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<DIV><FONT size=4><STRONG><FONT size=5>Novak Accuses Plame Source Of
Distortion<BR></FONT></STRONG><FONT size=3>Armitage Minimizes Role In Leak;
Columnist Differs<BR></FONT>
<P><FONT size=-1>By R. Jeffrey Smith<BR>Washington Post Staff
Writer<BR>Thursday, September 14, 2006; A12<BR></FONT></P>
<P></P>
<P>Columnist Robert D. Novak, who first revealed Valerie Plame's employment by
the CIA and touched off a lengthy federal leak investigation, is accusing his
primary source of misrepresenting their conversation to make the source's role
in the disclosure seem more casual than it was.</P>
<P>In an unusual column that appears today, Novak says his initial source,
former deputy secretary of state Richard L. Armitage, was more sure of Plame's
ties to the CIA than the source has indicated. Novak adds that Armitage linked
her directly to her husband's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger and suggested the
disclosure would be a good item for Novak's column.</P>
<P>This differs from Armitage's assertions last week that his disclosure was
made in an offhand manner and that he did not know why Plame's husband was sent
to Niger.</P>
<P>Armitage, in an interview yesterday, said he stood by his account and
disputed Novak's.</P>
<P>The disagreement between Novak and Armitage now covers even the length of
their conversation in Armitage's office at the State Department on July 8, 2003.
The fallout from that meeting eventually became a consuming political topic in
Washington and led to Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's indictment last
October of Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on
charges of lying to investigators.</P>
<P>The leak of Plame's name touched off a major political controversy because of
media reports at the time that the White House was attempting to discredit
Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. Wilson was sent by the
CIA to Niger in 2002 to investigate whether Iraq was trying to buy nuclear
weapons material there, and on July 6, 2003, he wrote a column accusing the
White House of deliberately twisting intelligence about the Iraqi program to
justify the U.S. invasion.</P>
<P>Wilson's accusations infuriated the White House, and Fitzgerald has said in
court documents that some administration officials wanted to undermine Wilson by
suggesting that his assignment resulted from nepotism.</P>
<P>Plame sued Armitage yesterday, accusing him of violating her privacy
rights.</P>
<P>Fitzgerald has not declared his probe of the leak finished, 2 1/2 years after
it began, although he told Armitage in a Feb. 24 letter that "absent unexpected
developments, I do not anticipate seeking any criminal charges against you."</P>
<P>In his initial July 14, 2003, column, Novak wrote that Wilson "never worked
for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of
mass destruction." Novak also wrote that "two senior administration officials
told me his wife suggested sending Wilson to Niger to investigate."</P>
<P>Novak did not identify his sources, but Armitage admitted publicly for the
first time last week that he was one. White House political adviser Karl Rove
earlier confirmed he was the other.</P>
<P>In confirming his role, Armitage said his disclosure to Novak was done in an
offhand way. At the end of their conversation, "Novak asked me, 'Hey, why did
the CIA send Mr. Wilson to Niger?' I said, 'I don't know, but I think his wife
worked out there,' " Armitage said.</P>
<P>Novak criticized Armitage for not revealing his involvement before now.
Armitage said he remained silent because Fitzgerald warned him it might
jeopardize the investigation. He said he cooperated fully with Fitzgerald's
investigation since realizing on Oct. 1, 2003, that he was a source for that
Novak column.</P>
<P>But Novak says in today's column that Armitage's statements "obscured what he
really did" and that "Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on
something he had heard and that he 'thought' might be so. Rather, he identified
to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked and said flatly that she
recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former ambassador Joseph
Wilson."</P>
<P>Novak said further that "Armitage did not slip me this information as idle
chitchat. . . . He made clear that he considered it especially suited for my
column." In an interview, Novak said that Armitage effectively described it as
stock, Washington-insider information of the sort that often appeared in the
column.</P>
<P>Armitage, in reply, said his disclosure to Novak was inadvertent and noted
that Novak himself described it as "offhand" in an Oct. 1, 2003, column.
Armitage said he could not recall whether he identified the CIA division where
Wilson's wife worked. He added that he rejects any suggestion he was
deliberately trying to plant the information, explaining that "I had no reason
to wish him [Wilson] any ill" and that Wilson "was simply verifying what had
already been reported [about Iraq] through State channels."</P>
<P>Lobbyist Ken Duberstein, a friend of Armitage who helped arrange Novak's
meeting with him, said yesterday that Armitage's account precisely matches what
Armitage told him in October 2003.</P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>