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CLIFF'S NOTES by Cliff Kincaid

...Jim Hoagland wrote a November 3 column in the Washington Post that confirmed everything we suspected about this "scandal." Hoagland confirmed that the Joseph Wilson affair was a CIA plot against President Bush. Writing his column in the form of a letter to the President, Hoagland wrote that "The hidden management of the criminal justice process and the news media practiced by spooks in Wilson-Rove-Libbygate is nothing short of brilliant. So you were right to fear the agency." Think about that statement to the President—"you were right to fear the agency." Wilson was sent on a CIA mission at the recommendation of his wife, Valerie Plame, in order to embarrass the administration. Libby tried to inform the press about this fact.

HERE IS A COLUMNIST FOR A MAJOR PAPER SAYING THAT THE CIA HAS BEEN ACTING independently of the elected President of the U.S., and that Bush had reason to fear it. He said the CIA had engaged in "hidden management of the criminal justice system and the news media." In effect, he is saying that the CIA is pulling the strings behind the scenes, and that reporters following the Wilson/Plame storyline are CIA puppets. He went on to say that the CIA also "triggered the investigation" into the CIA leak about Valerie Wilson by itself leaking. That is, the CIA leaked to the press the fact that it had requested an investigation. Hoagland also declared, "One lesson available in this story is that amateurs are no match for the CIA in disinformation campaigns. The spies are far better at operating in the shadows than you politicians will ever be. They have a license to dissemble." Hoagland is saying that the CIA lied about the Wilson affair and used it to undermine the Bush Administration, and that the Bush Administration was no match for the liars at the CIA. Here was a major columnist acknowledging a CIA covert operation against Bush using lies and disinformation. This requires major congressional investigations.

THE ENTIRE PREMISE OF THE CIA LEAK INVESTIGATION HAS BEEN THROWN INTO DOUBT BY retired Major General Paul E. Vallely's statement that Joseph Wilson exposed his own wife as a CIA employee months before columnist Robert Novak published that information. Vallely, a Fox News military analyst, is being threatened with a lawsuit for saying that he was in the Fox News green room in 2002 and heard Wilson confirm her CIA status. Vallely tells Accuracy in Media that he is prepared if necessary to go to court to prove it. If the sensational charge is true, then Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald's investigation, which is based on the belief that Valerie Wilson's CIA affiliation was first disclosed publicly by Novak in July of 2003, was flawed from the start. It would also mean that the investigation was based on a false declaration from the CIA that her identity was a carefully guarded secret.

NBC'S TIM RUSSERT, WHOSE CREDIBILITY IS ON THE LINE IN THE CIA LEAK CASE, IS USING his NBC Meet the Press program to make it practically impossible for Lewis Libby to get a fair trial. Russert, who has in effect accused Libby of lying, will likely be a prosecution witness in the case. Russert and Libby disagree over whether Russert told Libby that Valerie Plame's CIA status was common knowledge among members of the press. The November 6 edition of Russert's Meet the Press show was designed to keep the public's attention not only on Libby but other White House officials as well, most notably press secretary Scott McClellan, and away from Russert. It is apparent that members of the press, including Russert, are trying to gin up a Watergate-style scandal. They are focusing endlessly on polls indicating Bush's popularity is declining, even though a recent Gallup Poll showed that the executive branch has more credibility than the media. We are asking you to send one of the enclosed postcards to Robert McCormick, the NBC News official in charge of broadcast standards, asking him to force Russert step down from reporting or commenting on this case. Another should go to Tim Russert.....

http://www.aim.org/aim_report_cliffs_notes/4194_0_4_0/