Shot In The Dark: I Call B.S.

July 18, 2005

I Call B.S.

In this week's Time cover story on the Plame flap, the writer dithers about the minutiae of Plame's personal life - her looks, her kids, grocery lists, her car - without getting around to asking "so did you recommend your husband for the trip to Niger? If so, how is this not, at the very least, cronyism?"

But the reporter does note in an aside about Plame's competence as a secret agent that Plame is "a crack shot with an AK-47".

Huh-whah?

The AK-47 is built to tolerances close to those of a Mattel cap gun. A good marksman might be able to hit a human sized target consistently at a hundred yards or so. It was never built as a marksman's rifle; it was designed:

to spray bullets at an enemy, keeping his head down until someone could close in and fire point-blank or lob a grenade at them
to be extremely cheap to build
to be so simple to maintain that a kid straight out of the stone age could learn to take care of it

Beyond that, and its status as an official press boogeyman, that's really all there is to it.

And spies don't do a lot of shooting, least of all with assault rifles, as a rule. So while Ms. Plame may well have been shown how to shoot an AK-47 (and/or any number of other military rifles), calling anyone a "crack shot" on one is like saying someone is an excellent pianist on a chain saw.

Posted by Mitch at July 18, 2005 08:11 AM | TrackBack

Comments

They must think that calling Plame a "covert agent" over and over, will make her one. She probably was one once, about eight years ago. But not since. By this standard, the CIA cafeteria staff is undercover. They all work at that big undercover hideout in Langley, VA.

Posted by: RBMN at July 18, 2005 10:16 AM

Uh, is the Russian-made AK-47 actually standard issue to American CIA spies? Even really covert ones, not like Ms. Plame?

Must have been part of her cover....

Posted by: Pious Agnostic at July 18, 2005 03:06 PM

I can see why you'd be upset with a story like this. We wouldn't want anyone thinking of Ms. Plame as a person. Its so much easier to trash her and her career without any of those icky guilt pangs. Particularly since the only crime she apparently committd was to think the WMD arguments of the Bush administration were a load of crap. Incidently, I was just wondering if CIA agents who haven't been assigned to covert operations for a lengthy period of time ever go back under cover? Hmmm I can't imagine its ever happened so the thought that Rove and Libby might have destroyed a valuable CIA asset probably isn't worth considering. Yeah well, its not a crime anyway so that probably makes it all right.

Posted by: Phil at July 18, 2005 10:29 PM

Re: Phil at July 18, 2005 10:29 PM

If your whole circle of friends know that you work at CIA headquarters, monday through friday, then you're NOT a covert CIA agent. Is that too nuanced?

Posted by: RBMN at July 18, 2005 11:12 PM

Here are two explanations from some of Ms. Plame's co-workers.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/13/04720/9340

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/7/15/225611/396

Posted by: Phil at July 19, 2005 05:13 AM