submandave

The greatest mystery for me in the whole "Plame affair" is that anyone of passing intelligence would cling to the latest "news" hoping to find a smoking gun revealing some secret. The major news organizations have finally publicly (though in many cases also quietly) abused themselves of the idea that anyone is going to jail, officially making this the most manufactured "scandal" since the war with The Duchy of Grand Fenwick. And for those wondering exactly what Valerie Plame’s status was when "outed" and how this came to pass, I’d wager a paycheck it all hinges on the following:

Valerie Plame is a poseur and a wanna-be.

I’ve never worked undercover, nor have I knowingly worked with anyone in that status, but I have worked with raw intelligence products and been acquainted with the results of collection activities. Working around the intelligence business you mostly find responsible, conscientious people who take their responsibilities seriously and don’t talk much about it to those without a need-to-know. You will also, however, occasionally run into someone who becomes intoxicated with the "I’ve got a secret" game and fancies himself or herself the embodiment of James Bond or the next Mata Hari. As a rule, people who are serious about their business do not, as reported in Vanity Fair, reveal their undercover status to a boyfriend during a "heavy make-out" session on the third or fourth date. This, to me, is as much the mark of a wanna-be as some long-haired looser wearing a camouflage jacket with fifty medals, a half-dozen warfare specialty badges and a beret hanging around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial telling blood and guts stories about "the 'Nam." I admit that I have no idea what she was doing while she was in an undercover status or where she was doing it, and maybe it really was some neat stuff, but based upon her actions I stand by my assessment that, for the most part, she is a wanna-be poseur.

And so is her husband. Regardless of any political motivation in his original Op-Ed the basic sense I get from almost everything he’s said on the matter is "look at me, listen to me, I’m so important they sent me to Niger." As another loudmouth that, for some unexplained reason, expects others to listen to him and take seriously his thoughts I am perhaps on shaky ground with this, but Joe Wilson not only pontificates outside any area of expertise but creates a fantasy in which the Vice President’s office hand-picks him for the mission. He is so full of himself, in fact, that he spouts off any tripe he feels like, not even caring if it contradicts his own written report or fails chronologically to mesh with reality. I would almost think in arranging his trip to Niger Joe Wilson used the same travel agency Sen. Kerry employed for his jaunt to Cambodia.

So here we find ourselves, with testimony about hearing the rumor of Wilson’s wife from this reporter, that reported, Karl Rove and just about anyone else in DC. I have no doubt that the person who originally outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative is no further away than her own mirror or the other side of the bed. I’ve known too many people who simply couldn’t keep their mouths shut, especially when it concerns themselves and stories of their exploits, to believe otherwise. For this information to have been "common knowledge" like it reportedly was means someone had to talk, and prior to Joe Wilson’s boondoggle there were only two people who stood to gain, in terms of gravitas, reputation or social standing, from such a revelation. And you don't have to take a secret trip to Niger to figure out who.