Whay is new in this diary? WHY WAS THE TARGETING OF WILSON/PLAME SO VENEMOUS? WHY WAS VALERIE PLAME'S ROLE SELECTING WILSON EVEN RELEVANT?
What has not made sense to me up until this point is why it would even be an issue to anyone that Valerie Wilson selected her husband. I mean, who cares? Why would anyone? And why would the administration think anyone would?
Based on the information out so far, here is my theory of what happened and why:
- The CIA was being increasingly pressed to provide proof of Iraqi WMD desires regardless of what the truth of the matter was (pretty obvious by now).
- The Office of the VP officially requests that the CIA investigate the Niger document (one can only assume that SOMEONE in the VP's office knew of the TRUE origin of that document - forgery).
- About this time, the Bush administration comes to the conclusion that there are two factions in the CIA: those that will support our conclusions and those who are against us.
- The CIA chooses to cover its ass:
- They select someone who is well qualified for the trip and that they know will give an objective answer. THEY DO NOT ASK THIS PERSON TO SIGN A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT. (why not? it is standard proceedure)
- The report gets filed with all the other information that doesn't support going to war in Iraq. (it pretty much gets thrown in the trash).
- The administration ties together what it feels it needs to go to war.
- Bush gives his State of the Union Address (with the now infamous 16 words).
- Joseph Wilson makes calls around the community to find out if they are talking about the same british intelligence report that he debunked. It is the same incident.
- Somewhere around June 10th (a little before), Wilson submits his op/ed piece to the govt for approval (When anyone publishes something regarding classified info, don't they need to have it approved first? Richard Clarke did/ Paul O'Neil did....
- Once word of the op/ed reaches the White House, they ask for a provenance about the origins of the trip (this would go to State Dept, because Wilson was doing his work through the Embassy).
- The question is asked: WHY THE HELL DIDN'T WILSON SIGN A NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT?!!! That would have prevented him from being allowed to write an Op/Ed.
- More questions are raised about about the origins of the trip; by July 7, 2003, another memo is written this time pointing out that Valerie Plame, Wilson's wife was involved.
- Bush administration's paranoid thought process comes to the following conclusion: The CIA must have chosen Wilson because they knew they could count on him to spill the beans. They must have purposefully made sure he did not sign a non-disclosure so that he would be legally able to spill the beans. Someone at the CIA must have helped him get through the process without signing a non-disclosure agreement(NDA). His wife was involved in his selection therefore she must have allowed him not to sign an NDA.
THEREFORE Valerie Plame is in the CIA faction that is "against" the Bush administration...THEREFORE SHE "IS FAIR GAME".
I know it is a small part of the puzzle, but it is interesting in that it shows the mindset of the Whitehouse when they destroyed a career, violated national security and put the lives of our operatives, agents and assets at risk.