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COLUMN: Bush Should Sack Rove, Libby for CIA Leaks

Posted on: Saturday, 23 July 2005, 15:00 CDT

LUBBOCK, Texas -- OK, so I know I wrote about Karl Rove just a few weeks ago. But the man just can't seem to keep himself out of the press lately (after all, you can't spell "controversy" without Rove). So, at the risk of looking like I have a crush on the president's deputy chief of staff, I feel the need to share my thoughts on the investigation being conducted on the crimes Karl Rove is suspected of, including leaking the identity of a CIA operative and lying to federal agents.

In 2003, Robert Novak published a column in Time magazine that revealed the identity of Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA operative. He quotes two high level administrative officials as the sources. One of them was almost certainly Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff.

Plame's husband is former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson. In 2002, he was sent to Nigeria to find evidence that Iraq had attempted to purchase plutonium from the country in order to produce nuclear weapons.

Wilson found no such evidence, but Bush said Iraq tried to purchase the material from Nigeria in his 2003 State of the Union speech anyway.

Wilson then wrote an opinion piece entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa," revealing the misleading comments made by the president about the Iraqi nuclear weapons program and contends that this was done to gain support for the war.

A few weeks later, the now infamous Novak column was published.

Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald was assigned to finding the leaks and has turned the spotlight on Rove.

There is good reason to suspect Rove. In 1980, he was fired from the Reagan-Bush campaign for leaking information to none other than Robert Novak. Rove told Novak that his fellow campaign worker Rob Mosbacker was doing a poor job. Novak published the information and Rove was fired.

What exactly did Rove say and is it a crime? Matthew Cooper, another Time reporter who wrote about Plame after Novak did, testified in front of the grand jury that Rove did not tell him Plame's name or that she was covert, but he did learn from Rove that Joseph Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.

Rove might be in violation of the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act, a federal law that only one person has been prosecuted for in U.S. history. To have broken this law, it must be proven that Rove knew she was a covert agent and intentionally gave the information to someone unauthorized to receive it. What exactly Rove said and whether not he can prosecuted is Fitzgerald's headache.

Even if Rove's statements turn out not to be illegal, he did lie to federal agents, the same crime that Martha Stewart was jailed for.

When the FBI first began investigating the Plame case, Rove told them that he did not discuss the matter until after the Novak column was published. According to Cooper, however, Rove spoke of the matter with him at least a week before the column came out.

Responses in the political world have been interesting. Democrats accuse Rove of intentionally leaking the information in retaliation for Wilson's article. Republicans have been throwing out a variety of excuses for Rove hoping one will stick, such as claiming Plame shouldn't have been classified as covert.

I am withholding judgment until the law has run its course. If Fitzgerald finds that Rove's actions warrant prosecution, then that's what will occur. The speculation of liberal and conservative laypeople with no inside knowledge of the case is arbitrary.

However, I do think Bush should fire Rove and Libby. They had no business speaking to the press about CIA operatives and by doing so, threaten national security. Taking a strong stand against loose-lipped advisors would be wise.

Whatever the next plot twist is, rest-assured that the nation will be watching this real-life "West Wing" drama unfold with tremendous interest.

(C) 2005 University Daily via U-WIRE

Source: U-WIRE

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