This will be a bitter pill for some conservatives to swallow. CIA Director Michael Hayden personally reviewed and okayed Henry Waxman's opening statement for Valerie Plame's testimony today. Furthermore, Hayden took pains to set the record straight: Plame was indeed a covert agent up until the day Robert Novak revealed as much to the public. You see, many on the right (including some here at The Stump) have spent a lot of time trying to convince us otherwise. They never fail to use quotation marks when referring to the administration's "outing" of Plame so as to suggest that no such undercover status ever existed. While Patrick Fitzgerald may not have believed he had enough evidence to prove that a crime was committed, there was really never much doubt that Plame had covert status.
In fact, Plame's testimony proved illuminating on a number of fronts. Under oath, articulate, and forceful, she laid to waste a veritable forest of myths that the right has erected against her. No, she wasn't a mere pencil pusher, she'd undertaken undercover missions to foreign countries over the past five years. No, she hadn't been the one to select her husband to go to on his fact-finding mission to Niger. No, she didn't talk to Nicholas Kristof (or others in the media) about her job at the CIA. But most importantly, in the words of the man who now heads the CIA, she was very much a covert agent.
Reader Comments ( Page 4 of 11)
46. SOCIALIST PARTY of the democrates is the down turn of of America, The Wilson are lier, and they know it. But the SOCIALIST PARTY will protect them. They are nuts, and The President nor the Vice President would ever send them on a fact finding tour or anything else. This woman (Mrs. Wilson) should never have been in the CIS.
Jim Krieger at 3:20PM on Mar 16th 2007
47. Absolutely correct Jack, Same group now claims to have a "HAZEY MEMORIES" of the reason for firing Judicial Prosecuting Attorneys, seems like this compassionate conservative President's administration only remembers what it wants tooand fabricates the rest of history!
g02342000 at 3:19PM on Mar 16th 2007
48. Gary - you are an idiot, along with the rest of you who swallow the media spin. Plane was not covert - if she were it would have been a dumb move to plot, along with her husband, this unauthorized trip and everything else to discredit the administration which would automatically make them media stars. She evidently wasn't worried about that notoriety.
jean at 6:59PM on Mar 16th 2007
49. where is the thin silver thread of the truth?so many comments appear to be plants from the adminstration ie long dry creek, could it be placed by the demos? its trying so hard to po-po everything that could bring down G.W.'S house of cards all i know is what the spin doctors try to get us to believe as truth. Hope it ALL comes out in the courts doubt,it will.. if my country survives these days its lessons should make it much stronger
Bob Nickerson at 5:00PM on Mar 16th 2007
50. Sorry people, but she was not a covert agent. If she was, they would have charged them with a federal crime. You need to understand the law.
Mike at 3:34PM on Mar 16th 2007
51. jim, its not the socialist party.its the COMMUNIST party. if they get into office in 08 the KGB will over run the USA!
steve england at 3:32PM on Mar 16th 2007
52. We are so lucky to have people like Valarie and Joe Wilson on our side. Some day a book will be written as to how the United States got trapped with Bush, Cheney and the whole rest of the mess. They are only interested in money and power for themselves and will turn any dirty trick to destroy anyone in their way. I don't know how they sleep at night. The destruction they are causing in the U.S. and around the world is beyond words.
I'd like to know what the Mexican criminals have on Bush. He obviously works for them. Why are we fighting a war to promote Democracy when we are living in a Dictatorship?
Margaret Cook at 9:50PM on Apr 11th 2007
53. I agree w/ Clement Rose, there is a potential for fatalities for those who were in contact with Valerie Plame while she was under cover! How about charges of Attempted Murder for all who leaked her name? My advice to Mike Ebert and Adrian Palmer - check out the book "The Spy Wore Red - my adventures as an Undercover Agent in WWII" by Aline Countess Romanones. Valerie Plame would make an EXCELLENT spy as the wife of an Ambassador with access to top foreign leaders and facilities. Pat C.
Pat C at 3:41PM on Mar 16th 2007
54. A question to all of you who doubt Plame was a covert agent: If Plame wasn't undercover, why on earth would Bush's newly appointed head of the CIA, General Michael Hayden, make such an authoritative statement that she was?
david knowles at 3:41PM on Mar 16th 2007
55. Treason, treason treason!
That is the crime. Those who outed her should hang. There are many necks at risk.
Kathy at 3:43PM on Mar 16th 2007
56. How convenient that you left out her own answer that she was not of covert status at the time of the "outing", nor had been for quite some time. This elimantes it from breaking the law that was and IS in place, regarding outing a covert CIA agent, which was verified by not only Fitzgerald's lack of pursuance, but by an author of the law themselves! ANY CIA agent that is sent out of the country, on business, is considered undercover, but not necessarily classified. Once again....chasing ghosts. We're wasting time and money on pissy whiney socialites, and even with the media on their side, NOONE will serve time.
R Punto at 4:30PM on Mar 16th 2007
57. Joe Wilson is a plant for the Clinton shadow goverments that is trying their best to tear apart and destroy the bush administration.
cliff at 4:03PM on Mar 16th 2007
58. What better cover than to have the legitimate role of ambassador's wife! She served our country, and, once again, the Bush administration, for its own self-serving reasons, disregarded the value of that service. So do all of you who belittle her. Or are you only inclined to heap accolades on Republicans who serve their country?
Kathy at 3:51PM on Mar 16th 2007
59. 2 important truths the "mainstream media", including AOL, fail to disclose is that 1) Plame was not an undercover agent, nor had she been for 6 years, prior to her "outing". , and 2) There actually is no law against revealing the identity of a CIA agent" Neither Novack, nor Libby, nor Rove nor Armitage, committed any crime at all by speakin gamonmgst themselves of Plame's employment by the CIA. But then again, the truth has little meaning to the liberal fanatics in the reckless pursuit of their goal.
John at 3:53PM on Mar 16th 2007
60. Valerie and Joe Wilson should be getting a medal for their battle against the Bush terrorists. You people who are criticizing them move over to the next line. That is the one led by Bush and buddies and leads right over the cliff.
Margaret Cook at 3:59PM on Mar 16th 2007