In a dramatic twist in the long and drawn out saga that is the Valerie Plame case, Karl Rove was charged this week with perjury and lying to investigators about how and when he discovered that Ms Plame, also known as Ms Wilson, was a CIA operative and whether he shared that information with reporters, reported Truthout's Jason Leopold.
Back in 2003, when the White House was pleading ignorance through the mouth piece of Scott McClelland at a press briefing, a reporter asked:
Weeks ago, when you were first asked whether Mr. Rove had the conversation with Robert Novak that produced the column, you dismissed it as ridiculous. And I wanted just to make sure, at that time, had you talked to Karl?
To which McClellan replied:
"I've made it very clear, from the beginning, that it is totally ridiculous. I've known Karl for a long time, and I didn't even need to go ask Karl, because I know the kind of person that he is, and he is someone that is committed to the highest standards of conduct."
Ah, the beauty of 20/20 hindsight through a White House Spokesman who stood down in April this year. Indeed it appeared that Karl Rove had been a busy little leaker. But for those of you who are not completely tired of this case, let's have a little scoot (pardon the pun) around the events as they unfolded in 2003, leading up to the press briefing.
It appears that in its singularly determined effort to go to war in Iraq, the Bush Administration was searching for something they could base their case on. In February 2002, former US Ambassador Joseph Wilson was sent to Niger on a CIA funded operation to find out whether or not Niger had been supplying Iraq with Uranium. The answer that came back with Wilson was an unequivocal No. According to a timeline of the leak in the New York Times, by June 9, the CIA had sent a fax to the attention of I Lewis "Scooter" Libby, which contained information about Wilson and his trip to Niger. Just three days later, it was Dick Cheney who advised Libby about Wilson's wife's identity as a member of the CIA's Counter proliferation Division.
Things must have been heating up for Wilson already, because by July 6 he wrote and op-ed piece in the New York Times titled, "What I Didn't Find in Africa." Five days later, during the President's State of the Union Address (talk about bringing out the big guns), CIA Director George Tenet accepted partial responsibility for the uranium claims made by Wilson, adding that Cheney had not authorised the dispatch of Wilson to Niger and had not been briefed on his findings.
So was that conversation between Cheney and Libby a month earlier just gossip around the water cooler? Perhaps it went something like this:
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->
Cheney: Hey, I saw you got a fax! Nice one, I got one of those once. What was it?
Libby: Oh, something about a yellow cake in Africa somewhere or is that South America? Anyway, one of our colonies. Yeah, from Wilson you know, the ex-Ambassador guy? Had a really boring BBQ last year he doesn't even have a pool.
Cheney: Oh, I know the guy, yeah, his wife's hot though she's a CIA
operative, did you know? I bet she can really kick ass.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Karl Rove seems to have made his first appearance in the tale when he reportedly spoke with syndicated columnist Robert Novak about Wilson and his wife on July 8, 2003. 3 days later, he was speaking with Time Magazine's Matthew Cooper who, according to an email sent by Rove to then Deputy National Security Advisor Stephen J. Hadley, that Matthews has "not taken the bait" However, Novak was obviously more than happy to help Rove out, publishing his column three days later, revealing that "two senior administration officials" had revealed the identity of Wilson's wife and that she was an "operative on weapons of mass destruction"
Now that Libby and Rove are going to face trial, one has to wonder, what's happing with the big fella? The big huntin' Cheney? It has long been suspected that Libby, who was Cheney's Chief of Staff, was working under direct order from Cheney himself, and given the links between all of the players we've already mentioned, it would seem at best to assume he had no knowledge of the events, and just a little bit potty to assume he had no part in them. In early 2002, it was Cheney's office that raised the question of Niger, Iraq and uranium with the CIA.
Considering that Dick Cheney's former right hand man, I "Scooter" Libby went down last year for his involvement, and Rove is now in indicted, one has to consider this question and response in the same 2003 press briefing about Mr Lock, Stock & Two Smokin' Barrels himself:
"Do your words also speak for Vice President Cheney? And can you categorically say that he was not involved in this?
Again, to the wordsmith, Scott McClelland:
"I've made it clear that there's been nothing, absolutely nothing, brought to our attention to suggest any White House involvement, and that includes the Vice President's office, as well. When I'm talking about the White House, I'm talking about the Vice President's office as well"
In the great words of C & C Music Factory, "things that make you go hmmmm..."
