The Plame scandal takes a turn — towards Iran

May 2, 2006

Nearly three months ago, Raw Story reported that Valerie [tag]Plame[/tag], before being outed by the [tag]Bush[/tag] White House, was “part of an operation tracking distribution and acquisition of weapons of mass destruction technology to and from [tag]Iran[/tag],” while working on the clandestine side of the [tag]CIA[/tag] in the Directorate of Operations as a non-official cover (NOC) officer. The story suggested that the White House’s leak was more serious than at first believed, and may have done considerable harm to American intelligence-gathering efforts and undermined our ability to monitor the Iranian [tag]nuclear[/tag] threat.

Last night, MSNBC’s David Shuster confirmed the accounts.

“As Prosecutor Patrick [tag]Fitzgerald[/tag] considers whether to charge Karl [tag]Rove[/tag] with perjury, obstruction of justice, or worse … MSNBC has learned new information about the damage caused by the White House leaks.

“Intelligence sources say Valerie Wilson was part of an operation three years ago tracking the proliferation of nuclear weapons material into Iran. And the sources allege that when Mrs. Wilson’s cover was blown, the administration’s ability to track Iran’s nuclear ambitions was damaged as well. The White House considers Iran to be one of America’s biggest threats.”

(C&L, of course, has the video of Shuster’s report.)

Needless to say, if this is right, it’s a rather stunning story. On the one hand, it would undermine the Republican line that Plame really wasn’t covert, so outing her publicly was meaningless. On the other hand, it would also suggest that the White House drive to go after Joseph Wilson was awfully close to treason — the Bush gang weakened our nation’s ability to monitor a dangerous adversary because they wanted to spite a critic who had the nerve to refute their bogus claims.

Just to clarify, we don’t know for certain if the story is true. We don’t know whether MSNBC and Raw Story have the same source, or whether that source(s) is reliable. But if the reports on Plame and Iran are accurate, it should forever make clear that the Bush White House considers national security a political plaything that should be tossed aside for partisan convenience, in case there was any doubt.

It provides empirical evidence for a generalization which could also be deduced or simply imputed: for the Bush Crime Family, everything is a political plaything.

Well, maybe I’d better hedge that somewhat. It’s questionable how much the Regal Moron knows/cares/controls what goes on in his name. And outright theft of our national wealth for transfer to the already obscenely rich always trumps mere politics.

  • There’s an old saying, in that if you’re in charge, everything’s your fault. Kid George, if this story pans out as factual either (1) has direct knowledge of the goings-on, or (2) is responsible for the actions of those under his turbid command who do have explicit knowledge of this sordid mess.

    I’ll err on the side of caution; I remember the fiasco that brought down Dan Rather not too long ago. But, if this is real, then George W. Bush must be brought up on summary charges of treason. His egocentric, selfish, bottom-line-only actions will have placed the entire population of the United States at risk of nuclear proliferation, and quite possibly nuclear war. His actions will have placed my children in harm’s way, and I have a responsibility as a parent to protect my children.

  • Since Bush prides himself on being a cowboy, I’ll use a western gunfight analogy.

    Ole Sheriff Bush was the town sheriff called the Idiot’s Gulch. Idiot’s Gulch was a happy place until the evil Banditos showed up. Sheriff Bush decided he had to deal with the Banditos that threatened his little town so he strapped on his six shooters. As soon as he stepped out of his office, Bush spotted what his posse (PNAC) called the most evil Bandito of them all and emptied both his six shooters into Slappy Saddam. Problem was that Slappy was no Bandito, he was just a one handed, half blind, palsy riddled, unarmed short half wit.

    The real banditos was a guy called Death To America. No problem thought Sheriff Bush. He’s got two guns to Death’s one. Only problem, Bush blew his bullet budget on partying with Idiot Gulch’s “good” citizens so the only bullets he had were twelve embedded in the twitching corpse of Slappy.

    But the townsfolk had some other ideas. School Marm Wilson decides that she’s going to find out how many bullets ole Death To America’s got. Doesn’t help that Death is a bit of braggart and none too quick. Should be easy right?

    Nope, Sheriff Bush’s sidekick, Turdblossom, spoils school marm Wilson’s attempts to find out how many shell’s Death To America’s got in his .44 all because Turdblossom don’t like Mr Wilson goofing on Sheriff Bush shooting the cripple. Now no one knows what Death To America’s got in his .44 and all the people of Idiot’s Gulch are scared stiff.

    What to the brave souls Turdblossom and Sheriff Bush do? At present they’re hiding under their desk in puddles of urine because the town clown Colbert mocked them.

    You’re going a heck of a job, Turdblossom (ya short sighted jackass.)

  • First the White House leaks a CIA agents name,

    then they deny it,

    then they put Porter Goss in charge of the CIA,

    he brings in a lot of political cronies,

    then he starts polygraphing everybody,

    then he fires a CIA veteran ten days before her retirement.

    All the while, John Negraponte is trying to get a handle on his job as Director of National Intelligence, and the Congress is sucking up all his time and the time of his staff on meetings at the hill.

    Oh, and the White House blames the institutional intelligence community for the failures over WMD intelligence, rather than their pet shop in the Pentagon.

    Is it any wonder Intelligence Community morale SUCKS???

  • If I had a share of Exxon stock for every serious incident of malfescence propagated by the W administration I would be blogging poolside in concert with our beloved CB.

    Is this a serious allegation? Yes.
    Should Americans be outraged? Yes.
    Should the press be all over this? Yes.
    Is this going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back? Not bloody likely.

    Accountability is a function of reality based life. These guys chose long ago to ignore our reality and substitute their own.

    It is just one more middle finger in the window of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue directed at the American people.

  • Could it be a “two-fer”? Could it be they were already planning ahead for the next cakewalk? Everything is political with these, ahem, gentlemen.

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