If Karl Rove is proven to be the primary source that revealed the identity of Valerie Plame Wilson, should he be put to death?
Let’s consider what Mayor Giuliani had to say about John Walker Lindh:
Prosecutors, he said, should consider pursuing the death penalty against John Walker Lindh.
Lindh, 20, a native of the San Francisco, California, area, was discovered after he survived a prisoner uprising at Mazar-e Sharif last month. He and several hundred non-Afghan Taliban troops had surrendered to Northern Alliance forces days before they staged a deadly and unsuccessful prisoner revolt at a compound in northern Afghanistan.
“I don’t know all the facts of the case, but I certainly think that serious consideration should be given to the maximum penalty that the law allows,” Giuliani said.
“When you commit treason against the United States of America, particularly at a time when the U.S. is in peril of attack and further attack, I believe the death penalty is the appropriate remedy to consider.”
CNN
No one disputes that we were at war when Plame’s identity was leaked. As for our being in ‘peril of attack’, the FBI released a terror warning on March 6th, 2003, and the Defense Intelligence Agency issued a terror alert on June 21st, 2003. Ambassador Wilson wrote his column on July 6th and Novak exposed his wife on July 14th.
Obviously, we were most concerned about attacks using high explosives or weapons of mass destruction. Valerie Plame was employed by the Central Intelligence Agency to work on nuclear proliferation. Shortly before her cover was blown we had uncovered a massive proliferation network run by Pakistani scientist, A.Q. Khan. It’s quite possible that Valerie Plame had a hand in uncovering that network. But even if she wasn’t part of that investigation, the unique value of such agents should have been clear to Rove.
Did Rove commit treason? John Walker Lindh was accused of ‘levying war’ against the United States. Rove would presumably be convicted of giving our enemies ‘Aid and Comfort’.
So, I have to assume that Giuliani would fully support the execution of Karl Rove. That is, provided he has a fair trial and is convicted.
No?
