the strategy. The original idea was to paint the picture that he was somehow incompetent because he sent to Niger by his wife, and for no other reason.

The truth is Joe Wilson is one of the few people that can claim expertise on Iraq AND Africa, so probably was the best person for the job, husband of Valerie or not.

It's not so much that they expected it would influence public opinion, it was more a very visual warning that if you cross the WHIG, this presidency or PNAC's desire for a war that (to paraphrase the uniquely-pompous Karl Rove) they will fuck you. It was a threat (and potentially an attempt) on her life...all because her husband didn't go along with the party line lie. That's how sick these people are.

And it's not us (the public)...the friggin media likes dumbed-down buzzphrases here that will resonate with the stupidest of Americans. ...gate=scandal. They expect a Pavlovian response, that you can take any event and tack -gate on the end of it and we'll all know to jeer and boo and be outraged. Try it...pick anything...anything at all...tack -gate on the end of it and watch the sparks fly. Jesusgate for example...who isn't dreading Jesusgate?

My understanding of it is that they figured by outing her it would end up discrediting what he was saying.

Remember he first wrote the opinion piece in the NYT. In that article he said basically that the * admin was lying. After that her name was leaked to the press.


As for the "gate" on everything. That is just something they do here on DU and in other lefties sites. That doesn't mean the press will pick it up and run with it, so history would remember it.

his letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee.

http://www.politicsoftruth.com/editorials/Statement.html

You will see how the GOP members, Roberts, Bond & Hatch, were pinning Wilson's information on Niger as the reason for going to war.


Look at what Roberts says in his statement
http://intelligence.senate.gov/030711.htm
July 11, 2003

Senator Roberts’ Statement on the Niger Documents

-snip-

“So far, I am very disturbed by what appears to be extremely sloppy handling of the issue from the outset by the CIA.

“What now concerns me most, however, is what appears to be a campaign of press leaks by the CIA in an effort to discredit the President.

“Unnamed ‘intelligence officials’ are now claiming that they told the White House that attempts by Iraq to acquire uranium from countries in Africa were unfounded. I understand, however, that as late as mid-January, 2003, approximately ten days before the State of the Union speech, the CIA was still asserting that Iraq was seeking to acquire uranium from Africa and that those attempts were further evidence of Saddam’s efforts to reconstitute his nuclear program.

“I have seen no documentation that indicates that the CIA had reversed itself after January 17th and prior to the State of the Union. If the CIA had changed its position, it was incumbent on the Director of Central Intelligence to correct the record and bring it to the immediate attention of the President. It appears that he did not.

“This is not the type of responsibility that can be delegated to mid-level officials. The Director of Central Intelligence is the President’s principal advisor on intelligence matters. He should have told the President and it appears that he failed to do so.”

JUNE 11, 2003

SENATOR ROBERTS: INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE OVERSIGHT TO INCLUDE THOROUGH REVIEW OF INTELLIGENCE ON IRAQ'S WMD
WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Senator Pat Roberts, Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, today said that as part of the committee's on-going oversight responsibility, the committee will conduct a thorough and bipartisan review of intelligence regarding the threat posed by Iraq's weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program and Iraq's connections with terrorist groups.

"While I am Chairman," Senator Roberts said, "the committee will handle this review in a responsible manner untainted by politics. Let me point out that the Joint Inquiry by an independent staff into 9-11 strongly criticized intelligence officials for not connecting the dots and for being risk averse, for failing to put together a picture that seemed all too obvious after the fact.

"Now, there seems to be a campaign afoot to criticize the intelligence community and the President for connecting the dots, for putting together a picture that seemed all too obvious before the fact.

"While some of the criticism leveled on the intelligence community has been understandable given the circumstances and, at times, constructive, some of the attacks have been for political gain. I will not allow the committee to be politicized or to be used as an unwitting tool for political strategists. That is not good for the community or for our national security. Such action has already caused divisiveness and those within the intelligence community to go back to the days of risk aversion, the primary cause of 9-11."

As a part of regular oversight duties of the Intelligence Committee we will endeavor to complete three tasks:

• Gather and evaluate the intelligence underlying pre-war assessments of Iraq's WMD capability and its connections to terrorists groups.

• Evaluate the reasonableness of the assessments considering the quantity and quality of such intelligence.

• Evaluate the accuracy of those assessments by comparing them with the results of the ongoing search in Iraq for prohibited weapons and connections to terrorist groups.

"All of the documents are and will be available to Committee members beginning Monday," Senator Roberts said. "I am recommending that they personally review each and every document so that their public statements are based on fact and so the committee can make informed decisions. The next time a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee expresses an opinion on this topic, I encourage you to ask them if they have done their homework. As Chairman, I intend to do mine."

"I am concerned by the number of anonymous ‘officials' that have been speaking to the press alleging that they were pressured by Administration officials to skew their analysis, a most serious charge and allegations that must be cleared up," Senator Roberts said. "I can tell you the committee has yet to hear from any intelligence official expressing such concerns. If any officials believe, however, that they have been pressured to alter their assessment, they have an obligation and I encourage them to contact the committee for confidential discussions."


THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO SEE. SOME OF THE INFORMATION WAS CLASSIFIED BEFORE THIS DATE.