Mark Phillips: The American Question
7/14/03: Their patriotism and ours.
Right-wing ideologue Robert Novak today committed what can arguably be labelled
"treason" in his townhall.com
column.
He revealed the identity of a covert CIA operative.
Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on
weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife
suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA says its
counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.
"I will not answer any question about my wife," Wilson told me.
[July 22, 2003:
Newsday
confirmed Novak's outing:
Intelligence officials confirmed to Newsday yesterday that Valerie Plame, wife of retired
Ambassador Joseph Wilson, works at the agency on weapons of mass destruction issues in an
undercover capacity - at least she was undercover until last week when she was named by
columnist Robert Novak.
Wilson, while refusing to confirm his wife's employment, said the release to the press of
her relationship to him and even her maiden name was an attempt to intimidate others like him
from talking about Bush administration intelligence failures.
"It's a shot across the bow to these people, that if you talk we'll take your
family and drag them through the mud as well," he said in an interview.]
Will Novak be prosecuted? No. His action isn't criminal, although that of his informants is.
Will his patriotism be questioned? Probably not. Certainly not by those on the right who
benefit from his services.
Why not?
Because right-wing affirmations of
patriotism
are insincere and manipulative.
If the Arms-to-Iran scandal during Reagan's tenure somehow failed to make that truth abundantly
clear, Novak has just underscored it.
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