Gullibility on the right

Right-wing bloggers are so gullible.

Our good friend "Real Teen" has excitedly declared that “All of this outrage over the Valerie Plame issue is going to look pointless when the rest of the press realizes that her identity wasn’t secret”. The basis for this remarkable claim? A story in today’s New York Sun claiming that…

Contrary to published reports, a State Department memorandum at the center of the investigation into the leak of the name of a CIA operative, Valerie Plame, appears to offer no particular indication that Ms. Plame’s role at the agency was classified or covert.

…A Wall Street Journal article on July 19, 2005, citing an unnamed person familiar with the memo, reported that the memo “made clear that information identifying an agent and her role in her husband’s intelligence gathering mission was sensitive and shouldn’t be shared.” The Journal account said the paragraph discussing Ms. Plame’s role in her husband’s trip was marked in a way to indicate it shouldn’t be disclosed.

Note well: The paragraph mentioning Valerie Plame “was marked in a way to indicate it shouldn’t be disclosed”. And now the Sun gets into truly murky territory:

Not noted in the previous press reports was the fact that six of the seven paragraphs in the memo are marked “secret,” while only one appears to mention Ms. Plame. In addition, virtually every paragraph in the attached supporting documents from the State Department about alleged Iraqi uranium procurement in Niger carries the “secret” designation.

With most, if not all, of the Niger-related documents marked “secret” in a host of places, there is no particular reason a reader would think the classification was derived from Ms. Plame’s status or involvement.

Think about what is being said here. The paragraph that mentioned Valerie Plame was marked secret… but the Sun story claims that this is no reason to think that her identity and role at the CIA was a secret! From the comment about “six of the seven paragraphs in the memo are marked ‘secret’”, we are apparently to assume that if too much of a State Department document is marked secret (“too much” being defined by the judgement of a newspaper reporter or columnist), then the the facts in the document magically become unsecret and can be freely revealed. Who’da thunk it!?

“Real Teen” swallows this line of “reasoning” hook, line, and sinker. The mention of Valerie Plame’s name in the document was marked secret, but it wasn’t secret, oh no. To accept this interpretation, one also has to believe that the CIA itself doesn’t know the covert status of its own operatives. The investigation that led to the indictment of Scooter Libby was, after all, requested by the CIA. But I guess one right-wing teenage blogger in Ohio knows better than the CIA how to classify covert agents.

In the press conference announcing the indictment of Libby, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald said:

Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer. In July 2003 the fact that Valerie Wilson was a CIA officer was classified. Not only was it classified, but it was not widely known outside the intelligence community. Valerie Wilson’s friends, neighbors, college classmates had no idea she had another life. The fact that she was a CIA Officer was not well known for her protection or for the benefit of all of us.

It’s important that a CIA officer’s identity be protected, that it be protected not just for the officer but for the nation’s security.

Valerie Wilson’s cover was blown in July 2003.

I sure would like “Real Teen” to tell us which of these statements is false. It’s not likely to happen, though. He’s not known for answering inconvenient questions.