I'm puzzled. Rove said that Armitage was the one who "used her name." But didn't Novak look it up in Who's Who?
Aha. I see you subscribe to the immaculate leak theory of Plameogenesis.
It's true that Novak started making that claim after the investigation began, but a couple of months earlier he told some reporters from Newsday, "I didn't dig it out; it was given to me. They thought it was significant, they gave me the name, and I used it."
They?
The "two senior administration officials" who were the sources for his original column.
And who were they again?
Armitage and Rove.
But how did Armitage and Rove know about Valerie?
Well, Armitage first heard about the Wilson affair from Marc Grossman, an Undersecretary of State. I'm not sure who told Rove.
And how did Mr. Grossman know?
Marc learned the details from a Mr. Ford and a Mr. Kansteiner, who were a couple of other State Department employees whose business it was to know those kinds of things. On May 29, 2003, Grossman sent them an email asking about Wilson's trip to Niger.
Why was Mr. Grossman interested in that?
Because, earlier that day, Scooter Libby had asked him about it. Very urgently.
Why was Scooter in such a hurry?
Because Cheney was very, very angry.
Cheney? Angry? No!
It was because of the Kristof article. NY Times, May 6, 2003. Mr. Kristof used Wilson's trip to Africa as evidence that Cheney had manipulated intelligence to bamboozle the country into invading Iraq.
But if Cheney hadn't done that, why would he get so mad? Why not just ignore his critics like he ususally does?
Well, the forged documents were pretty embarrassing.
You mean we went to war based on forged documents?!? Who forged them? Wasn't there an investigation?
Oh, the FBI got right on the case. After a two-year inquest, they concluded that it was a moneymaking operation. But somehow, they never interviewed the prime suspect. A couple of months later, there was a report that they'd reopened the investigation, but that was a year and a half ago, and there've been no new developments since. I think everybody's pretty much forgotten about it. You know how we're always moving on from one new reality to the next.
Well I, for one, am eager to learn the outcome. It's so mysterious and exciting--forgeries, black ops, wars-- where will it all end? Go FBI! You can do it!!!
