Plame Gossip

Firedoglake does a far better job than I can cutting out the relevant details from the James Dickerson piece in Slate. If you want the full detail, I would recommend it, but it is very looonngg. (Dickerson in Slate. Part 1 - Part 2)

So, here's an abbreviated, shorter version. James Dickerson was another reporter who received information regarding Plame's relationship to Joe Wilson from "senior administration officials."

Now, Dickerson has not been subpoenaed which is significant as he cowrote the original story that got Matt Cooper threatened with jail time. Just extrapolating from his version I would wager that's because his sources have fully cooperated.

In other words, no one outed Plame to this guy, they just said, "look into the origins of Wilson's trip," and that would not be too legally dangerous individually. But there is a growing number of tidbits indicating that Fitzgerald may be looking at this case as a conspiracy to disclose classified information, and that changes the "not too legally dangerous" into a net that sweeps up everyone involved for the worst acts of any one conspirator.

As for evidence of a conspiracy, I give you Reddhead.

Here's what I see from reading Dickerson: He spoke with two "senior Administration officials" during his trip to Africa, on two completely separate occasions, but each within an hour of the other's conversation with Dickerson -- both of whom fed him the exact same line on questioning Joe Wilson's credibility and that Dickerson ought to look into who sent Amb. Wilson to Africa in the first place. He finished talking with them around 10:30 am DC time.

During that same time period, Rove contacted Matt Cooper and planted the same seeds -- with one addition, that Joe Wilson's wife was the one who sent him on the trip. (Never mind that this was false, but that's a whole n'other post.) And Scooter Libby served as the confirming source for Cooper on this fact. (Can you say WHIG damage control group? I sure as hell can.)

Dickerson and Cooper spoke around 1:00 pm DC time, and compared notes -- remarkably similar notes, but for the Rove addition of Wilson's wife. Strange how so many people in the Administration scattered across the four corners of the globe -- from DC to far-flung, difficult communication areas on the African continent -- all had the same story line to feed to the press, isn't it? Almost as though there was substantial coordination of message and facts, or something. (Can you say conpiracy? I thought you could.)

And just a little interesting from Dickerson in Slate:

All administrations discredit their critics through whispers to reporters, but we hadn't seen high-level Bush people do anything like this in the past. It suggested desperation and unsteadiness in a national security team that had often been heralded for its smooth competency.....

I came back from the trip harboring a suspicion that only fully made sense when I learned Plame's CIA cover had been blown. It seemed obvious that the people pushing me to look into who sent Wilson knew exactly the answer I'd find. Yet they were really careful not to let the information slip, which suggested that they knew at the time Plame's identity was radioactive.

If you want all the details, go to Firedoglake. They have been, by far, the best on the Plame case. But, I thought I'd offer a shorter version.

Afterthought: I'm becoming more and more convinced that Fitzgerald may be hunting Cheney. He could be looking to leverage individuals through plea deals, Rove as example, to unmask the entire group, but I just have this feeling that this is working up several chains at once rather than trying to reveal a circle of peers. Either is possible. It's just a sense.