Karl Rove lashes out at NYT for identifying CIA agent

Sometimes, the irony is so overwhelming, I have to wonder if it’s some kind of satirical performance art, and I’m just not in on the joke. Consider this fascinating exchange between Bill O’Reilly and Karl Rove on Fox News last night:

For those who can’t watch video clips online, O’Reilly, referencing an NYT article published over the weekend, said that the Times had “outed a CIA agent,” which “obviously puts the CIA agent in danger.” Rove accused the paper of maintaining a “double standard. It is deeply concerned when Richard Armitage outed Valerie Plame. Of course, they were only concerned until the point that it became apparent that it was Richard Armitage, not Karl Rove.” Rove added that the NYT has “a very callous view about our nation’s security and interests,” and has “put our country at risk.”

There are two key angles to this. First, the NYT article did, in fact, identify the CIA interrogator who questioned Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The article characterizes him as one of the good guys, gaining information through non-abusive means. Indeed, the interrogator, who refused training on how to waterboard a detainee, established a rapport with the terrorist — which “astonished his fellow C.I.A. officers” — by talking and bringing KSM food. The article, in other words, wasn’t a slam job.

So why include his name? It was a judgment call, but the Times explained that the interrogator “had never worked under cover and that others involved in the campaign against Al Qaeda have been named in news stories and books. The editors judged that the name was necessary for the credibility and completeness of the article.” Whether one finds this responsible or not is open to debate.

But for Karl Rove to have the chutzpah to lambaste the Times for this is extraordinary.



Indeed, as Rove has become a media personality — paid by Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek — he’s continued to argue that he wasn’t involved with leaking the identity of an undercover CIA agent.

TP’s Satyam offers a quick reminder:

* Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper said, “Karl Rove told me about Valerie Plame’s identity on July 11, 2003. I called him because Ambassador Wilson [Plame’s husband] was in the news that week. I didn’t know Ambassador Wilson even had a wife until I talked to Karl Rove.” * A week prior to publishing his column which outed Plame, Robert Novak spoke with Rove. Novak brought up Plame’s role at the CIA, and Rove confirmed that Plame worked at the CIA: “I heard that too,” said Rove.

The Times identified a CIA agent who wasn’t undercover in order to publish a credible and complete news story. Rove identified a CIA agent who was undercover in order to push back against her husband’s criticism of the White House. And then Rove lied about it.

Tell me again who has “a very callous view about our nation’s security and interests”?