Joseph Wilson's wife

Was her name ever a secret? If so why did JOE have her maiden name listed on his website?

Let me venture a guess.

Joey and Valerie HATE G.W. Not too much of a stretch considering this quote

"Neo-conservatives and religious conservatives have hijacked this administration, and I consider myself on a personal mission to destroy both."

Fightin' words if there ever were. According to Bob Novak, "During the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, Joey had taken a measured public position -- viewing weapons of mass destruction as a danger but considering military action as a last resort." Valerie sends Joey to Niger in February of 2002 to follow up on some "intel". He sips some tea and bull-shits with friends and then comes home with a report the CIA finds less than definative. Almost a year later Joey will use this report to take on 16 words in the Presidents SOTU address. Ends up the Brits stand by their info and the statement remains supported despite the efforts of Joey and Valerie.

About 5 months later Robert Novak writes an article examinging the reasoning for Wilson's trip. Quoting "two senior administration officials" that suggested Wilson's wife suggested sending him. He also mentions Valerie's position as "(Central Intelligence) Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction" in his article. Later Novak admits that she is only an analyst. It is relevant only because of the current stink kicked up the donks and their buddies Joey and Valerie in the media. They don't think Valerie should have been "named". They said it was a "smear" tactic by the Karl Rove. Proof? Oh they don't have any proof that Karl had anything to do with this "leak", but that won't stop them from SMEARING HIS NAME! Joey later retracted the accusation.
As mentioned previously Idiot_Joey has his wife's name listed on his web page. And beyond that Novak said the CIA confirmed Valeries name. Time quoted "government officials". OH, But it's such a secret!!! Not that Valerie the analyst was in danger, or that she was outed knowingly. How dare anyone speak her name!!!! Assholes. Anyway back to the story. Joe, his buddies in the DNC and their ass-muppets in the media all decide to make a stink of it.

In response Novak said:

"I had thought I never again would write about retired diplomat Joseph Wilson's CIA-employee wife, but feel constrained to do so now that repercussions of my July 14 column have reached the front pages of major newspapers and led off network news broadcasts. My role and the role of the Bush White House have been distorted and need explanation.

The leak now under Justice Department investigation is described by former Ambassador Wilson and critics of President Bush's Iraq policy as a reprehensible effort to silence them. To protect my own integrity and credibility, I would like to stress three points. First, I did not receive a planned leak. Second, the CIA never warned me that the disclosure of Wilson's wife working at the agency would endanger her or anybody else. Third, it was not much of a secret.

The current Justice investigation stems from a routine, mandated probe of all CIA leaks, but follows weeks of agitation. Wilson, after telling me in July that he would say nothing about his wife, has made investigation of the leak his life's work -- aided by the relentless Sen. Charles Schumer of New York. These efforts cannot be separated from the massive political assault on President Bush.

This story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger. I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one.

During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.

At the CIA, the official designated to talk to me denied that Wilson's wife had inspired his selection but said she was delegated to request his help. He asked me not to use her name, saying she probably never again will be given a foreign assignment but that exposure of her name might cause "difficulties" if she travels abroad. He never suggested to me that Wilson's wife or anybody else would be endangered. If he had, I would not have used her name. I used it in the sixth paragraph of my column because it looked like the missing explanation of an otherwise incredible choice by the CIA for its mission.

How big a secret was it? It was well known around Washington that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. Republican activist Clifford May wrote Monday, in National Review Online, that he had been told of her identity by a non-government source before my column appeared and that it was common knowledge. Her name, Valerie Plame, was no secret either, appearing in Wilson's "Who's Who in America" entry.

A big question is her duties at Langley. I regret that I referred to her in my column as an "operative," a word I have lavished on hack politicians for more than 40 years. While the CIA refuses to publicly define her status, the official contact says she is "covered" -- working under the guise of another agency. However, an unofficial source at the Agency says she has been an analyst, not in covert operations.

The Justice Department investigation was not requested by CIA Director George Tenet. Any leak of classified information is routinely passed by the Agency to Justice, averaging one a week. This investigative request was made in July shortly after the column was published. Reported only last weekend, the request ignited anti-Bush furor."

And now an "unidentified Senior Administration Official" is quoted in the WaPo as saying that 2 "unidentified White House officials", talked to 6 unidentified members of the press. WHO!?!?

We have the words of a critic of President Bush making outrageous claims and then withdrawing them, and we have unnamed reporters and sources being quoted. Who's really being "smeared" by the media?! That's right! President Bush and his administration. This is a political hit with all the usual suspects piling on the usual target. Now that we get a few bits of the good news happening in Iraq, their focus shifts to the NEXT negative publicity debacle they've created! I hope it backfires on them!

I'm sure there will be more as the investigation continues.