Why would outing Plame discredit Wilson?

Question

I have never been given a decent answer to this question. The whole premise that the Bush White House outed Plame to discredit her husband makes no sense.

Wilson comes back from Africa and says things the White House doesn't like. What to do, what to do? "I know, let's out his wife! She's a WMD expert at the CIA. That'll make Wilson look like a fool!!"

Answer 1

It didn't, really, except to slap down his claim he'd been sent by Cheney, i.e. to rebut one of Wilson's many lies.

The myth that she was still covert is debunked by the fact that she'd been deskbound in D.C. after Aldrich Ames outed her to the Russians during the Clinton Administration.

But the true debunking of Wilson's lies was the release of his report to the CIA, which contradicted his NYT attack on Bush.

I don't know why anybody would continue to give any credence to the liar Wilson, who was thoroughly proven to have lied.

Answer 2

I don't think outing Plame had anything to do with discrediting Wilson. It has to do with protocol, you don't reveal the identities of your covert agents. If the administration hadn't been lying in the first place, none of this would have happened. Then after the fact they get caught, Valerie Plame loses her job because they broke rules concerning the disclosure of her identity.

Think about this: so Dick Cheney wants to know if Iraq has acquired yellowcake Uranium from Niger. So he asks the CIA to check it out, the CIA selects Valerie Plame, she sends her husband. Her husband finds nothing. Then some time later, president Bush appears on TV for a state of the union speech claiming that Iraq is buying uranium from Niger. Wilson writes an article claiming he did not find any evidence of this. So the administration leaks Plame's name to the media, intentionally or unintentionally. That's not fair, someone needs to take responsibility of that.

You can downplay Plame's status and role in the CIA all you want, but the fact is because of the Bush administration, she lost her job in the CIA.

Answer 3

The theory behind why the White House would do it is not so much to out Plame but to disclose the relationship that Plame shared with Wilson.

The White House felt that Plame sent Wilson to Africa with preconceived ideas that there was no sale of nuclear material going on. They contend there was no research, he didn't attempt to uncover any facts on his fact finding trip. The link was made to point out he is saying that to cover for his wife who should have known about the parties attempting to broker the sale.

The theory is he was covering for something she missed. That is if you buy the theory she was outed deliberately.

She certainly wasn't outed to reveal any secret or effect her career since she and her husband were well known on the DC party circuit and her occupation was well known, Wilson himself talked about her position.

Answer 4

The media is hiding the fact that Valerie Plame was the one that sent her husband to Niger, the CIA didn't even pay him. His mission was so meaningless that nobody asked him for a written report, so he went to the NY Times...Valerie Plame was no undercover CIA agent, undercover agents don't work in Washington under their real names.

Answer 5

I hope you are not looking for signs of reason, wisdom, or logic in anything the White House has said or done with regards to Iraq. You will be frustrated.