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Karl Rove & Valerie Plame
The Media Avoids Connecting the Dots


"The underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war. The CIA sent Joseph Wilson, an old Africa hand, to Niger to investigate. Mr. Wilson...came back to report no sign of an Iraqi bid for uranium. Wilson directly challenged the administration with a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed...making clear his belief that the president deliberately manipulated intelligence in order to justify an invasion. Three days later, Bob Novak's column appeared giving Wilson's wife's name, Valerie Plame, and the fact she was an undercover CIA officer."
  -- Christian Science Monitor, 7/15/05

July 18 , 2005
Dear friends,

In all of the recent media coverage of Karl Rove's possible involvement in revealing the name of CIA agent Valerie Plame, I have been amazed that an exceedingly small number of journalists have touched upon the reasons behind this incident. I am incredibly thankful to the Christian Science Monitor, which, in the article below, spells out clearly just what happened, and why it happened.

The war in Iraq almost certainly would not have happened if Bush administration had failed to convince the public that Saddam Hussein harbored dangerous weapons of mass destruction (WMDs). We now know that there were no WMDs. Why aren't more reporters pointing out the fact that the CIA knew this before the war started; that Joseph Wilson clearly informed the administration of this; that the administration disregarded this vital information and lied to the public in order to promote their war agenda; and that most importantly, when Joseph Wilson exposed these lies, someone in the administration retaliated by revealing to the press that Wilson's wife was a CIA agent.

The loss of the lives of thousands of American soldiers and many more innocent Iraqi civilians could have been avoided if the administration had given heed to Wilson's information. To learn more about how those in power have often lied to the public and manipulated us into supporting war, see our War Information Center, and especially a highly revealing two-page essay by a former US general at www.WantToKnow.info/warcoverup  Please help to play the role at which our media is so sadly failing by sending this information on to your friends and colleagues. Together, we can and will build a brighter future.

With best wishes,
Fred Burks for WantToKnow.info


http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0715/p09s02-cods.html

Rove leak is just part of larger scandal

By Daniel Schorr
from the July 15, 2005 edition

WASHINGTON – Let me remind you that the underlying issue in the Karl Rove controversy is not a leak, but a war and how America was misled into that war.

In 2002 President Bush, having decided to invade Iraq, was casting about for a casus belli. The weapons of mass destruction theme was not yielding very much until a dubious Italian intelligence report, based partly on forged documents (it later turned out), provided reason to speculate that Iraq might be trying to buy so-called yellowcake uranium from the African country of Niger. It did not seem to matter that the CIA advised that the Italian information was "fragmentary and lacked detail."

Prodded by Vice President Dick Cheney and in the hope of getting more conclusive information, the CIA sent Joseph Wilson, an old Africa hand, to Niger to investigate. Mr. Wilson spent eight days talking to everyone in Niger possibly involved and came back to report no sign of an Iraqi bid for uranium and, anyway, Niger's uranium was committed to other countries for many years to come.

No news is bad news for an administration gearing up for war. Ignoring Wilson's report, Cheney talked on TV about Iraq's nuclear potential. And the president himself, in his 2003 State of the Union address no less, pronounced: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."

Wilson declined to maintain a discreet silence. He told various people that the president was at least mistaken, at most telling an untruth. Finally Wilson directly challenged the administration with a July 6, 2003 New York Times op-ed headlined, "What I didn't find in Africa," and making clear his belief that the president deliberately manipulated intelligence in order to justify an invasion.

One can imagine the fury in the White House. We now know from the e-mail traffic of Time's correspondent Matt Cooper that five days after the op-ed appeared, he advised his bureau chief of a supersecret conversation with Karl Rove who alerted him to the fact that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA and may have recommended him for the Niger assignment. Three days later, Bob Novak's column appeared giving Wilson's wife's name, Valerie Plame, and the fact she was an undercover CIA officer. Mr. Novak has yet to say, in public, whether Mr. Rove was his source. Enough is known to surmise that the leaks of Rove, or others deputized by him, amounted to retaliation against someone who had the temerity to challenge the president of the United States when he was striving to find some plausible reason for invading Iraq.

The role of Rove and associates added up to a small incident in a very large scandal - the effort to delude America into thinking it faced a threat dire enough to justify a war.

� Daniel Schorr is the senior news analyst at National Public Radio.

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Karl Rove & Valerie Plame