Anatomy Of A Scandal
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in General Politics, The War On TerrorismThe LA Times gives us a pretty thorough look at the the Rove/Plame affair, and suggests the investigation will be done this fall.
Here’s what has happened so far in this story:
2002February: Vice President Dick Cheney asks whether Iraq sought uranium from Niger.
Feb. 12: The CIA sends Joseph Wilson to Niger.
March 9: Wilson says he finds little evidence for such claims, but notes a prior visit to Niger by Iraqi officials.
Aug. 26: Cheney says: “We now know that Saddam [Hussein] has resumed his efforts to acquire nuclear weapons.”
Oct. 5-6: CIA Director George Tenet persuades the White House to remove the uranium claim from a Bush speech.
2003
Jan. 28: President Bush’s State of the Union cites a British report that Iraq sought uranium.
March 7: A U.N. nuclear agency finds uranium documents are “not authentic.”
March 20: The U.S. invades Iraq.
July 6: Wilson goes public on his Niger trip and findings.
July 7-8: Administration sources tell columnist Robert Novak about Wilson’s CIA wife.
July 7: The White House admits to a mistake in citing the uranium claim.
July 11: Karl Rove tells Time’s Matthew Cooper that Wilson’s wife arranged the Niger trip.
July 14: A Novak column unmasks Valerie Plame.
July 30: The CIA asks the Justice Department to investigate the leak of the agent’s identity.
Sept. 16: The White House says suggesting Rove leaked her identity is “ridiculous.”
Sept. 29: A White House spokesman says the leaker will be fired.
Sept. 30: Wilson endorses John Kerry for president.
Dec. 30: Patrick Fitzgerald is named special prosecutor.
2004
Jan. 23: Weapons inspector David Kay says there are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
July 10: A Senate panel faults prewar intelligence and calls Wilson’s report inconclusive.
Nov. 2: Bush is reelected.
2005
Feb. 15: A court orders journalists Judith Miller and Cooper to cooperate with a grand jury.
July 6: Miller refuses to testify and is jailed; Cooper agrees to testify after getting express permission from his source, Rove.
July 18: Bush says the leaker will be fired if a crime was committed.
(HT: Romensko)
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