Author Topic: Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame  (Read 6763 times)

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BT

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Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame
« on: September 17, 2006, 12:35:37 AM »
Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame

By E&P Staff

Published: September 15, 2006 10:20 PM ET

NEW YORK David Corn, co-author with Michael Isikoff of the new book "Hubris" that has made so much news lately, today heatedly denied what he called an old and false charge in the Wall Street Journal that he -- not Robert Novak -- outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative.

In the Journal on Friday, Victoria Toensing, the attorney, wrote in a column, "The first journalist to reveal Ms. Plame was 'covert' was David Corn, on July 16, 2003, two days after Mr. Novak's column. The latter never wrote, because he did not know and it was not so, that Ms. Plame was covert. However, Mr. Corn claimed Mr. Novak 'outed' her as an 'undercover CIA officer,' querying whether Bush officials blew 'the cover of a U.S. intelligence officer working covertly in...national security.' Was Mr. Corn subpoenaed? Did Mr. Fitzgerald subpoena Mr. Wilson to attest he had never revealed his wife's employment to anyone? If he had done so, he might have learned Mr. Corn's source."

On his Web site, Corn, the Washington editor of The Nation, writes that he has long been friendly with Toensing, and so, "I am disheartened to see her embracing a rather idiotic conservative talking point and ignoring basic facts to tag me as the true culprit in the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson. It is an argument that defies logic and the record. But it is an accusation that pro-Bush spinners have used to defend the true leakers and columnist Bob Novak, the conveyor of the leak.

"This is a canard that has been previously advanced by other conservatives--all to absolve Novak and the actual leakers (mainly Karl Rove and Scooter Libby, not Richard Armitage). And you see the suggestion: that Joe Wilson told me that his wife was an undercover CIA officer and that I then disclosed this information to the public. I've debunked this before. But for Toensing's benefit, I'll go through this again--though I doubt it will do much good."

The full explanation can be found at www.davidcorn.com. In a nutshell, Corn notes that Novak had already described Plame as a "CIA operative," which essentially means she was covert.

"At this point," he adds, "her cover--whatever it might have been--was blown to bits. The fact that Novak did not state she was a 'covert' operative is utterly meaningless. (Does the CIA employ non-secret 'operatives'?)"

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003123296



Amianthus

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Re: Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame
« Reply #1 on: September 17, 2006, 10:05:45 AM »
At least one person doesn't blame Corn.

Valerie Plame Sues Richard Armitage For Leaking Her Identity

September 13, 2006 11:36 p.m. EST

Yvonne Lee - All Headline News Staff Reporter
Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Former CIA operative Valerie Plame is suing Richard Armitage for violating her privacy rights by leaking her identity to the press.

However, the suit does not accuse the one-time deputy secretary of state of conspiring with Bush administration officials to blow her cover.

The civil suit also names Vice President Dick Cheney, his former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby and White House adviser Karl Rove.

Armitage admitted last week that he leaked Plame's identity as a covert CIA agent to columnist Robert Novak and Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward.

He says the disclosure was made inadvertently, and that he was not aware of any plan to leak her identity.

Novak disputes this claim, saying on the Chicago Sun-Times Web site that Armitage was clear about Plame's employment.

Plame and her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, say the White House purposefully leaked her identity as payback for Wilson's assertion that Saddam Hussein did not try to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger.

President Bush claimed in his 2003 State of the Union address that the former Iraqi dictator bought the uranium to make a nuclear weapon.
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7004852783
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Lanya

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Re: Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame
« Reply #2 on: September 17, 2006, 04:24:25 PM »
Thanks for the heads up, you guys.  Interesting articles.
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BT

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Re: Corn Denies Charge in 'WSJ' That He Outed Plame
« Reply #3 on: September 17, 2006, 06:35:11 PM »
How many lawsuits has she filed?

Seems she had filed one a while ago against Cheney, Libby, Bush and maybe Rove.

Guess they will come to trial right before the midterms.And i guess that is the goal.

The beat goes on.