Conservative Voice Reports Intelligence Officers Testify Bush Admin has Made Job of Protecting Nation More Difficult For CIA and Other Intel Agencies

Conservative Voice a Conservative News Source reports that a number of former U.S. intelligence officers who had risked their lives in the service of our country criticized President Bush’s Administration for making their jobs harder if not impossible. They testified before members of Congress that because CIA operatives (not just Valerie Plame Wilson, but all the CIA operatives who worked at the company she worked for which was a “CIA front” to keep Weapons of Mass Destruction out of the hands of Terrorists and enemy nations) were exposed and all their contacts in other countries were exposed because they had talked to our operatives outed when Valerie Plame Wilson was outed. The former US Inel officers testified that now it is nearly impossible to get contacts in other countries to confide in them. These contacts now fear that the Bush Administration might out the agent they have spoken too thereby endangering their lives. These Americans who risked their lives by serving in the Intelligence Service are amazed that the American People aren’t demanding the Bush Administration discipline those who spoke to reporters about Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity as a CIA operative.

"I wouldn't be here this morning if President Bush had done the one thing required of him as commander in chief – protect and defend the Constitution," said Larry Johnson, a former CIA analyst and registered Republican.

Patrick Lang, a retired Army colonel and defense intelligence officer, said Bush's silence on the issue sends a bad signal to foreigners who might be thinking of cooperating with the U.S. on intelligence matters.

"This says to them that if you decide to cooperate, someone will give you up, so you don't do it," Lang said. "They are not going to trust you in any way."

Johnson, a registered Republican, said he wished a GOP lawmaker would have the courage to stand up and "call the ugly dog the ugly dog."

"Where are these men and women with any integrity to speak out against this?" Johnson asked. "I expect better behavior out of my fellow Republicans."

"What has suffered irreversible damage is the credibility of our case officers when they try to convince an overseas contact that their safety is of primary importance to us," Jim Marcinkowski, a former CIA case officer, said.

He also criticized Republican efforts to minimize the damage caused by the leak.

"Each time the political machine made up of prime-time patriots and partisan ninnies display their ignorance by deriding Valerie Plame as a mere paper pusher or belittling the varying degrees of cover used to protect our officers or continuing to play partisan politics with our national security, it's a disservice to this country," he added.

Republicans have refused to condemn the outing of Mrs. Wilson and the other CIA agents she worked with. Instead they have called for the Democratic Party to apologize for condemning it.

Timeline:

July 6, 2003: Joe Wilson's column, "What I Didn't Find in Africa," is published in The New York Times. In it he concludes, "some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

July 7, 2003: President Bush is onboard Air Force One along with a top-secret briefing book containing a memo prepared by the State Department identifying Valerie Wilson as a CIA officer and as the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson.

Sometime between July 7, 2003 and July 14, 2003: Rove and at least one other Senior Bush Administration Official talk to Columnist Robert Novak about Wilson’s wife being a CIA operative.

July 11, 2003: According to Time reporter Matthew Cooper, Karl Rove told him, "I've already said too much" after revealing that the wife of administration critic Joseph Wilson apparently worked at the CIA.

July 14, 2003: Robert Novak reveals that Wilson's wife is a CIA operative, attributes "two senior administration officials."

July 22, 2003: At a White House news briefing, McClellan, when asked about the administration leaking Plame's name, states: "That is not the way this president or this White House operates."

Really?

Joe