Washington Post Says CIA Angry Over Talon News 'Leak' Story; Ashcroft Steps Down from Investigation

Talon News ^ | December 31, 2003 | Bobby Eberle

[CyberAnt]

Wilson and his wife held fundraisers for the Clintons. You don't do that unless you are part of the inner circle.

FOX has shown a couple of clips of the Wilsons at WH functions with the Clintons. I've heard, but I don't have proof, that Hillary and Valerie were friends (as much as you can be friends with Hillary).

I believe Hillary encouraged Valerie to suggest her husband; that it was PLANNED for Wilson to do nothing about the Niger info (to sit and sip tea); that it was PLANNED for Wilson to expose the flawed trip; that Wilson did that in order to say that he gave a verbal report to Cheney but was not listened to. Of course, we do know that Cheney denied ever speaking to Wilson regarding the Niger trip.

This is so obviously a Hillary scheme .. it just reeks of her deception and intimidation type of plan. The problem is this: Hillary has not figured out - she's not good at plans. After all .. it was her plan to ignore the Paula Jones affair, and the Lewinsky affair. She also messed up the takeover of the medical insurance so badly .. she never tried to do anything more while she was in the WH. The other thing Hillary doesn't seem to realize is that she cannot do this stuff with impunity anymore. The conservative media will hold her accountable.

[Dark Knight]

Thanks for the fill in. I did not realize how close Plame was to Hillary. I just can't get over how they will chose self over country. I'm just too old fashioned.

DK

[Reb Raider]

Read this article and see if it explains why those of us that have followed this story closely see it a little differently than you.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/999405/posts

[Wolfstar]

Tenet should be fired for gross incompetence, at the very least. Although many field agents have done excellent work in Afghanistan and Iraq, Tenet's CIA has compiled a stunning record of mistakes and misjudgements. Here's a few of the worst examples:

• The CIA was in charge of working with the Afghan Northern Alliance. They allowed the local warlord(s) and NA to do the cease-fire in Kandahar which enabled Mullah Omar to escape.
  
  
• Did they learn from this mistake? No. They allowed the exact same thing to occur at Tora Bora, thereby enabling Osama bin Laden to escape — if CIA was even correct that he was ever there at all.
  
  
• President Bush accelerated the planned start of the Iraq invasion because George Tenet rushed over to the White House to say that he had credible evidence of the exact and immediate whereabouts of Saddam Hussein and many of the regime's leaders (including Hussein's sons). So the President ordered an unplanned, hastily arranged bombing run. Later, Tenet's CIA claimed they had evidence that Hussein was seen being carried out of that building on a stretcher. It was all bull crap, as we now know. And the premature start of the invasion could have cost American lives.
  
  
• A couple of weeks later, after it became obvious that Hussein and the regime leaders were still alive and kicking, Tenet again rushed over to the White House to inform the President the CIA had credible and immediate evidence of Hussein's wherebouts. Again, a bombing run was ordered, and again it turned out the CIA was wrong.
  
  
• Then there's the matter of WMD. We know for certain that Hussein had WMD prior to the 1991 Gulf War. George Tenet was Deputy Director of the CIA under Director John Deutch from July 3, 1995 to Dec. 16, 1996, when he became Acting Director. He rose to Director on July 11, 1997. So he's been either #1 or #2 at CIA going on nine years. How come he appears to have been totally fooled about whether or not Iraq disposed of its WMD during the 1990's? How come he didn't have a better handle on what happened to the WMD? (In addition to Deutch and Tenet, the other Clinton-appointed CIA Director was James Woolsey, who seems never to have met a TV camera he didn't want to jump in front of.)

Again, despite the fact that many CIA field agents have done a fine job in this post-9/11 era, Tenet and the senior management at CIA have much to answer for. If, as this article asserts, there is a "clandestine war" going on between the CIA and this White House, it would not be because the CIA feels it's being unjustly blamed for pre-9/11 intelligence failures. I believe it would be to cover the tracks of their common Clinton-era failing: monumental negligence. They would also want to direct focus and blame for their post-9/11 failures elsewhere. BTW, not only is Tenet a Clinton appointee, but so is the #2 man at CIA. John E. McLaughlin was appointed by Clinton during his lame-duck period, and took office on June 28, 2000. So, in all likelihood, there's also a Dem vs. Rep. ideological reason as well.

President George W. Bush was in office barely 7 1/2 months on 9/11/01. After a transition period shortened by the Florida fiasco, only his cabinet-secretary-level appointees were confirmed and on the job on that fateful day. The new FBI director had just taken office a few days prior. I suspect the President wanted continuity at CIA during some of the darkest days our country has ever known.

Hopefully you are right, Sinkspur, and that should he be reelected, Dubya will appoint both a new CIA director and deputy director. I suspect Tenet will, unfortunately, never be held to account for his failures — as seems to be the case with the entire Clinton administration.

[Wolfstar]

Outing a CIA agent is just dumb.

1. There is a serious question as to whether or not she was an AGENT or an ANALYST. Two very different jobs.

2. There is also a very serious question as to whether or not she was truly "outed" (as you put it) by Novak's piece, or if that article simply provided an excuse the Left jumped on to try and whip up a "scandal" against Bush. By all accounts, the woman was known on the Washington social scene. Long before her name became public in Novak's column, she was mentioned by Wilson, himself, in his own official bio (which can easily be found on the internet).

[Wolfstar]

Thanks for posting the link to my thread. The more people who read for themselves the outline of what was almost certainly a Leftist set up to create a scandal for the Bush presidency, the better.

[Wolfstar]

Even Walter Pincus never made the connection...

Pincus would have no reason to because he was Wilson's chief media member of the setup to create a Bush administration scandal.

BTW, thanks to Sean Hannity's acquisition of that memo from Sen. Rockefeller's office, we now have proof positive that the Left/Dems were plotting to do exactly that — manufacture a scandal with which to tar President Bush.

I'm deeply concerned that Ashcroft's recusal is a signal that the wrong person or people are going to go down for this phony scandal, and that once again the Leftist cabal that set it all up will get away completely free.

[Wolfstar]

Hi, mattdono. Happy New Year. Thanks for continuing to spread the word about the setup. As I mentioned in another post on this thread, thanks to Sean Hannity's acquisition of that memo from Sen. Rockefeller's office, we now have confirmation that the Left/Dems were plotting to drum up a scandal with which to tar President Bush — whether or not there was an actual basis for a scandal.

[Wolfstar]

IF a law was broken regarding the supposed "outing" of Plame, then whoever did it should be prosecuted. However, there is a huge open question as to whether or not such is the case. As for the context in which the Novak article appeared, it most certainly does matter. Why? It's seditious, if not treasonous — and possibly even a criminal conspiracy — to attempt to manufacture a phony scandal to bring down a sitting president. It's all of those things in peacetime, but is especially egregious during a time of war.

[rwfromkansas]

Nice work.

[Rebelbase]

What say ye? Cometh unto the brethern and spilleth thy soul.

[Gothmog]

I posted an excerpt of a LA Times article on FR some months ago that described the link between Plame and Foley. Foley was not her boss (as far as I know), but the article did note that Plame and Foley worked right next to each other at the CIA.

As far as Pincus 'missing' the link, that's not surprising at all since Pincus was one of the WPost reporters who was given access to Wilson's NYTimes op-ed before it was published. That way Wilson would get NYTimes coverage and WPost coverage on the same day.

No media complicity here, ha ha ha.

[rwfromkansas]

Right.

Anyone who thinks his recusal is anything but a VERY VERY VERY VERY bad sign that some big people in the WH are going down is living in a dream world.

Recusal is not a good thing people....it usually means something big and bad for us.

[Wolfstar]

Anyone who thinks his recusal is anything but a VERY VERY VERY VERY bad sign that some big people in the WH are going down is living in a dream world.

NOT RIGHT! I meant no such thing. I was referring to the fact that of all the leaks in Washington — including of information damaging to national security — only this one is being taken seriously. The Left/Dems want their pound of flesh, even though this is a phony "scandal" of their own making. As usual, the Republicans are too scared of the Left's media shills and will probably offer up some hapless scapegoat. In the meantime, leaking of all sorts will continue to be the coin of the realm in Washington. And the genuine, monumental negligence of national security matters by the Clintonistas — those currently out of power and those, like Tenet, who are still in office — will continue to be ignored.

Ashcroft may have recused himself for no other reason than that Dem senators have continued to pressure him to do so.

[Ben Hecks]

" Foley was not her boss (as far as I know), but the article did note that Plame and Foley worked right next to each other at the CIA."

Thanks for correcting me on this point. I've been trying to determine if Alan Foley is related to former Democrat House Speaker Tom Foley. Joseph Wilson worked for Tom Foley at one time. Tom Foley served on the House Select Committee on Intelligence and was Chairman, President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board from 1995 - 97.

[okie01]

"As far as Pincus 'missing' the link, that's not surprising at all since Pincus was one of the WPost reporters who was given access to Wilson's NYTimes op-ed before it was published."

Obviously should've included a sarcasm tag with my post.

Pincus was an insider, helping Wilson run his little scam.

By the way, you guys will be interested in what the FReeper kabar -- a 30-yr veteran of the Foreign Service -- has to say concerning Joseph C. Wilson IV. The relevant conversation starts here: Americans Conned Into Backing War - Ex-General (Zinni) Says

[CyberAnt]

No, no, no, Hillary would never allow herself to have fingerprints on this issue. She had someone else do the dirty work .. as usual. One of Hillary's goons gave the information to Novak .. somebody whose name we would know. It had to be someone of note in order for Novak to take the story.

And .. for whatever it's worth .. nobody "makes" a journalist do anything.

There is no evidence that Wilson's wife was an "operative" .. there is only evidence she was an analyst. Now .. granted .. that position could have been a cover and she could be an "operative". However .. we still do not know if A LAW HAS BEEN BROKEN OR NOT. We only have the screeching democrats complaint that it has .. and their word isn't worth poop!!

As for exposing Wilson's wife .. IT WAS WILSON HIMSELF who made it public that his wife worked for the CIA. How can a law have been broken when it was already common knowledge Wilson's wife worked for the CIA ..??

And .. Hillary HAS BEEN ACTIVELY PLOTTING TO DISCREDIT BUSH SINCE BEFORE THE ELECTION in 2000 .. the Wilsons were just pawns of the current plot.

Hillary wants to run in 2004 .. AT ANY COST!

[CyberAnt]

"they will chose self over country"

I never understood this until I read Bill Sammon's book, "At Any Cost: How Al Gore Tried to Steal the Election". Bill traveled with Gore during his campaign; and the aftermath. It is a stunning revelation of how the lust for power is driving the democrats. Once I read the book .. I could see the scheming and coniving (which continues today) .. it just drives me crazy.

[prairiebreeze]

Ashcroft may also have recused himself simply because it's become evident that no solid conclusions are going to be drawn from this investigation and it will be best to have those results and the announcement of those results made by someone other than the AG.

Prairie