Spring Break
Whatever happened to Robert Novak?
Terence DeToy
Issue date: 3/25/05 Section: Commentary
There's a Monty Python sketch called "The Value of Not Being Seen" in which a man hidden behind a bush is asked to expose himself.
As soon as the man reveals himself, there is a loud gunshot. He holds his stomach, cringes, then falls over dead. John Cleese pipes up, "Thus demonstrates the value of not being seen."
There are indeed many advantages to not being seen. This, one would imagine, would hold especially true for those engaged in undercover CIA work. Incidentally, compromising the concealment of an undercover CIA operative might just result in a scenario not all that dissimilar to what John Cleese was trying to prove.
It must have been terribly disconcerting for Valeria Plame, a CIA operative, when in the July 14, 2003 edition of his widely read conservative column, Robert Novak (seen often on CNN's "Crossfire" - yes, the corpulent one) gave her name and listed clearly her official affiliation to the CIA. Though claiming ignorance (as ignorant as anyone willing to compromise the life of another human being can be), Novak was acting as the medium for a message directed not at Plame, but at her husband Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador to Niger. Wilson criticized the Bush administration for the invasion of Iraq, which was justified by the assumption Saddam Hussein had possession of WMDs. Their primary evidence was a claim Hussein had purchased large amounts of uranium from Niger, which Wilson in all his dealings with the country knew to be completely unfounded.
In his article, Novak mentions this information was leaked to him by "two senior administration officials," yet neglects to mention who they are. Recently, two journalists who were leaked the same information but did not publish it are facing prison sentences for not revealing their sources. The question is simple: why isn't Robert Novak in jail?
The answer seems to be that after nearly two years of controversy over the nature of journalistic ethics and the responsibility of the media, America has simply forgotten or perhaps forgiven Novak. Generally, the American justice system works on the principle one is to be punished for breaking the law. However, as this incident points out, there is a gaping loophole in the system to the extent that if one is able to drum up enough controversy and keep everyone arguing with everyone else for long enough, he can slip out the back door in the heat of the fray.
As soon as the man reveals himself, there is a loud gunshot. He holds his stomach, cringes, then falls over dead. John Cleese pipes up, "Thus demonstrates the value of not being seen."
There are indeed many advantages to not being seen. This, one would imagine, would hold especially true for those engaged in undercover CIA work. Incidentally, compromising the concealment of an undercover CIA operative might just result in a scenario not all that dissimilar to what John Cleese was trying to prove.
It must have been terribly disconcerting for Valeria Plame, a CIA operative, when in the July 14, 2003 edition of his widely read conservative column, Robert Novak (seen often on CNN's "Crossfire" - yes, the corpulent one) gave her name and listed clearly her official affiliation to the CIA. Though claiming ignorance (as ignorant as anyone willing to compromise the life of another human being can be), Novak was acting as the medium for a message directed not at Plame, but at her husband Joseph Wilson, the former ambassador to Niger. Wilson criticized the Bush administration for the invasion of Iraq, which was justified by the assumption Saddam Hussein had possession of WMDs. Their primary evidence was a claim Hussein had purchased large amounts of uranium from Niger, which Wilson in all his dealings with the country knew to be completely unfounded.
In his article, Novak mentions this information was leaked to him by "two senior administration officials," yet neglects to mention who they are. Recently, two journalists who were leaked the same information but did not publish it are facing prison sentences for not revealing their sources. The question is simple: why isn't Robert Novak in jail?
The answer seems to be that after nearly two years of controversy over the nature of journalistic ethics and the responsibility of the media, America has simply forgotten or perhaps forgiven Novak. Generally, the American justice system works on the principle one is to be punished for breaking the law. However, as this incident points out, there is a gaping loophole in the system to the extent that if one is able to drum up enough controversy and keep everyone arguing with everyone else for long enough, he can slip out the back door in the heat of the fray.