The Most Insidious of Traitors . . .

Some quotes of note:

“I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors.
- George H.W. Bush, the current President’s father in 1999

“The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein has recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.”
- President George W. Bush, January 28, 2003

“I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. . .America's foreign policy depends on the sanctity of its information. For this reason, questioning the selective use of intelligence to justify the war in Iraq is neither idle sniping nor "revisionist history," as Mr. Bush has suggested”
-Joseph Wilson, former ambassador, July 6, 2003

“That's where Joe Wilson came in. His first public notice had come in 1991 after 15 years as a Foreign Service officer when, as U.S. charge in Baghdad, he risked his life to shelter in the embassy some 800 Americans from Saddam Hussein's wrath. My partner Rowland Evans reported from the Iraqi capital in our column that Wilson showed "the stuff of heroism." President George H.W. Bush the next year named him ambassador to Gabon. . .”
- Robert Novak, July 14, 2003

“Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report.”
- Robert Novak, July 14, 2003

“Not only do you put her at risk, or any undercover agent at risk, by letting it be known that they are an agent, but you also put the sources they have worked with over the years at considerable risk.”
- Colin Powell, 9/30/03

"I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me they are not involved in this"
- White House spokesman Scott McClelland, Fall, 2003 referring to Karl Rove & “Scooter” Libby and their role in the Valerie Plame affair

“Karl Rove had no involvement in the leak of Plame’s identity and whoever did leak the information should and would be fired.”
- President George W. Bush (Twice!)

“The idea that Karl Rove or anyone in the White House would leak the indentity of a CIA operative to the media is ridiculous!”
- White House spokesperson Scott McClelland, 2003

“ I have checked directly with Rove, Libby and National Security Council official Elliot Abrams, and none were involved in the leak.”
- White House spokesperson Scott McClelland, 2003

“Libby and Rove were among the unidentified government officials who provided information for the Time story, there may have been other officials who were sources.”
- New York Times reporter Matthew Cooper

"Was it through my conversation with Rove that I learned for the first time that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and may have been responsible for sending him? Yes. Did Rove say that she worked at the `agency' on `WMD'? Yes.”
- New York Times reporter Matthew Cooper

“I’ve already said too much.”
- Karl Rove to reporter Matthew Cooper

“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."
- Columnist Robert Novak, Fall of 2003

“Democrat partisans are engaged in a smear campaign . . .”
- Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman

"The Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society,"
- New York Times editor Pearlstine