American Progress Action Weighs in on Plamegate

Leaking from the Top

October 20, 2005

American Progress Action had the following to say:

"Make no mistake, the importance of the Fitzgerald investigation isn't about who said what to whom – it is about Iraq. It is about the administration manipulating intelligence to lead the country into war and then lying to cover it up. And the responsibility for this misleading of the American public lies with President Bush.

President Bush reportedly rebuked Karl Rove. The New York Daily News reported yesterday that, according to a "presidential counselor," an "angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair." If the report is true and Bush had this run-in shortly after September 2003, than it raises serious questions about the integrity of statements Bush has made about the investigation.


President Bush may have known who leaked Plame’s name when he publicly said he didn’t. Josh Marshall notes that on October 7, 2003 – around the same time as Bush's alleged rebuke of Rove – Bush said, "I mean this town is a – is a town full of people who like to leak information. And I don't know if we're going to find out the senior administration official." Bush added, "this is a large administration, and there's a lot of senior officials. I don't have any idea. I'd like to. I want to know the truth." The New York Daily News article suggests that Bush already knew the truth: one of the leakers was Karl Rove.


The responsibility for the actions of this administration ultimately lies at the desk of the president. In the coming days, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald will determine whether any laws were broken by a member of the Bush administration. However, only the president can answer the larger and far more troubling question of whether his White House actively manipulated intelligence to make the case for a war that has made our country less safe and cost 2,000 American lives."

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=699965&ct=1518467