The Year of Rovegate
After talking to a few people today, I was surprised to learn that not everyone is aware that Karl Rove has been identified as a major source in the 2003 leak of an undercover CIA agent’s identity.
I know that the political posts on this site are far from the most popular, and that a couple of you out there disagree with my politics, but I believe the “CIA leak” story goes beyond my personal beliefs. It’s really about how far one side will go, even when it involves a breach of national security, in order to further (or protect) their agenda.
The full story has been covered better elsewhere, so I’ll just give you the short, short version, in case you don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.
Ready? Joe, a former U.S. ambassador, went on a CIA sponsored trip to Africa in 2002 to see if Niger had sold uranium to Iraq in the late 90’s. Based on his findings, he reported that they had not. The next year, Bush launched a pre-emptive strike against Iraq, based largely on the “evidence” that Joe had reported was false. A few months later, Joe wrote an article about it in the New York Times that said Bush was full of shit. A month after that, citing “sources in the administration” a couple of reporters (Novak, Cooper) revealed that Joe’s wife Valerie was an undercover agent for the CIA. It was the perfect retaliation. You write something we don’t like, we see if we can’t get your wife killed. The problem? It’s against the law to knowingly reveal the name of an undercover CIA agent.
Joe suspected Karl, but couldn’t prove it. A special prosecutor began an investigation. The White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan issued denials and said he’d spoke to Rove personally, and that he wasn’t involved. He went on to say that “any suggestion of Rove’s involvement was ridiculous”. And, Bush (at the time) said he would fire anyone that was involved in the leak of a CIA operative’s name.
Today, McClellan was taken to task by a team of reporters behaving more aggressively than I’ve seen in years, while Bush is busy playing deaf. I say hallelujah. It’s about time that someone calls bullshit. How much hypocrisy can one nation digest? Read the article about the press briefing, or even better, watch the video. It’s classic.
The question now is, did Rove actually leak the name? Maybe not, but I’d say that in the very least, he acted incredibly inappropriately and should be dismissed. Will there be consequences? Considering this administration, I doubt it. After all, could Bush really survive the next four years without his “brain”?
