On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Gautam Mukunda <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote,
I would also point out that half of Washington has known Valerie
Plame was a CIA agent for years, ...
This may be true, although I have heard specific rebuttals to this
claim. I hope you are wrong, because if it is true, then the US is in
worse shape than previously thought. The punishment for whomever made
the most recent disclosure will have to be tougher, in order to
discourage `ordinary' traitors.
Suppose that Valerie Plame was an undercover agent gathering
information about Pakistani nuclear weapons development in the late
1980s. (We know she was spying on countries involved with weapons of
mass destruction; I do not know which countries.)
When Valerie Plame's identity as an undercover agent became known,
pro-Talaban members of the Pakistani counter-intelligence agency will
have tracked all the people with whom she had contact. If some of
them were suspected of having provided her with information, then the
agency is likely to have tried to turn them.
One technique is to torture a child to death as a warning and
inducement. Even if the agent does not care about his child, he is
likely to fear his own torture. And even if an agent is not working
with Valerie Plame, he must consider that if he works with any other
US spy, that spy's identity may be revealed and he discovered. (Or she
discovered.)
If Valerie Plame's identity was disclosed a long time ago, then US
spying has been weakened for longer.
Clearly, no one in the US wants to be a target of a radiological,
nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon. People who disclose the
identity of undercover US spies are dangerous. As former US President
George H. W. Bush said, such people are "the most insidious of
traitors."
If you are right, and traitors betrayed the US a long time ago, then a
powerful way to stop future betrayals is to send a high ranking
administration official to prison for a long time -- the point being
that influence and position are no help. The laws will be enforced.
Novak claims he was told Valerie Plame's identity by an
`administration official'. (He may even have said a `senior
administration official'; I cannot remember for sure.) Perhaps Novak
is lying. I do not know. In any event, the first step is for the
Administration to conduct a vigorous and well publicized search for
traitors, starting at the top.
Only if you are wrong could some claim that a quiet investigation is
warranted; and I do not think so. Not in war.
Valerie Plame was trying to guard you and John (as people living in
prime target areas) and other Americans, and people outside the US.
No one she or someone like her might recruit should ever fear that he
or she, or his or her family, might suffer because of a failure of
tradecraft on the American side.
No one should be discouraged from helping save lives.
--
Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises
http://www.rattlesnake.com GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8
http://www.teak.cc [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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