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Hey Bob Novak, Karma is a Bitch

By Larry Johnson on December 4, 2008 at 8:21 PM in Current Affairs

There was a time that Bob Novak was a responsible, muckraking journalist. But those days are long gone. The turn to the dark side started when Novak willingly exposed the classified identity of Valerie Plame Wilson. Novak knew better. He had been around Washington long enough to know the vital importance of protecting the identities of intelligence officers but in a fit of partisan rage or pandering he played along with the White House and circulated the bullshit story that Valerie sent her unqualified husband on an African boondoggle.

So here is Novak today, proving that he is making little progress in his battle against brain cancer. He was asked if he would out Valerie if he had it to do all over again. Novak said:

I’d go full speed ahead because of the hateful and beastly way in which my left-wing critics in the press and Congress tried to make a political affair out of it and tried to ruin me. My response now is this: The hell with you. They didn’t ruin me. I have my faith, my family, and a good life. A lot of people love me — or like me. So they failed. I would do the same thing over again because I don’t think I hurt Valerie Plame whatsoever.

So Bob, with respect to your brain tumor. I have a phrase for you. Karma is a bitch. Those of us who know Valerie, who worked with her, and were undercover with her know that she was not a political partisan. She was a professional intelligence officer dedicated to serving the President, regardless of party.

If you had simply taken the time to interview the National Intelligence Officer for Africa at the time, Ambassador Robert Houdek, you would have learned that the Niger uranium story was considered bogus. Joe Wilson’s findings were consistent with what the true intelligence professionals believed–the Iraq had not tried to buy new quantities of uranium because they already had 500 tons they could not process. But no, you ignored the repeated warnings of the CIA spokesman, Bill Harlow, and exposed Valerie.

So, you would do the same thing over again? I have to assume that the tumor eating your brain accounts for your stupid, shallow comments. You didn’t hurt Valerie? You ignorant fool. You hurt more than Valerie. You exposed intelligence assets. Human sources. You put the lives of people who worked for Valerie as intelligence assets in the search for weapons of mass destruction at risk.

What will you say if an intelligence officer provides information that is viewed as not supportive of a policy of Barack Obama? Is it okay to out that person? My answer does not depend on the political affiliation of the intelligence officer. An undercover officer is part of our nation’s security and must be protected. It is not up to political hacks and weak minded journalists to expose intelligence officers because of a political snit.

Bob, I do not wish you a happy holiday. I simply wish that you could recover that portion of your brain that once made you a respected journalist. Unfortunately, you are dying and disgracing what legacy you had in the process. Protecting officers like Valerie Plame Wilson is not about left versus right. It is about right versus wrong.