In article <hpu0ovg82bqn48noiis5v4qf9aillvt9i7@4ax.com>, Harry Hope <rivrvu@ix.netcom.com> wrote:

From Reuters, 10/5/03:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&ncid=716&e=14&u=/nm/2003100
5/ts_nm/bush_leak_dc

CIA Operative in Leak Drama Fears for Safety

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

The former ambassador at the core of the White House leak controversy
accused the Bush administration on Sunday of blowing his wife's CIA
cover to muzzle criticism over the Iraq war and said they both now
feared for her safety.

While doubtless her safety has indeed been called into question, the real
horror of this is how many people has she had casual contact with (lunch, a
cup of coffe etc) that are now endangered because foriegn governments now
suspect them of leaking information to the CIA? This is what has not been
covered in the media, there are a lot of people who doubtless had nothing to
do with spying etc but had contact with her that are now suspect or endanger
thanks to the leaks.

Joseph Wilson, a seasoned diplomat in both Republican and Democratic
governments, said President Bush's top political aide Karl Rove, while
likely not the source of the leak, later "gave legs" to a newspaper
column that revealed his wife's identity as a CIA operative.

"I do have a number of people, or a person in whom I have a high
degree of confidence, who has told me that Karl Rove told him that my
wife is 'fair game', and that was one week after the leak," Wilson
told CBS's "Face The Nation."

White House spokesman Scott McClellan last week denied Rove was behind
the disclosure of Valerie Plame's name.

Revealing classified information is a federal crime punishable by up
to 10 years in prison and the Justice Department has opened an
investigation into the alleged leak.

Wilson said it now appeared his wife's name was leaked by someone
outside the White House, as an act of revenge to stop him and others
from questioning the intelligence used to go to war with Iraq.

"This administration apparently decided the way to do that was to leak
the name of my wife," he told NBC's "Meet The Press."

Wilson had questioned the president's State of the Union address in
which Bush said Iraq had sought to buy uranium from Africa.

Wilson went to Niger early in 2002 at the CIA's request to assess the
uranium claim and said it was very doubtful.

Wilson said he and his wife, a specialist in unconventional weapons
who worked overseas, were increasingly concerned she might be a target
due to the disclosure and "as a consequence of that, have begun to
rethink our own security posture."

The U.S. government had not offered any security measures, said
Wilson, adding that a leading former CIA official had said his wife
"was probably the single highest target of any possible terrorist
organization or hostile intelligence service that might want to do
damage."


CAREER "OVER" AS CIA OPERATIVE

The New York Times reported on Sunday Plame had "non-official cover,"
what the CIA calls a "Noc," the most difficult kind of false identity
for the agency to create, often involving especially dangerous jobs.

Plame passed herself off as a private energy expert, working for a
company that has been identified as Brewster Jennings and Associates,
believed to be a CIA front company.

Jim Marcinkowski, an ex-CIA officer who called Plame the best shot in
their class with an AK-47 rifle, told Time magazine her career as an
undercover operative was over.

"She will no longer be safe traveling overseas," said Marcinkowski,
who trained with Plame at Camp Peary, the Virginia school for CIA
recruits.

"I liken that to the knee-capping of an athlete."

With pressure mounting for answers over the leak, Sen. Chuck Hagel, a
Nebraska Republican, said it was up to the president to get to the
bottom of the story.

"The president should be asking some pretty tough questions, if he's
not already," Hagel said on CBS.

"My guess is that he is asking some tough questions. He needs to get a
hold of this himself, call his chief of staff in, his national
security adviser, the vice president and say 'OK, what do we have
here? This is serious, I want it fixed."'

Wilson's wife's cover was blown in mid-July by syndicated columnist
Robert Novak, who reiterated on Sunday he would not reveal his source
for the story.
_______________________________________________

And she won't be protected by Bush. The so-called president really
*is* a traitor.

Harry