PLAME REIGNITES

It's not exactly a news-flash that Fox News analyst Major General Paul Vallely claims Joe Wilson outed wife Valerie Plame to him in a private conversation way back in 2002:

As WorldNetDaily first reported over the weekend, Vallely claimed Wilson revealed wife Valerie Plame's employment with the CIA to him in a casual conversation in the Fox News "green room" the year before she allegedly was "outed" by columnist Robert Novak.

"As we talked about our families, he did not say she was an agent, only that she was employed by the [Central Intelligence] Agency," Vallely reiterated on TV tonight.

Vallely's disclosure of Wilson's comments first came during ABC Radio's John Batchelor show last Thursday night, and once WND interviewed the general about his remarks, both Vallely and WND received demands for retraction and legal threats from attorney Christopher Wolf, who represents Wilson.

Vallely stands by his claim. Naturally, Wilson has called in a lawyer, who has demanded a retraction. One of those threated with legal action, World Net Daily writer Joseph Farah, observes:

Interestingly, in making the demand by e-mail, Wilson's lawyer passed along to multiple staffers at WND an earlier e-mail written to him by Wilson. When I offered to Wilson and his attorney in a return e-mail the opportunity to set the record straight and present their viewpoint in a follow-up interview, they declined – instead reiterating their bullying legal threat.

Again, interestingly, in his e-mail to the attorney, Wilson did not seem to be disputing that he told Gen. Vallely that his wife was with the CIA. He does not seem to be disputing that he told him this information a year or so before it was publicly revealed in a column written by Bob Novak. What he does seem to be disputing is the precise month he conveyed the information.

Why do you suppose that time frame is so critical to Joe Wilson?

I strongly suspect it is because if Gen. Vallely is right, Wilson himself might be subject to prosecution for "outing" his wife – something with which even Scooter Libby has not been charged

Oddly, chronic attention seeker Joe Wilson has declined an offer to state his case. Farah also notes:

Why were so many people called before the grand jury and forced to testify under oath about the circumstances of this supposed "leak," but not Joe Wilson?

Because if the whole outing thing was quickly revealed to be much ado about nothing there was no chance of catching anyone within the administartion on any tangentially related charge, that's why.