If the source, should Rove be jailed?

[Blue Rectangle]

not to mention this jepordizes basically every operation they've ever been on. All foreign governments they've had contact with now know tha was a CIA agent, could get quite messy.

indeed

Let's assume that her cover overseas (if one existed, we don't know if she worked undercover overseas at all): A) didn't use her real name and B) didn't link her by marriage to a career diplomat.  What then was "blown"?  The information in Novak's article only revealed that Joe Wilson's wife was named Valerie Plame (common knowledge) and that she worked for the CIA.  That second fact was likely common knowledge as well, because Plame made little effort to conceal that she worked for a known CIA front company.  There are also stories that she often disclosed at social gatherings that she worked for the CIA.  Whether this is true is not very important, because the simple fact that she was married to a former ambassador is more than enough to make any foreign government cautious around her.

So what damage was actually done?  She was linked by name to her picture, which would certainly prevent her from ever working undercover.  But Novak didn't run her picture.  It was Wilson and Plame who ensured that her picture ran in the media.  It's hard to claim that the publicity might endanger either Wilson or Plame, when the two have been so eager to be in the spotlight.

[Blue Rectangle]

People, you can't be put in jail for saying someone's wife works for the CIA....get a grip.

Umm,  the law doesn't say you have to actually name the peron.  What the law states is ANY INFORMATION regarding an covert CIA operative, ANY INFORMATION

So, if you were commenting to someone about your friend's wife and they happened to be a CIA covert operative and you didn't know this, would you support your own prosecution.

It's not just "any information".  The information must identify the covert agent:

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There are no indications yet that Rove knew Plame was a covert agent.  In addition, Rove had to know that the U.S. was taking "affirmative measures to conceal" Plame's relationship to the U.S.  It's not clear that the U.S. was taking those measures, let alone that Rove knew about them.

It doesn't seem to me that Rove's info identified Plame in such a way that blew her cover.  Plame was known to be Wilson's wife, so what difference would it make to any foreign intelligence service that she actually worked for the CIA?  All U.S. diplomats and their relatives are generally treated by foreign intelligence as if everything they know is reported directly to the CIA, because in most cases, it is.  Presumably, when (if) Valerie Plame was covert, she didn't identify herself as "Valerie Plame, wife of a U.S. ambassador".

[Blue Rectangle]

His attorney is obviosuly going to try & put the best face on this whole situation, we will see what happens, but the bottom line is he did release information regarding an undercover CIA agent & that goes against what the administration was syaing prior to this revelation

She was not undercover at the time she sent her husband to Africa, but rather an analyst for the CIA on WMDs.  She had worked undercover in the 1990s.

She was absolutely under-cover when she was outed.

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Joe Wilson has, from the very beginning, insisted that Rove named his wife.  There is still no indication that he did.  It is also curious that Wilson immediately named Rove as the source of the leak.  What information about the leak did Wilson have when the story broke?

Wilson's statement above is an argument that "doesn't stand the smell test".  Is he actually claiming that his wife's cover identity consisted of her taking her husband's name when she married him?  If so, then MODU is right, no wonder we have such intelligence problems!

[Blue Rectangle]

CIA 'outing' might fall short of crime

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This is the best indication we have so far that Plame was not covert at the time of the leak and, more importantly, that she had not been covert for six years prior to the leak (the law sets five years as the protected period).

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[Blue Rectangle]

CIA 'outing' might fall short of crime

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This is the best indication we have so far that Plame was not covert at the time of the leak and, more importantly, that she had not been covert for six years prior to the leak (the law sets five years as the protected period).

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How do you know that she wasn't covert more recently?

Because Wilson basicly said so:

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Her value as a covert operative died when she married Wilson.  Being married to a former ambassador and member of Clinton's national security team isn't exactly low-profile.

[Blue Rectangle]

I seriously wondering if Joe Wilson might not have tipped someone off.

I wonder who talked to the NYT reporter.  Rove has repeatedly said anyoen he talked to does not need to protect him as a confidential source.  He has even signed documents releasing them from any confidentiality agreements.

So, who told the New York Times?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is important.

Rove

Fact: Rove has signed a release waiving confidentiality over the whole Plame affair.  Any reorter who spoke to him about it is free to talk to the judge, special investigator, other reporters or you without worrying about breaking a promise of confidentiality given to Karl Rove.

Fact: NYT reporter Judith Millier is still refusing to say who her source was due to a promise of confidentiality.

Conclusion:  Rove was not her source.

Was the release for Cooper or everyone.  Keep in mind that Cooper did not reveal his source until after Rove personally contacted him.  For all you know what he told Miller may heve been more damaging legally than what he told Cooper.  Miller could be serving time out of principle as well.  Not saying Rove was her source or not, but you simply can't make that conclusion either way

According to Luskin (not unbiased, I know, but how could he lie about this and get away with it?), the waiver covers everyone:

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So what about Cooper's last-minute reprieve?

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