Plame’s CIA job was to stop Iran from obtaining nukes.
In her first interview since Bush administration officials outed her as a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame Wilson reveals to CBS 60 Minutes that she was involved in preventing Iran from building a nuclear weapon. In the interview to be aired this Sunday, CBS reports that she was “involved in one highly classified mission to deliver fake nuclear weapons blueprints to Tehran.” Watch it:
Plame’s role in Iran intelligence was first revealed by Raw Story’s Larisa Alexandrovna in Feb. 2006.
Transcript:
KATIE COURIC: This Sunday on 60 Minutes, Valerie Plame Wilson gives her first interview since top Bush administration officials exposed her role as an undercover CIA agent four years ago. CBS News has learned she was involved in operations to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. In the interview, we talked about what it meant to have her identity revealed.
[BEGIN 60 MINUTES CLIP]
COURIC: What went through your mind when you saw your name in print?
PLAME: Oh, it was horrifying, absolutely horrifying.
COURIC: She served 20 years in the CIA, many undercover in the agency’s counterproliferation division, rising to top positions and confronting one of the most ominous threats of our time.
PLAME: Our mission was to make sure that the bad guys, basically, did not get nuclear weapons.
COURIC: When senior administration officials leaked her name to reporters, they may have exposed other spies and damaged operations targeting Iran. CBS News has learned that she was involved in one highly classified mission to deliver fake nuclear weapons blueprints to Tehran. It was called Operation Merlin, and it was first revealed in a book by investigative reporter James Risen.
COURIC: Are you familiar with that?
PLAME: I don’t think I can tell you.
COURIC: He said the idea was to give the Iranians blueprints for the bomb that were seriously flawed to set them back. Does that sound like something the counter-proliferation division would do?
PLAME: I think I can say it sounds like a good idea.
COURIC: Were you surprised to read about Operation Merlin in the press?
PLAME: Indeed.
COURIC: Is that problematic for the CIA?
PLAME: Leaks are always bad news.
COURIC: She should know, revealing for the first time that the leak of her name had serious repercussions.
PLAME: I can tell you all the intelligence services in the world were running my name through their databases to see did anyone by this name come in the country? When? Do we know anything about it? Where did she stay? Who did she see?
COURIC: And what would be the ramifications of that?
PLAME: Well, it was very serious. It puts in danger, if not shuts down, the operations that I had worked on.
COURIC: Valerie Plame Wilson also has some harsh things to say about President Bush. That and much more in our interview this Sunday on 60 Minutes.
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58 Responses to “Plame’s CIA job was to stop Iran from obtaining nukes.”
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I’m sure Deadeye Dick didn’t want anything to hamper Iran’s progress towards building a nuke.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:42 pmGo ahead, trolls, tell us how again how Plame’s status wasn’t covert and classified. Even though the CIA certified it to Congress. Even though Patrick Fitzgerald presented it as fact in U.S. Federal Court filings. Go ahead, trolls, defend the Office of the Vice President for revealing this information and destroying this critical intelligence program. Go ahead, trolls, and defend the President for letting the traitor Scooter Libby go free after his conviction for lying to protect the Dick Cheney from charges of treason.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:50 pmJames Risen?! Umm…no.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:52 pmSo, did they expose Valerie Plame to get back at her husband Joe Wilson or did they expose her to disrupt the secret mission she was on to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon? Either scenario is horrifying. And one or both of them is what happened. By outing Valerie Plame, the Bush Crime Family members who exposed her also exposed other agents working through Brewster Jennings, her cover company. Novak also exposed Brewster Jennings. That alone should have been grounds to charge him with treason. We still, to this day, don’t know if anyone died because of what this Administration did. They have classified everything and anything that has to do with the outing of Valerie Plame. Maybe we will finally know when the Democratic President taxes office in 2009.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:54 pmCheney and company had (have) a vested interest in allowing Iran’s nuclear program to go forward.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:55 pmIt gives them the ultimate excuse for another war and attack on a sovereign country, with the ultimate goal of controlling the Middle East.
By outing Plame, they emasculated the efforts to derail Iran’s pursuit of nuclear technology.
It appears now it may have been less of an attempt to discredit Joseph Wilson, though that was a convenient side effect.
I don’t think these evil idiots care one way or another about Iran’s nuclear program. They know they can find plenty of ways to gin up war. These mean-spirited pr*cks just had to get even with Joe Wilson. It shows how petty and small and mean they are.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:57 pmDid you know that Iran was interested in purchasing uranium in 1998?
Coincidence? Or correlation? The answer to that seems self-evident.
October 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pmRemind me again, Mr. Rove, why was ANYONE in the White House talking about Joe Wilson’s wife for ANY reason?
October 20th, 2007 at 4:01 pmGawd, Valerie Plame makes me go weak in the knees. Ok, carrion…
October 20th, 2007 at 4:04 pmI am definitely going to watch this 60 minutes. I just hope that Couric isn’t who will be interviewing her. She’s an airhead barbie doll and I find it painful to watch her.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:07 pm#10: I am definitely going to watch this 60 minutes. I just hope that Couric isn’t who will be interviewing her - - Ummm, short-term memory loss?
October 20th, 2007 at 4:09 pm“Coincidence? Or correlation? The answer to that seems self-evident.”
Comment by EvilPoet
From The Gang Who Couldn’t Think Straight?
Perhaps if they’d retained the gay Arabic translators, someone might have realized sooner that it was Iran - not Iraq - that wanted Niger Yellowcake?.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:15 pmand anyone would be in the least bit surprised by this because…? the threat of iran obtaining or manufacturing a nuclear weapon is in precisely the same category as saddam’s wmd… our country’s movers and shakers are totally committed to a state of endless war, regardless of the country or the area of the world, as long as it provides the opportunity to keep the rivers of cash flowing into the “right” pockets (apologies for the bad pun), to extend their power and global hegemony, and to monopolize the world’s resources… iranian nuclear weapons are today’s convenient smokescreen, cleverly designed to distract from their real motivations and to keep the peasantry quivering in their boots, when they’re not buying lottery tickets and hoping to strike it rich… we are one pathetic bunch of citizens…
And, yes, I DO take it personally
October 20th, 2007 at 4:22 pmTrolls will be slow to show up on this thread. To begin with it is the weekend, and it always takes longer to get the talking points written up and distributed on the weekend. Second, there are no plausible talking points for this story. So we will just get Daryll telling us that God wants us to invade Iran.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:27 pm60 Minutes is must see this Sunday.
It is interesting to compare and contrast the difference between the leak of Mrs. Wilson’s name and its publication by Robert Novak to the NYT’s exposure of a string of CIA prisons across Europe and elsewhere.
In the case of the leak of Valerie Wilson’s name the repercussions were serious and continuing. The Bush administration did not even seriously investigate the loss of this critical asset. And why would they. They were directly responsible, trading the serious repercussions for a political talking point. (Now how smart is that). A timid prosecutor took Scooter Libby to trial for the secondary felonies of perjury and obstruction. When Libby was found guilty on 4 of 5 counts the prison sentence was commuted by Bush before Libby spent a single day in the slammer. The only jail time served was by Judith Wilson for not revealing Libby’s name to prosecutors.
Now, let us look at the response to the NYT’s story. It is ongoing but that story represented little more than an embarrassment to the Bush administration and the cooperating European countries. It likewise exposed other areas where the CIA conducted torture. The likely outcome will be jail time for the reporters that published this article. The reporters sources would likely face treason charges should their identity be revealed. At this point the government has scant eveidece but this will not stop them from pushing the envelope.
There you have it. It is all about going after political enemies and taking care of political friends, justice and national security be damned.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:31 pmTrolls will be slow to show up on this thread. To begin with it is the weekend, and it always takes longer to get the talking points written up and distributed on the weekend. Second, there are no plausible talking points for this story. So we will just get Daryll telling us that God wants us to invade Iran.
Comment by VerbalKint —
But give ‘em a thread to bash little kids on, and they’re in Hog Heaven (especially Daryll).
October 20th, 2007 at 4:33 pmPersonally, I don’t think it’s coincidence that the major operation keeping an eye on middle east nukes was blinded by the Bush Administration.
I think Cheney was behind it and did it with the idea of “killing 2 birds with one stone”.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:42 pmRetaliation.
Plain and simple.
Without regard to the damage it does to national security.
Fu(king Traitors.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:43 pmThe disturbing possibility too is that this was done EXPLICITLY to keep Iran a threat so we could have another target post-Iraq. Though I have a feeling they planned Iraq to be said and done with before moving on to Iran. Not that it’s stopping them NOW.
October 20th, 2007 at 4:46 pmThe disturbing possibility too is that this was done EXPLICITLY to keep Iran a threat so we could have another target post-Iraq. Though I have a feeling they planned Iraq to be said and done with before moving on to Iran. Not that it’s stopping them NOW.
Comment by Kryptik — October 20, 2007 @ 4:46 pm
Now, use this event to add context to other events, exposing such an important CIA operation.
Why has Blackwater been stealing Iraqi aircraft? How long have they been doing it? Are the two we know about the only ones? Will we find out, since there is no oversight and accountability for mercenaries?
Where is the sixth nuclear device the Air Force has not yet reported having recovered? The original report and others in the Military Times and similar, close-to-the-source periodicals, say that five devices were returned to proper storage. However, the Pentagon and the Air Force paperwork, according to the journalists at Talking Points Memo and other watchdog journalism groups, both here and abroad, keep reporting that the plane had SIX devices. Yet all the original, on-the-tarmac reports mention a mere five put back in to proper storage. Why don’t we have verification one way or the other?
At this point, any nuclear device exploded in this country, and any Iranian aircraft attacking our forces in the Middle East, are suspect. Those are some terrifying scenarios to contemplate, and it is horrible to think that your own government would do such a thing. But how is anyone rationally supposed to think otherwise? We have known war criminals stealing enemy aircraft and refusing to return them. People willing to hold U.S. soldiers at gunpoint (and DISARM THEM) merely to back the Blackwater vehicle out of an AUTO ACCIDENT. Why wouldn’t they gladly conduct an operation that would drag our military, and Blackwater and the other contractors with them, in to another, tougher, more prolonged conflict? Remember, these people have a vested monetary interest in getting paid to conduct military operations. The more they fight, the more they protect our State Department, the more they get paid. Which is why using mercenaries should be against the law. You cannot trust national security to a for-profit organization. Who the hell reasonably thinks a company that makes its PROFITS by engaging in combat wouldn’t do whatever it takes to ensure that revenue stream?
October 20th, 2007 at 5:08 pmObviously the Bush administration and any of their supporters are traitors, pure and simple. But I just can’t understand why the Democrats and the media haven’t made more of this an issue. I sincerely believe if a Democratic administration did something like this, the Republicans would be calling for his/her head and making this a 24-hour issue, 7 days a week. Democrats failed in this endeavor to hold responsible people accountable and any Bush supporter should be ashamed of himself/herself.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:08 pmObviously the Bush administration and any of their supporters are traitors, pure and simple. But I just can’t understand why the Democrats and the media haven’t made more of this an issue. I sincerely believe if a Democratic administration did something like this, the Republicans would be calling for his/her head and making this a 24-hour issue, 7 days a week. Democrats failed in this endeavor to hold responsible people accountable and any Bush supporter should be ashamed of himself/herself.
Comment by Vincennes — October 20, 2007 @ 5:08 pm
I wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that the Bush administration has been datamining and spying on us since Feb of 2001? Nah!
October 20th, 2007 at 5:11 pmThough I have a feeling they planned Iraq to be said and done with before moving on to Iran.
Comment by Kryptik
Yeah, well…
October 20th, 2007 at 5:15 pmI think 60 Minutes should do a story on who forged the Niger Documents. Who did the burglary at the Niger embassy in Rome? Wasn’t it well known eleven months before Bush’s State of the Union Speech that they were a bad forgery? This is what Joe Wilson said. This is why he had to be discredited.
How did the sixteen words passively find their way back into the speech? Was it true that only people “in the bowels of the NSA” knew they were forged (as Condi claimed)?
Then the next week, they can have a story on The Downing Street Memo. That is a story the MSM doesn’t want to touch because it is blatant proof that we wanted to invade Iraq–the evidence be damned!
I have conservatives tell me that I am wrong about these two scandals and they say the proof is they are never on the “liberal media”.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:17 pmModeration,
I certainly don’t think those nuclear weapons were carried by our plane “unknowingly”. I have heard experts say this is quite impossible given the many protocols. Of course our MSM swallowed it.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:22 pmPerhaps if they’d retained the gay Arabic translators, someone might have realized sooner that it was Iran - not Iraq - that wanted Niger Yellowcake?.
Comment by barfly
Perhaps. Unfortunately, we will never know.
Some food for thought…
October 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pmPersonally, I don’t think it’s coincidence that the major operation keeping an eye on middle east nukes was blinded by the Bush Administration.
I think Cheney was behind it and did it with the idea of “killing 2 birds with one stoneâ€.
Comment by Wayne — October 20, 2007 @ 4:42 pm
Bingo! Two out of three in Shrub’s “trifecta”.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:34 pmThat’s pretty good work for a (what did the right wing media call her?), oh, yeah, a “desk jockey”.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:37 pmAlso, By ruining the CIA’s work in Iran through the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, the Bushies also get the added benefit of acheiving their desire to go to war with Iran.
#3 oil reserves in world, Iran.
#2, Iraq (some say #1). Now worth about $20 Trillion.
#1, Saudi Arabia.
Reserves of top 5 Western oil corps now worth way over $2 Trillion, thanks to our oil administration.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:45 pmArabic translators might have some trouble with Iran, seeing as Iranians’ don’t speak Arabic.
October 20th, 2007 at 5:59 pmFarsi, anyone?
October 20th, 2007 at 6:02 pmStill no trolls? The scum defend Bush all day long on the other threads. No argument seems too inane for them to swallow and parrot. Where are they now?
October 20th, 2007 at 6:29 pmIn January 2003 President Bush suggested painting a US flag with UN colors and trying to get Iraq to shoot it down as an excuse to go to war.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:01 pmWhy would Iran want to import yellowcake from Niger? They can mine their own from deposits within their borders - like about 45,000 tons.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:20 pmIn January 2003 President Bush suggested painting a US flag with UN colors and trying to get Iraq to shoot it down as an excuse to go to war.
Comment by kirkaracha — October 20, 2007 @ 7:01 pm
Wow, I pay attention to the BBC, and try to stay up on events, but I’ve never seen these reports.
How the hell didn’t that raise huge alarms for members of Congress, the U.S. Military, the U.N., and so on? He actually suggested such an underhanded, blatantly deceptive, and most bloody likely illegal suggestion?!? No one immediately called him on it? Unbelievable. The Democratic members of the 110th Congress should have saved such a tid-bit in a little file just for such information, and brought it out when they came in to power.
Paint U.S. spy planes as U.N. planes to provoke an international incident. How much more evidence do you need that he is a criminal?
October 20th, 2007 at 7:21 pmLook for a naval incident off Iran in which they “attack” one of our ships. Like the Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin—never attacked, but the excuse for the escalation in Vietnam.
October 20th, 2007 at 7:26 pmHistory will show the Bush crime family pulled off the crime of the century…. starting with election 2000. More reasons for war equals more bucks for big business. Isn’t it a bit suspect Plame would be outed as her findings would slow the war machine down. And when the big crime is finished, when the curtains are opened, the masses will then see our country left in ruins while big business have run off with the billions.
October 20th, 2007 at 8:28 pmWho forged the Niger Documents? Doug Feith, Stephen Hadley, and Italian Intelligence? Inquiring minds wish to know.
October 20th, 2007 at 8:48 pmI think Plunger was the guy booted from the audience of Maher’s HBO show last night.
October 20th, 2007 at 9:04 pmI’m beyond words and can only echo from the above. S
It was bad enough that a covert operative was outed. It was worse that it appears to be a calculated move by senior WH staff. BUT NOW……
SO!! YOU’RE TELLING ME THAT PLAME WAS DELIVERING FAKE NUKE PLANS TO IRAN. SO!! WHEN SHE WAS OUTED, IRAN INSTANTLY WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT WHAT SHE SUPPLIED WAS FAKE! SO!! NOW SHRUB IS USING IRAN NUKES AS A REASON TO START HINTING AT WW III.
THIS IS PLAIN TREASON. AND **YES** I KNOW I AM YELLING !
October 20th, 2007 at 9:15 pmPlame’s CIA job was to stop Iran from obtaining nukes.
ha! knew it! … even told ya so!
well, not about the “stop” part maybe, but figured she had a role in the nuke program and that’s why cheney wanted her out of there…
he didn’t want the truth to get in his way…
wow…
October 20th, 2007 at 9:26 pm#4 bilbobaggins says:
So, did they expose Valerie Plame to get back at her husband Joe Wilson or did they expose her to disrupt the secret mission she was on to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon? Either scenario is horrifying. And one or both of them is what happened.
I think he is entirely correct. This was a proverbial killing of two birds with one stone. Discredit Joe Wilson for exposing Bush’s lies, while destroying the Brewster-Jennings covert front, giving Darth Cheney additional time to prepare for the attack on Iran.
October 20th, 2007 at 11:57 pmIf anyone still has doubts about the sinister capabilities of Dick Cheney — like being behind this Iran/Plame/Wilson episode, they need only review his career on the PBS Cheney documentary that aired this past week. No more doubts.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:03 amSorry for the multiple posts, here, but I just got home –
October 21st, 2007 at 12:11 amfrankly, impeachment is not harsh enough for Bush/Cheney. They are criminals. No less than the worst of them behind bars today — they are criminals! They should be in jail. They should be tried at home for treason and in the Hague for war crimes. They are criminals.
Innocent till proven guilty? They ARE proven guilty. The mounting evidence tells it all. They are criminals.
Yet another lie (”Plame was just a paper pusher at the CIA, she wasn’t a covert agent!”) that has been laid to rest. For anyone and everyone who happens to have half of a half-working brain, that is.
This won’t stop the “conservative” visitors to this site from repeating the same old debunked lies, and the same tired falsehoods about Plame, and everything else this administration has lied about.
Because I know that even in spite of this latest revelation, they won’t drop their allegiance to their Glorious Leader. Poor saps. Although I find it hard to feel sorry for such happily willing fascists.
October 21st, 2007 at 3:46 amOnly in GOP-Land does it make sense that Scooter Libby was indicted, tried, and found guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice then pardoned because Valerie Plame was a “pencil pusher” at the CIA.
October 21st, 2007 at 7:35 amGo ahead, trolls, tell us how again how Plame’s status wasn’t covert and classified. Even though the CIA certified it to Congress. Even though Patrick Fitzgerald presented it as fact in U.S. Federal Court filings. Go ahead, trolls, defend the Office of the Vice President for revealing this information and destroying this critical intelligence program. Go ahead, trolls, and defend the President for letting the traitor Scooter Libby go free after his conviction for lying to protect the Dick Cheney from charges of treason.
Comment by VerbalKint — October 20, 2007 @ 3:50 pm
Yeah, but I’m sure Drudge has “proven” that all the things you say are not true, so there.
(snark!)
October 21st, 2007 at 11:05 amWith this new information clarifying Plame’s role, certainly this underlines the criminal actions the WH took by outing her, and is directly related to the ability of Iran to obtain nukes. So tell me again why this is not grounds for impeachment? But more curious and frustrating to me, is why Plame didn’t say this immediately after all the attacks on her that she was a desk clerk and pencil pusher? Why not come out and slam back down on the repubs and show them for the liars and traiters they really are? This happens time and time again…the rebuttal comes late, and quiet.
Plame and Joe could have been revealed as the patriots and even heros that they really were. Much more so than the shady figures for the Republican side like Oliver North. It is important to build heros on our side, on off years, so that when the elections come around the feeling is underlying and not cerebral for the voters. Voters are not cerebral, they vote with their gut. And if we don’t help them with their gut all year round, if we let the fascists portray good americans as traiters, if we let them make liberal, progressive, democrat and independent dirty words…..then don’t be surprised if every election is a struggle.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:11 pmI like how the news can come out and say the Bush admin. outed this woman. How come they get away with it?
And talk about a total package, holy shite!!
October 21st, 2007 at 12:36 pmwayyy hotter than dana perino, and not a congenital liar - that Joe Wilson is one lucky fella. no wonder the righties targeted them - look at the wives those jokers have to drag around.
October 21st, 2007 at 12:46 pmHow can this country hope to stop Iran if we can’t stop ourselves. It is past time to impeach the psychopath in chief and his vice. Only if we have a sane administration we can begin to address whether and what real threats we face. Only if we demonstrate that this country is no longer in the hands of the fascists will other countries feel they can trust us enough to put their resources to peaceful use.
October 21st, 2007 at 1:36 pmPlame was a failure thats why she had to be “outedâ€
Comment by Billy Hill — October 21, 2007 @ 9:19 pm
This is one of the most ridiculous, moronic statements I’ve read in a long time.
So she had to be outed, and national security had to be compromised? Ridiculous.
October 21st, 2007 at 9:47 pmDont you know a trap when you see one?
Comment by Billy Hill — October 21, 2007 @ 9:58 pm
No, but I know an assh*le when I see one, and you’d be wise not to pull “facts” from the same part of your body.
October 21st, 2007 at 10:18 pmDont you know a trap when you see one?
Comment by Billy Hill — October 21, 2007 @ 9:58 pm
I know a troll when I see one. And I am looking at one right now.
A troll who has nothing better to do with his life than to defend an administration that outed a covert agent in the middle of a very sensitive mission, compromising national security.
Way to go Billy Hill. Now make my day and tell me “libruls” are “weak” on national security. That’s be a hoot.
October 21st, 2007 at 11:17 pmObviously our friend Bigfoot still hasn’t got his little mind around the concept of obstruction of justice.
The paranoid rants about someone wanting to “get” the Bush administration are laughable. As if anyone needed to fabricate anything, any evidence at all to show the utter incompetence rampant in this White House.
Yeah, someone is trying to make Pres Bush “look bad” because he doesn’t do enough to look bad all by himself. Right.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:41 amSo Iran was looking for blueprints to make a Nuke Bomb. At least this proves they are looking to make “the bomb”. This proves we have no choice but to stop them since they are actively building a bomb.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:18 amYou can choose to characterize your Bush policy as “utter incompentenceâ€â€¦but the facts are, pretty much everything George Bush has attempted to do as President he has succeeded in accomplishing,
Comment by O. Bigfoot — October 22, 2007 @ 9:26 am
Oh, I didn’t realise the chaos that Iraq has become, the rampant insurgency, the roughly 4million Iraqis displaced, the destruction of their infrastructure, and the American death toll were all premeditated by your Glorious Leader.
I also didn’t know the outing of a covert agent working on a highly sensitive mission, and the corruption scandal that has engulfed this White House could be construed as a “success” for the Bush administration.
I guess you and I have different parameters to measure success and good leadership.
October 22nd, 2007 at 12:37 pmwayyy hotter than dana perino
Comment by tombaker — October 21, 2007 @ 12:46 pm
I loved it everytime they said she was “undercover”.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm