Plame/Rove quotes

Some of the denials and other comments made by White House spokesman Scott McClellan when asked by reporters whether President Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, was involved in the leak of a CIA officer's identity:

Sept. 29, 2003
Q: You said this morning, quote, "The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved." How does he know that?
A: Well, I've made it very clear that it was a ridiculous suggestion in the first place. ... I've said that it's not true. ... And I have spoken with Karl Rove.
Q: It doesn't take much for the president to ask a senior official working for him, to just lay the question out for a few people and end this controversy today.
A: Do you have specific information to bring to our attention? ... Are we supposed to chase down every anonymous report in the newspaper? We'd spend all our time doing that."
Q: When you talked to Mr. Rove, did you discuss, "Did you ever have this information?"
A: I've made it very clear, he was not involved, that there's no truth to the suggestion that he was.___

Oct. 7, 2003
Q: You have said that you personally went to Scooter Libby (Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff), Karl Rove and Elliott Abrams (National Security Council official) to ask them if they were the leakers. Is that what happened? Why did you do that? And can you describe the conversations you had with them? What was the question you asked?A: Unfortunately, in Washington, D.C., at a time like this there are a lot of rumors and innuendo. There are unsubstantiated accusations that are made. And that's exactly what happened in the case of these three individuals. They are good individuals. They are important members of our White House team. And that's why I spoke with them, so that I could come back to you and say that they were not involved. I had no doubt with that in the beginning, but I like to check my information to make sure it's accurate before I report back to you, and that's exactly what I did.___

Oct. 10, 2003Q: Earlier this week you told us that neither Karl Rove, Elliot Abrams nor Lewis Libby disclosed any classified information with regard to the leak. I wondered if you could tell us more specifically whether any of them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA?
A: I spoke with those individuals, as I pointed out, and those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands.Q: So none of them told any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA?A: They assured me that they were not involved in this.
Q: They were not involved in what?
A: The leaking of classified information. ___

July 11, 2005: Q: Do you want to retract your statement that Rove, Karl Rove, was not involved in the Valerie Plame expose?
A: I appreciate the question. This is an ongoing investigation at this point. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the investigation, and as part of cooperating fully with the investigation, that means we're not going to be commenting on it while it is ongoing.
Q: But Rove has apparently commented, through his lawyer, that he was definitely involved.
A: You're asking me to comment on an ongoing investigation.
Q: I'm saying, why did you stand there and say he was not involved?
A: Again, while there is an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to be commenting on it nor is ... .
Q: Any remorse?
A: Nor is the White House, because the president wanted us to cooperate fully with the investigation, and that's what we're doing.

David Corn talks about Rove/Plame

Link

G8 police accused of hiding identities

A NUMBER of police concealed their identities during the G8 summit, perhaps to prevent complaints about their behaviour, a Scottish Socialist MSP claimed yesterday.The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpos) said 21 complaints had been made over the conduct of police officers so far.However, Colin Fox, SSP national convener, has written to Cathy Jamieson, justice minister, complaining that other protesters trying to lodge official complaints about the actions of officers had been refused because they did not have the officers' numbers.He said: "The conduct of the police must be examined, in particular the role of forces that came from outside Scotland who appeared to act in a completely uncontrolled manner on a number of occasions.

read the rest at the Herald

Report: Britain plans to withdraw most troops from Iraq within nine months

Britain and the U.S. are trying to build a new strategy to exit Iraq that could see British troops leaving the country by Christmas, a newspaper reported citing a government memo written by the defence secretary.
The Mail on Sunday reported that British Defence Secretary John Reid drafted a secret paper for Prime Minister Tony Blair outlining how most of the country's 8,500 troops could be sent home from Iraq within three months, with the rest by the end of the year.

History can be used and abused

Times change and memories play tricks: thus references to the spirit of the Blitz apropos Londoners' stoical response to last week's bombings were far-fetched, a comforting but false parallel between terrorism and the total war against fascism that ended in 1945.

Nostalgia about Dad's Army, Dunkirk or The Few is harmless, but of no relevance when commuters are killed and maimed by jihadist fanatics. Today's enemies are more elusive than V2 rockets or Panzer divisions; fighting them is far harder, defeating them completely probably impossible - whatever happens in future in Iraq, Palestine or Saudi Arabia. It's difficult to imagine that decades hence a million poppies will be strewn over the Mall - as they were yesterday in the culmination of Britain's second world war anniversary tributes - to commemorate final victory over Bin Laden and al-Qaida.

Guardian

Top officer relieved of duties at Cuba base

The commanding officer of the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was relieved of his duties yesterday, after he was accused of inappropriate management practices, officials said.

The officer, Captain Leslie J. McCoy, who had commanded Guantanamo since March 2003, was the subject of an investigation into inappropriate personnel and administrative practices unrelated to the base's detention camp for suspected terrorists.

The Zarqawi Phenomenon

Commentary: Seeking clues to the man who's everywhere at once in Iraq, committing every sort of mayhem.
By Dahr Jamail

Boy President in a Failed World?

Commentary: How the president's fantasy version of the world is driving events (and us) in unnerving directions.
By Tom Engelhardt

Rove Was Involved

Top presidential adviser Karl Rove was the anonymous source who released a Time reporter from his promise of confidentiality, allowing the journalist to avoid jail, Newsweek says.
In a story published today, Newsweek reveals more details about the celebrated case stemming from the leak of an undercover CIA agent's name in 2003.
The publication of Valerie Plame's name by Chicago Sun-Times syndicated columnist Robert Novak set off an investigation because it's a crime to knowingly identify an undercover CIA official.

Prosecutors trying to find who leaked Plame's name wound up issuing a subpoena to Time reporter Matthew Cooper. He also was working on a story involving Plame in 2003 and wound up facing jail because he wouldn't reveal his secret source.
At the 11th hour last week, Cooper got permission to talk from his source -- identified by Newsweek as Rove.
The magazine said Rove's lawyer confirmed that he gave Cooper the OK to testify before a grand jury.
Newsweek quoted an e-mail from the reporter to his boss that showed Rove had discussed Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former ambassador, with Cooper.
It was Wilson who went on a CIA-sponsored trip to Africa to learn about Iraq's alleged attempts to buy uranium there.
He subsequently criticized the Bush administration on the Iraq war, a move that critics think led the administration to leak his wife's name as punishment.
Newsweek says that while the e-mail shows that Rove talked to Cooper about the couple, the e-mail doesn't suggest that Rove revealed Plame's name or CIA status.
The Newsweek article quotes Cooper's e-mail as saying, "it was, KR said, Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on wmd [weapons of mass destruction] issues who authorized the trip."
From Newsweek