Newsweek's issue of September 4, 2006 reveals, in a fast-spinning vertigo of breathless hype, the real, true, inside dish on Richard Armitage's exposure of Valerie Plame's role in Ambassador Joe Wilson's "Lanny Budd Goes to Niger" epic [Apologies to Upton Sinclair].  Their ace investigative reporter, Michael Isikoff, in collaboration with David Corn of The Nation, is bringing out a book entitled "Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War."  The principal hubris involved is in the title's sensationalism, but let that pass for the moment.

The Newsweek story begins with a rehash of the main events: Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson's Op-Ed in The New York Times relating his mission to Niger to investigate rumors that Saddam Hussein had sought to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger; Robert Novak's column in which he revealed that Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame was a CIA "operative" who recommended her husband for the job; and a second, juicier column in which Novak revealed that his source was a high-level government official.  It seems at that point that Armitage recognized himself as the source and telephoned his boss, Secretary of State Colin Powell.  As Newsweek tells it:

But now, in a second column, Novak provided a tantalizing clue: his primary source, he wrote, was a "senior administration official" who was "not a partisan gunslinger." Armitage was shaken. After reading the column, he knew immediately who the leaker was. On the phone with Powell that morning, Armitage was "in deep distress," says a source directly familiar with the conversation who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities. "I'm sure he's talking about me."

So, what have we here? Essentially, a big, fat, Greek nothing [more apologies to Joel Zwick & Nia Vardalos]. No serious person, not even Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, no one not afflicted with Bush Derangement Syndrome believes that there was a crime here. Isikoff is careful to exonerate Mr. Armitage of any intention to "smear" Valerie Plame and Joseph Wilson.

The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case, underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.

Just in passing: exposing falsehoods disseminated by present or former government officials, such as those of Ambassador Wilson, used to be known as setting the record straight, not as smearing someone. The delicate nuances of goring oxen must be observed. 

Isikoff's article reveals other interesting tidbits, such as that Robert Woodward got the word from Mr.Armitage a couple of weeks before Robert Novak did.  Woodward's mature judgment that the Plame-Wilson saga was a nonstory has earned him a chorus of Bronx cheers from the herd of independent minds in the media. Woodward is a big boy, and has had no problem brushing that sort of lint off of his well-tailored blazer.

The final paragraph offers an insight into the vicious, witch-hunting mentality of the White House inner circle.  Secretary Powell, Mr. Armitage, and William Howard Taft IV, legal counsel to the State Department were concerned lest news of Armitage's action might leak and damage the Department. So Mr. Taft took the precaution of alerting the White House:

Taft, the State Department lawyer, also felt obligated to inform White House counsel Alberto Gonzales. But Powell and his aides feared the White House would then leak that Armitage had been Novak's source—possibly to embarrass State Department officials who had been unenthusiastic about Bush's Iraq policy. So Taft told Gonzales the bare minimum: that the State Department had passed some information about the case to Justice. He didn't mention Armitage. Taft asked if Gonzales wanted to know the details. The president's lawyer, playing the case by the book, said no, and Taft told him nothing more. Armitage's role thus remained that rarest of Washington phenomena: a hot secret that never leaked.

Get the implication.  The White House, which has been repeatedly flayed in the media for "outing" Valerie Plame, learned of the story from the State Department.  President Bush's hit-man, Gonzales, apparently never breathed a word to anyone in the media.  So much for the "first draft of history."

One final note: poor Valerie Plame did not even get a cover photo out of this story.  Heartless, soulless Newsweek devotes its September 4 cover to an inanimate chunk of orbiting space junk call Pluto or some such thing. Shameful.

*** The webmaster adds:

John, there's more coverage, not as good as yours, at Hot Air and Captain's Quarters.

I've posted an excerpt and a link to this post at Love America First.

Contributed by John Werntz on August 27, 2006 at 07:48 AM in Best of Old War Dogs, Books, Current Affairs, John "72nd TCS" Werntz, Politics | Permalink

Comments

Posted by: Bill Faith

I've posted an excerpt from and a link to this post at Love America First and in the comments on Captain Ed's post on the subject, and a link in the comments at Hot Air.

Posted by: Bill Faith | Aug 27, 2006 1:44:29 PM

Posted by: Bill Faith

John, I just put the original timestamp back on this to move it down to it's "normal" position in the blog. It's still just as excellent as it was -- It's just someone else's turn for the added exposure.

Posted by: Bill Faith | Aug 28, 2006 10:36:49 AM