Valerie Plame Stands Tall (Brent Budowsky)

First. I spent a number of years of my life working on the Intelligence Identities Protection Act with its original sponsor, then-Sen. Lloyd Bentsen.

Second. It should now be clear even to the most rabid partisan apologist for Bush administration wrongdoing that Valerie Plame was a covert operative, that her identity and status were classified, and that she had performed abroad within the last five years.

Third. I know and admire Valerie Plame and consider her an American hero, an American patriot, and an invaluable national resource in defeating global terrorism who has been compromised by shameless and despicable acts, by partisans and ideologues.

The president of the United States owes Valerie Plame and every covert officer a profound apology.

The president of the United States owes the vice president and Karl Rove an aggressive, severe, and public reprimand, at a minimum.

The president of the United States owes the American people, our covert officers and the rule of law an ironclad commitment that he will not issue a pardon to anyone convicted in this case.

Having been involved in writing this law for so long, I have, unlike some others, avoided comment on legal guilt or innocence and have avoided any public discussion that could have even remotely reached or influenced the jurors in this case.

When The Washington Post ran thousands of words on its editorial page, its opinion page, its “Outlook” section and even its “Style” section in the hours before the case went before the jury, and I was offered a modest 170 words representing so many not taking the pro-Libby position, even then I avoided discussion of guilt or innocence to make the larger point.

The words in this note, which will ultimately be read by many covert officers of the United States, represent the views of the vast and overwhelming majority of covert officers who cannot speak for themselves.

The central point is this, setting aside the evidentiary issues surrounding the case before the courts:

I am proud of Valerie Plame; I am proud of every man and woman serving our country covertly. I am as proud of them as I am proud of everyone who serves in the United States Marine Corps, the United States Army, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, the Coast Guard, our National Guard, our Reserves and our astronaut corps.

One Republican congressman said today at the hearing that well, this is the problem of the CIA, not the White House.

This is dead wrong. This is what has gone so wrong with George W. Bush, with the vice president, with distortions and attacks surrounding our intelligence, with mistreatment of wounded troops that should never occur in our country, and with the identity disclosures in this case which, whatever the legal niceties, are despicable and damaging to our security.

I ask the congressman, the president, the vice president and the apologists for this travesty: How would you feel if someone stood at the back of a United States Marine at the center of Baghdad, and pointed to him for an enemy sniper to kill?

This is not the problem of the CIA. It is the problem of all of us, in the same way that mistreatment of our wounded troops is not merely the problem of military families, but the problem of all of us.

In America we are all security moms and security dads. We are all in the band of brothers and sisters who serve our country. We are all in this together. We are all part of the American family that owes them all, everything they need and deserve to defend us.

In service all give some, some give all, and those at home owe every one of them our best.

We owe it to the Marines, the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the National Guard, the Reserves and the astronauts — and we damn well owe it to the men and women who serve with incredible courage and valor in our clandestine service.

What the president and vice president have never understood, what the apologists and flacks and hacks and partisans and “oppo” players and smear artists have never understood, is this: To protect our men and women who serve covertly is a sacred trust, written in blood, sanctified by oath, etched in stone, that should be seared into our souls with honor.

We are not asked to demonstrate their courage, but we are expected to watch their backs, and not risk their lives, as though they are the petty cash of our partisan politics, or the disposable commodities of our blind ideologies or vainglorious ambitions.

I will leave it to the judges and juries to determine guilt or innocence.

But make no mistake, these disclosures were the sickening and disgusting result of partisan players who risked the lives of heroes, from their safe perches of official power.

There are heroes behind enemy lines, while cowards hatch their plans dining in fine restaurants, gabbing on their BlackBerrys and writing their talking points of slander and smear.

These disclosures violate the timeless code of honor that belongs to every man and women of every clandestine service, in all democratic nations, in every corner of the world.

This code of honor belongs to every man and woman of the CIA, of MI-6, of the Mossad; and every other service that defends our freedom and protects our communities from terror.

Like the health of our wounded troops, this code of honor belongs to every man and woman in our land. It is the sacred trust of every institution in our government, which even the most sick and demented partisan, in the darkest corners of this capital, should protect with their honor, and if necessary, with their lives.

Those who wear our uniform are America’s heroes. Those who serve covertly are America’s heroes. Those who risk and give their lives and limbs are America’s heroes. And those who betray their trust, for foreign enemies or domestic politics, deserve the condemnation of American patriots everywhere.

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