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Political Firestorm Brews in Washington Over Karl Rove and
Outing of Undercover CIA Operative
Sidney Blumenthal vs. Norman Solomon on Karl Rove, the Democrats
and Iraq
Political Firestorm Brews in Washington Over Karl
Rove and Outing of Undercover CIA Operative
The political firestorm over Karl Rove and the outing of
undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame continues in Washington.
Wilson and top Congressional Democrats are increasing their
calls for Karl Rove to be fired over the White House leak.
We speak with Sidney Blumenthal, a former senior adviser to
President Clinton, and Norman Solomon, author of "War
Made Easy." [includes rush
transcript]
The political firestorm over Karl Rove and the outing of
undercover CIA operative Valerie Plame continues in Washington.
The New York Times is reporting it has confirmed that Rove
spoke with Novak as he was preparing his July 2003 article
that exposed Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA operative.
The paper says its source is "someone who has been officially
briefed on the matter." Rove has told investigators that
he learned Plame's name from Novak, as well as the circumstances
in which her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, traveled
to Africa to investigate possible uranium sales to Iraq.
After hearing Novak's account, The Times says Rove told Novak,
"I heard that, too." The previously undisclosed
telephone conversation allegedly took place on July 8, 2003.
The Times" source says the call was initiated by Novak.
Six days later, Novak's column reported that two senior administration
officials had told him that Wilson's wife "had suggested
sending him" to Africa. That column was the first time
in which Plame was publicly identified as a CIA operative.
Wilson held a press conference yesterday with Democratic
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York who is co-sponsoring legislation
calling for Rove's top-level security clearance to be lifted.
Wilson again accused the White House of running a "smear
campaign" against him.
- Joseph Wilson and Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), news conference,
July 14, 2005.
The White House has repeatedly refused to answer questions
from reporters over the past week about Rove's role in the
leak. President Bush said yesterday "I will be more than
happy to comment on this matter once the investigation is
complete." The Justice Department appointed federal prosecutor
Patrick J. Fitzgerald to head up the investigation. Rove denied
he was the source for Novak's column in an interview last
year. And in a September 2003 press briefing White House spokesperson
Scott McClellen dismissed as ridiculous the possibility that
Rove leaked Valerie Plame's identity.
- Scott McClellan, White House spokesperson, September
29, 2003.
Wilson and top Congressional Democrats are increasing their
calls for Karl Rove to be fired or at least to lose his security
clearance for the duration of the investigation. Two years
ago, McClellen confirmed President Bush's statement that any
White House official responsible for leaking the identity
of an undercover CIA agent would be fired.
- Scott McClellan, White House spokesperson, October 6,
2003.
We are joined on the line right now by Sidney Blumenthal,
a former assistant and senior advisor to President Clinton
and author of "The Clinton Wars." His latest article
is "Rove's War" on Salon.com. In our New York studio
we are joined by Norman Solomon, executive director of the
Institute for Public Accuracy in San Francisco and the co-founder
of Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR). His latest
book, just published, is "War Made Easy: How Presidents
and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death."
- Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior advisor
to President Clinton and author of "The Clinton Wars."
His latest article is "Rove's
War" on Salon.com.
Sidney Blumenthal vs. Norman Solomon on Karl Rove,
the Democrats and Iraq
Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior advisor
to President Clinton, takes on Norman Solomon of the Institute
for Public Accuracy and author of "War Made Easy: How
Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death" on
Iraq, the Democrats, the invasion of Iraq and much more. [includes
rush
transcript]
- Sidney Blumenthal, a former assistant and senior advisor
to President Clinton and author of "The Clinton Wars."
His latest article is "Rove's War" on Salon.com.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
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