“Leak case about civil rights, says ex-envoy Joseph Wilson.”
Today’s headline and story in The Seattle Times, and its civil rights emphasis, is echoed in Richard Sale’s report on this site and in the report of a possible civil suit to be initiated by the Wilsons.
Wilson, interviewed before his talk at a Seattle Town Hall tonight, emphasized his own rights as a citizen. “[T]he experience,” writes the Seattle Times, “has pitted him and his wife against the most powerful people in the United States.”
Sale, a longtime intelligence reporter, reports here today:
Most press accounts emphasized that Fitzgerald was likely to concentrate on attempts by Libby, Rove and others to cover up wrongdoing by means of perjury before the grand jury, lying to federal officials, conspiring to obstruct justice, etc.
But federal law enforcement officials told this reporter that Fitzgerald was likely to charge the people indicted with violating Joe Wilson’s civil rights, smearing his name in an attempt to destroy his ability to earn a living in Washington as a consultant.
Do you think it is a coincidence that Joe Wilson, in Seattle, is echoing what intelligence reporter Richard Sale was told by federal law enforcement officials in Washington, D.C.? I think not.
On Oct. 18, Christopher Wolf — the Wilsons’ attorney and their next-door neighbor — told Salon that a civil lawsuit would be about Valerie Plame Wilson, “against the Bush administration officials who disclosed her identity and scuttled her career.”
Perhaps Fitzgerald is looking into violations of the civil rights of both of the Wilsons. And perhaps Fitzgerald has satisfied the requirements for charges of violations of Joseph Wilson’s civil rights, and the interviews by FBI agents yesterday of the Wilsons’ neighbors were to nail down charges of civil rights violations against Valerie Plame Wilson. We shall see.
Despite his media presence, Wilson insisted he had little impact on events. “I had nothing to do with the Justice Department decision to open the investigation,” he said.
As more of an observer than an actor in the Beltway drama, Wilson said, he has no sense of the case’s lingering effect on the Bush presidency or its historical significance. But, he said, the people he has met around the country understand why it’s important — that it’s not right for the White House to go after individuals who disagree with the government.
“In America, they get it,” he said.( The Seattle Times, Oct. 26, 2005)
I think not.
(fingers crossed… toes cramped into crossed position for last 5 years…)
great piece susan, thanks for the update on Wilson… are you going to see him speak?
My daughter Darcy and I paid BIG BUCKS to see him speak in Seattle in early March 2004 on a Friday night.
It was the night before the state caucuses here, so we stopped by the Howard Dean headquarters in Seattle, and helped them with phone calls and then we distributed Dean leaflets before we went inside the lovely new Opera House at the Seattle Center to see Joe Wilson.
He got so many standing ovations, I lost count.
He was asked about the primary, and said he was for Kerry. That’s cool…. it was a real thrill to see him.
Before he went to college and met the professor who influenced his career path, he was a carpenter in Sequim, which is about 10 miles from where I live. And, in this week’s Seatttle Weekly, he told the reporter that he and Valerie would love to move to the Olympic Peninsula.
He’s welcome!
about violating Wilson’s civil rights. So many people have had their civil rights violated by these crooks!!!! They have smeared so many, to just witness getting taken down for one makes taking them down for the destruction they have brought other people all the more reasonable to the public that so wanted to protect them because they needed something to believe in after 9/11. I don’t believe these guys have any idea how badly they violated America’s trust. Never in my lifetime has my nation ever been so emotionally on the ropes as then. When the anger about that violation really hits the public in general these fuckers better run for the hills. Perhaps next September 11 the public will emotionally put all that together as we all process all that has happened further.
I so love Joe Wilson. I first heard him speak when Conyer’s held the basement meeting and he was on the panel with Cindy Sheehan, Ray McGovern and the fella from DSM.com(sorry I forget his name). He was so intelligent and eloquent. I also just bought his book and just started to read it. I thought it was another way of showing support and belief in Joe and Valerie.