At Durbin’s request, the Intelligence Committee will investigate

[Rose Siding]

According to the Hill, there will be an investigation of how Novak and Time Magizine got the dope on Wilson's wife. I totally missed this result yesterday- One might think it would be a headline in the MAINSTREAM media, the WH being investigated for a crime that carries a 3 year sentence.

from the article:

At Durbin’s request, the Intelligence Committee will investigate whether administration officials compromised the identity of Wilson’s wife.

http://www.thehill.com/news/072303/leak.aspx

Here, Wilson explains the crime:

Under US law, the names of clandestine CIA agents cannot be disclosed; the violation could carry a penalty of up to three years imprisonment. Mr Wilson called the disclosure "a breach of national security", saying it could compromise any operations or programmes in which she had been involved.

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1058868057712

So who thinks NoFacts pulled this one out of his hat? The alternative is someone in the admin willing to breach national security in order to intimidate critics.

[ewagner]

1. This needs to be spread

give it a :kick:

[mike6640]

2. follow that story!

:kick:

[realFedUp]

3. Hopefully a Republican won't be chairing this....

more blackouts.

[gratuitous]

4. I said before

I don't have much regard for Novak, but I don't put him in the same league with folks who would kill to make a political point (such as 90% of the corrupt Bush administration). But his column in conjunction with the Time magazine story indicates strongly that someone in the White House leaked, and they leaked to intimidate a critic.

What if it was Clinton? What sort of column would William Safire write? What kind of reportage would Susan Schmidt put out? What would Michael Isikoff write? What would be the headline on Drudge? Not to mention Rash Lardbutt, George Will-o-the-weakchin, John McGoofy and so on and so forth.

Tell me again about this so-called "liberal" media? Sounds like it might be worth a try about now.

[madrchsod]

5. the cia

is pushing for this investigation and it will not be buried.we might not see all that is happening but you can bet there were phone calls the last few days to the senators..this story broke last week and it could be the biggest yet..esp if it leads to the whitehouse....

[jackstraw45]

6. High on the list

of crimes perpetrated by this administration over the past few years.

The lying is one thing.

Their arrogance caught up to them this time.

I am stunned by the lack of national media coverage about this story. Spread it around - ask people if they know about it. I am, and haven't found one person who knows the story yet.

[corarose]

7. Was it Novakula? He should be FIRED!

He should be immediately fired.

[mikeysnot]

9. We should all flood CNN with emails

this is a clear breach of national security and a clear cut Nazi intimidation tacktic and Nofacts should be fired and do the perp walk on national TV... I would love to see that jack ass get his, he soooo deserves it..

[Rose Siding]

10. Novak didn't break any laws

The two Bush administration officials who burned the agent, Wilson's wife, did:

"Wilson and others said such a disclosure would be a violation of the law by the officials, not the columnist."

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia223383072jul22,0,1332639.story

[chiburb]

8. PLAME UPDATE: SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TIME

"The New York Times can't find room for the story in its news sections. Both the Times and the Post ought to be embarrassed to have been beaten by Newsday on a story that's been there to be picked up for a week.

There's some chatter going around, based on the convoluted statements about sourcing in the Novak and TIME stories, that Plame might have been outed by the CIA in some sort of internal struggle rather than by the White House. That seems to me grossly implausible, and in any case not relevant to the White House's liability here.

If Novak is to be believed -- and recall that's a very big "if" -- two senior administration officials told him that Plame had suggested recruiting Wilson for a secret CIA mission. Saying that Plame is in a position to suggest who gets sent on secret CIA missions implies that she has some involvement with the CIA. Given that she was working undercover, that amounted to burning her. So no matter what anyone at the CIA did or didn't do, those two senior administration officials committed, if Novak is telling the truth, an aggravated felony.

The number of suspects is small enough so that a prosecutor with a grand jury would have a good chance of getting to the bottom of this fairly quickly. But of course John Ashcroft isn't about to do any such thing. Though the special prosecutor statute has expired, the Attorney General can still ask the courts to appoint a special prosecutor. That should now be the insistent demand of every Democratic member of Congress, every Democratic presidential candidate, every journalist, and every citizen.

Write your Congressman. Write a letter to the editor.

Thread starts here."

This guy has been ALL over this story and won't let go. Originally linked via Atrios, check out his whole thread here:

http://markarkleiman.blogspot.com/2003_07_01_markarkleiman_archive.html#105896682813620476

[Rose Siding]

11. In this UPDATE- Daschle calls it a felony:

Probes Expected in ID of CIA Officer

Washington - Democrats yesterday denounced the alleged disclosure by administration officials of the identity of an undercover CIA officer, and members of both parties indicated a congressional investigation is likely.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.), an Intelligence Committee member, said it plans to investigate who revealed the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, who is married to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson. In a move that sparked the current controversy over allegations that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Niger, Wilson revealed two weeks ago that he had warned the Bush administration the reports were unfounded.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), vice chairman of the intelligence panel, called the disclosure of Plame's identity "vile" and "a highly dishonorable thing to do; highly, highly dishonorable." He, too, said a probe is probably necessary and accused the White House of strong-arm tactics aimed at those who question their policies. "To go after him is one thing, but to go after his wife is another thing," Rockefeller said.
snip>

Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) said compromising the identity of Wilson's wife may be a felony.

"I think that it ought to be investigated," he said. "Who did it? Why did they do it? Was it simply to, again, intimidate Mr. Wilson?"

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-uscia233384176jul23,0,5461415.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-print