In 2003, someone at the White House decided it was necessary to out a covert CIA agent because her diplomat husband was going around saying that there was no support for Bush's claim that Saddam Hussein was trying to build a nuclear bomb.
In 2007, the Washington Post quotes Bush as saying, "'It's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House."
According to papers released by special prosecutor Fitzgerald, Valerie Plame was indeed a covert agent at the time she was outed. (See www.thebluestate.com/ 2007/05/its_final_valer.html)
Dan Froomkin writes in washingtonpost.com about secrecy and misinformation at the White House.
"President Bush made several unsupported assertions about the war in Iraq during his press conference yesterday, but when it comes to sheer audacity, nothing came close to his response when asked how he felt about two of his top advisers leaking Valerie Plame's identity as a CIA agent to reporters.
"Jennifer Loven gets it right in her Associated Press story: "President Bush always said he would wait to talk about the CIA leak case until after the investigation into his administration's role. On Thursday, he skipped over that step and pronounced the matter old news hardly worth discussing.
"'It's run its course,' he said. 'Now we're going to move on.'
"Despite a long history of denouncing leaks, Bush declined to express any disappointment in the people who worked for him and who were involved in disclosing the name of a CIA operative. Asked about that . . . the president gave a dodgy answer.
"'It's been a tough issue for a lot of people in the White House,' he said.
"He didn't even acknowledge the undisputed fact that someone working for him was the source, saying only that 'perhaps somebody in the administration did disclose the name of that person.'"
"In fact, Bush clearly seemed to be pointing his finger not at the two senior White House aides who leaked Plame's identity to reporters -- senior political adviser Karl Rove and former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- but at former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage..."
(More at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/07/13/BL2007071301045.html?referrer=email&referrer=email)
Article published Friday, July 13, 2007.
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