10-19-2004, 03:51 PM
Ok, here's the act that the whole Wilson/Novak/Plame "scandal" is based on:
The Intelligence Protection Act, passed in 1982, imposes maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information.
According to my research, this act was passed after a rogue CIA operative leaked to the press the identity of an undercover operative in Greece, which lead to their exposure and murder by greek leftist terrorists. I can't find the name of the rogue CIA operative but I believe he was doing this in retaliation for him being canned by the CIA for previous actions and for monetary reasons as well. Incidentially, it seems that Wilson's wife was never a undercover operative, but she was a CIA expert/analyst on weapons of mass destruction. Technically, the Act could apply because she does consult with other governments as part of her government work. The whole thing to me seems to be a concerted effort by those on the left to make a big deal over what both sides of the political aisle routinely do, leak damaging information on each other and make them look like douchebags. Overlooked in all of this are two things; the documents that Wilson had were obvious fakes, which were given to him by the Nigerians (and consequently lead him to dismiss the allegations as fraudulent) and the documents the Italians had regarding the yellowcake allegations were genuine and not faked by the Nigerians looking for some sort of financial payoff.
Edit: ok now I even I'm confused about whether the yellowcake documents were forged or not, Novak's column refers to them as forged while Pincus refers to the ones Wilson had as forged and not the italian ones. I may have misspoken.
The Intelligence Protection Act, passed in 1982, imposes maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information.
According to my research, this act was passed after a rogue CIA operative leaked to the press the identity of an undercover operative in Greece, which lead to their exposure and murder by greek leftist terrorists. I can't find the name of the rogue CIA operative but I believe he was doing this in retaliation for him being canned by the CIA for previous actions and for monetary reasons as well. Incidentially, it seems that Wilson's wife was never a undercover operative, but she was a CIA expert/analyst on weapons of mass destruction. Technically, the Act could apply because she does consult with other governments as part of her government work. The whole thing to me seems to be a concerted effort by those on the left to make a big deal over what both sides of the political aisle routinely do, leak damaging information on each other and make them look like douchebags. Overlooked in all of this are two things; the documents that Wilson had were obvious fakes, which were given to him by the Nigerians (and consequently lead him to dismiss the allegations as fraudulent) and the documents the Italians had regarding the yellowcake allegations were genuine and not faked by the Nigerians looking for some sort of financial payoff.
Edit: ok now I even I'm confused about whether the yellowcake documents were forged or not, Novak's column refers to them as forged while Pincus refers to the ones Wilson had as forged and not the italian ones. I may have misspoken.
