[Mb-civic] Woodward Talks of Admission, Apology - Washington Post

[William Swiggard]

Woodward Talks of Admission, Apology
Author Says He Realized He Would Be 'Dragged Into This'

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 22, 2005; Page A09

Bob Woodward said yesterday that he notified his editor at The 
Washington Post of his involvement in the CIA leak case because he 
realized he "was going to be dragged into this."

In an interview with CNN's Larry King, Woodward, a Post assistant 
managing editor and best-selling author, detailed the events that led 
him to apologize to Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. for not 
notifying him earlier that a senior Bush administration official had 
told him about CIA operative Valerie Plame in June 2003.

In late October, Woodward said, he "learned another piece of this 
puzzle," which prompted him to go into "incredibly aggressive reporting 
mode." He said he called the source and asked about their earlier 
conversation involving Plame, the wife of White House critic and former 
ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. According to Woodward, the source said: 
"I have to go to the prosecutor. I have to tell the truth."

At that point, Woodward told King, "I realized I was going to be dragged 
into this, that I was the catalyst. And then I asked the source, 'If you 
go to the prosecutor, am I released to testify?' And the source told me, 
'Yes.' "

Woodward testified before Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald last 
week but said the source would not release him from his pledge of 
confidentiality on the question of publicly discussing their 
off-the-record conversation.

He added: "Remember, the investigation and the allegations that people 
have printed about this story is that there's some vast conspiracy to 
slime Joe Wilson and his wife, really attack him in an ugly way that is 
outside of the boundaries of political hardball. The evidence I had 
firsthand -- a small piece of the puzzle, I acknowledge -- is that that 
was not the case."

He said the source told him Plame was a CIA analyst on weapons of mass 
destruction. In his experience, Woodward said, such analysts are not 
undercover. Fitzgerald has said Plame had covert status.

Asked how he could have discussed the Fitzgerald probe, on King's show 
among others, without revealing his involvement, Woodward said: "I try 
to give as much information as I can, but it is inevitable -- if I'm 
doing my job trying to dig into what's going on in the Bush 
administration, what is the nature of this war, what is the CIA up to -- 
that there are going to be things I know that we can't talk about, or 
I'm not going to bring up, most certainly."

Downie has said Woodward made a "mistake" in not informing him about the 
Plame conversation and should not have been voicing his opinions about 
Fitzgerald. Woodward told King he had to "find ways of expressing myself 
that don't look like I'm making a judgment or voicing an opinion, but 
offering analysis or, hopefully, some new facts."

Woodward said he was not trying to denigrate Fitzgerald by calling him a 
"junkyard dog." Woodward said he had often used the term to describe 
Michael Isikoff, a Newsweek correspondent who once worked at The Post 
and who was on a CNN panel last month when Woodward offered the description.

In an MSNBC interview in June, Woodward said of Fitzgerald, "His 
behavior in my view has been disgraceful." He said yesterday that he 
meant "it is disgraceful that we have an investigation where reporters 
are being subpoenaed." He also said Fitzgerald was "quite respectful of 
the First Amendment" during last week's deposition.

Asked if the episode has hurt his reputation, Woodward said, "That's for 
other people to judge."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101378.html?nav=hcmodule
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