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INDEPTH: THE ROVE AFFAIR, CBC News, July 14, 2005

Explore the controversy surrounding a jailed journalist, outed spy, and a White House leak (from a Canadian perspective)

INDEPTH: THE ROVE AFFAIR
The Rove Affair

CBC News Online | July 14, 2005



Not since the days of the Clinton administration has so much journalistic energy been focused on the backroom dealings of the White House. No sex this time, but there are allegations of possible criminal activity at very high levels.

And America's role in the war in Iraq is at the heart of the matter.

Flashback to Jan. 28, 2003. The United States is a little more than two months away from attacking Iraq. On this night, President George W. Bush will give his annual state of the union address.

In that speech, Bush accuses Iraqi President Saddam Hussein of trying to expand his nuclear program by acquiring uranium from Niger. It was further evidence, Bush said, that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

Six months later, former U.S. ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote in the New York Times that there was no evidence that Saddam had been trying to acquire uranium from Niger. Wilson had been sent to Africa a year earlier by the CIA to investigate such allegations.

Wilson criticized the Bush administration, saying it had twisted evidence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat in the months before the war.

Until then, Wilson had lots of credibility with a couple of presidents named Bush. Wilson was the last American official to meet with Saddam in the days leading to the first Gulf War. He also sheltered more than 100 Americans in the embassy in Baghdad and ignored Saddam's threats to execute anyone who refused to hand over foreigners.

Wilson's article in the New York Times cast doubt on one of Washington's key reasons for going to war – that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction.

Just over a week after the Times article, syndicated columnist Robert Novak wrote that senior Bush administration officials said Wilson's wife – Valerie Plame – was a CIA agent and that she was involved in the decision to send her husband to Africa.

A few days later, Time magazine's Matthew Cooper published a story that made similar allegations.

The stories blew Plame's cover by identifying her as an agent. They also struck at Wilson's credibility, suggesting he was sent on the Africa mission by his wife.

It is illegal to reveal the identity of a CIA operative. A conviction for that could mean up to 10 years in prison.

By late September, the U.S. Justice Department had ordered an investigation into whether a criminal act had been committed. Bush said if the leak came from anyone in his administration, that person would be fired.

Karl Rove. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)There was speculation that the leak had been one of Bush's closest advisors, Karl Rove. Rove denied it and the administration denied it.

Still, the speculation did not go away. The investigation continued.

Within a year, the grand jury investigating the case had issued subpoenas to Time's Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller of the New York Times. Miller had been looking into the story, but never wrote anything about it.

Both reporters refused to co-operate with the investigation. They said they would not reveal their sources.

A judge ruled both reporters were in contempt of court. That ruling was upheld by a higher court. The Supreme Court refused to hear their appeal.

On July 6, 2005, Miller was ordered jailed until she agreed to testify and reveal her sources – or the investigation ended. Cooper avoided jail when he said he would testify because his source had signed a waiver.

The speculation surrounding Karl Rove only intensified after an internal Time memo from two years earlier was released. It was written by Cooper, shortly after he met with his source on his original story. Part of it read:

[I]t was, KR said, wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd issues who authorized the trip.

Rove is seen as the architect of Bush's White House victories. It was Rove who urged Bush to target evangelical Christians during the 2004 election campaign as the issues of abortion and gay marriage hit the voters' radar screens.

Exit polls showed that it wasn't Iraq or the economy that was on the minds of voters on election night – but moral issues. And more than three-quarters of that segment of the electorate parked their votes with Bush. It was the margin of victory.

Bush has been known to refer to Rove as Turd Blossom – after the wildflowers that sprout from cattle dung in Texas – because he manages to come out smelling great while surrounded by stink.

Rove's lawyer, Robert Luskin, says his client has co-operated fully in the investigation and had done nothing wrong.

Wilson, meanwhile, has called on Bush to fire Rove for abusing his power by talking to journalists about Plame's job.

Meanwhile, a reporter who never reported on the story sits in jail, while a grand jury tries to determine whether a crime was ever committed.

CBC News Online

posted by Annamarie at 12:26 AM