From: Adam Flinton 

Mark wrote:
> Rich, please. While I'm always willing to read a piece on its individual
> merits, the "Strib" isn't exactly unbiased and this latest
entry in their
> ongoing series of --I don't know what to call it exactly, but it ain't
> reporting -- entries, is not really worth addressing.
>
> The Powerline (  http://www.powerlineblog.com/ ) guys have been dueling with
> the "Strib" for the longest time -- Powerline wins each and
every time, so
> tune in there tomorrow for the take-down of Johnson's diatribe  it'll be there by midday, I've not enough interest in the
"Rove" thing at
> this point to bother personally>
>

Ah so the powerline is "fair & balanced" & not at all unbiased?

Chuckle.


Adam

> "Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
> news:42d9c485{at}w3.nls.net...
>
>>http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5509192.html
>>
>>A SECRET KNOWN, A COVER BLOWN
>>
>>Larry C. Johnson
>>
>>July 17, 2005
>>
>>The misinformation being spread in the media about the Plame affair is
>>alarming and damaging to the long-term 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.
>>
>>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.
>>
>>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 the black passport was a
>>get-out-of-jail-free card.
>>
>>A few of my classmates, and Plame was one of these, became a non-official
>>cover (NOC) 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, Rep. Peter King and P.J.
>>O'Rourke insist that Plame was nothing, just a desk jockey. Yet, until
>>Novak betrayed her, she was still undercover and the company that was her
>>front was still a secret to the world. When Novak outed her 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 publicly
>>identified a CIA NOC. They have set a precedent 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 Wilson 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 1,800
>>American soldiers and the mutilation of 12,000. 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 Wilson in
>>the worst possible light, this fact emerges on page 52 of the report:
>>According to the U.S. ambassador to Niger (who was commenting on Wilson'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."
>>
>>The Republicans insist on the lie that Plame got her husband the job. She
>>did not. She was not a division director; instead she was the equivalent
>>of an Army major. Yes, she recommended her husband to do the job that
>>needed to be done, but the decision to send Wilson on this mission was
>>made by her bosses.
>>
>>At the end of the day, 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.
>>
>>
>
>
>

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