US - Plame leaker revealed

by Newsweek.

Before we get to the story, you got to love this bit at the end by Newsweek.

"...thus remained that rarest of Washington phenomena: a hot secret that never leaked."

Now that's funny. The blogsphere has been reporting for years who the leaker was - Richard Armitage.

Remember, as you read this Newsweek article, this is the same Newsweek that ran a bogus story about US troops desecrating the Koran which resulted in Muslim riots around the world and killed several people. And it's the same Newsweek that boasted it could deliver 14 points to Kerry in the last election. It's also the same Newsweek that called President Bush a dictator.

The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case, underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.

Really? Here's what Newsweek says in the very next paragraph.

Armitage routinely returned from White House meetings shaking his head at the armchair warriors. "One day," says Powell's former chief of staff Larry Wilkerson, "we were walking into his office and Rich turned to me and said, 'Larry, these guys never heard a bullet go by their ears in anger ... None of them ever served. They're a bunch of jerks'."

Now what was that Newsweek was saying about "...critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent"? Newsweek being at the top of the list it would seem.

But officials at the White House also told reporters about Wilson's wife in an effort to discredit Wilson for his public attacks on Bush's handling of Iraq intelligence. Karl Rove confirmed to Novak that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and days later offered the same information to Time reporter Matt Cooper.

None of that is true and Newsweek knows it from the court documents filed by Fitzgerald. Karl Rove replied to a reporters assertion that she worked at the CIA by saying "I heard that too". Rove never "offered" anything to Cooper. It was Cooper who called Rove.

Notice also that Newsweek fails to report that the decalssified intelligence released by the White House proved the White House was telling the truth. Nor does Newsweek report that seperate independent investigations proved it was Wilson who was lying and his report actually backed up the administrations claims.

But heh, we are talking about Newsweek afterall.

UPDATE

More reactions here.