Plame speaking out at last

[smellybacon]

She was used as nothing more than a tool by a ruthless administration. There's nothing partisan about this, and nothing new in the consolidation of political power through intimidation tactics.

seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2003622608_plame17.html

One is inclined to wonder, considering the abuses that have come to light, what others haven't. How many are playing ball behind the scenes that we don't know about? How many of those are going along with what the administration wants, not because it's what they believe in, but out of fear?

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. . . . Power is not a means; it is an end . . . not power over things, but over men. . . . In our world there will be no emotions except fear, rage, triumph, and self-abasement. . . . There will be no loyalty, except loyalty toward the Party. There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. . . . Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face forever." - George Orwell (emphasis mine)

[catknipnd]

My question in this whole thing has always been, since she was known to be working at the CIA in a secretarial position, how could she be outed?

[smellybacon]

Secretarial position? Know by whom? I can't find references to this. Splain please, with links

[catknipnd]

I stand corrected. At the time Plame's name was leaked, she was not in a covert position in the CIA.

“t now appears that the person most responsible for the end of Ms. Plame’s CIA career is Mr. Wilson. Mr. Wilson chose to go public with an explosive charge, claiming—falsely, as it turned out—that he had debunked reports of Iraqi uranium-shopping in Niger and that his report had circulated to senior administration officials. He ought to have expected that both those officials and journalists such as Mr. Novak would ask why a retired ambassador would have been sent on such a mission and that the answer would point to his wife. He diverted responsibility from himself and his false charges by claiming that President Bush’s closest aides had engaged in an illegal conspiracy. It’s unfortunate that so many people took him seriously.” —Washington Post editorial

“Lewis Libby has now been found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice for lies that had absolutely no legal consequence. It was not a crime to reveal Valerie Plame’s name because she was not a covert agent. If it had been a crime, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald could have wrapped up his investigation with an indictment of the State Department’s Richard Armitage on the first day of his investigation since it was Armitage who revealed her name and Fitzgerald knew it. With no crime to investigate, Fitzgerald pursued a pointless investigation into nothing, getting a lot of White House officials to make statements under oath and hoping some of their recollections would end up conflicting with other witness recollections, so he could charge some Republican with ‘perjury’ and enjoy the fawning media attention. As a result, Libby is now a convicted felon for having a faulty memory of the person who first told him that Joe Wilson was a delusional boob who lied about his wife sending him to Niger. This makes it official: It’s illegal to be Republican.” —Ann Coulter