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by Larry Johnson
Jul 13, 2005 -- 12:47:20 AM EST
The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is
alarming and damaging to the longterm security interests of the United
States. Republicans' talking points are trying to savage Joe Wilson and,
by implication, his wife, Valerie Plame as liars. That is the truly big
lie.
For starters, Valerie Plame was an undercover operations officer until
outed in the press by Robert Novak. Novak's column was not an isolated
attack. It was in fact part of a coordinated, orchestrated smear that we
now know includes at least Karl Rove.
Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she started with the
CIA. I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985. All of my classmates
were undercover--in other words, we told our family and friends that we
were working for other overt U.S. Government agencies. We had official
cover. That means we had a black passport--i.e., a diplomatic passport. If
we were caught overseas engaged in espionage activity the black passport
was a get out of jail free card.
A
few of my classmates, and Valerie was one of these, became a non-official
cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate overseas without the
protection of a diplomatic passport. If caught in that status she would
have been executed.
The lies by people like Victoria Toensing, Representative Peter King, and
P. J. O'Rourke insist that Valerie was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet,
until Robert Novak betrayed her she was still undercover and the company
that was her front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed
Valerie he also compromised her company and every individual overseas who
had been in contact with that company and with her.
The Republicans now want to hide behind the legalism that "no laws were
broken". I don't know if a man made law was broken but an ethical and
moral code was breached. For the first time a group of partisan political
operatives publically identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precendent
that the next group of political hacks may feel free to violate.
They try to hide behind the specious claim that Joe Wilson "lied".
Although Joe did not lie let's follow that reasoning to the logical
conclusion. Let's use the same standard for the Bush Administration. Here
are the facts. Bush's lies have resulted in the deaths of almost 1800
American soldiers and the mutilation of 12,000. Joe Wilson has not killed
anyone. He tried to prevent the needless death of Americans and the loss
of American prestige in the world.
But don't take my word for it, read the biased Senate intelligence
committee report. Even though it was slanted to try to portray Joe in the
worst possible light this fact emerges on page 52 of the report: According
to the US Ambassador to Niger (who was commenting on Joe's visit in
February 2002), "Ambassador Wilson reached the same conclusion that the
Embassy has reached that it was highly unlikely that anything between Iraq
and Niger was going on." Joe's findings were consistent with those of the
Deputy Commander of the European Command, Major General Fulford.
The Republicans insist on the lie that Val got her husband the job. She
did not. She was not a division director, instead she was the equivalent
of an Army major. Yes it is true she recommended her husband to do the job
that needed to be done but the decision to send Joe Wilson on this mission
was made by her bosses.
At
the end of the day, Joe Wilson was right. There were no weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq. It was the Bush Administration that pushed that lie
and because of that lie Americans are dying. Shame on those who continue
to slander Joe Wilson while giving Bush and his pack of liars a pass.
That's the true outrage.
**********
Larry Johnson
Larry C. Johnson is the Managing Partner and founder of BERG Associates,
LLC, an international business-consulting firm based in Washington, D.C.
BERG that specializes in counter terrorism and money laundering
investigations. Prior to forming BERG, Mr. Johnson worked with the Central
Intelligence Agency (1985-1989) and the Department of State's Office of
the Coordinator for Counter Terrorsim (1989-1993). Since 1994 Mr. Johnson
has helped script terrorism exercises for the U.S. military forces that
have the counter terrorism mission. Mr. Johnson also has served as an
instructor for the U.S. State Department's Anti-Terrorism Training
Program, where he has lectured on Current Terrorist Threats and Trends and
on International Accords for Combating Terrorism to officials from more
than 45 countries. Mr. Johnson has directed or participated in the
forensic audits of banks and casinos Latin America, tested procedures and
systems for detecting and preventing money laundering, and directed the
forensic audit of a multi-million dollar business suspected of money
laundering in the Colon Free Zone of Panama. Mr. Johnson manages and
directs BERG Associates investigations of international fraud and product
counterfeiting, which has resulted in the confiscation of products worth
one million dollars, fines totaling $500,000, and criminal penalties for
the offenders.
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