Valerie Plame, Fair Blame

The Outed agents speaks, and clarifies/confirms that which most of us knew already. Let's cut right to the reality:

The question remains: Was she behind her husband's trip to Niger? "Fair Game" gives a nuanced answer that is largely, but not entirely, in her favor.

She says that when the vice president's office asked the CIA about the uranium allegation, a "midlevel reports officer" suggested in a hallway conversation that the agency could send Joe Wilson to investigate. The suggestion made sense because Wilson had served as an ambassador in Africa, was the top Africa expert on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration and made a previous trip to Niger at the CIA's request in 1999. She and the midlevel officer brought the idea to their boss, who liked it and asked her to send an e-mail up the chain of command. "My husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity," she wrote.

Thus, by her own account, Valerie Wilson neither came up with the idea nor approved it. But she did participate in the process and flogged her husband's credentials. When Joe Wilson learned about her e-mail years later, she says, he was "too upset to listen" to her explanations.

What is so frustrating about cases like this, and other inconsistencies in the Rights' thought process, is how much further along we could be in the debate, if they would spend less time finagling the truth, and more time working together to seek it.

Can you just imagine the firestorm if the parties were reversed. If it were a Democratic Administration, frustrated with the behavior of a 'partisan' operative, that chose to jeopardize national security in favor of purely political retaliation. Field Day.

You know, the same party that supports Rush Limbaugh's claim of "phoney soldier's" to those who don't support the administration war view unconditionally. (Yes, I've read the complete transcript, and Rush's feeble attempt at spin after the fact. He's talking plural, multiple soldiers, and clearly referencing their ideology as a group, not an individual)

I want the truth, and wherever it may lead me. I won't manipulate it on the way, to reach a favored outcome. Maybe that is the difference between me, and those with an agenda.

Flash