Novak Fabricates ‘Confusion’ Over Wilson’s CIA Status
Novak Fabricates ‘Confusion’ Over Wilson’s CIA Status
In a column today titled “‘Covert’ Confusion at the CIA,” Robert Novak continues his efforts to distort the facts about Valerie Plame Wilson’s status with the CIA.
Novak first recounts the events at a hearing last month, when House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) stated that CIA Director Michael Hayden had authorized him to state that “Wilson was covert.”
Novak writes that during a recent Washington dinner, Hayden approached him and several others and “indicated” that “he had not authorized [Waxman] to say Mrs. Wilson had been a ‘covert’ CIA employee, as Waxman claimed, but only that she was ‘undercover.’” Yet, 10 days after the dinner, Novak writes, Hayden seemingly switched positions again and “asserted to me that the wife of Bush critic Joseph Wilson indeed had been ‘covert.’”
This may sound confusing, but it isn’t. As Novak himself explains, Hayden first told Waxman that Wilson was an “undercover agent.” Later, before the hearing, a CIA lawyer clarified with Waxman that Wilson was undercover, covert, and that her CIA status was classified. The CIA approved the following statements before the hearing:
During her employment at the CIA, Ms. Wilson was under cover.
Her employment status with the CIA was classified information prohibited from disclosure under Executive Order 12958.
At the time of the publication of Robert Novak’s column on July 14,2003, Ms. Wilson’s CIA employment status was covert.
This was classified information.
There is no “confusion” here, despite Novak’s best efforts to create it. Hayden hasn’t switched positions, nor has he ever said that Wilson was not covert. Hayden tells Novak he is “completely comfortable” with the CIA lawyer’s clarification.
Novak is simply trying to muddy the fact that he and his cohorts — Victoria Toensing, the Washington Post editorial board, Brit Hume, and others — got the facts about Wilson’s CIA status dead wrong.
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novak will still be writing disinformation columns from the grave… the only difference between novak, and imus, coulter, beck, savage, and their ilk, is that he has cloaked himself in a veneer of respectability and his poison is more subtle, and, for that, perhaps more dangerous…
April 12th, 2007 at 8:06 amAnd, yes, I DO take it personally
obfuscation of facts wingnuts don’t like is nothing new for wingnuts now is it.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:12 am.
well then lets hope our only hope for justice, Waxman proceeds to skewer these evil people.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:26 amNovak has never viewed the political world from anything other than “the right is right.” He continues to show that he is a political hack and will do the bidding of the political right in order to maintain his access. Nothing this man “reveals” is news or news worthy. It’s all propaganda.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:33 amNovak, otherwise known as Count Dracula, is a blood sucking leech on the journalistic establishments rump. He is not worth to suck the blood of Joe Wilson. The sooner a stake is put through this lying, traitorous bastard’s heart, the better. He participated in exposing a CIA covert agent, as a concerted disinformation and slander campaign coordinated directly out of the White House. Why does Count Novak hate America so much?
April 12th, 2007 at 8:33 am[…] Novak Fabricates ‘Confusion’ Over Wilson’s CIA Status […]
April 12th, 2007 at 8:38 amIf alleged “journalists” like multi-millionaire Bob Novak spent half as much time investigating the failed policy in Iraqnam as they spend on Valarie Plame’s employment or who fucked Anna Nicole Smith, the country would be in much better shape.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:40 amI wonder if Mr. Novak ever gets dizzy with all the spinning he does?
April 12th, 2007 at 8:46 amthis leech makes me sick to my stomach
April 12th, 2007 at 8:46 amRemember back in 2000 when the Republicans talked about returning truth and honor to the Whitehouse and to Washington?
It was just another selazy talking point for them.
There’s no honor in this bunch.
-GSD
April 12th, 2007 at 8:49 amThis is another of those idiots that have outlived their usefulness.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:50 amRead the comments on the Washington Post. He’s getting killed.
April 12th, 2007 at 8:51 amThe expression of his face in this picture is exactly the one that used to have Musolini in his speeches. Just saying.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:01 amIf Democrats had outed her, she’d be covert for sure.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:01 amES,
I hereby name Bob Novak, previously known as ‘The Douchebag of Liberty’, I hereby name him Douche-olini.
-GSD
April 12th, 2007 at 9:05 amNovak said things more dangerous to Americans than Imus could even make up.
That retarded bullfrog look of his shows what’s underneath; arrogance, selfishness & a free pass to make up lies about anything he chooses.
This fat bastard has got to join Imus in obscurity & shame.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:07 am# 12 Perry Logan
The Dems did not out her. Novak wrote the story. Jerk
April 12th, 2007 at 9:08 amShe still did not meet the definition of covert as it applies to the law which you all are trying to hang people with. Don’t believe me? Ask the woman who co-authored the law. Victoria Toensing.
I don’t trust the Bush Administration, but Democrats are not getting crap accomplished. All politicians need to work together. Period!
Go ahead, flame away. Show the whole world just how intolerant the party of tolerance really is.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:09 amI spy two objectives to Novak’s arguments:
1. Another quixotic attempt to argue he personally, despite actually outing Plame, did nothing wrong.
2. Malign Hayden.
The first strikes me as rather unlikely given the fact Fitzgerald drew a line under the outing of Plame after Libby was convicted.
However, this is the second time he has taken the view that Hayden favors Democrats, that his co-operation with Waxman is evidence of political motives etc. Now why would Novak want to invest time doing this?
I would suggest this: Waxman is only just beginning with his oversight agenda. And the misuse of intelligence ahead of the Iraq War is high on the list of priorities. It is quite likely that if given the opportunity, the CIA will open a can of whup-ass on Bushco - Tenet, ridiculously, allowed the CIA to take the blame for the faulty intelligence ahead of the 2004 election, and now there’s a new Congress in town, there’s every chance the CIA professionals will fight back.
In expectation of this, Comrade Bob is softening up the DC punditocracy with a variety of utterly baseless suggestions that Hayden is some kind of Democrat mole.
That’s why he’s doing it. The Plame bamboozlement is pet diversion of his; it’s the CIA he wants to smear, because he probably has an inkling of just how ugly the Congressional hearing are going to get for his beloved GOP.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:09 amHas anyone else been unable to access the Comments page on Novak’s op-ed, or am I the only one? Has the Washington Post already deleted them in embarrassment?
April 12th, 2007 at 9:10 am– Novak is simply trying to muddy the fact that he and his cohorts — Victoria Toensing, the Washington Post editorial board, Brit Hume, and others — got the facts about Wilson’s CIA status dead wrong. –
that seems a polite way of saying they lied … bottom line … as bad as was disclosing Plame’s identity, far worse for the nation’s intelligence network was Novak disclosing and destroying Plame’s CIA corporate cover . which had been built up over decades to place agents around the world. Novak destroyed that intelligence asset. Rove knew he would destroy it when he gave Novak the information. Rove needs to lose his security clearance and probably deserves to go to jail for a long time for betraying his nation.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:17 amNovak is a known serial liar and a traitor.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:18 amDouche. Bag.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:19 am#18
Yep. Looks like the post had all those comments removed. Damn that liberal media. F@ck the Washington Post anyway, they’re useless, just like Novak.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:20 amGSD,
check the link:
http://www.politicsprofessor.com/ politicaltheorists/ benito-mussolini.php
April 12th, 2007 at 9:22 amAgain remind me, who is Novak?
April 12th, 2007 at 9:25 am#16 She still did not meet the definition of covert as it applies to the law which you all are trying to hang people with. Don’t believe me? Ask the woman who co-authored the law. Victoria Toensing.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:25 amComment by Wiggy — April 12, 2007 @ 9:09 am
She still did not meet the definition of covert as it applies to the law which you all are trying to hang people with. Don’t believe me? Ask the woman who co-authored the law. Victoria Toensing.
Comment by Wiggy — April 12, 2007 @ 9:09 am
Yeah, right, let’s ask a Bush official who is a known liar, and disregard all other evidence, no matter how compelling.
Now I won’t be the least bit surprised to hear from you that things are going peachy in Iraq, too, where we have surrounded all the terrorists in the world and are keeping them at bay. Nor will I be the least bit surprised if you claim that global warming science is a hoax, too. And let me guess, President Bush has an unlimited, unrestricted right to fire anyone at the Justice department, even if he does it to obstruct justice, and besides, Clinton fired 93 USA’s and Clinton blah blah blah…
April 12th, 2007 at 9:31 amhere i sit mourning the loss of vonnegut-a literary treasure, while this bag of garbage novak gets to keep writing his filth, he is a disgrace-and too stupid to know it
April 12th, 2007 at 9:31 amIt appears Novak is desperate to save his job and create the illusion that he’s a competent “investigative reporter” by “uncovering evidence that defends his own actions”.
But it appears no self-respecting organization is falling for it. It is clear from this report that he’s desperate to cover his own behind.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:33 amAsk the woman who co-authored the law. Victoria Toensing.
I don’t trust the Bush Administration, but Ask the woman who co-authored the law. Victoria Toensing.
I don’t trust the Bush Administration, but Democrats are not getting crap accomplished. All politicians need to work together. Period!
Comment by Wiggy —
Victoria Toensing co-authored the law, but she admitted under oath that she was not familiar with Valerie Plame’s status within the CIA during the five years before she was outed.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:34 amI think we should actually be glad that “Democrats are not getting crap accomplished.” They have enough on their hands to clean up the crap spread by the Busheviks.
To say that Novak et al. “got it dead wrong” implies that they ever tried to “get it right.” They only get it right if that serves their political agenda. Lies have served them far betteso they will continue to tell them. Yhe sad thing is that 25% of our fellow citizens prefer the fantasy world Novak and especially Hume’s FAUX News have fabricated for them.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:37 amAren’t these things that Novak should have had a better handle on, say, in July 2003? — before he opened his gaping pie trap?
Now’s a bit late still to be working it out.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:43 amGoddam facts, always in the way.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:48 amGo Away Old Buzzard
April 12th, 2007 at 9:56 amNovak’s a lying asshat who needs to be taken off the air. He’s arrogant, he’s bigoted, and he’s a known liar. I don’t know why this asshat is not also sitting in jail in the Plame affair. His criminal actions need to be investigated; then then, he’ll probably croak because his viscera is so necrotic from the level of evil which motivates him that it will not occur.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:58 amRobert Novack IS a traitor and needs to be brought to justice for his criminal wrongdoing.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:58 amRobert Novack will be the next one to be booted off the air! He’s a spinmeister and a windbag who is full of bloviating hot air! He’s also a liar and a traitor and a disgrace to be called an american.
April 12th, 2007 at 9:59 amWhy isn’t this lying sack of shit in prison? The is a traitor and he should have been prosecuted. I firmly believe that the only reason why no one was prosecuted for disclosing Valerie Plaime is because Fitzgerald made a deal with the administration. People seem to forget that Firtzgerald is a Republic who was appointed by George Bush. The Bush administration either has something on Fitzgerald or they have made him an offer he couldn’t refuse.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:08 amThis is the only game the right has left to play in its house of cards. The diversion, the switch, the steal the thunder. But most are on to that by now.
The Bush attempt to get Pelosi and Reid to the Whitehouse next tuesday is more of the same, steal the thunder. Wouldn’t they love the media to strictly cover the Whiteouse session rather than having the world watch attorney gonsales wiggle his way out the door of the senate after his schooled answers before the Senate committee.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:20 amKate Henry sez:
Because the inmates are running the asylum.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:23 amCovert? Undercover? This sounds like six of one half-dozen of the other. Either way, it implies, to me at least, that the nature of her job responsibilities required protection for some reason. We also need to remember that prior to Novak’s outing of her name, he confirms he received a phone call from CIA asking him NOT to use her name. He also referred to Ms. Plame as a “CIA operative.”
The bottom line is what Novak et al was most concerned about was exposing both Joe Wilson and Ms. Plame as working counter to the interest of the US and its citizens and since that contradicted what the Bushies wanted, both Wilson and Plame were expendable — damn the consequences.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:29 amA short list of Progressive thinking (for a certain troll above):
Tolerant of:
Different opinions (esp. when FACTS are not yet fully available)
Different religions (esp. when that tolerance is reciprocated)
Different beliefs (esp. when said beliefs do not include killing innocents)
Intolerant of:
April 12th, 2007 at 10:40 amLying
Killing
Smearing
Duplicity
I propose that Novak, with that puss of his, must be a very unhappy man.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:42 am“Novak will still be writing disinformation columns from the grave…”
He’s already doing it. Someone should do Novak a favor and tell him he’s been dead for 4 or 5 yrs.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:47 amWas his Grand Jury testimony ever released/leaked? This man had to have been offered some sort of deal to testify against Libby had the prosecution needed him (i.e. Cheney or Libby took the stand). The same had to have gone to Rove.
April 12th, 2007 at 10:53 am#11 Nice!
April 12th, 2007 at 10:56 amI see the enablers of the little lies are still at it. They have caught who knows how many times and still continue. I believe in freedom of speech but not freedom of lying. It is dishonest and disreputable.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:02 amMary Poplins at #15, Perry Logan at #12 was saying that had a Democratic operative been the “outer,” then the rethugs would have been screaming that Ms. Plame was covert. Just as they have been hypocritical on every other topic that they have smudged.
April 12th, 2007 at 11:32 amBasically it’s an extended demonstration of Novak’s lack of comprehension - one of those things Rumsfeld would say “we know we don’t know.”
April 12th, 2007 at 11:50 amThis treasonous Bast*rd is still writing columns?
April 12th, 2007 at 12:16 pmMr. Novak, It is your fault for printing her name, you pompous babboon! How does it feel to have blood on your hands?
People need to protest to the Chicago Sun-Times Ombudsman about Robert Novak reporting on a story that he is a principle player in. All attempts at writing this article are used to fog his own actions, and they let him use their rag to do so.
April 12th, 2007 at 12:30 pmNovak must have been taking an awful beating in his comments section that the Washington Post decided to close it altogether.
That darn liberal media.
Those darn facts and their liberal bias….
April 12th, 2007 at 1:42 pmThis traitor should have been executed years ago.
April 12th, 2007 at 3:51 pmhere i sit mourning the loss of vonnegut-a literary treasure, while this bag of garbage novak gets to keep writing his filth, he is a disgrace-and too stupid to know it
Comment by truth fairy
truth fairy
April 12th, 2007 at 8:18 pmI am quite sure that Vonnegut’s literature will remain long after we are all gone. As for No-facts, if he goes down in history at all, it will be as a traitor.
Novak—LYING repugnant-repub ANUS-LICKING DEMAGOGUE AND RABBLE ROUSER–TIME FOR THIS SEWER-RAT TO GO THE WAY OF Don Imus—OUT THE DOOR FOR GOOD, AND GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH—I AM REALLY SURPRISED, NO, I TAKE THAT BACK, HARDLY SURPRISED THAT COWARDLY LIARS, UNSCRUPULOUS KNAVES LIKE Novak, EVIL AND ROTTEN TO THE CORE, FLOURISH IN THESE TIMES—THE CLIMATE CREATED BY THE FASCIST-NAZI Bush REGIME REALLY FOSTERS THE KIND OF DEMAGOGUE-Goebbels-Baghdad Bob LYING CANARDS LIKE Novak, THE UNPRINCIPLED, LYING SACK OF HYENA-SHIT AND USELESS IN-HUMAN GARBAGE THAT SHOULD BE FLUSHED DOWN THE CRAPPER LIKE THE STINKING TURD THAT Novak IS!!!!!
April 12th, 2007 at 9:44 pmThis guy is a fascist. He even looks like Mussolini.
April 13th, 2007 at 5:48 pmTham Payn, calling for his death is a little extreme no? Whether you like Novak or not, that kind of attitude is offensive and hypocritical. Bad on you.
As for Novak, I don’t like that supposedly reputable newspapers are printing him. He’s a liar and a manipulator. The press doesn’t understand why people have a problem trusting journalists when they continue to publish crap like Novak’s.
Victoria Toensing reminds me of Bill Frist. She watches the video tape, with out having seen the files related to the person in question and draws incorrect conclusions based on partial, bad or manipulated information. If she hasn’t been sacked from her job, she should be.
April 15th, 2007 at 11:44 am