The case of the phantom Leak!

Much has been made in the past week about the alleged leak of the identity of a supposed CIA operative. I am, of course, referring to the release of Former Ambassador Joe Wilson's wife's name. Wilson was the man who went to Africa to determine the validity of intelligence relating to Iraq's efforts to purchases Uranium. First, a bit on Wilson's background. He was an avid Clinton Supporter and fierce Bush critic. He was very outspoken against the war in Iraq and often criticized the president's foreign policy. This was the man who was sent to Africa to investigate Iraq's attempts to purchase Uranium.

The current manufactured scandal arose when Robert Novak posted an article on Wilson's Mission. In the article, Novak stated that the Vice President asked the CIA to investigate the claim that Iraq was seeking to purchase Uranium from Africa. In the Article, Novak stated that Wilson's wife, who worked for the CIA, was the individual who suggested sending Wilson to Africa. Novak gave Wilson's wife's name in the article.

This is how the scandal began. All of a sudden, Six journalist have said that they received a call from the White House "leaking" Wilson's wife's name. My question to those people is why did they not report on the story? Novak has forcefully stated that at no time did an Administration official contact him. He stated on Drudge that, "Nobody in the Bush administration called me to leak this. In July I was interviewing a senior administration official on Ambassador Wilson's report when he told me the trip was inspired by his wife, a CIA employee working on weapons of mass destruction." This is an important part of the totality of the circumstances surrounding the whole "Uranium Gate"/"CIA Gate" story. The question that Novak seemed to be getting at the heart of was, how did a Democratic partisan receive such an important mission? How did a person who had no ties to the Administration receive this mission? The answer to the question was of course, Wilson's Wife who worked for the CIA. That was an important part of the story.

Now, to address Wilson's Wife. Many in the media have characterized her as an "Agent." The Major Media has been playing this story up as if America's "Top Spy" has been exposed. That is not accurate articulation of Mrs. Wilson's job at the CIA. Mrs. Wilson was an Intelligence analyst in area of WMD for the Agency, that is all. In fact, Novak was told "According to a confidential source at the CIA, Mrs. Wilson was an analyst, not a spy, not a covert operator, and not in charge of undercover operatives"

This story seems to have been contrived by a former Clinton hack with the preconceived intention to discredit the Bush Administration. I suspect that this whole Flap occurred something like this: Novak asked a CIA official how Wilson was chosen for this mission. The CIA official responded by telling him that his wife, who worked for the CIA, suggested him. Novak did some digging, and found his wife's name.( not particularly a difficult task considering Wilson had it published on his web site.) Furthermore, it seems that many in the Beltway knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Mrs. Wilson placed her undercover status (if in fact she had it) at risk when she assisted in choosing her husband for such a high profile mission. She became a legitimate part of the story once she suggested her husband for the mission. The Problem here is, those of Wilson's ilk do not what his credibility questioned because a large part of their case against President Bush is based on their perceived notion of a cover-up of Pre-war intelligence. Therefore, since a large portion of the Democrats' attacks against President Bush revolves around "Uranium Gate", Wilson's credibility is important to their case being that he is the source for the manufactured scandal. The fact that Wilson was chosen for the mission to Africa by his wife coupled with his fierce Anti-war statements placed his credentials in question and therefore his assessment that Iraq was not seeking to purchase Uranium from Africa was also in question. The Bush haters are trying to manufacture another scandal in order to preserve a previously manufactured scandal. Welcome to the Wonderful World of Liberal politics!