Last year, President Bush promised that anyone at the White House involved
in the leak would be fired [3]. We believe that the President should stick
to his word. That's why we're calling on him to fire Karl Rove.

Valerie Plame was an operative working on stopping the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction--the most important beat at the CIA and one of
the most important jobs in the country [4]. Rove revealed her identity and
destroyed her network of connections to settle a political score. He
weakened America's national security. For that alone, he deserves to be
fired.

But as it turns out, that's also the White House's official position.
Press Secretary Scott McClellan told the press in September of 2003, when
the story first broke, that anyone at the White House who was involved
would be fired "at a minimum." [5] And when asked on June 10th, 2004, if he
would "stand by your pledge to fire anyone found" to have leaked the
agent's name, President Bush responded, simply, "Yes." [6]

Of course, in the past the White House has strenuously denied that Rove
had anything to do with it. In 2003, McClellan said that he'd asked Rove if
he was involved, and Rove had said he wasn't [7]. "The president knows that
Karl Rove wasn't involved." [8] "I've made it very clear, he was not
involved, that there's no truth to the suggestion that he was." [9] Asked
again if Rove was involved, McClellan responded, "That's just totally
ridiculous." [10]

So what did McClellan have to say about the clear discrepancies between
what the President Bush and he had said in 2003 and what Newsweek reported
on Sunday? Nothing. Here's an excerpt from the transcript:

Q: Do you want to retract your statement that Rove, Karl Rove, was not
involved in the Valerie Plame expose?

A: I appreciate the question. This is an ongoing investigation at this
point. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with the
investigation, and as part of cooperating fully with the investigation,
that means we're not going to be commenting on it while it is ongoing.

Q: But Rove has apparently commented, through his lawyer, that he was
definitely involved.

A: You're asking me to comment on an ongoing investigation.

Q: I'm saying, why did you stand there and say he was not involved?

A: Again, while there is an ongoing investigation, I'm not going to be
commenting on it nor is ... .

Q: Any remorse [11]?

It's worth noting that both Bush and McClellan have commented on the case
repeatedly since 2003.[12]

Republicans claim that the furor over this case is just politics as usual.
But what Rove did has serious ramifications. Here's the story in a
nutshell: In 2002, former Ambassador Joe Wilson was sent by the CIA to
investigate rumors that Saddam Hussein had attempted to purchase uranium
from Niger. Wilson found nothing, and wrote about it in a New York Times
op-ed column on July 6, 2003 after President Bush used the claim as part
of the case for war. Wilson was married to Valerie Plame, an undercover
operative, who was revealed shortly thereafter by conservative columnist
Robert Novak. Novak cited "senior administration officials" as his source
that Plame was an operative [13].

Why out Plame? While we don't know the full story, there are a couple of
reasons to do so: to exact revenge on Wilson for refusing to toe the
Administration line, and to send a message to would-be whistle-blowers
that they should keep their mouths shut.

In any case, Plame's work was important, and by exposing her identity, the
leaker destroyed ten years of covert relationship-building and could have
jeopardized the lives of other covert agents in the field. At best, it was
recklessly irresponsible; at worst, it was malicious; and either way, the
leaker undermined our national security.

That's why we, like the President, believe it's time to fire anyone who
was involved with the leaking of Plame's name. And now we know that means
firing Karl Rove.

Sign our petition now at:
http://www.moveonpac.org/firerove/?id=5782-137503-L51VFFQnBKO_KG40XoQzlQ&t=2

And thanks for everything you're doing.

(Excerpted from a MoveOn broadside).

FOOTNOTES:

1. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8525978/site/newsweek
2. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=776
3. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=777
4.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002374617_leak12.html
5. http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/09/print/20030929-7.html
6. http://www.moveon.org/r?r=777
7.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/12rove-quotes.html?pagewanted=print
8.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/12rove-quotes.html?pagewanted=print
9.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/12rove-quotes.html?pagewanted=print
10.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/11/politics/12rove-quotes.html?pagewanted=print
11.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071100991.html
12.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/11/AR2005071101284.html
13.
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/robertnovak/printrn20030714.shtml