Tom Harkin: “I have taken the last several days on a daily basis to come to the Senate floor to talk about the treacherous and…”

“I have taken the last several days on a daily basis to come to the Senate floor to talk about the treacherous and damaging leak of the identity of a covert CIA operative by the name of Valerie Plame, leaked to a columnist by the name of Robert Novak, reportedly by high-ranking White House officials. I spoke a number of times last year when the events occurred. I spoke about it before a special prosecutor was assigned to investigate. After that special prosecutor was assigned, I did not say much more because I believed things would take their course, the special prosecutor would do his job, and we would get to the bottom of this. July 14 marked 1 year, and this being July 16, it is now 1 year and 2 days since we first learned of the exposing or the outing of Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative. That was the date 1 year ago when this columnist, Robert Novak, publicly exposed Ms. Plame. This was done in an act of political retribution because her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, published a column in the New York Times that questioned one of the key administration justifications for the war in Iraq; namely, that Iraq sought to buy yellow cake uranium ore from Niger. Sadly, Republicans are still at it. They are fixated on Mr. Wilson. They are intent upon destroying his credibility. In columns and editorials and floor statements, the smear campaign continues.”