Posted on 07/13/2004 11:14:26 AM PDT by Gothmog
"Two recent reports allow us to revisit one of the great non-stories, and one of the great missed stories, of the Iraq war argument."
[Hitchens cites the "alleged martyrdom" of Wilson and Plame and the fact that Niger really is the center of an illegal uranium ore ring]
[Snip]
"To say this is not to defend the Bush administration, which typically managed to flourish the only allegation made about Niger that had been faked, and which did not have the courage to confront Mr. and Mrs. Wilson in public with their covert political agenda. But it does draw attention to an interesting aspect of this whole debate: the increasing solidarity of the left with the CIA. The agency disliked Ahmad Chalabi and was institutionally committed to the view that the Saddam regime in Iraq was a) secular and b) rationally interested in self-preservation. It repeatedly overlooked important evidence to the contrary, even as it failed entirely to infiltrate jihadist groups or to act upon FBI field reports about their activity within our borders."
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.msn.com ...
I still say that the WH is keeping mum because they know the real purpose of the grand jury and anything they say would only lend ammunition to Wilson defenders. Let any indictments speak for themselves. Denunciations from the Bush administration would be used to undermine the facts of the story.
(a girl can dream, can't she?)
I believe what Hitchens did is called a "literary b*tch-slap", though I will defer to the judges.
Yep, and it's a nice dream, but IIRC the probe started because the CIA asked the FBI to check out the source of the alleged leak, not whether Plame had rigged things to send her husband.
I would hope that you're right, but I'm not holding my breath. Maybe they can get Wilson or Plame for lying to the FBI about something.
As an American, I am more likely to just tell someone what to do with himself, in Cheney fashion.
I haven't seen Steyn on this yet, I will have to do a search. I'm sure he'll write a masterpiece.
Dream? I hope not. I share your theory, actually. If we're right, the outcome will be especially delicious.
Man.....Hitchens has been doing some decent work lately.
bump...
It sure doesn't seem right that at time of war someone can lie and try to bring down a sitting president---all the while cloaking their story as a mission for the CIA.
~fingers crossed that someone will be held to account for their actions~
Gradually emerging from the fog is a picture of a CIA with - at the very least - a faction opposed to the president's policies and intent on undermining them.
So it seems with have both State and the CIA opposed to regime change in Iraq. I gather that each liked the idea of working through stong men, whether Nasser-types or monarchs, but refused to accept Chalabi in such a role. I can only wonder why, after seeing Alawi in action, why they didn't tap him and let him serve as major domo? It will be interesting to read the first accounts of the occupation when the principles come cto write them.
Has anyone heard when the investigator's report on the Plame leak is supposed to be released? I'm getting impatient; you'd think six months (or whatever it's been) would be long enough to investigate this.
...when he isn't defecating on Ronald Reagan's grave.
BUMP for later. I like verbose, as long as it is not Kerry-like.
Haven't heard...but the time invested is what gives me hope that they are looking beyond the stupid "who leaked Plame's name" angle.
bttt
White House Calm Before CIA Leak DeadlineLate into Friday night, the White House press office sifted through thousands of phone messages dating back to February 2002 and beyond, seeking potential contacts between administration officials and journalists who were the subject of the memo from White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales: syndicated columnist Robert Novak; Newsday's Washington bureau chief, Timothy M. Phelps; and Knut Royce, a Newsday staff writer. Investigators are trying to determine who leaked to the three journalists the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operations officer... [and] the name of the CIA front company she used as a cover. The company's identity appears in Federal Election Commission records because the CIA operative, using her married name Valerie E. Wilson, contributed $1,000 to Al Gore's presidential primary campaign in 1999. Her husband contributed to both the Bush and Gore presidential campaigns. The company that appears in FEC records, Brewster-Jennings & Associates, had been a CIA front for Plame, according to The Washington Post.
by Scott LindlawThe CIA leakThis story began July 6 when Wilson went public and identified himself as the retired diplomat who had reported negatively to the CIA in 2002 on alleged Iraq efforts to buy uranium yellowcake from Niger. I was curious why a high-ranking official in President Bill Clinton's National Security Council (NSC) was given this assignment. Wilson had become a vocal opponent of President Bush's policies in Iraq after contributing to Al Gore in the last election cycle and John Kerry in this one. During a long conversation with a senior administration official, I asked why Wilson was assigned the mission to Niger. He said Wilson had been sent by the CIA's counterproliferation section at the suggestion of one of its employees, his wife. It was an offhand revelation from this official, who is no partisan gunslinger. When I called another official for confirmation, he said: "Oh, you know about it." The published report that somebody in the White House failed to plant this story with six reporters and finally found me as a willing pawn is simply untrue.
by Robert Novak
October 1, 2003
There is another excellent article on Wilson by Clifford May, National Review. A lot of info. The link is on Drudge. Well worth the read.
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