What the 10/17/2003 WSJ Niger Memo Leak Tells Us

mkt

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Tuesday July 19, 2005 · 1:42 PM PDT

2005/07/19 · 13:42

It is fascinating to note the facts that are omitted from David Cloud's October 17, 2003 Wall Street Journal article that described the memo detailing the CIA meeting planning Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger:

(1) The date of the memo is omitted. Omission of the date leads readers to assume that the memo was contemporaneous with the February 2002 CIA meeting. Including the actual June 10, 2003 date of the memo would immediately call into question the purpose of the document and the circumstances under which it was prepared.
(2) The memo is described as being prepared by "U.S. Intelligence personnel". It omits the fact that the document was prepared by State Department personnel. This omission cloaks the executive branch's involvement.
(3) The fact that the document was designated as sensitive and not to be shared is also omitted. As a result, the fact that any reader of memo would know the contents were classified is obscured. In addition, it hides the fact that releasing the contents of the memo for the subject article may itself be another illegal leak of classified information.

(4) The sources will not reveal how Valerie Plame Wilson is identified in the memo:

Other officials with knowledge of the memo wouldn't say if it mentions Ms. Plame by name as the one who suggested Mr. Wilson, or if her identity is shielded but obvious because of what is known now about the mission. Operations officers like Ms. Plame are sometimes identified only by their first names even in interagency meetings.

(5) Cloud refers to his sources as "two people familiar with the memo", "current and former officials familiar with the memo" and "other officials with knowledge of the memo". He omits mentioning if the officials are senior or what part of the government they represent.

The Wall Street Journal article was written at the start of the official Justice Department inquiry. The extremely important details omitted from the description of the memo are all inconvenient facts for the Bush administration. The omissions suggest that the sources were probably administration officials who wished to revive the campaign to discredit Joseph Wilson. Were they the same sources that were at work during the week beginning July 6, 2003?

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