Frank Pallone: “it is time President Bush's Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove level with the American people and explain…”

“it is time President Bush's Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove level with the American people and explain exactly what his role was in the leak of a covert CIA agent. Mr. Speaker, this is serious business. But from the way the White House has been handling it, you would think it is no big deal. Valerie Plame was a covert CIA agent stationed in many hot spots around the world. When someone in the White House decided to leak her name to reporters they were jeopardizing any undercover operations that Plame had worked with in the past. You would think that President Bush would take this issue very seriously, since it was his father who said in a presidential address at the CIA headquarters back in 1999, and I am going to quote that, ``that I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view the most insidious of traitors.'' Now those are some tough words from the first President Bush who knew the CIA well from his days as director of that agency. But when Valerie Plame's name was first leaked, this president, the current President Bush, also had some tough comments for whoever was responsible. In September 2003 he said in response to a question regarding the leak of Plame's name, and again I am quoting, ``if there is a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is, and if the person has violated the law, the person will be taken care of.'' Well now, Mr.…”