Rebuttal to Joe Wilson letter

Chris Coleman of Moorpark in a May 31 letter asserts that the Acorn was less than truthful in its coverage of a local appearance by former ambassador Joseph Wilson when it characterized his wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert CIA agent. Then he, ironically, goes on to repeat several right wing lies about Ms. Plame and Mr. Wilson.

Ms. Plame was, in fact, a covert agent at the time her identity was revealed by Bush administration officials. In a court brief filed just last week on May 25, Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald refers to her as "covert agent Valerie (Plame) Wilson."

In testimony before congress on March 25, Ms. Plame stated under oath that she was "a covert agent of the Central Intelligence Agency." This was backed up by a statement read at the hearing and approved by CIA director Michael V. Hayden to the effect that Ms. Plame worked "in a covert capacity" in an intelligence gathering position.

Ms. Plame further testified that she did not send her husband on his fact-finding mission to Niger as Coleman states. She said a colleague suggested sending her husband on the trip and that she "did not suggest him" and "didn't have the authority" to do so.

Coleman provides no sources whatever for his baseless statements about Ms. Plame, whose "outing" as a CIA agent for political ends was a despicable act that was at the least reckless and at worst criminal.

In a 1999 speech before the CIA, former President George H. W. Bush commented that he "has nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the names of our sources. They are . . . the most insidious of traitors." Coleman's final call for "balance" is just ridiculous. The facts in this case speak for themselves.
Helena Mecartea
Oak Park