The only thing that ever gave the Plame non-event any legs at all was the determination of the Left that Wilson/Plame were very very important, and that Cheney/Libby also thought they were very very important. If you take out one part of that equation, and admit that to Cheney/Libby the Wilson/Plame entity was insignificant, annoying but of no real importance, the whole thing falls apart.
Because the issue of Plame's CIA status is not an issue at all---at least it wasn't to Fitzgerald, who admitted that he never even looked into it. Her status was inflated, exaggerated, and dramatized by the Left to add weight to their RAGE! REVENGE! VENGEANCE! theory that depended so much on the famed crystal ball of the Dems, the one that lets them discern the true motives of others no matter what they say or do. Once they concocted this elaborate theory, certain elements became crucial.
One was that Wilson had to be elevated to a much higher status than he had ever had before. He had to become a heroic figure, a seasoned and respected diplomat chosen (based on his amazing achievements) for a vital quest, and he had to be brave and pure of heart, so he could stand up and reveal THE TRUTH.
When he was proved to me merely a mid-level aide with one shot at a high ranking position but that in a backwater like Niger, and had to be actually promoted for a nothing assignment by his wife (and then LIED in the NYT piece about what he actually did report back to the CIA after his trip) the spotlight had to be shifted from him to her, and suddenly SHE was the one who had to be recreated. Now she was a Bondian creature of the covert underworld, cruelly unmasked by a heartless villain for the most vile of reasons (SPITE! MALICE! REVENGE!) and of course she had to be put in danger by this fiend.
The Left became so enamored of this novella that it simply cannot handle what is probably the simple truth---that Wilson and Plame were merely gnatlike nuisances, worthy of a few minutes here and there of querying about who the hell was this blowhard mouthing off at the Times and who the hell sent him to Niger in the first place and how the hell did his WIFE ever have anything to say about it?
The only reason the White House cared at all was that Wilson tried to inflate his importance by implying that it was Cheney who had him sent to Niger, to check up on Bush---the snide hints of sneakiness and disloyalty in the White House were what prompted the questions in the first place. Otherwise it would have just been another goofy NYT article, with no facts at all.
But once Wilson drew attention to himself through his posturing, and once the press got on it and started to write stories about how Cheney had lost faith in Bush, was checking up on him, it was a given that someone would check into it enough to find out who Wilson was and how he REALLY ended up being sent on this mission---and what he really learned.
So, probably casually here and there, conversations were held---his WIFE got him sent? How did that happen? Oh, she works for the CIA? And is trying to move over into State? Well, that explains that. And the explanation was given, to those who were getting ready to print the Wilson version.
Novak found out the name of her "dummy" company by doing an internet search and finding that she listed it as her employer, under her own name. He then did an internet search on the company and found it did not even have a current phone number. Pretty "dummy" after all---I wonder if Plame was in charge of setting up that cover. It was done about as well as her other 'secret' stuff. He called the CIA to ask if she worked there, and was told "yes". Pretty covert.
She had been covert, once, abroad. Her cover there had been blown by Aldrich Ames, and she was returned to the US to work as an analyst. Surely anyone who wanted her to go undercover again would not have let her use her own name, not after she had been revealed once. But she was using her own name. Covert? If so, ineptly covert. Her husband talked freely about his "CIA wife". Covert? If so, very bad at it. She put herself in a position where her CIA involvement was likely to be looked into, when she pimped for Joe to get the job. Covert? Clumsy, at best. Joe made SURE her involvement would become known when he misrepresented Cheney's role in his assignment. Covert? Hard to be, with a buffoon like Joe helping you out.
But remember, her status was never an issue---or Fitzgerald would have found it important enough to at least ask about. No, it was all about how important Libby THOUGHT she was, and how much attention he paid to the passing conversations he had about her, over a period of time.
Libby says she was never high on his radar, not high enough to rate mental notes about what he learned and said, or when---she was a small blip, and not significant. The Left says BUT SHE WAS SIGNIFICANT SHE WAS VERY VERY SIGNIFCANT SHE WAS VICIMIZED SHE WAS DESTROYED HOW DARE YOU DISMISS HER AS A NOTHING WE LOVE HER WE KNOW SHE WAS IMPORTANT HE HAD TO THINK SO TOO WE KNOW HE PAID A LOT A LOT A LOT OF ATTENTION DON'T TRY TO CLAIM YOU DON'T REMEMBER YOU HAD TO REMEMBER etc etc etc And you have too much vested in your Plame Fantasy to ever admit it was all just that---a fantasy.
But you are right about one thing, dav----nobody knows "how many operatives were ruined by disclosing the name of the "dummy" CIA company she worked for..." .....because nobody knows if there were any at all. It is mere speculation, and moreover, speculation that serves only to continue to build Plame up into a far more important and significant figure than she ever was, so the delusion of RAGE! SPITE! REVENGE! can be continued.
Little people. Little story. Big fuss.
"That last bit is very important - and also illustrative of this whole, absurd little leftwing vendetta against the Bush Administration regarding Joe Wilson's proven lies about what he found in Niger."
-- leftwing vendetta mark? Last I checked, Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald was A REPUBLICAN, appointed to that position by A REPUBLICAN.
Blame the liberals, even though this is clearly a case of an actual honest Republican trying to clean up corruption in Washington.
But by all means, please continue to blame the liberals, I am sure there are a few left that will actually believe you.
You also believe that Tom Delay is also an innocent railroaded man. Clearly this is little more than blind partisan denials.
This could be the trial of the century, and if justice prevails, could change the way the drive-by media is viewed by all.
And I hope this doesn't result in a Rove indictment; I'm having a really fun pissing contest with a moonbat on another blog, over that recent rumor about Rove being indicted. The lefty blog that originally leaked the rumor has since had to do a retraction. Round one to keefer, but it's a long fight...
axis,
How much do you get for every post???
axis,
Your defending the left wing liberals doesn't change the fact that they have a vendetta against the Bush Administration, with the whole Wilson-Plame deal being only one small portion of it.
Why did we need this two year, multi-million dollar investigation and yet another special prosecutor for it? Where is all of the LibDims' outrage and calls for special investigations on the real issue -- the leaking of our Nation's security secrets? Where is all of the LibDims' outrage about providing our secrets to our real enemies -- the terrorists? Where is the LibDims' outrage at those in the NSA, CIA, and other government agencies who are the real threat to America's security? Where is the LibDims' outrage at the media who seek and publish our plans and secrets to our enemies?
NO -- No outrage there from the LibDims! That's freedom of the press! That's free speech!
Well, I think it's time to put some of your liberal spies and traitors in prison -- for life if possible!
Maybe they can run to Canada with the draft dodgers, and political refugees if they hurry!
Sign me up for the jury!
Oh, and if Rove is indicted, that just give him more time to work on the upcoming election!
AAR
LaMano,
Good question!
I have been wondering the same exact thing along with who is paying the bill.
Why else would a liberal left Canadian spend so much time and make so many posts to a conservative American blog?
There are so many other liberal blogs where they would really appreciate and enjoy his views. And, there are plenty of Canadian blogs too that could use his insight and help with their propaganda.
AAR
Axis,
Fitzgerald is a prosecutor - and one thing a prosector hates is to come up empty handed after a years-long investigation...so, he ginned up this bogus indictment to satisfy himself and, of course, in the hopes that something real will turn up before he actually has to take this dog of a case to trial.
"left wing vendetta" is the new "right wing conspiracy."
now you guys dont like special prosecutors cause they might find something on you . . . but for a blowjob, thats a different story!
I could have lived without the visuals of that last post, guess you can't get a civil conversation anywhere anymore.
Mark, AAR, La Mano---if Axis didn't post here you'd all be reduced to repeating Republican talking points incessantly among yourselves, and what fun would that be? You guys know you come here just to bait the liberals. Why don't you listen to someone who isn't blinded by bushlove, and still thinks our country should stand for something. I personally want to thank and support our good neighbor to the north. I find his posts a refreshing change from the right wing rants I normally read here.
AAR
You are exactly right. These traitors need to be imprisoned, hanged and then imprisoned again.
I am so sick of these libbies needing to expose every single crime or hypocracy of our government, as if Canada isn't some bastion of crime itself.
Oooh, we're torturing...we gotta tell al Queda and the American people about that! Phooey!
Look out, we're exposing (supposedly) covert agents...golly, that's horrible.
Axis, you couldn't be more an enemy of the state that if your last name was Zawahiri. You better not step on American soil or we'll show you how justice really works for your kind!
Amazing how you guys twist the facts. The same people who wanted to fry Clinton for lying to a grand jury, think perjury and obstruction of justice are no big deal here-no double standard there!
Valerie Plame was a covert CIA agent working on verifying WMD's in the Middle East-a position totally useless in the war on terror, I will admit. Fitzgerald stated in the indictment that revealing her identity jeopardized our national security, but as long as Bush & Cheney & co leaking information about our national security it doesn't mean anything.
What this says to me is that Cheney was so furious when Wilson spoiled the big WMD build-up by finding out that Iraq wasn't getting uranium from Niger, he started a smear campaign against him, which involved the illegal outing of a CIA agent. Any way you spin it, that is still a crime.
Cheney and Rove obviously think they are above the law; Libby is finding out that he's not. He'll have to wait for that pardon from Bush. And we still may get to see Rove's frog-march!
I hope this thing goes to trial. Really, I do!
Then as you have intimated, there will be a lot of egg on the faces of leftist Democrats. That rotten egg will hurt them in elections eventually.
Fitzgerald is a prosecutor - and one thing a prosector hates is to come up empty handed after a years-long investigation...so, he ginned up this bogus indictment to satisfy himself and, of course, in the hopes that something real will turn up before he actually has to take this dog of a case to trial.
-- Yeah, OK. LOL. A Republican Special prosecutor is going to indicte the 2 highest ranking white house officals ever to be indicted... because it will be seen as good for his career.
Face it Mark, you have your Republican blinders on and you are just simply unable to admit that there is widespread corruption and lawlessness in your party. You can't even admit to the possibility that Rove is guilty, or Libby is guilty or Delay is Guilty. Now, you also have the FBI looking into Dennis Hastert, Just as on the Republican side there is corruption in the democratic side of congress.
Fitzgerald has Rove and Libby by the short and curlies. He needs not prove that any outting happened, merely that they lied and obstructed the investigation. Rove spoke to the Grand Jury 5 times! This is virtually unheard of, the last time being him asking to speak to them.
He lied not once, not twice but three times, saying that he knew nothing and never spoke to any reporters.
Then they came forward and Rove changed his testimony and said they he did speak to reporters and has simply "forgot"
So, one way or another, he lied. You can't deny something happened, then admit to it and not be a liar.
Libby's is even more open and shut than Rove's is.
He's going away and nothing you nay sayers do is going to change that.
I am so sick of these libbies needing to expose every single crime or hypocracy of our government, as if Canada isn't some bastion of crime itself.
Oooh, we're torturing...we gotta tell al Queda and the American people about that! Phooey!
-- So you have absolutely no problem with government corruption, criminal activity and lawlessness. - Because its a republican doing it all. So Bush sets a prescedent and its ok and government is above the law and can do anything it wants, the next democratic president takes office and starts breaking laws and violating your rights. Somehow, for some reason, I just get a sneaky suspicion that you would NOT be ok with this. Call me crazy, but I smell the strench of hypocrisy
axis-your ignorance is overwhelming. Where to start:
Fitzgerald is not a Republican, he's at best independent, probably a Democrat. The Media pushed that at the beginning of the investigation and then backed out.
The highest White House officials ever indicted..not even close
Clinton had 2 Cabinet members indicted on the same day.
Carter had Hamilton Jordan under investigation
Nixon had Haldeman and Erlichman
Libby is not even on the President's staff for crying out loud and Rove is a political guy...not big fish.
The last time Rove did not ask to speak to the Grand Jury. It was understood by both Fitz and Rove's team that Rove would need to testify again to clarify information.
Rove forgot a 2 minute conversation that he did not initiate as he was leaving for vacation.
Libby is merely guilty of convoluted speech.
And as for Hassert, two, not one, two Dept of Justice people denied ABC's story. In fact, other media were laughing at Brian Ross.
kritter,
Do you have a security clearance? Have you ever had a security clearance? Have you every worked with classified information? Do you know the laws, policies, and regulations on classified information?
Do you know that President Bush and Vice President Cheney both have the legal authority to declassify classified information? Do you know that once they declassify the information, it is not against the law to discuss it or release it?
Can you give us a brief summary of your knowledge, experience, and expertise in dealing with classified information?
Do you have any idea what you are talking about or are you just spouting off and saying what you think sounds good?
Based on your comments, I think it is the latter. I don't think you have the slightest idea what you are talking about!
AAR
axis,
As we have discussed before, it doesn't take much evidence to get an indictment from a grand jury. The best that Fitzgerald has come up with so far is the charges against Libby which don't relate to the original allegations.
Libby has not been found guilty of anything. Even if Rove is indicted as you lefties want, he still must be found guilty.
By the way, in addition to having the power to declassify classified information, did you forget that President Bush has the authority to pardon. Surely you remember that from some of President Clinton's final actions. Considering all of the convicted criminals that Clinton pardoned, I certainly don't have a problem with pardoning Rove if it were to come to that. Besides, Rove has work to do, we don't want him in jail now, do we?
We've gone over these topics before. It isn't worth my time rehashing them again, because you will just post the same thing the next time you get a chance.
Back to torture again, huh? Looks like you still haven't done your homework and reading assignments. You still don't know what REAL torture is!
Regarding the release of classified information, I think "Conservative to the Core" made it quite clear, in easily understood words, that many of us have had it with the ongoing leaks of classified information. I want liberals and the media to clearly understand that they do not have the authority to release classified information. It's time we make an example of those who released it and possibly those who reported it even after they were asked not to do so in the interest of national security. If someone wants to release more classified information in the future, they need to know -- beyond any doubt -- that it will be the last thing they do outside of a prison cell!
And if one American citizen is killed or one American city destroyed because of those leaks, then I think the death penalty applies.
AAR
Oh, I love it, I love it.
I love seeing you conservatives desperately clutching to any little obscure right wing editorial that gives you hope.
Just like a horde of rats on a sinking ship. The good ship GOP is going down to davy jones locker.
I think I am becoming addicted to GOP misfortune. Every week, its a new scandal, relevation and evidence of corruption in the white house and in congress.
Its better than reality tv, wondering whos going to get busted or indicted next.
And every day, people all across America are picking up their morning newspapers and seeing more and more clear reason why they need to clean all of you out in November. Libby, Delay, Rove, Cunningham, Abramoff, Hastert, every week another one bites the dust.
The beauty of it really is that the Democrats don't need to spend a dime on campaigns until late summer, you Republicans are doing it all for us.
Keep up the good work!
Do you know that President Bush and Vice President Cheney both have the legal authority to declassify classified information? Do you know that once they declassify the information, it is not against the law to discuss it or release it?
-- Yeah, but too bad that they officially declassified it a week and a half AFTER they leaked it to the reporters. Mclellan was asked when it was declassified and he told reporters "Today", which was long after it had been leaked.
So, it was still classified when they leaked it. You can't put the shit back in the horse, as much as you would like to believe that you can.
The VP needs authorization to declassify from the president, none the less, it was still a crime to leak still classified information. I believe they call that TREASON.
Axis and kritter, you both accuse us of using talking points, and you both use nothing but. Libby is under indictment for lying about a crime that never occurred, because Val Plame wasn't covert. But hey, it's a free country, believe what you want to believe.
Axis of stupidity, why don't you take a little more care when you write? Misspellings and typos are somewhat excusable, but you write at a third-grade level. Take some writing classes, girlfriend.
kritter? What a stupid name. 'Nuff said...
Libby is under indictment for lying about a crime that never occurred, because Val Plame wasn't covert. But hey, it's a free country, believe what you want to believe.
-- You don't seem to get it. Weather or not Plame was outted is totally moot. Does not matter if a crime was committed or not, he lied about it. He obstructed the investigation. Why would he LIE if a crime was not committed? Thats a self defeating agruement there keefer.
All Fitz needs to prove to send Libby to the slammer for a stint is to show he lied. Libby knows he is hooped, which is why he is trying to pull out all the stops to muddle the reason he was indicted.
More petty insults keefer, that just shows that you have nothing more intelligent to say. Must be hard to have a "third grader" making points that you are unable to refute with any rightwing BS
axis,
I see nothing in your latest posts that warrants a reply!
The more I read your piles of rhetoric and left wing liberal propaganda, the more conservative I become.
Your posts do accomplish one thing, however, they show how really dangerous the liberal ideology, philosophy, and agenda are to America. Liberals will ultimately destroy America if they aren't stopped. Hopefully you and those like you will incite others to join conservatives to defeat your ideology. Karl may even appreciate your help!
Are there any good conservative blogs that don't allow liberals like you to post? I really should spend less time on a lost liberal cause like yours and more time trying to motivate, energize, ignite, and incite other conservatives.
AAR
I see nothing in your latest posts that warrants a reply!
-- Funny how selective your hearing and eyesight becomes when presented with a question or arguement that you cannot possibly answer without making yourselves look like total frauds.
Liberals will ultimately destroy America if they aren't stopped.
-- We won't get the chance to see, you corrupt republicans are trying to destroy it long before we get a chance to. Republicans are turning America into a bankrupt police state.
Not to worry though, voters are tired of all this crap and corruption, deception lies, and warmongering and will toss you conservatives to the back bench for a decade while a responsible democrat will come in and fix the mess you made.
Americans have come alive in 2005 and they are preparing for the fix in 2006, beginning by tossing you out on your ass in Washington. Then we will provide proper oversight on the White house lawlessness and get the investigations started and if its warranted, impeach the decider and dead eye dick and send them back home to Texas to milk his cows and then you will have President Polosi in fixing all your boo boos
Mainstream America isn't up on the Republican dream of turning America into a clone of Mexico, where you have a ruling elite that are filty rich and then all the rest are dirt poor.
Tick...Tock...Tick...Tock November is coming...
Axis,
Actually, Fitzgerald has just accused Libby of lying about it - an accusation is not a conviction: you haven't the first clue whether or not Libby lied or not...but you on the left, little Leninists to a man, have already convicted him...
axis,
Their is no point continuing this discussion with you. It serves no useful purpose except to provide you with yet another opportunity to repeat your same comments -- reworded and rephrased -- but still the same comments repeated over and over in hopes that some non-thinking person will stumble across them and accept them as facts. You have nothing to say that I haven't heard you say time and time again. I have absolutely no use for any of your views, and I see nothing of value in them. I might as well go talk to a pet parrot. At least the parrot would have some common sense, and it would entertaining to boot!
AAR
Actually, Fitzgerald has just accused Libby of lying about it - an accusation is not a conviction: you haven't the first clue whether or not Libby lied or not...but you on the left, little Leninists to a man, have already convicted him...
-- Yes, of course, do you honestly believe that I don't know this? The point is that the burden of proof of lying and obstruction of justice is MUCH easier to prove and convict than trying to get past all the lying and roadblocks and classified secrets to prove he outted Plame.
This is just like the Capone conviction. They could not get him for most things, so they nailed him for tax evasion. Fitz will do the same to Rove. This silence is not good news for Rove at all, if the indictment was not coming, he would have been cleared by now.
I see that Cheney is speculated to be called as a witness in the case, that should be interesting as it will be the first time that he will be sworn in. Wonder if he can resist the temptation to tell a few fibs.?
Myself, weather either is convicted or not is not the point, the point is removing him from the picture as he is a central part in the whole neo-con agenda.
Axis,
Yep, just a little Leninist....
Its just my inherant sense of right and wrong mark. I see criminal acts going on with impunity, corruption and lawlessness.
Speaking of corruption,
Heres a prediction, write it on a rock... I predict that on Bush's last day in office or sooner, he will pardon Ken Lay from Enron, thus sparing him from dying in prison ...
Um, I Forgot 7 People Talked of Spy - Libby
By James Gordon Meek
The New York Daily News
Friday 26 May 2006
Washington - Borrowing a defense used by tax evaders and schoolkids who don't do their homework, Vice President Cheney's indicted former top adviser told a grand jury he forgot that seven people told him about CIA spy Valerie Plame.
Lewis (Scooter) Libby is charged with lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about how he first learned of Plame's identity. Cheney, his boss, was among those who told Libby that an Iraq war critic's wife worked at the CIA, prosecutors allege.
But Libby said in his now-unsealed 2004 testimony that "it seemed to me" he heard about Plame "for the first time" from NBC broadcaster Tim Russert in July 2003.
Russert denies telling Libby that former Ambassador Joseph Wilson's wife was an undercover spy - a disclosure now at the center of a scandal rocking the White House.
On March 5, 2004, a prosecutor asked Libby if it was "fair" to say he knew Plame's CIA identity a month before Russert supposedly revealed it to him.
"I had forgotten it," Libby explained.
Solomon Wisenberg, a lawyer who probed the Monica Lewinsky scandal, said, "Barring some unusual mental condition, to make a claim like that is not likely going to fly."
Libby allegedly discussed Plame with six others besides Cheney in June 2003, including CIA briefer Craig Schmall.
But Libby's lawyers blame any "errors" in his testimony on "confusion, mistake or faulty memory."
In the case of Libby's chats with Cheney about Wilson - such as one after he spoke to Russert - he said, "When I had that conversation I had forgotten about the earlier conversations in which [Cheney] told me ... that the wife worked at the CIA."
"Fitzgerald is a prosecutor - and one thing a prosector hates is to come up empty handed after a years-long investigation...so, he ginned up this bogus indictment to satisfy himself and, of course, in the hopes that something real will turn up before he actually has to take this dog of a case to trial."
hmmm. sounds more like Ken Starr to me. Whatever happened to those Whitewater charges?? oh yea.
btw, thanks republicans for clearing the way in '98 for sitting administration officials to have to testify while still in office. If you hadn't needed that for your little impeachment episode, we couldn't get Cheney on the stand so easily! Thanks again!
btwII, she was covert, just not currently assigned. her last work had been on nukes on the black market. and who knows how many operatives were ruined by disclosing the name of the "dummy" CIA company she worked for. someone has been listening to Lying Limbaugh.
but hey, if it makes the Iraq policy look better, so what!
The only thing that ever gave the Plame non-event any legs at all was the determination of the Left that Wilson/Plame were very very important, and that Cheney/Libby also thought they were very very important. If you take out one part of that equation, and admit that to Cheney/Libby the Wilson/Plame entity was insignificant, annoying but of no real importance, the whole thing falls apart.
Because the issue of Plame's CIA status is not an issue at all---at least it wasn't to Fitzgerald, who admitted that he never even looked into it. Her status was inflated, exaggerated, and dramatized by the Left to add weight to their RAGE! REVENGE! VENGEANCE! theory that depended so much on the famed crystal ball of the Dems, the one that lets them discern the true motives of others no matter what they say or do. Once they concocted this elaborate theory, certain elements became crucial.
One was that Wilson had to be elevated to a much higher status than he had ever had before. He had to become a heroic figure, a seasoned and respected diplomat chosen (based on his amazing achievements) for a vital quest, and he had to be brave and pure of heart, so he could stand up and reveal THE TRUTH.
When he was proved to me merely a mid-level aide with one shot at a high ranking position but that in a backwater like Niger, and had to be actually promoted for a nothing assignment by his wife (and then LIED in the NYT piece about what he actually did report back to the CIA after his trip) the spotlight had to be shifted from him to her, and suddenly SHE was the one who had to be recreated. Now she was a Bondian creature of the covert underworld, cruelly unmasked by a heartless villain for the most vile of reasons (SPITE! MALICE! REVENGE!) and of course she had to be put in danger by this fiend.
The Left became so enamored of this novella that it simply cannot handle what is probably the simple truth---that Wilson and Plame were merely gnatlike nuisances, worthy of a few minutes here and there of querying about who the hell was this blowhard mouthing off at the Times and who the hell sent him to Niger in the first place and how the hell did his WIFE ever have anything to say about it?
The only reason the White House cared at all was that Wilson tried to inflate his importance by implying that it was Cheney who had him sent to Niger, to check up on Bush---the snide hints of sneakiness and disloyalty in the White House were what prompted the questions in the first place. Otherwise it would have just been another goofy NYT article, with no facts at all.
But once Wilson drew attention to himself through his posturing, and once the press got on it and started to write stories about how Cheney had lost faith in Bush, was checking up on him, it was a given that someone would check into it enough to find out who Wilson was and how he REALLY ended up being sent on this mission---and what he really learned.
So, probably casually here and there, conversations were held---his WIFE got him sent? How did that happen? Oh, she works for the CIA? And is trying to move over into State? Well, that explains that. And the explanation was given, to those who were getting ready to print the Wilson version.
Novak found out the name of her "dummy" company by doing an internet search and finding that she listed it as her employer, under her own name. He then did an internet search on the company and found it did not even have a current phone number. Pretty "dummy" after all---I wonder if Plame was in charge of setting up that cover. It was done about as well as her other 'secret' stuff. He called the CIA to ask if she worked there, and was told "yes". Pretty covert.
She had been covert, once, abroad. Her cover there had been blown by Aldrich Ames, and she was returned to the US to work as an analyst. Surely anyone who wanted her to go undercover again would not have let her use her own name, not after she had been revealed once. But she was using her own name. Covert? If so, ineptly covert. Her husband talked freely about his "CIA wife". Covert? If so, very bad at it. She put herself in a position where her CIA involvement was likely to be looked into, when she pimped for Joe to get the job. Covert? Clumsy, at best. Joe made SURE her involvement would become known when he misrepresented Cheney's role in his assignment. Covert? Hard to be, with a buffoon like Joe helping you out.
But remember, her status was never an issue---or Fitzgerald would have found it important enough to at least ask about. No, it was all about how important Libby THOUGHT she was, and how much attention he paid to the passing conversations he had about her, over a period of time.
Libby says she was never high on his radar, not high enough to rate mental notes about what he learned and said, or when---she was a small blip, and not significant. The Left says BUT SHE WAS SIGNIFICANT SHE WAS VERY VERY SIGNIFCANT SHE WAS VICIMIZED SHE WAS DESTROYED HOW DARE YOU DISMISS HER AS A NOTHING WE LOVE HER WE KNOW SHE WAS IMPORTANT HE HAD TO THINK SO TOO WE KNOW HE PAID A LOT A LOT A LOT OF ATTENTION DON'T TRY TO CLAIM YOU DON'T REMEMBER YOU HAD TO REMEMBER etc etc etc And you have too much vested in your Plame Fantasy to ever admit it was all just that---a fantasy.
But you are right about one thing, dav----nobody knows "how many operatives were ruined by disclosing the name of the "dummy" CIA company she worked for..." .....because nobody knows if there were any at all. It is mere speculation, and moreover, speculation that serves only to continue to build Plame up into a far more important and significant figure than she ever was, so the delusion of RAGE! SPITE! REVENGE! can be continued.
Little people. Little story. Big fuss.