An Enigma Inside A Riddle Wrapped Around a Political Hit Job

My earlier post about Larry Wilkerson gives me an excuse to note something about warring bureaucracies in Washington and how that relates to the Plame investigation. National political editor John Harris had a live chat today, and here's one exchange:

Baltimore, Md.: I cannot understand why White House personnel would risk a serious crime such as outing a CIA agent, surely it was not just to get back at Wilson? Are we seeing a much deeper reason, in fact, was the White House trying to prevent her carrying out an intelligence investigation that was 'too close the bone'

John F. Harris: On this point, I tend to be more believing of the White House line. It has always seemed clear to me--and the evidence coming out over time has strengthened the point--that the White House motive in talking about Plame was not "to get back at Wilson." This was not about revenge. It was about trying to persuade reporters not to write about Wilson's allegations or take them seriously, because his mission to Niger was a low-level endeavor that had been cooked up lower down in the bureaucracy (with the assistance of his wife) and was not something that was done with White House knowledge. Remember, at the time, Wilson's suggestion was that of course the vice president knew about the results of his trip to Niger, because he had ordered it.

In the course of trying to knock down a damaging story--a routine activity in Washington--they obviously stepped over a line...quite possibly without fully appreciating that they were stepping across.

But what was the CIA thinking when it launched Wilson into Niger in the first place? Not happy fluffy puppy-dog thoughts about the Bush White House, let me tell you.

Former prosecutor Victoria Toensing said something yesterday that hasn't attracted as much attention as I'd expected. She appeared on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, guest hosted by Jed Babbin, after writing this column about Fitzgerald's investigation. Here's the key passage from the show, as transcribed by Radioblogger:

VT: Well...but I want to go back, because I did not really stress this in the Human Events article, and I actually had it in my Washington Post op-ed piece, but they asked me to take it out.

JB: They would, wouldn't they?

VT: This was the CIA doing a covert action against the president.

JB: Yeah. I believe that.

VT: Now why is it that they would allow Joe Wilson to go over, do this mission, not sign a confidentiality agreement, and then allow him to write about it in the New York Times.

Indeed.