Armitage

=yet another dick<div class="elleafmedia elleafmedia--sourced-paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, received an endorsement Wednesday from a heavyweight foreign policy adviser to Republican presidents.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">Brent Scowcroft, who served as National Security Adviser to Presidents George H. W. Bush and Gerald Ford, and who worked in the White House of Presidents Richard Nixon and George W. Bush, said Clinton "brings truly unique experience and perspective to the White House."</div><ul class="cn cn-list-hierarchical-xs cn--idx-4 cn-zoneAdContainer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; list-style: none; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);" /><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">His endorsement was released hours after the Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump launched a broad attack on Clinton's experience, honesty and foreign policy experience in a 40-minute speech. Scowcroft directly rebutted Trump's claim that Clinton does not have the temperament to lead, citing her experience working on high-pressure issues such as Iran and Israel.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">"She brings deep expertise in international affairs and a sophisticated understanding of the world, which I believe are essential for the commander-in-chief," Scowcroft said.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">His backing follows that of another prominent Republican in national security circles. Richard Armitage, who served in the State and Defense Departments under George W. Bush and President Ronald Reagan, announced last week that he will vote for Clinton over Trump.</div><div class="zn-bodyread-all" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(38, 38, 38); font-family: CNN, "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, Utkal, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">While scores of Republican experts on national security have publicly declared they cannot support Trump, fewer have taken the step to back Clinton.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">"I believe Hillary Clinton has the wisdom and experience to lead our country at this critical time," Scowcroft said.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">His views have differed from Clinton's in the past, including a divide over the wisdom of invading Iraq, a step Clinton supported at the time, while Scowcroft did not.</div><div class="zn-bodyparagraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">Despite his long history as a Republican adviser, Scowcroft has shaped Democratic views as well. During his first presidential campaign, President Barack Obama said he had "enormous sympathy" for the realist foreign policy approach of both Scowcroft and George H. W. Bush. Scowcroft later helped Obama assemble his national security team.</div><div class="zn-body__paragraph" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 15px; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 1.2rem; line-height: 1.66667; margin-right: 0px;">In a recent Atlantic magazine article outlining Obama's foreign policy views, the President mentioned Scowcroft, saying, "I love that guy."</div></div>
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/11/11/terror_in_little_saigon_new_docTerror in Little Saigon: New Doc Ties US-Allied Kill Squad to Unsolved Murders of Vietnamese Journos 
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/09/10/244768/-The-Secret-History-of-Richard-L-Armitage
 
blogosphere has been agog ever since former assistant secretary of state for George W. Bush, Richard Armitage, admitted "he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case" (New York Times). The admission followed the scoop (long suspected) that Armitage was the initial leaker of Valerie Plame's name, as reported in Newsweek. 
This diary will detail the political history of Mr. Armitage, who is usually briefly identified as a friend and ally of Colin Powell, and an enemy of the neo-cons in the George W. Bush administration. If you follow the details below, wherein it is shown that Richard Armitage has a shadowy and dirty history in U.S. intelligence operations, including Iran-Contra, and has long been a sophisticated member of the top echelons of the U.S. government, in addition to being a prominent member of the neo-con Project for the New American Century -- I think that the idea that Armitage was a gossipy and forgetful bumbler who innocently let fall Plame's name will seem more and more unlikely.

--- blogosphere has been agog ever since former assistant secretary of state for George W. Bush, Richard Armitage, admitted "he was the person whose conversation with a columnist in 2003 prompted a long, politically laden criminal investigation in what became known as the C.I.A. leak case" (New York Times). The admission followed the scoop (long suspected) that Armitage was the initial leaker of Valerie Plame's name, as reported in Newsweek.This diary will detail the political history of Mr. Armitage, who is usually briefly identified as a friend and ally of Colin Powell, and an enemy of the neo-cons in the George W. Bush administration. If you follow the details below, wherein it is shown that Richard Armitage has a shadowy and dirty history in U.S. intelligence operations, including Iran-Contra, and has long been a sophisticated member of the top echelons of the U.S. government, in addition to being a prominent member of the neo-con Project for the New American Century -- I think that the idea that Armitage was a gossipy and forgetful bumbler who innocently let fall Plame's name will seem more and more unlikely.
The U.S. State Department describes Mr. Armitage's early career thusly:Born in 1945, Mr. Armitage graduated in 1967 from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. He served on a destroyer stationed on the Vietnam gunline and subsequently completed three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces in Vietnam. Fluent in Vietnamese, Mr. Armitage left active duty in 1973 and joined the U.S. Defense Attache Office, Saigon. Immediately prior to the fall of Saigon, he organized and led the removal of Vietnamese naval assets and personnel from the country.Most sources note that Armitage was fluent in Vietnamese, without naming how or where he learned this. This language facility in a young officer is usually the sign of a trained intelligence agent. (Of course, he may have just been highly ambitious; or maybe he was drawn by some affinity with the Vietnamese culture.) After he resigned from active duty in 1973, he went to work at the office of the U.S. Defense Attache in Saigon. According to Carr's Compendium of the Vietnam War:
The Defense Attache Office, Saigon was activated 28 January 1973 by Major General John E. Murray. In addition to the traditional functions of defense attache, DAO Saigon also assumed the advisory duties and supervision of military assistance programs from the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam when it stood down in the aftermath of the cease-fire negotiated that month at the Paris Peace Conference.It is said that it was at the Defense Attache office that Armitage made the acquaintance of Ted Shackley, CIA Saigon chief. In any case, Armitage helped in the evacuation of the U.S. personnel as Saigon fell. After Vietnam, he is said by the South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) to have joined the Defense Intelligence Agency, and was soon posted to Iran. (The State Dept. bio lists him then as a "Pentagon consultant".) After a few years of this, he left government service to go into... the import/export business. (Didn't every TV spy also have a job in import/export?)
According to SAAG:
It is generally believed that Mr. Armitage actually served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) till 1978 and from 1976, after a cover resignation from the CIA, worked for some private companies of the CIA, which were being used by it for covert actions in Indo-China.In a famous lawsuit brought by the Christic Institute, Daniel Sheehan, an attorney already famous for the Silkwood case, made the accusation that:
"From late 1973 until April of 1975, Theodore Shackley, Thomas Clines and Richard Armitage disbursed, from the secret, Laotian-based, Vang Pao opium fund, vastly more money than was required to finance even the highly intensified Phoenix Project in Vietnam. The money in excess of that used in Vietnam was secretly smuggled out of Vietnam in large suitcases, by Richard Secord and Thomas Clines and carried into Australia, where it was deposited in a secret, personal bank account...."In Tehran, Armitage, set up a secret "financial conduit" inside Iran, into which secret Vang Pao drug funds could be deposited from Southeast Asia. According to Daniel Sheehan: "The purpose of this conduit was to serve as the vehicle for secret funding by Shackley's "Secret Team," of a private, non-CIA authorized "Black" operations inside Iran, disposed to seek out, identify, and assassinate socialist and communist sympathizers, who were viewed by Shackley and his "Secret Team" members to be "potential terrorists" against the Shah of Iran`s government in Iran."[Conspiracy digression -- Since these are explosive accusations, I should add that much of this was also reported in Joel Bainerman's book The Crimes of a President, which some have criticized as a conspiracy book. The Christic Institute had their lawsuit thrown out of court in 1989, and they were fined an unprecedented $955,000 in sanctions. The Christic Institute was not known, however, as a nuthouse conspiracy organization. They had run the Karen Silkwood case all the way to victory at the Supreme Court; they won a verdict in federal civil court against Klan members and police officers implicated in the famous Greensboro shootings in 1979 and worked with ABC cameraman Tony Avirgan and his wife, journalist Martha Honey, on the La Penca terrorist bombing in Nicaragua. See link.]
Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh had investigated Richard Armitage during the Iran-Contra scandal and had decided to not indict him. From Walsh's Report's Executive Summary:
The notes demonstrated that Weinberger's early testimony...was false, and that he in fact had detailed information on the proposed arms sales and the actual deliveries. The notes also revealed that Gen. Colin Powell, Weinberger's senior military aide, and Richard L. Armitage, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, also had detailed knowledge of the 1985 shipments from Israeli stocks....Independent Counsel declined to prosecute Armitage because the OIC's limited resources were focused on the case against Weinberger and because the evidence against Armitage, while substantial, did not reach the threshold of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.Armitage's first political job appears to have been for Bob Dole, as an administrative assistant in 1978. Only two years later, he is a prominent member of the Interim Foreign Policy Advisory Board for incoming President Ronald Reagan, who later appointed him Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, and later, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.
Okay, okay, say you with the blurry eyes and tired brain, trying to get the gist of all this. Where's the meat? I'm going to ask you to hang on a little longer, because it's the total gestalt of the Armitage picture that I'm trying to portray. But already, I think, we can see that he is a central player in GOP/U.S. conservative shenanigans and crimes going way back.
When the administration of George H.W. Bush rolled around, Mr. Armitage was nominated to be Secretary of the Army. But Armitage had to withdraw his nomination after a scandal erupted. It wasn't about Iran-Contra or drug-running. It was about sex and money. From a 2001 story from In These Times, by Jim Nureckas, who claimed an unpublished article of his got used by GOP types to spike Armitage's nomination:
The article was about Armitage's relationship with a woman named Nguyet Thi O'Rourke, a Vietnamese immigrant convicted of running a gambling operation in Northern Virginia. Armitage had already attracted the attention of the President's Commission on Organized Crime by writing a glowing character reference for her in conjunction with her trial, on Pentagon stationery no less.... It seemed that when the Arlington Police raided O'Rourke's house, they discovered some unusual photographs: They showed a nude O'Rourke holding another photo, which depicted her and Armitage wearing swimsuits.Apparently Ross Perot and other assorted right-wing types were mad at Armitage for not being more rabid on the Vietnam-MIA issue, then a favorite far-right shrieking point. They used the information to ax the Armitage nomination.
Well, Armitage survived the scandal (he seems to have a genius for surviving) and was used by Bush I for special assignments, negotiating on military bases in the Philippines, a mediator on water issues in the Middle East. Per Wikipedia's bio:
In 1991, he was appointed a special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan. Following this, he was sent to Europe with the title of ambassador; his assignment was to direct U.S. foreign aid to the states that had been formed out of the fallen Soviet Union. He served here until 1993, at which point he entered the private sector.Of course, this date (1993) corresponds with the accession of the Clinton Presidency.
Again, from South Asia Analysis Group:
In May 1993, he floated an organisation called the Armitage Associates L.C., with himself as its President, to provide consultancy services to Government Departments and business companies on a wide range of subjects relating to international relations and security.Amongst other positions held by him since leaving public service in 1993 were as a member of the Board of Directors of the General Dynamics Electric Systems, Inc....
He is reputed to be one of the highly decorated officers of the US public service.  He has received numerous military decorations from the Governments of Thailand, Republic of Korea, Bahrain, and Pakistan.All well and good, but Sourcewatch chimes in with some poltically important information. Armitage is described as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Also:
He is one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, Project for the New American Century PNAC letter to President William Jefferson Clinton... He is also a former board member for CACI International, the private military contractor, which "is being investigated by no less than 5 US agencies for possible contract violations" and "employed four interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison" in Iraq, one of whom was singled out by General Taguba in his report on abuses of Iraqi detainees at the prison.Okay, let's sum up thus far: CIA in Vietnam, drugs in Laos, an Iran-Contra plotter, a decorated member of government service, embroiled in possible sex scandal with a Vietnamese woman, a friend of Powell (who's lionized by many, but is a lackey who got his start by trying to cover up the My Lai massacre in Vietnam), involved with companies that torture in Iraq, and a charter neo-con member.
Now, how does this all jibe with Michael Isikoff's recent conclusion in Newsweek? --
The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case, underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.Yeah, how could a big fat teddy bear of a man, a cuddly member of the anti-Cheney cabal behind Colin Powell, know anything about Iraq WMD? What would this ex-ambassador to Jordan, this drumbeater for war in Iraq, care about what some CIA operative running a Joint Task Force on Iraq WMD care about the likely fact that the JTF was not going to find the WMD the war party wanted? (See this and other related issues covered by emptywheel over at The Next Hurrah.)
I'm not going to go into the history of Mr. Armitage in the Plame scandal, or even in the administration of GBushJr, as this story is too hot and breaking to be adequately summarized here, and I refer readers to other diaries at Daily Kos or over at The Next Hurrah (see link above).
However, I end by questioning the conventional wisdom. Is Armitage really a "moderate"? I'd say he and Powell may represent a clique within the neo-con administration, but politically they are not qualitatively different. One must learn the difference between cliques and principled oppositions or factions. Was Armitage really, as Novak labelled him, "not a partisan gunslinger"? Was it only "chit chat" or "gossip" that was involved in his outing of Valerie Plame?
Okay, you decide. But as you read the stories about Armitage in the days and weeks to come, or if you go back and read the prior week's articles and essays, consider the history of Richard L. Armitage, and see if you don't come away wondering if there isn't far more to his involvement than meets the eye.
==<div id="mw-content-text" lang="en" dir="ltr" class="mw-content-ltr" style="direction: ltr; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Richard L. Armitage, Beginning March 2005, Richard L. Armitage became President of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Armitage_International" title="Armitage International" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Armitage International</a>.Armitage served as Deputy Secretary of State during President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George W. Bush</a>'s first term, has emerged as a key witness in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CIA" title="CIA" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">CIA</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Treasongate:Beyond_Karl_Rove" title="Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">leak probe</a>," Kenneth R. Bazinet and James Gordon Meek <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/419364p-354152c.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">reported</a> in the May 20, 2006, New York Daily News."Armitage has been questioned several times, but is not expected to be indicted by the federal grand jury investigating who outed CIA spy <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Valerie_Plame" title="Valerie Plame" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Valerie Plame</a> to journalists in 2003, sources said." However, Armitage's "testimony could hurt" <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/I.Lewis_Scooter_Libby" title="I. Lewis Scooter Libby" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">I. Lewis Scooter Libby</a>, Vice President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Dick_Cheney" title="Dick Cheney" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dick Cheney</a>'s "indicted former chief aide," or <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Karl_Rove" title="Karl Rove" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Karl Rove</a>, President George W. Bush's "political guru," Bazinet and Meek wrote. "Two sources familiar with the case said Armitage, Rove and Libby all had contacts with the press about Plame. Unlike Rove and Libby, Armitage appears to have tried to dissuade reporters from writing about her."<hr style="height: 1px; color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border: 0px; margin: 0.2em 0px; background-color: rgb(170, 170, 170);" /><div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="color: black; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#Trial_of_Scooter_Libby" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1 Trial of Scooter Libby</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#Profiles" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2 Profiles</a><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-2 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#Other_Affiliations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2.1 Other Affiliations</a></li></ul></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#Related_SourceWatch_Resources" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">3 Related SourceWatch Resources</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#External_links" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">4 External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Trial_of_Scooter_Libby" title="Trial of Scooter Libby" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Trial of Scooter Libby</a></h2>On February 12, 2007, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Bob_Woodward" title="Bob Woodward" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bob Woodward</a> testified that "former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage disclosed the identity of a C.I.A. agent to him in June 2003, but that I. Lewis Libby Jr. said nothing about the agent when Mr. Woodward talked to him two weeks later," David Stout <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/washington/12cnd-libby.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">reported</a> in the New York Times.Also see:
<ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">emptywheel, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/02/12/libby-live-woodward-one/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Libby Live: Woodward One,"</a> Firedoglake, February 12, 2007.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">David Stout, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/12/washington/12cnd-libby.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Woodward Says He Didn’t Discuss Agent With Libby,"</a> New York Times, February 12, 2007.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Matt Apuzzo, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/02/12/national/w101349S93.DTL&type=politics" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Woodward Tapes Reveal Leak,"</a> Associated Press (San Francisco Chronicle), February 12, 2007.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17112876/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Libby jurors hear Armitage leak CIA agent's ID. Journalist Novak likely to testify Monday, NBC's Mitchell possible Tuesday,"</a> NBC News (MSNBC), February 12, 2007.</li></ul><h2 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Profiles</h2>Armitage, considered to be a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Conservative (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(165, 88, 88); background: none;">conservative</a> "neo con" (<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Neo-conservative" title="Neo-conservative" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">neo-conservative</a>), is a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Council_on_Foreign_Relations" title="Council on Foreign Relations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Council on Foreign Relations</a>.<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.foreignpolicy2000.org/convention/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[1]</a> He is one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_for_the_New_American_Century" title="Project for the New American Century" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Project for the New American Century</a><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://theindependentvoice.tripod.com/theindependentvoice/index.blog?entry_id=417960" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">PNAC letter</a> to President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/William_Jefferson_Clinton" title="William Jefferson Clinton" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">William Jefferson Clinton</a>.<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.channel4.com/news/2003/special_reports/pnacletter.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[2]</a> He is also a former board member for <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/CACI_International" title="CACI International" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">CACI International</a>, the private military contractor, which "is being investigated by no less than 5 US agencies for possible contract violations" and "employed four interrogators at <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Abu_Ghraib" title="Abu Ghraib" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Abu Ghraib</a> prison" in Iraq, one of whom was singled out by General Taguba in his report on abuses of Iraqi detainees at the prison.<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://counterpunch.org/palmer06152004.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[3]</a>"Most recently, Richard Armitage was the President of Armitage Associates. Previously, he served with the rank of Ambassador as the Coordinator for Technical and Humanitarian Assistance to the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union. President <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_Herbert_Walker_Bush" title="George Herbert Walker Bush" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George Herbert Walker Bush</a> appointed him as a Presidential Special Negotiator for the Philippines Military Base Agreement, a Special Mediator for Water in the Middle East and as a Special Emissary to Jordan during the 1991 Gulf War. In addition, Richard served in the Pentagon as Assistant Secretary of Defense and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy and then completed four tours of duty in Vietnam."<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.results.gov/leadership/bio_16.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[4]</a>"Richard Armitage, one of the Iran-Contra plotters, was a board member of Database Technologies (DBT)/<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ChoicePoint" title="ChoicePoint" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ChoicePoint</a> Inc before taking office under George Bush Jr. ... Choicepoint is a partner of data mining company <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Science_Applications_International_Corporation" title="Science Applications International Corporation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">SAIC</a> whose web site proclaims it has "developed a strategic alliance with ChoicePoint Incorporated to provide our clients with quick and effortless information retrieval from public records data. ChoicePoint Incorporated maintains thousands of gigabytes of public records data.""<a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.counterpunch.org/solo10012003.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[5]</a>"In the 1980 Reagan campaign Mr. Armitage was senior advisor to the Interim Foreign Policy Advisory Board, which prepared the President-Elect for major international policy issues confronting the new administration. From 1981 until June 1983 Mr. Armitage was Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.ifpafletcherconference.com/army2000/bios/armitage_rt.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[6]</a>"Armitage, who was denied a 1989 appointment as Assistant Secretary of State because of links to Iran-Contra and other scandals, served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs in the Reagan years. U.S. Government stipulations in the Oliver North trial specifically named Armitage as one of the DoD officials responsible for illegal transfers of weapons to Iran and the Contras." <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/politics/armitage_SS.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[7]</a><h3 style="color: black; margin: 0.3em 0px 0px; overflow: hidden; padding-top: 0.5em; padding-bottom: 0px; border-bottom-style: none; line-height: 1.6; background: none;">Other Affiliations</h3><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Aspen_Strategy_Group" title="Aspen Strategy Group" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Aspen Strategy Group</a>.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Trustee, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_C.Marshall_Foundation" title="George C. Marshall Foundation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George C. Marshall Foundation</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Leadership Group, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/U.S.-Muslim_Engagement_Project" title="U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Director, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Center_for_a_New_American_Security" title="Center for a New American Security" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Center for a New American Security</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a></li></ul><h2 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Related SourceWatch Resources</h2><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Abu_Ghraib" title="Abu Ghraib" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Abu Ghraib</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/ChoicePoint" title="ChoicePoint" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ChoicePoint</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Council_on_Foreign_Relations" title="Council on Foreign Relations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Council on Foreign Relations</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Defense_contractors" title="Defense contractors" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Defense contractors</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_Herbert_Walker_Bush" title="George Herbert Walker Bush" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George Herbert Walker Bush</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/George_Walker_Bush" title="George Walker Bush" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George Walker Bush</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Iran/Contra_scandal" title="Iran/Contra scandal" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Iran/Contra scandal</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Private_Military_Corporations" title="Private Military Corporations" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Private Military Corporations</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Project_for_the_New_American_Century" title="Project for the New American Century" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Project for the New American Century</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ronald Reagan</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Science_Applications_International_Corporation" title="Science Applications International Corporation" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Science Applications International Corporation</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Treasongate:Beyond_Karl_Rove" title="Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Treasongate: Beyond Karl Rove</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Randy_Schriver" title="Randy Schriver" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Randy Schriver</a> - former advisor</li></ul><h2 style="color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none;">External links</h2><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">David Palmer, "<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://counterpunch.org/palmer06152004.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">Richard Armitage, Abu Ghraib and CACI</a>," CounterPunch, June 15, 2004.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Murray_Waas" title="Murray Waas" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Murray Waas</a>, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?articleId=9473" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Exclusive: Plame Game Over?"</a> American Prospect, April 6, 2005.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Public I (financial holdings) <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.public-i.org/cgi-bin/WhosWhoSearch.asp?Display=Details&Person_ID=1007" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">[8]</a></li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Chris Floyd, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m22867&l=i&size=1&hd=0" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8+PGc+PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c+PC9nPjwvc3ZnPg) 100% 50%;">"Knight Rider: Murder and Plunder Mean Honors for Armitage,"</a> uruknet, April 25, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">John Byrne, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Senior_Powell_aide_focus_of_CIA_0518.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Senior Powell aide focus of CIA leak investigation, former spymaster says,"</a> The Raw Story, May 18, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">John Byrne, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Lawyers_discount_claims_Powell_aide_in_0519.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Lawyer disputes claim Powell aide focus of CIA leak probe; New indication focus is on coverup, not leak,"</a> The Raw Story, May 19, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Kenneth R. Bazinet and James Gordon Meek, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/419364p-354152c.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Ex-deputy secretary of state new figure in CIA leak probe,"</a> New York Daily News, May 21, 2006 (originally published May 20th).</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002539898" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Armitage Key Witness in Libby/CIA Leak Case?"</a> Editor & Publisher, May 21, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Matt Apuzzo and John Solomon, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2340099" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Calendars Show Armitage Met Reporter,"</a> Associated Press (ABC News), August 21, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Matt Apuzzo, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2344046" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Plame Considering Suing Armitage,"</a> Associated Press (ABC News), August 22, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Michael Isikoff, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533384/site/newsweek/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"The Man Who Said Too Much. A book coauthored by NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff details Richard Armitage's central role in the Valerie Plame leak,"</a> Newsweek (MSNBC), August 27, 2006 (September 4, 2006, issue).</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">David Corn, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?pid=116511" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"The Meaning of the Armitage Leak in the Plame Case,"</a> Capital Games Blog/The Nation, also posted in <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-corn/the-meaning-of-the-armita_b_28097.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">The Huffington Post</a>, August 27, 2006; <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.alternet.org/story/40929/" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">AlterNet</a>, August 28, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Jason Smith, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://newsbusters.org/node/7211" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"What Did Fitzgerald Know and When Did He Know It?"</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/NewsBusters" title="NewsBusters" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">NewsBusters</a>, August 27, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://libbydefensefund.com/news/06/0827.htm" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Beware of the Armitage Red Herring,"</a> LibbyDefenseFund.com, August 27, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Richard Luscombe, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1859622,00.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Powell's deputy 'leaked name of CIA agent',"</a> Guardian Unlimited (UK), August 28, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Robert Novak, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-edt-novak14.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Real story behind Armitage's role,"</a> Chicago Sun-Times, September 13, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">David Corn, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-corn/novak-vs-armitage-was-t_b_29400.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Novak vs. Armitage: Was the Plame Leak Deliberate?"</a> The Huffington Post, September 13, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Robert Novak, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Robert+Novak%3A+Armitage%27s+tardy+self-disclosure+is+tainted+and+deceptive&articleId=8ac4c24e-5f8e-4769-96ac-a37fe1854cd1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Armitage's tardy self-disclosure is tainted and deceptive,"</a> Union-Leader (Manchester, NH), September 14, 2006; <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nationalledger.com/artman/publish/article_27268376.shtml" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Armitage's Leak,"</a> The National Ledger.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">R. Jeffrey Smith, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/13/AR2006091302066.html" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Novak Accuses Plame Source Of Distortion. Armitage Minimizes Role In Leak; Columnist Differs,"</a> Washington Post, September 14, 2006.</li><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Eddie-george, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://houseoflabor.tpmcafe.com/blog/eddie_george/2006/sep/14/robert_novak_digging_one_heckuva_hole" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">"Robert Novak digging one heckuva hole,"</a> TPM Cafe, September 14, 2006.]<ol class="references" style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 3.2em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;" /></li></ul><ul style="line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0.3em 0px 0.5em 1.6em; padding: 0px; list-style-image: url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAANAQMAAABb8jbLAAAABlBMVEX///8AUow5QSOjAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAABNJREFUCB1jYEABBQw/wLCAgQEAGpIDyT0IVcsAAAAASUVORK5CYII=);"><li id="cite_note-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#cite_ref-1" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.usmuslimengagement.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=44" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">Leadership Group</a>, U.S.-Muslim Engagement Project, accessed January 2, 2009.</li><li id="cite_note-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Richard_L.Armitage#cite_ref-2" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;"><span class="cite-accessibility-label" style="top: -99999px; clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; padding: 0px !important; border: 0px !important; height: 1px !important; width: 1px !important; -webkit-user-select: none;">Jump up↑</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.cnas.org/people/boardofdirectors" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(102, 51, 102); padding-right: 13px; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) 100% 50% no-repeat, url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,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) 100% 50%;">Board of Directors</a>, Center for a New American Security, accessed January 14, 2011.</li></ul></div><div id="catlinks" class="catlinks" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 5px; margin-top: 1em; clear: both; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); line-height: 22.4px; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="mw-normal-catlinks" class="mw-normal-catlinks"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Special:Categories" title="Special:Categories" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Categories</a>: <ul style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style: none none; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; display: inline;"><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-style: none; padding: 0px 0.5em 0px 0.25em; zoom: 1;"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Category:Politics(U.S.)" title="Category:Politics (U.S.)" style="text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Politics (U.S.)</a></li><li style="margin: 0.125em 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: 1.25em; border-left-width: 1px; border-left-style: solid; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0px 0.5em; 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<div class="story-body story-content" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: 0.125px; line-height: 22.4px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://www.state.gov/s/d/former/42439.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">The U.S. State Department</a> describes Mr. Armitage's early career thusly:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">Born in 1945, Mr. Armitage graduated in 1967 from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. He served on a destroyer stationed on the Vietnam gunline and subsequently completed three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces in Vietnam. Fluent in Vietnamese, Mr. Armitage left active duty in 1973 and joined the U.S. Defense Attache Office, Saigon. Immediately prior to the fall of Saigon, he organized and led the removal of Vietnamese naval assets and personnel from the country.</blockquote>

Most sources note that Armitage was fluent in Vietnamese, without naming how or where he learned this. This language facility in a young officer is usually the sign of a trained intelligence agent. (Of course, he may have just been highly ambitious; or maybe he was drawn by some affinity with the Vietnamese culture.) After he resigned from active duty in 1973, he went to work at the office of the U.S. Defense Attache in Saigon. According to <a href="http://www.carrscompendiums.com/Web_DAS.html" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Carr's Compendium of the Vietnam War</a>:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">The Defense Attache Office, Saigon was activated 28 January 1973 by Major General John E. Murray. In addition to the traditional functions of defense attache, DAO Saigon also assumed the advisory duties and supervision of military assistance programs from the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam when it stood down in the aftermath of the cease-fire negotiated that month at the Paris Peace Conference.</blockquote>

<a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKarmitage.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">It is said</a> that it was at the Defense Attache office that Armitage made the acquaintance of Ted Shackley, CIA Saigon chief. In any case, Armitage helped in the evacuation of the U.S. personnel as Saigon fell. After Vietnam, he is said by the <a href="http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper204.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG)</a> to have joined the Defense Intelligence Agency, and was soon posted to Iran. (The State Dept. bio lists him then as a "Pentagon consultant".) After a few years of this, he left government service to go into... the import/export business. (Didn't every TV spy also have a job in import/export?)

According to <a href="http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper204.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">SAAG</a>:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">It is generally believed that Mr. Armitage actually served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) till 1978 and from 1976, after a cover resignation from the CIA, worked for some private companies of the CIA, which were being used by it for covert actions in Indo-China.</blockquote>

In a famous lawsuit brought by <a href="http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKarmitage.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">the Christic Institute</a>, Daniel Sheehan, an attorney already famous for the Silkwood case, made the accusation that:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">"From late 1973 until April of 1975, Theodore Shackley, Thomas Clines and Richard Armitage disbursed, from the secret, Laotian-based, Vang Pao opium fund, vastly more money than was required to finance even the highly intensified Phoenix Project in Vietnam. The money in excess of that used in Vietnam was secretly smuggled out of Vietnam in large suitcases, by Richard Secord and Thomas Clines and carried into Australia, where it was deposited in a secret, personal bank account...."

In Tehran, Armitage, set up a secret "financial conduit" inside Iran, into which secret Vang Pao drug funds could be deposited from Southeast Asia. According to Daniel Sheehan: "The purpose of this conduit was to serve as the vehicle for secret funding by Shackley's "Secret Team," of a private, non-CIA authorized "Black" operations inside Iran, disposed to seek out, identify, and assassinate socialist and communist sympathizers, who were viewed by Shackley and his "Secret Team" members to be "potential terrorists" against the Shah of Iran`s government in Iran."

</blockquote>

[Conspiracy digression -- Since these are explosive accusations, I should add that much of this was also reported in Joel Bainerman's book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Crimes-President-Revelations-Conspiracy-Administration/dp/1561711888/sr=1-1/qid=1157864004/ref=sr_1_1/103-3970078-7751066?ie=UTF8&s=books" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">The Crimes of a President</a>, which some have criticized as a conspiracy book. The Christic Institute had their lawsuit thrown out of court in 1989, and they were fined an unprecedented $955,000 in sanctions. The Christic Institute was not known, however, as a nuthouse conspiracy organization. They had run the Karen Silkwood case all the way to victory at the Supreme Court; they won a verdict in federal civil court against Klan members and police officers implicated in the famous Greensboro shootings in 1979 and worked with ABC cameraman Tony Avirgan and his wife, journalist Martha Honey, on the La Penca terrorist bombing in Nicaragua. See <a href="http://www.skepticfiles.org/socialis/christic.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">link</a>.]

Special Prosecutor Lawrence Walsh had investigated Richard Armitage during the Iran-Contra scandal and had decided to not indict him. From Walsh's Report's <a href="http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/execsum.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Executive Summary</a>:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">The notes demonstrated that Weinberger's early testimony...was false, and that he in fact had detailed information on the proposed arms sales and the actual deliveries. The notes also revealed that Gen. Colin Powell, Weinberger's senior military aide, and Richard L. Armitage, assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs, also had detailed knowledge of the 1985 shipments from Israeli stocks....

Independent Counsel declined to prosecute Armitage because the OIC's limited resources were focused on the case against Weinberger and because the evidence against Armitage, while substantial, did not reach the threshold of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

</blockquote>

Armitage's first political job appears to have been for Bob Dole, as an administrative assistant in 1978. Only two years later, he is a prominent member of the Interim Foreign Policy Advisory Board for incoming President Ronald Reagan, who later appointed him Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, and later, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.

Okay, okay, say you with the blurry eyes and tired brain, trying to get the gist of all this. Where's the meat? I'm going to ask you to hang on a little longer, because it's the total gestalt of the Armitage picture that I'm trying to portray. But already, I think, we can see that he is a central player in GOP/U.S. conservative shenanigans and crimes going way back.

When the administration of George H.W. Bush rolled around, Mr. Armitage was nominated to be Secretary of the Army. But Armitage had to withdraw his nomination after a scandal erupted. It wasn't about Iran-Contra or drug-running. It was about sex and money. From a 2001 story from <a href="http://www.inthesetimes.com/issue/25/07/naureckas2507.html" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">In These Times, by Jim Nureckas</a>, who claimed an unpublished article of his got used by GOP types to spike Armitage's nomination:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">The article was about Armitage's relationship with a woman named Nguyet Thi O'Rourke, a Vietnamese immigrant convicted of running a gambling operation in Northern Virginia. Armitage had already attracted the attention of the President's Commission on Organized Crime by writing a glowing character reference for her in conjunction with her trial, on Pentagon stationery no less.... It seemed that when the Arlington Police raided O'Rourke's house, they discovered some unusual photographs: They showed a nude O'Rourke holding another photo, which depicted her and Armitage wearing swimsuits.</blockquote>

Apparently Ross Perot and other assorted right-wing types were mad at Armitage for not being more rabid on the Vietnam-MIA issue, then a favorite far-right shrieking point. They used the information to ax the Armitage nomination.

Well, Armitage survived the scandal (he seems to have a genius for surviving) and was used by Bush I for special assignments, negotiating on military bases in the Philippines, a mediator on water issues in the Middle East. Per<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Wikipedia's bio</a>:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">In 1991, he was appointed a special emissary to King Hussein of Jordan. Following this, he was sent to Europe with the title of ambassador; his assignment was to direct U.S. foreign aid to the states that had been formed out of the fallen Soviet Union. He served here until 1993, at which point he entered the private sector.</blockquote>

Of course, this date (1993) corresponds with the accession of the Clinton Presidency.

Again, from <a href="http://www.saag.org/papers3/paper204.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">South Asia Analysis Group</a>:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">In May 1993, he floated an organisation called the Armitage Associates L.C., with himself as its President, to provide consultancy services to Government Departments and business companies on a wide range of subjects relating to international relations and security.

Amongst other positions held by him since leaving public service in 1993 were as a member of the Board of Directors of the General Dynamics Electric Systems, Inc....

He is reputed to be one of the highly decorated officers of the US public service.  He has received numerous military decorations from the Governments of Thailand, Republic of Korea, Bahrain, and Pakistan.

</blockquote>

All well and good, but <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Sourcewatch</a> chimes in with some poltically important information. Armitage is described as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Also:

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">He is one of the signers of the January 26, 1998, <a href="http://theindependentvoice.tripod.com/theindependentvoice/index.blog?entry_id=417960" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Project for the New American Century PNAC letter to President William Jefferson Clinton</a>... He is also a former board member for CACI International, the private military contractor, which "is being investigated by no less than 5 US agencies for possible contract violations" and <a href="http://counterpunch.org/palmer06152004.html" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">"employed four interrogators at Abu Ghraib prison"</a> in Iraq, one of whom was singled out by General Taguba in his report on abuses of Iraqi detainees at the prison.</blockquote>

Okay, let's sum up thus far: CIA in Vietnam, drugs in Laos, an Iran-Contra plotter, a decorated member of government service, embroiled in possible sex scandal with a Vietnamese woman, a friend of Powell (who's lionized by many, but is a lackey who got his start by <a href="http://www.usvetdsp.com/story13.htm" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">trying to cover up the My Lai massacre in Vietnam</a>), involved with companies that torture in Iraq, and a charter neo-con member.

Now, how does this all jibe with <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14533384/site/newsweek/page/2/" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Michael Isikoff's recent conclusion in Newsweek</a>? --

<blockquote style=" box-sizing: border-box; padding: 30px 60px; margin: 20px 0px; font-size: 14px; border: 0px; width: 763.188px; line-height: 1.6em; position: relative; z-index: -1; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247);">The disclosures about Armitage, gleaned from interviews with colleagues, friends and lawyers directly involved in the case, underscore one of the ironies of the Plame investigation: that the initial leak, seized on by administration critics as evidence of how far the White House was willing to go to smear an opponent, came from a man who had no apparent intention of harming anyone.</blockquote>

Yeah, how could a big fat teddy bear of a man, a cuddly member of the anti-Cheney cabal behind Colin Powell, know anything about Iraq WMD? What would this ex-ambassador to Jordan, this drumbeater for war in Iraq, care about what some CIA operative running a Joint Task Force on Iraq WMD care about the likely fact that the JTF was not going to find the WMD the war party wanted? (See this and other related issues covered by <a href="http://thenexthurrah.typepad.com/the_next_hurrah/2006/08/primary_source.html#more" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">emptywheel over at The Next Hurrah</a>.)

I'm not going to go into the history of Mr. Armitage in the Plame scandal, or even in the administration of GBushJr, as this story is too hot and breaking to be adequately summarized here, and I refer readers to other diaries at<a href="http://www.dailykos.com/tag/Valerie%20Plame" style=" box-sizing: border-box; color: gray; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">Daily Kos</a> or over at The Next Hurrah (see link above).

However, I end by questioning the conventional wisdom. Is Armitage really a "moderate"? I'd say he and Powell may represent a clique within the neo-con administration, but politically they are not qualitatively different. One must learn the difference between cliques and principled oppositions or factions. Was Armitage really, as Novak labelled him, "not a partisan gunslinger"? Was it only "chit chat" or "gossip" that was involved in his outing of Valerie Plame?

Okay, you decide. But as you read the stories about Armitage in the days and weeks to come, or if you go back and read the prior week's articles and essays, consider the history of Richard L. Armitage, and see if you don't come away wondering if there isn't far more to his involvement than meets the ey

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===

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)

Richard Lee Armitage (born April 26, 1945) is an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American</a> former naval officer and a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republican</a> politician who was appointed the 13th <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Deputy_Secretary_of_State" title="United States Deputy Secretary of State" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">United States Deputy Secretary of State</a> at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State" title="United States Department of State" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">State Department</a>, serving from 2001 to 2005 under<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George W. Bush</a>. He has acknowledged that he publicly released the classified information that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame_Wilson" title="Valerie Plame Wilson" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Valerie Plame Wilson</a> was a secret agent for the CIA, triggering the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair" title="Plame affair" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Plame affair</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-wp-ArmitageSays-1" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a> although he has said it was inadvertent.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-abcarmitage-2" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[2]</a>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: bold; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; font-size: 13.3px; display: inline; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>

[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#" id="togglelink" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">hide</a>] </div>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Early_life_and_military_career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">1Early life and military career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Public_service_career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2Public service career</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Bush_administration" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">3Bush administration</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Role_in_Plame_affair" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">4Role in Plame affair</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Pakistan_and_the_fight_against_terrorism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">5Pakistan and the fight against terrorism</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Life_after_public_service" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">6Life after public service</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-7" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Honors_and_awards" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">7Honors and awards</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-8" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#Personal_life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">8Personal life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-9" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#References" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">9References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-10" style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#External_links" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">10External links</a></li>

</ul>

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<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Early life and military career<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Early life and military career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

He served on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destroyer" title="Destroyer" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">destroyer</a> stationed off the coast of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam" title="Vietnam" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vietnam</a> during the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnam_War" title="Vietnam War" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vietnam War</a> before volunteering to serve what would eventually become three combat tours with the riverine/advisory forces for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Vietnam_Navy" title="Republic of Vietnam Navy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republic of Vietnam Navy</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-wh-bio-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a>According to Captain <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiem_Do" title="Kiem Do" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Kiem Do</a>, a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Vietnam_Navy" title="Republic of Vietnam Navy" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Republic of Vietnam Navy</a> officer who served with him in Vietnam, Armitage "seemed drawn like a 'moth to flame' to the hotspots of the naval war: bedding down on the ground with Vietnamese <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commando" title="Commando" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">commandos</a>, sharing their <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ration" title="Ration" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">rations</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_sauce" title="Hot sauce" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">hot sauce</a>, telling jokes in flawless <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vietnamese_language" title="Vietnamese language" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vietnamese</a>".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-Kiem-4" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a> Instead of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform" title="Uniform" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">uniform</a>, Armitage often dressed in native garb. He adopted a Vietnamese pseudonym, "Tran Phu", based on an arbitrary, but personally relevant translation of his real name.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-Kiem-4" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[4]</a>

Several associates who fought alongside Armitage and other politicians (including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Shackley" title="Ted Shackley" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ted Shackley</a>)<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-Vulcans42-5" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a> have since claimed that Armitage was associated with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Intelligence_Agency" title="Central Intelligence Agency" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Central Intelligence Agency</a>'s (CIA) clandestine <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Program" title="Phoenix Program" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Phoenix Program</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-Vulcans42-5" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[5]</a> Armitage has denied a role in Phoenix and has stated that—at most—CIA officers would occasionally ask him for intelligence reports.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-6" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[6]</a>

In 1973, Armitage left active duty and joined the office of the U.S. Defense Attache in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saigon" title="Saigon" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Saigon</a>. Immediately prior to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Saigon" title="Fall of Saigon" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">fall of Saigon</a>, he organized and led the removal of South Vietnamese naval assets and personnel from the country and out of the hands of the approaching North Vietnamese. Armitage told South Vietnamese naval officers to take their ships to a designated place in the ocean where they would be rescued by U.S. forces and their ships destroyed. When Armitage arrived at the designated location he found 30 South Vietnamese Navy ships and dozens of fishing boats and cargo ships with as many as 30,000 Vietnamese refugees.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-Vulcans52-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-8" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[8]</a> With transportation options limited for removing the floating city, Armitage, aboard the destroyer escort <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Kirk(FF-1087)" title="USS Kirk (FF-1087)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">USS Kirk</a>, personally decided that humanity required him to lead the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flotilla" title="Flotilla" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">flotilla</a> of ships over 1000 miles to shelter in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subic_Bay" title="Subic Bay" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Subic Bay</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines" title="Philippines" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Philippines</a>, in 1975. This went against the wishes of both the Philippine and American governments. Nevertheless, Armitage personally arranged for food and water to be delivered by the U.S. Defense Department before negotiating with both governments for permission to dock in Subic Bay.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-wh-bio-3" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[3]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-Vulcans52-7" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[7]</a>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Public service career<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Public service career" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<p style=" margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">After the end of the Vietnam War Armitage moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington,_D.C." title="Washington, D.C." style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Washington, D.C.</a>, to serve as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consultant" title="Consultant" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">consultant</a> for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense" title="United States Department of Defense" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">United States Department of Defense</a>. He was almost immediately sent to serve in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran" title="Tehran" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Tehran</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran" title="Iran" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Iran</a>, until November 1976. Following that posting, he moved to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok" title="Bangkok" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bangkok</a> and operated an import/export business in the private sector for the next two years. In 1978, he returned to the United States and started working as an aide to Republican <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Senator</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dole" title="Bob Dole" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bob Dole</a>.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">citation needed</a>]

In late 1980, Armitage became a foreign policy advisor to Republican <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President-elect" title="President-elect" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">President-elect</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Reagan" title="Ronald Reagan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ronald Reagan</a>. Following that role, he was made a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Asia" title="East Asia" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">East Asia</a> and Pacific Affairs, a high-ranking post in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pentagon" title="The Pentagon" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">the Pentagon</a>. He served in this position from 1981 to 1983.

In June 1983, he was promoted to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Assistant_Secretary_of_Defense" title="United States Assistant Secretary of Defense" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Assistant Secretary of Defense</a> for International Security Policy where he represented the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Defense" title="United States Department of Defense" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Department of Defense</a> in developing political-military relationships and initiatives throughout the world. He helped to spearhead U.S. Pacific security policy including the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan%E2%80%93United_States_relations" title="Japan–United States relations" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">U.S.-Japan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-American_relations" title="Sino-American relations" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">U.S.-China security relationships</a>, managed all Defense security assistance programs, and provided oversight of policies related to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_the_sea" title="Law of the sea" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">law of the sea</a>, U.S. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_operations" title="Special operations" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">special operations</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter-terrorism" title="Counter-terrorism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">counter-terrorism</a>. Armitage earned the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_Defense_Medal_for_Outstanding_Public_Service" title="Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service</a>. He played a leading role in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East" title="Middle East" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Middle East</a> security policies.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">citation needed</a>] Armitage left that post in 1989 to serve as a special negotiator for the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">President</a> on military bases in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippines" title="Philippines" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Philippines</a>, and as a mediator on water issues in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East" title="Middle East" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Middle East</a>.

In 1991, he was appointed a special emissary to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussein_of_Jordan" title="Hussein of Jordan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">King Hussein</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan" title="Jordan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Jordan</a>. Following that, he was sent to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe" title="Europe" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Europe</a> with the title of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_(diplomacy)" title="Ambassador (diplomacy)" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ambassador</a>; his assignment was to direct U.S. foreign aid to the countries that had been formed out of the fallen <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union" title="Soviet Union" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Soviet Union</a>. He occupied that post until 1993, when he became the director of a U.S. data aggregation company <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ChoicePoint" title="ChoicePoint" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ChoicePoint</a>.

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bush administration<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Bush administration" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

During the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,2000" title="United States presidential election, 2000" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">2000 Presidential election</a> campaign, he served as a foreign policy advisor to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">George W. Bush</a> as part of a group led by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice" title="Condoleezza Rice" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Condoleezza Rice</a> that called itself<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Vulcans" title="The Vulcans" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Vulcans</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-9" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[9]</a> The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">United States Senate</a> confirmed him as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deputy_Secretary_of_State" title="Deputy Secretary of State" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Deputy Secretary of State</a> on March 23, 2001; he was sworn in three days later. A close associate of Secretary of State <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colin_Powell" title="Colin Powell" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Colin Powell</a>, Armitage was regarded, along with Powell, as a moderate within the presidential administration of George W. Bush.

According to President Musharraf of Pakistan, shortly after 9/11, Armitage presented him with demands for assistance in the campaign against <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda" title="Al-Qaeda" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Al-Qaeda</a> and the Taliban which were non-negotiable. Should Pakistan accept, it would be considered a United States ally. Should it decline, Pakistan would be considered an enemy. According to Musharraf, Armitage further averred that, should Pakistan decline, the United States would bomb it "back to the Stone Age". Armitage denies having used those words.

Armitage tendered his resignation on November 16, 2004, the day after Powell announced his resignation as Secretary of State. He left the post on February 22, 2005, when <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zoellick" title="Robert Zoellick" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Robert Zoellick</a> succeeded to the office.

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Role in Plame affair<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=4&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Role in Plame affair" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<div class="hatnote relarticle mainarticle" style=" font-style: italic; padding-left: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.92px; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Main article: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plame_affair" title="Plame affair" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Plame affair</a></div>

</td><td class="mbox-text" style=" border: none; padding: 0.25em 0.5em; width: 745.2px;">This article is in a list format that may be better presented using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Prose" title="Wikipedia:Prose" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">prose</a>. You can help by converting this article to prose, if <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Embedded_list" title="Wikipedia:Embedded list" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">appropriate</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing" title="Help:Editing" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Editing help</a> is available. (September 2009)</td></tr></tbody></table>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On November 15, 2005, journalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Woodward" title="Bob Woodward" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Bob Woodward</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Post" title="The Washington Post" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Washington Post</a> revealed that "a government official with no axe to grind" leaked to him the identity of outed CIA officer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame" title="Valerie Plame" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Valerie Plame</a> in mid-June 2003. According to an April 2006 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_Fair(magazine)" title="Vanity Fair (magazine)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vanity Fair</a> article (published March 14, 2006), former Washington Post executive editor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Bradlee" title="Ben Bradlee" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Ben Bradlee</a> said in an interview "that Armitage is the likely source is a fair assumption", though Bradlee later told the Post that he "[did] not recall making that precise statement" in the interview.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-wp-BradleeKnows-10" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[10]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On March 2, 2006, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog" title="Blog" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">bloggers</a> discovered that "Richard Armitage" fit the spacing on a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanitization(classified_information)" title="Sanitization (classified information)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">redacted</a> court document, suggesting he was a source for the Plame leak.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-TypePad-hurrah-11" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[11]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On August 21, 2006, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Associated_Press" title="Associated Press" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Associated Press</a> published a story that revealed Armitage met with Bob Woodward in mid-June 2003. The information came from official<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_State" title="United States Department of State" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">State Department</a> calendars, provided to The Associated Press under the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act" title="Freedom of Information Act" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Freedom of Information Act</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-msnbc-calendars-12" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[12]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">In the September 4, 2006 issue of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newsweek" title="Newsweek" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Newsweek</a> magazine, in an article titled "The Man Who Said Too Much", journalist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Isikoff" title="Michael Isikoff" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Michael Isikoff</a>, quoting a "source directly familiar with the conversation who asked not to be identified because of legal sensitivities", reported that Armitage was the "primary" source for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Novak" title="Robert Novak" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Robert Novak</a>'s piece outing Plame. Armitage allegedly mentioned Wilson's CIA role to Novak in a July 8, 2003 interview after learning about her status from a State Department memo which made no reference to her undercover status.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-newsweek-ManWhoSaid-13" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[13]</a> Isikoff also reported that Armitage had also told Bob Woodward of Plame's identity in June 2003, and that special counsel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Fitzgerald" title="Patrick Fitzgerald" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Patrick Fitzgerald</a> investigated Armitage's role "aggressively", but did not charge Armitage with a crime because he "found no evidence that Armitage knew of Plame's covert CIA status when he talked to Novak and Woodward".</li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Novak, in an August 27, 2006 appearance on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Press" title="Meet the Press" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Meet the Press</a>, stated that although he still would not release the name of his source, he felt it was long overdue that the source reveal himself.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-mtp-aug27-14" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[14]</a> Armitage has also reportedly been a cooperative and key witness in the investigation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note--15" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[15]</a> According to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Washington_Note" title="The Washington Note" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Washington Note</a>, Armitage has testified before the grand jury three times.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-wash-note-16" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[16]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On August 29, 2006, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_A.Lewis" title="Neil A. Lewis" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Neil A. Lewis</a> of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times" title="The New York Times" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The New York Times</a> reported that Armitage was the "initial and primary source" for columnist Robert Novak's July 14, 2003 article, which named Valerie Plame as a CIA "operative" and which triggered the CIA leak investigation.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-nyt-lewis-17" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[17]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On August 30, 2006, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CNN" title="CNN" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">CNN</a> reported that Armitage had been confirmed "by sources" as leaking Wilson's CIA role in a "casual conversation" with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Novak" title="Robert Novak" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Robert Novak</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-cnn-jking-18" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[18]</a>The New York Times, quoting people "familiar with his actions", reported that Armitage was unaware of Wilson's undercover status when he spoke to Novak.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-nyt-leakreveals-19" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[19]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">The Times claims that White House counsel <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Gonzales" title="Alberto Gonzales" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Alberto Gonzales</a> was informed that Armitage was involved on October 2, 2003, but asked not to be told details. Patrick Fitzgerald began his grand jury investigation three months later knowing Armitage was a leaker (as did Attorney General <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ashcroft" title="John Ashcroft" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">John Ashcroft</a> before turning over the investigation).</li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On March 6, 2007, a jury convicted <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Libby" title="Lewis Libby" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Lewis "Scooter" Libby</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_of_Staff_to_the_Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Chief of Staff to the Vice President of the United States" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Chief of Staff</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vice_President_of_the_United_States" title="Vice President of the United States" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Vice President</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney" title="Dick Cheney" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Dick Cheney</a>, of "obstruction of justice, giving false statements to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation" title="Federal Bureau of Investigation" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">FBI</a>and perjuring himself, charges embodied in four of the five counts of the indictment".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-nyt-libbyguilty-20" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[20]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On July 2, 2007, President Bush issued a Grant of Executive Clemency that commuted the prison terms imposed on Lewis Libby.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-wp-GrantClemency-21" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[21]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">On September 7, 2006, Armitage admitted to being the source in the CIA leak. Armitage claims that Fitzgerald had originally asked him not to discuss publicly his role in the matter, but that on September 5 Armitage asked Fitzgerald if he could reveal his role to the public, and Fitzgerald consented.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-wp-ArmitageSays-1" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a></li>

</ul>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">In a review of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War, by Michael Isikoff and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Corn" title="David Corn" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">David Corn</a>, which hit bookstores in early September 2006, Novak wrote: "I don't know precisely how Isikoff flushed out Armitage [as Novak's original source], but Hubris clearly points to two sources: <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_lobbyist" title="Washington lobbyist" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Washington lobbyist</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Duberstein" title="Kenneth Duberstein" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Kenneth Duberstein</a>, Armitage's political adviser, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft_IV" title="William Howard Taft IV" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">William Taft IV</a>, who was the State Department legal adviser when Armitage was deputy secretary".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage_(politician)#cite_note-rnovak-22" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[22]</a></li>

</ul>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pakistan and the fight against terrorism<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=5&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Pakistan and the fight against terrorism" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

<p style=" margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: 17.92px; color: rgb(37, 37, 37); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan" title="Pakistan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Pakistani</a> President <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pervez_Musharraf" title="Pervez Musharraf" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Pervez Musharraf</a>, in an interview with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_News" title="CBS News" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">CBS News</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/60_Minutes" title="60 Minutes" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">60 Minutes</a> on September 21, 2006, alleged that Armitage called an <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inter-Services_Intelligence" title="Inter-Services Intelligence" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Inter-Services Intelligence</a>general immediately after the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_11,2001_attacks" title="September 11, 2001 attacks" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">September 11, 2001 attacks</a> and threatened to "bomb the country [Pakistan] back to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stone_age" title="Stone age" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">stone age</a>" unless they supported the U.S.-led fight against Islamic terrorism. Presently, Musharraf has refused to provide details, commenting that he is unable to provide details due to restrictions by the publisher (<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon%26_Schuster" title="Simon & Schuster" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Simon & Schuster</a>) of his book In the Line of Fire: A Memoir.[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">citation needed</a>] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">President Bush</a>, on the other hand, has mentioned that he only became aware of these comments as late as September 2006, when he read them in the newspapers. Armitage confirmed he had held a conversation with the Pakistani general to whom Musharraf had sourced the comments, but stated he had not used a threat of military action couched in such terms, as he was not authorized to do so.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-cnn-20060922-23" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[23]</a>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Life after public service<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=6&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Life after public service" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

In October 2006, Armitage lobbied—on behalf of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L-3_Communications_Corporation" title="L-3 Communications Corporation" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">L-3 Communications Corporation</a>, a company providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance products—some key people in Taiwanese political circles regarding the possible sale of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P-3C_Orion" title="P-3C Orion" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">P-3C</a> marine patrol aircraft to the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_of_the_Republic_of_China" title="Military of the Republic of China" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">ROC military</a>. Those who received his personal letter included Premier <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Su_Tseng-chang" title="Su Tseng-chang" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Su Tseng-chang</a>, President of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Yuan" title="Legislative Yuan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Legislative Yuan</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Jin-pyng" title="Wang Jin-pyng" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Wang Jin-pyng</a>, and opposition <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_First_Party_(Republic_of_China)" title="People First Party (Republic of China)" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">People First Party</a> leader <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Soong" title="James Soong" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">James Soong</a>.

Armitage stated in the letter that he wished the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_China" title="Republic of China" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Taiwan</a> government would reconsider the purchase from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin" title="Lockheed Martin" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Lockheed Martin</a>, the dealer the United States government had designated. Instead, he hoped that the right to negotiate the purchase should be made through an open and fair bidding process.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-ettoday-060-24" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[24]</a> The letter was made public by PFP Legislators on October 24, 2006, in a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legislative_Yuan" title="Legislative Yuan" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Legislative Yuan</a> session discussing the military purchases.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-ettoday-299-25" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[25]</a>

Since January 1, 2010, Armitage has been a Member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American-Turkish_Council" title="American-Turkish Council" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">American-Turkish Council</a>, a Washington-based, corporate membership NGO dedicated to the promotion of a strong and peaceful business, military and foreign policy relationship between Turkey and the United States.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-26" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[26]</a> He also sits on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_Abroad_Media" title="America Abroad Media" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">America Abroad Media</a> advisory board.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Armitage(politician)#cite_note-27" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[27]</a>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Honors and awards<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=7&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Honors and awards" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

On July 1, 2010, Armitage was appointed an Honorary Companion of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Australia" title="Order of Australia" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Order of Australia</a>, Australia's "for eminent service to strengthening the Australia-United States bilateral relationship". He was invested with the award at a ceremony at the Australian Ambassador's residence on October 13, 2010.

On June 6, 2011, Her Majesty the Queen appointed Armitage an Honorary Companion of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Order_of_Merit" title="New Zealand Order of Merit" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">New Zealand Order of Merit</a>. He was appointed in recognition of his services to New Zealand–U.S. relations.

Armitage was awarded the Department of State Distinguished Service Award. He has been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service four times, the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chairman_of_the_Joint_Chiefs_of_Staff" title="Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">Chairman of the Joint Chiefs</a> Award for Outstanding Public Service, the Presidential Citizens Medal, presented by the President to citizens who have performed exemplary deeds of service, and the Department of State Distinguished Honor Award.

The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_Romania" title="President of Romania" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">President of Romania</a> conferred upon Armitage with Romania's highest civil order, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Star_of_Romania" title="Order of the Star of Romania" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">The Order of the Star of Romania</a> with the rank of Commander “for the constant support towards the development and consolidation of bilateral relations between the United States of America and Romania, for the support of our country’s efforts to join the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_Treaty_Organization" title="North Atlantic Treaty Organization" class="mw-redirect" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">North Atlantic Treaty Organization</a>".

On March 22, 2013, Armitage was awarded the United States Naval Academy Distinguished Alumni Award. According to the Naval Academy website:

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Distinguished Graduates are the embodiment of what we strive to achieve in the U.S. Naval Academy's mission: "To develop midshipmen morally, mentally and physically and to imbue them with the highest ideals of duty, honor and loyalty in order to graduate leaders who are dedicated to a career of naval service and have potential for future development in mind and character to assume the highest responsibilities of command, citizenship and government." As an institution, we honor our Distinguished Graduates because of their:

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Demonstrated and unselfish commitment to a lifetime of service to our nation</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Personal character which epitomizes the traits we expect in our officer corps</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Significant contributions as Navy and Marine Corps officers, or as leaders in industry or government</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li style=" margin-bottom: 0.1em;">Each of them serves as a beacon, lighting the way for our midshipmen as they begin to chart their naval careers. They also serve by example to motivate those alumni serving in the Fleet and Fleet Marine Corps. Our midshipmen can take away much from learning about our distinguished graduates. All the Distinguished Graduates honored – lived the traits of lifetime commitment to service, personal character and distinguished contributions to our nation.</li>

</ul>

<h2 style=" color: black; font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); font-size: 1.5em; font-family: 'Linux Libertine', Georgia, Times, serif; line-height: 1.3; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 1; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Personal life<span class="mw-editsection" style=" -webkit-user-select: none; font-weight: normal; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;">[<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Richard_Armitage_(politician)&action=edit&section=8&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Personal life" style=" text-decoration: none; color: rgb(11, 0, 128); background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>

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