ViolaLee
08-04-2007, 04:51 AM
Ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame loses court decision
Judge rules that she can't reveal the dates she worked for the spy agency in her forthcoming book.
By Josh Getlin
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Aug. 4, 2007 -- NEW YORK -- In a setback for Valerie Plame, a federal judge ruled today that the former CIA agent cannot divulge the dates she worked for the agency in her forthcoming book, "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House." The decision by U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones was a victory for the CIA, which had argued that such information was classified and should not be made public.
Plame was at the heart of a controversial case in which administration officials were accused of leaking news about her covert status in 2003 to several reporters after her husband, former envoy Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly raised questions about the intelligence used to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Simon & Schuster, which is publishing Plame's memoir, said it was "disappointed in the court's ruling, which we believe runs counter to the 1st Amendment, sets a dangerous precedent and creates an unreasonable standard by which the government can disappear public information and rewrite history," according to a statement by spokesman Adam Rothberg.
The ruling by Jones came as a result of a lawsuit that the publisher and author had filed in May seeking to bar the CIA from interfering with publication of her memoir.
Plame and Simon & Schuster had argued that the dates of her service before 2002 -- which the CIA was seeking to keep classified -- had already been made public on a federal website and should no longer be considered classified information. The publisher said it still plans to publish the book this fall but would not comment on whether it plans to appeal today's ruling.
In her ruling, Jones said that "the information at issue was properly classified and has not been officially acknowledged by the CIA." She did acknowledge, however, that it has appeared in the public domain.
Following the furor over news leaks about Plame's status, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. His sentence of 30 months was commuted by President Bush last month, but his conviction on those charges was not erased.
Last month, a federal judge dismissed a separate lawsuit filed by Plame and her husband that sought to hold Cheney and others personally responsible for damages as a result of the disclosure of Plame's identity.
http://www.calendarlive.com/books/la-et-plameweb4aug04,0,4782854.story?coll=cl-books-features
What? It's classified information? But all these righties keep saying she wasn't a classified agent! LOL!!!!
And I'm sure they'll keep spreading that lie. They love the lies so much those rightie liar lovers.
;)
I look forward to reading her book.
Judge rules that she can't reveal the dates she worked for the spy agency in her forthcoming book.
By Josh Getlin
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Aug. 4, 2007 -- NEW YORK -- In a setback for Valerie Plame, a federal judge ruled today that the former CIA agent cannot divulge the dates she worked for the agency in her forthcoming book, "Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House." The decision by U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones was a victory for the CIA, which had argued that such information was classified and should not be made public.
Plame was at the heart of a controversial case in which administration officials were accused of leaking news about her covert status in 2003 to several reporters after her husband, former envoy Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly raised questions about the intelligence used to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Simon & Schuster, which is publishing Plame's memoir, said it was "disappointed in the court's ruling, which we believe runs counter to the 1st Amendment, sets a dangerous precedent and creates an unreasonable standard by which the government can disappear public information and rewrite history," according to a statement by spokesman Adam Rothberg.
The ruling by Jones came as a result of a lawsuit that the publisher and author had filed in May seeking to bar the CIA from interfering with publication of her memoir.
Plame and Simon & Schuster had argued that the dates of her service before 2002 -- which the CIA was seeking to keep classified -- had already been made public on a federal website and should no longer be considered classified information. The publisher said it still plans to publish the book this fall but would not comment on whether it plans to appeal today's ruling.
In her ruling, Jones said that "the information at issue was properly classified and has not been officially acknowledged by the CIA." She did acknowledge, however, that it has appeared in the public domain.
Following the furor over news leaks about Plame's status, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice. His sentence of 30 months was commuted by President Bush last month, but his conviction on those charges was not erased.
Last month, a federal judge dismissed a separate lawsuit filed by Plame and her husband that sought to hold Cheney and others personally responsible for damages as a result of the disclosure of Plame's identity.
http://www.calendarlive.com/books/la-et-plameweb4aug04,0,4782854.story?coll=cl-books-features
What? It's classified information? But all these righties keep saying she wasn't a classified agent! LOL!!!!
And I'm sure they'll keep spreading that lie. They love the lies so much those rightie liar lovers.
;)
I look forward to reading her book.