Volume 5-Our World: The White House and CIA Investigations

The White House and CIA Investigations

The White House is waiting for the results of a CIA leak investigation that has been going on for two years. This odd turn of events, which barely made any headlines two years ago, has been the downfall of Mr. Lewis Libby, chief of staff for vice-president Cheney.

The story began two years ago when Robert Novak wrote an article on Joe Wilson, former U.S. diplomat. A week before the article was published, Mr. Wilson made public claims against the Bush administration. He accused the pre-war intelligence of twisting facts to support a war against Iraq.

Mr. Novak’s article, published on July 14, 2003, explored the CIA’s decision to send Mr. Wilson to Africa to check out the claims made by the Bush administration officials. Halfway through this article by Mr. Novak, he noted that Mr. Wilson, “never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction.” When asked where he got his information about Mrs. Plame, Mr. Novak said that “two senior administration officials told me Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger. The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.”

This leaking of information caused Mrs. Plame to lose her job, which received an angry response from Mr. Wilson. He argued that whoever had leaked the information was trying to get Mrs. Plame fired to pay him back for what he had declared the week before. Novak protested innocence in the case and attempted to defend the administration, saying that he never got a call from the administration leaking the information, and that he didn’t know Mrs. Plame was an undercover agent. He said that he wrote the article before asking Mr. Wilson for comments on his wife, which Mr. Wilson refused to do.

Since Novak was cleared of the charges, the prosecutors attempted to find the two sources who had leaked the information to Mr. Novak. Two of the Washington journalists, Judith Miller and Matthew Cooper refused to reveal their sources and fought all the way to the Supreme Court, where they lost.

Mr. Cooper, being threatened with charges of contempt of court, revealed that Mr. Karl Rove, Mr. Bush’s top political counselor, was one of his sources. He said that Mr. Rove had told him that Mr. Wilson’s wife was a CIA agent involved with weapons of mass destruction, although never giving her name or status as undercover agent. After getting that information from Mr. Rove, he asked for confirmation from Mr. Lewis Libby, who gave it.

Ms. Miller, who had never written anything about Mrs. Plame, was sent to jail for 85 days because she had refused to reveal her sources, which was considered contempt of court. Mr. Libby, who turned out to be her source, told her it was okay to reveal him, so she testified and then was released. The information he had given her? That Mrs. Valerie Plame, “may have worked on unconventional weapons at the CIA.”

The prosecutor, Mr. Patrick Fitzgerald, in investigating the case, zeroed in on Mr. Libby and Rove. Mr. Rove has been spared from charges of perjury for not telling the jury about his conversation with Matt Cooper, but Libby was indicted and could be convicted of making false statements as well because of the contradictions between his and other reporter’s testimonies. If this does happen, he could face up to 30 years in prison and $1.25 million in fines. This is a hefty price to pay, which shows how important this issue is.

In light of the recent Harriet Miers stepdown, the CIA issue, and Iraq war deaths, the whole White House is dealing with a lot right now. Please say a prayer for our leaders. They have a big responsibility, but God is the one who directs their paths.