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PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton?

Arianna says PlameGate may be inching closer to John Bolton.

According to two sources, Bolton's former chief of staff, Fred Fleitz, was at least one of the sources of the classified information about Valerie Plame that flowed through the Bush administration and eventually made its way into Bob Novak's now infamous column.

....So what does this all mean to the ongoing Plamegate investigation? Well, another source close to Bolton recently described his management style to me as "Very hands on. Nothing goes by him. His staff does what he wants. He's not the kind of guy to have his staffers freelancing." So, if Fleitz was a key source of the Plame info and Bolton is not the kind of guy to have his staffers freelancing… does this mean Bolton was being less than forthcoming when he told people, in the words of my source, that "the first time he ever heard Valerie Plame's name was when he read it in the newspaper"? Or was he merely sharing talking points with Tim Russert?

Arianna connects the dots. Also, Bolton was a regular source for Judith Miller.

And then there's David Wurmser. Joseph Wilson wrote in his book:

... senior advisers close to the president may well have been clever enough to have used others to do the actual leaking, in order to keep their fingerprints off the crime. John Hannah and David Wurmser, mid-level political appointees in the vice president's office, have both been suggested as sources of the leaks. I don't know either, though at the time of the leak, Wurmser, a prominent neoconservative, was working as a special assistant to John Bolton at the State Department. Mid-level officials, however, do not leak information without authority from a higher level. They would have been instruments, not the makers, of decisions.

Arianna presents some of the unanswered questions:

...here is what we don't know: we don't know the pathway through which Plame's identity got into Novak's column. Did Miller learn about Plame from her old chum Bolton? Did she pass that info on to Libby? Or had Bolton already told Libby? And Rove? Or was it all just passed around and around in a cozy game of neocon phone tag? It makes one wonder more than ever before what Bolton and Miller talked about when he visited her in jail.

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  • Display: Sort:
    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#1)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:07 PM EST
    Miller and her pal Bolton both know about Plame from the field. Rove may have initiated the smear/crime, after the Kristof May 6 op ed implicating that Wilson was squawking, although it could have been Bolton who came up with the idea as the two were competing for the 'most nefarious deed' prize. Feith and Leeden most likely forged the Niger memos about Saddam and Yellowcake from stationary and seals stolen from the Niger embassy in Jan 2001 break-in. Miller et. al was in on it from the start and lied on the front pages of the NYT because her neocon fever. The plan was for Sen. Roberts to make a memo and leak it twice so that Miller could leak to Libby and plead protecting an anonymous source or take the fifth if necessary. They were all up to their neck in fixing the cause to war for Iraq, as part of their neocon agenda dominate the world in the 21 century. PNAC

    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#2)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:08 PM EST
    Here is a picture of Millers steadfast defender, they both came on to the Times together in the late 70'. He from the NYT royal stock and She from Fort Lee mob club owner. Looks like they would make a dashing couple. Wonder how much he knew/knows. They have been very close over the years... Pinch and Judy. pic via atrios

    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    I wonder when TL will notice that people in Senator Schumer's office illegally gained access to the credit reports for Michael Steele, the LG for Maryland? Oh, wait - one of the people involved (Katie Marge) worked for Media Matters before she went to work for Schumer, so I think I understand now - Identity Theft isn't Identity Theft if one of the "good guys" does it in pursuit of a "higher good". Never mind, I've answered my own question.

    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    That should be Katie Barge above, typo...

    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:11 PM EST
    Why do you people assume that Val and Mr. Wilson have no agenda? Do you know Mrs. Plame's (Wilson) background? This whole debacle is, in reality, !NOTHING! and is the true example of compassionate conservatism applied with todays society. All of these curveball synops are just crazy, and hurtful. A Mr. Hank Rollins says it best in his final song on that ol' classic album or yore, 'Get Some Go Again', with 'Money Train'. I'll let the facts speak for themselves... was that outloud?

    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#6)
    by squeaky on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:13 PM EST
    JptR-Of course "Val and Mr. Wilson" had an agenda. It was to bring some accountability to the flagrant lies being perpetuated by our lovely warmongering neocon admin. Plame was CIA and many on the left believe she and others should be outed. Their part of this story is far from what is important here. That the WH deceived the American people in order to meet their neocon objective of taking over Iraq is the whole enchilada. If you believe that is "!Nothing!" you are truly a lost soul.

    Re: PlameGate: Moving Towards John Bolton? (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:14 PM EST
    Dear Mr. Sqeaky, I know for a fact of Val's background. I also know that she and Mr. Wilson were given a 'gold card' regarding the War, and thusly chose to play monopoly. All this chatter does have it's doable outcome, but c'mon Squeaks, do ya think it's going to ever be black and white regarding human intelligence? The fact that you even targeted me for repor shows you cannot dicipher the facts from the fiction and are easily swept away....