Yes, it may be too ironic to believe - but here it is in black, white and Youtube.
Rove: [T]hey’ve got a very callous view about our nation’s security and interests.
...
Well, I read their explanation. And basically, it sounded to me like they were saying we put his name out there because we decided we could. And I mean, they didn’t have a good explanation for it.
Bad Grand Ole' Lady - Bad Bad!
So just who was this agent and why did they name him? Details over the flip.
In this article describing the interrogation methods used on Khallid Sheik Mohammad, the New York Times takes the extraordinary step of daring to name the interrogator - Deuce Martinez.
WASHINGTON — In a makeshift prison in the north of Poland, Al Qaeda’s engineer of mass murder faced off against his Central Intelligence Agency interrogator. It was 18 months after the 9/11 attacks, and the invasion of Iraq was giving Muslim extremists new motives for havoc. If anyone knew about the next plot, it was Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.
The interrogator, Deuce Martinez, a soft-spoken analyst who spoke no Arabic, had turned down a C.I.A. offer to be trained in waterboarding. He chose to leave the infliction of pain and panic to others, the gung-ho paramilitary types whom the more cerebral interrogators called "knuckledraggers."
Mr. Martinez came in after the rough stuff, the ultimate good cop with the classic skills: an unimposing presence, inexhaustible patience and a willingness to listen to the gripes and musings of a pitiless killer in rambling, imperfect English. He achieved a rapport with Mr. Mohammed that astonished his fellow C.I.A. officers.
So here we have an agent, who didn't use "extreme interrogation" methods who low and behold - actualy produced results, contrary to everything the Bush Administation has been claiming is possible.
No wonder Rove is PO'd, people like Mr. Martinez - who are capable of building a rapport with a vicious killer and convincing him to provide information willingly - aren't supposed to exist.
But they do.
Now why exactly did the New York Times give this man's name? This is their explanation.
The Central Intelligence Agency asked The New York Times not to publish the name of Deuce Martinez, an interrogator who questioned Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other high-level Al Qaeda prisoners, saying that to identify Mr. Martinez would invade his privacy and put him at risk of retaliation from terrorists or harassment from critics of the agency.
After discussion with agency officials and a lawyer for Mr. Martinez, the newspaper declined the request, noting that Mr. Martinez had never worked under cover and that others involved in the campaign against Al Qaeda have been named in news stories and books. The editors judged that the name was necessary for the credibility and completeness of the article.
Let me re-emphasize that Mr. Martinez never worked undercover and hence was not covered by the IIPA, unlike Valerie Plame Wilson who was covered by the Act.
It is fair to argue that publishing his name might put Mr. Martinez under negative scrutiny, and to emphasize this I will point out that when his name was published in 1998, Richard Clarke became a named target of Al Qeada and subsequently received Secret Service Training and was issued a personal firearm for protection.
To this date, Valerie Plame Wilson has received no such training and has not been issued her own fiream.
Since all three of these people, and their families might be in danger, it isn't unreasonable to ask that all three of them be afforded some level of protection - even if they have to implement that protection on their own.
But then again, to quote a rather fantastical fowl, "they knew the job was dangerous when they took it". No point in crying about it now.
Besides that, what Martinez has accomplished is frankly Heroic. He should be praised for what he's done, not hidden in the shadows where Rove and his Torture-Pornaseur Ilk would like to keep him. This guys deserves a medal. In fact, he deserves the medal that Bush gave to George Tenet.
No, not the same kind - THE SAME ONE! At least this guy earned it.
And just for those of us who are somewhat fact and history challenged, or have completely missed everything being currently said by Scott McClennan, the reason Rove's phony outrage over this is functionally ridiculous is the fact that Rove himself confirmed Plame's status as a CIA employee to two different reporters as noted by Thinkprogress
– Time magazine reporter Matt Cooper said, "Karl Rove told me about Valerie Plame’s identity on July 11, 2003. I called him because Ambassador Wilson [Plame’s husband] was in the news that week. I didn’t know Ambassador Wilson even had a wife until I talked to Karl Rove."
– A week prior to publishing his column which outed Plame, Robert Novak spoke with Rove. Novak brought up Plame’s role at the CIA, and Rove confirmed that Plame worked at the CIA: "I heard that too," said Rove.
Rove acted as Novak's confirmation source (on special double-secret background) after he had initially heard about Plame from Richard Armitage. (And Armitage wouldn't have known about her either if Scooter Libby hadn't been poking around asking his deputy questions about her which ultimately resulted in the INR report which - inaccurately - mentions her involvement in recruiting Joe Wilson for a trip to Niger)
It's frankly amazing to me that Rove can sit there on National TV and claim to be so annoyed with the New York Times because it was the New York Times that initially refused to publish Judith Miller's Story - as told to her by Libby - about Wilson and his Wife. Robert Novak published that story even though the CIA told him not to.
And he did it because of Karl Rove - Hypocrite Extraordinaire.
Vyan
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