Posted on 01/28/2007 2:28:47 PM PST by freespirited
President Bush's ex-spokesman invoked the Fifth Amendment when asked in front of a grand jury about the illegal outing of spy Valerie Plame, prosecutors revealed this week. Former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer sought and received immunity from prosecution for unmasking the secret agent.
Armed with this immunity, Fleischer is now expected to testify Monday in the perjury trial of Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Fleischer is expected to tell the court that Libby, formerly Vice President Cheney's top adviser, told him on July 7, 2003, that "he had some information that was hush-hush," said special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald.
What was hush-hush was that Bush critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA operations officer. Wilson had infuriated Cheney by debunking the White House claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium in Niger for a nuclear bomb.
Fleischer cited his Fifth Amendment rights in 2004 before a federal grand jury and was "reluctantly" given immunity, Fitzgerald said in court Thursday.
"I didn't want to give him immunity," Fitzgerald said.
Libby is fighting perjury charges for telling a grand jury he first learned about Plame on July 10, 2003, from journalist Tim Russert. That is three days after Libby allegedly told Fleischer about Plame.
Fitzgerald told the jury in opening arguments that Fleischer also helped spread the news about the spy.
"Ari Fleischer had conversations with reporters about Wilson's wife that he should not have had," Fitzgerald said.
Libby's lawyer Ted Wells said Fleischer told NBC's David Gregory and others about Plame during a stroll while on a presidential trip to Africa.
Wells told jurors Thursday that "Fleischer may have issues of credibility because of a deal that was cut."
I still don't understand why Libby is even on trial; except this is another tactic to wear the good American people down.
Why is Libby on trial? It's very simple. Fitzgerald's ego would not let him close shop and go home until he had claimed at least one scalp.
Thank you very much for the ping, piasa.
I appreciate it.
He has a good memory no doubt; but should there be a memory lapse; he could be risk having to go to jail. . .what a total farce this is.
Well put. Bookmark
"Wilson had infuriated Cheney by inaccurately debunking the White House claim that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had tried to buy uranium in Niger for a nuclear bomb"
That is a lie. Nobody has ever proved that naming Valerie Plame as a CIA employee was illegal. The prosecutor knows who brought her name out, and cannot bring charges because nothing illegal occurred.
The press knows this and is LYING.
"the illegal outing of spy Valerie Plame"
If there had been an illegal outing of ex-spy Valerie Plame, someone would have been prosecuted for it. These reporters are idiots.
If claim about the Fleischer testimony is as accurate as the rest of the stuff in the article, then I'd bet the Fleischer testimony isn't going to be anything like predicted.
* Senator James Abourezk : The IPS has managed to recruit CIA employees who broke with the agency and leaked top-secret information. Several IPS leaders also work with rogue CIA agent Phillip Agee, who has made career of propagating Soviet disinformation while openly acknowledging his own Communist sympathies and the support of Cuban Communists. And former US Senator James Abourezk, founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and an outspoken supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), is an IPS trustee.6[ 6 Broken Seals, Op cit., passim; Findley, P., They Dare to Speak Out, Lawrence HIll Books, Chicago, 1989. p. 98] via The Plot to Hijack the CIA, Anti-CommunistAnalyst.com
Abourezk maintains a friendly relationship with Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whom he describes as "a very smart, charming guy." He also represented Ayatollah Khomeni's Islamic Republic of Iran in a $56 billion lawsuit against the deposed Shah.
Abourezk sued National Geographic magazine claiming they improperly acquired his original photographs. He also filed a suit against the Reagan administration to allow the Sandanista Interior Minister into the United States. Abourezk took New York Air to court for false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress for not letting him off a plane that was delayed three hours on the tarmac.
------ "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator," By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003 via http://www.gopusa.com/news/2003/july/0731_probush_responds.shtml
The IPS has managed to recruit CIA employees who broke with the agency and leaked top-secret information. Several IPS leaders also work with rogue CIA agent Phillip Agee, who has made career of propagating Soviet disinformation while openly acknowledging his own Communist sympathies and the support of Cuban Communists. And former US Senator James Abourezk, founder of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and an outspoken supporter of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), is an IPS trustee.6 [Broken Seals, Op cit., passim; Findley, P., They Dare to Speak Out, Lawrence HIll Books, Chicago, 1989. p. 98. ]via The Plot to Hijack the CIA, Published in October 1994 Inside Story: World Report Anti-CommunistAnalyst.com ^ [not sure of the quality of this source]
JAMES ABOUREZK TIMELINE
1960s : (THE IPS IS FORMED - see RICHARD BARNET, FIELD FOUNDATION, FUND FOR PEACE, MORTON HALPERIN, PENTAGON PAPERS, LESLIE GELB, ANTHONY LAKE; see also BILL CLINTON & JAMES ABOUREZK) At the center of the drive to capture the CIA lies the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a radical think-tank formed in the late 1960s. IPS co-founder and strategist Richard J. Barnet, a former US official, has written books publicly defending Marxist revolution and terrorism, and has called for the dismantling of US intelligence activities against the Communist Bloc.4 The IPS has long been funded by the tax-exempt Field Foundation and its associated Fund for Peace, which pursue the same goal by advocating cooperation with the Soviet Union.5
IPS members have included such prominent leftists as Morton Halperin, the former National Security Council staffer who supervised the drafting of the classified Pentagon Papers-a review of documents related to the Vietnam War. Foreign policy official Leslie Gelb and National Security Council member Anthony Lake illegally authorized the public release of the Pentagon Papers, and later affiliated with the IPS (Lake is now the National Security Advisor for Bill Clinton). Indeed, a number of IPS members were involved in the 1971 Pentagon Papers scandal, causing the FBI to investigate the IPS for espionage. ....
During the past twenty years, the IPS has worked with Communist front organizations in building a network for the neutralization of US intelligence. In 1974, the Fund for Peace established the Center for National Security Studies (CNSS), which has worked closely with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in pursuing political and legal challenges against US intelligence. Staff and leadership for the CNSS have been drawn almost entirely from the IPS and the National Lawyers Guild (NLG); the NLG is the American branch of the Soviet-controlled International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL), operates as a front of the Communist Party, USA, and publicly supports dozens of terrorist groups ranging from the PLO to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). IPS member Morton Halperin became head of the CNSS.7 [--------7 Broken Seals, Op cit., passim; 'Outlaws of Amerika,' report of the Western Goals Foundation, Alexandria, VA, 1982, pp. 51-60, passim. via "The Plot to Hijack the CIAPublished in October 1994 Inside Story: World Report " Anti-CommunistAnalyst.com ^ Posted on 10/21/2004 7:43:59 PM PDT by TapTheSource [not sure of the quality of this source]
1969 : (PHILIP AGEE RESIGNS FROM JOB AS CASE OFFICER FOR THE CIA IN MEXICO) Philip Agee who has worked as a CIA Latin American case officer in the Agency in Mexico, a position he resigned in 1969 after twelve years of service. Agee said he was leaving the CIA for "personal reasons," but, after he left, he stated that he had rejected "my work in the CIA as a reaction against the corruption, ineffectiveness, and greed I found among the traditional political forces that we were supporting."
Thereafter Agee became a dedicated CIA basher. He moved to Cuba where he was given a house and servants and where he wrote a book about his CIA career. Agee always insisted that the Cuban government did not bring any pressure to him to write a critical portrait of his former employer, but the CIA later insisted that Agee was by then a member of the Cuban secret service, the DGI, which was an arm of the KGB.
Agee's book, Inside the Company, proved to be a vitriolic condemnation of the CIA, a political polemic, really, which also publicized many of the Agency's sensitive procedures and, more devastating, printed the names of hundreds of CIA employees, as well as affiliate agents and organizations.------ "Philip Burnett Franklin Agee: CIA Case Officer in Latin America (1936 - )"http://www.angelfire.com/dc/1spy/Agee.html
1970s : (JAMES ABOUREZK IS A DEMOCRAT US SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA) Abourezk served only one term in the 1970s, but gained distinction for calling then-President Jimmy Carter a "liar" on the Senate floor in 1977. .---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
SEPTEMBER 12 & 13, 1974 : (CNSS CONFERENCE INCLUDING WALTER PINCUS - HOSTILE TOWARDS CIA) CNSS [the Center for National Security Studies] launched its activities with a two-day conference on September 12 and 13, 1974. . .Sens. Edward Brooke (R-Mass.), Philip Hart (D-Mich.), and James Abourezk (D-S. Dak.) and Rep. Michael Harrington (D-Mass.) lent credibility. . .The proceedings amounted to a trial of the CIA, which was assumed guilty of various crimes. . .The first day's panel discussions were chaired by people almost entirely hostile to the CIA: . . .Victor Marchetti and John Marks. . .David Wise. . .David Ross. . .and "The CIA and Watergate" by Walter Pincus. The next day's offerings were [by]. . .Morton Halperin and Anthony Lake, Sen. Frank Church's legislative aide. . .Herbert Scoville. . .Jeremy Stone. . .Nancy Stein. . .Robert Borosage, director of CNSS, and Melvin Wulf, general counsel to the ACLU.
The hostility of the conference reached its height that afternoon when [CIA director] William Colby was subjected to a twenty-five minute harangue by Pentagon Papers thief Daniel Ellsberg. The conference ended with a panel. . .chaired by Richard Barnet, Paul Warnke, and Neil Sheehan, the New York Times Pentagon Papers reporter. - S. Stephen Powell, Covert Cadre, 57:via FR's Fedora On News/Activism 04/13/2004 8:14:52 PM PDT #2,041 of 2,053
1975 : (FORMER CIA MAN PHILIP AGEE'S BOOK "INSIDE THE COMPANY : CIA DIARY" IS PUBLISHED) Ted Shackley head of the CIA's Western Hemisphere Division, was given the task of trying to stop the book from being published. Agee moved to Cuba and his book Inside the Company: CIA Diary was published in 1975. The book was published worldwide in 27 languages. Agee, who was an outspoken critic of America's covert activities, came under attack from the media. The United States retaliated by having him arrested and expelled from five NATO countries.---------- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKagee.htm [pinko site]
1975 : (UK : PHIL AGEE & MARK HOSENBALL EXPOSE GCHQ CHELTENHAM) In the beginning were Phil Agee and Mark Hosenball, two American journalists working in London. Agee is ex-CIA and Hosenball's father had "State Department connections". They wrote in 1975 in Time Out about GCHQ Cheltenham - the UK Signals Intelligence outfit which, astonishingly, had remained an unmentionable secret for three decades. The US and UK governments were not amused. Labour Home Secretary (Minister of the Interior) Rees decided to deport Agee and Hosenball. ------------The "Colonel B" case
DECEMBER 1975 : (A PUBLICATION ALSO ASSOCIATED WITH PHILIP AGEE PUBLISHES THE NAME AND ADDRESS OF A CIA OPERATIVE IN ATHENS, GREECE BY THE NAME OF RICHARD WELCH - WELCH WAS ASSASSINATED BY LEFTIST TERRORISTS SHORTLY THEREAFTER) In December 1975, a publication to which Agee reportedly had ties, published the name and address of CIA operative in Athens, Greece, Richard Welch. On December 23, 1975, Welch was shot to death outside his Athens home.
The CIA blamed Agee for this death, although he denied having provided the agent's address to the publication. Agee, however, had written in the edition of the publication publishing Welch's address the following advice to foes of the CIA: "…the CIA people can be identified and exposed through periodic bulletins disseminated to our subscribers, particularly individuals and organizations in the foreign country in question.
Photographs and home address in the foreign capital or Consular cities should be included… the people themselves will have to decide what they must do to rid themselves of the CIA." ------ "Philip Burnett Franklin Agee: CIA Case Officer in Latin America (1936 - )"http://www.angelfire.com/dc/1spy/Agee.html
1976 : (CONGRESSMAN LARRY MCDONALD ACCUSES PHILIP AGEE OF BETRAYING POLISH OLYMPIC FENCER COL. JERZY PAWLOWSKI; PAWLOWSKI WAS SENTENCED TO 25 YEARS IN PRISON ON CHARGES OF BEING A CIA SPY) Later, Agee was accused by Congressman Larry McDonald of betraying Polish Olympic fencer Colonel Jerzy Pawlowski as a secret agent for the West. Pawlowski was arrested by the KGB in 1976 and sent to prison for twenty-five years, convicted of being a CIA spy.
Agee, who by then was living in England, was ordered deported from that country. Agee fought the deportation order but lost and was compelled to leave Great Britain.
After his American passport was confiscated, Agee battled this action all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which, in 1981, ruled that he no longer had the right to have an American passport. ------ "Philip Burnett Franklin Agee: CIA Case Officer in Latin America (1936 - )"http://www.angelfire.com/dc/1spy/Agee.html
1976 : (LYNDON LAROUCHE CALLS FOR BRINGING A "NEW MARXIST INTERNATIONAL" ) Back in 1976, LaRouche called for bringing into being "a new Marxist International throughout the capitalist sector" ...------ "CIA Defector Defends Joe Wilson," By Cliff Kincaid , AIM Report, October 21, 2003
1977 : (SENATOR JAMES ABOUREZK, DEMOCRAT OF S DAKOTA, CALLS JIMMY CARTER A LIAR ----- See CNSS) ...gained distinction for calling then-President Jimmy Carter a "liar" on the Senate floor in 1977. The Washington Post reported that after Vice President Walter Mondale broke a tie on a piece of legislation, the South Dakota senator, feeling betrayed, "immediately cried treason." ---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
1978 : (AGEE AND SUPPORTERS BEGIN PUBLISHING "COVERT ACTION INFORMATION BULLETIN") In 1978 Agee and a small group of supporters began publishing the Covert Action Information Bulletin in order to promote what Agee called "a worldwide campaign to destabilize the CIA through exposure of its operations and personnel." ---------- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKagee.htm
NOVEMBER 1979 to JANUARY 20, 1981 : (IRAN : HOSTAGE "CRISIS")
1980 : (JAMAICA : RICHARD KINSMAN IS ASSASSINATED; HIS WAS ONE OF THE NAMES RELEASED BY PHILIP AGEE'S "COVERT ACTION INFORMATION BULLETIN") To: Fedora : He remembers clearly Philip Agee, the onetime CIA agent who vowed "to expose CIA agents" and drive them out of the countries where they were operating. He still remembers vividly the Covert Action Information Bulletin, which listed hundreds of names, including that of Richard Kinsman. Kinsman, who worked in Jamaica, would be killed in 1980 when his home was attacked with a submachine gun and an explosive device. Link 4 posted on 03/25/2004 1:50:04 PM PST by PRND21
1980 : (FORMER SENATOR FROM S DAKOTA JAMES ABOUREZK FOUNDS THE ADC ----- See CNSS) Abourezk left the Senate and later founded the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. He recently called on Arabs to "intensify their move to explain their points of view to the American public which is dominated by the Israeli media machine." ---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
1990 : (LYNDON LAROUCHE ISSUES A STATEMENT CALLING FOR SUPPORT OF IRAQ) and, before the first Persian Gulf War, he issued a statement calling for support for Iraq.------ "CIA Defector Defends Joe Wilson," By Cliff Kincaid , AIM Report, October 21, 2003
NOVEMBER 1993 : (AGEE ASSOCIATE MARK HOSENBALL JOINS NEWSWEEK AFTER STINT AT NBC- See 1975 AGEE/HOSENBALL LEAK CASE) Mark Hosenball joined Newsweek as an investigative correspondent in November 1993, covering a range of issues for the National Affairs department. Most recently, he has written and reported numerous stories on terrorism and the Sept. 11 attacks on America. He has also covered campaign finance, the Monica Lewinsky controversy, the death of Princess Diana, Whitewater, the crashes of EgyptAir flight 990 and TWA flight 800, as well as related air safety issues. Hosenball came to Newsweek from “Dateline NBC,” where he worked as an investigative producer. He also worked extensively as a print journalist, writing for a number of British and American publications, including the London Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard, Time Out, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic. In addition, he has done commentaries for American Public Radio. --------Meet Newsweek: Mark Hosenball, Investigative Correspondent http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4901246/site/newsweek/
1996 : (S DAKOTA : COCKBURN SMEAR USED AGAINST REPUBLICAN LARRY PRESSLER IN ELECTION RACE AGAINST TIM JOHNSON - See ABOUREZK, 2006 ELECTION'S FOLEYGATE) In 1996, Jim Jordan, campaign manager for Democrat presidential contender Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), was press secretary for Tim Johnson during his challenge to then-incumbent Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD). The long, negative campaign resulted in the end of the South Dakota Republican's 22 years in Congress. During the campaign, Pressler was dogged by questions about his health, since his father suffered with Alzheimer's disease.
But the most damaging attack was delivered by James Abourezk, the man Pressler replaced in the Senate in 1978. Abourezk brought Alexander Cockburn, author of "Washington Babylon" to speak to a Sioux Falls group. In his book, Cockburn alleged that Pressler was a homosexual. Abourezk admitted repeating the story saying, "I told everybody who would listen to me."
Jordan allegedly sought to take advantage of the accusations, according to a Lisa Lutterman, a Pressler worker. Lutterman told The Mitchell Daily Republic that Jim Jordan was "just ugly, mean spirited and boasting that he would help destroy Larry Pressler." She said Jordan declared that he was "going to take Larry Pressler's liver and rip it out."
Although Jordan said that no such conversation "ever took place," South Dakota newspapers followed the story as charges and countercharges kept the scandal alive. Abourezk was quoted giving a magazine some credit for ousting Pressler because of their focus on his "confused private life." He said, "There's no doubt in my mind that 'Counter Punch' gave Pressler his losing margin."
Pressler has always denied that he was gay and in 1998, Cockburn retracted the allegation and withdrew his book from publication in a settlement with the former senator. --Claim: Kerry Aide Used Gay Smear to Help Defeat Incumbent Senator Talon News ^ | 08/05/03 | Jeff Gannon
[* My note: As we now know, James Abourezk's friend Alexander Cockburn reappears in the 2006 election cycle to go after Florida congressman Foley and the GOP chairman. Earlier in 2003 Alexander Cockburn tried to smear Rickj Santorum]
APRIL 2000 : (VIVIAN MANNERUD ARRANGES FOREIGN TRAVEL FOR JOHN KERRY'S STAFF AS RECENTLY AS THIS DATE - note she has ties to CABRERA & CUBA) Vivian Mannerud : [Massachussetts senator Kerry] accepted campaign funds from Vivian Mannerud, a Democratic campaign donor linked to cocaine trafficker Jorge Cabrera. Even when other Democrats returned such donations, he opted to keep them. Mannerud hosted an $18,000 Kerry fund-raiser, gave $1,000 in donations and arranged foreign travel for Kerry's staff as recently as April 2000. Though Kerry's advisors warned him that Mannerud's drug connection could prove troublesome, Kerry wasn't swayed. "We accept her word she had no knowledge of Mr. Cabrera's illicit activities," the Herald quoted Kerry spokesman David Wade as saying.- Boston Herald
2002 : (FORMER US SENATOR FROM S DAKOTA, JAMES ABOUREZK, PRAISES HEZBOLLAH ----- See CNSS, ADC) The second-generation Lebanese-American seemingly has no problem exercising his first amendment rights. In 2002, Abourezk praised the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah and the "positive role it was playing in Lebanon.""[Hezbollah] was like the tool that forced the 'Israelis' to withdraw," Abourezk said.Also last year [2002], Abourezk suggested that the solution to Israel's terrorism problem would be to "get the hell out of the occupied territories." "It's not a wonder there are suicide bombers, it's a wonder there aren't many more," Abourezk said. ---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
SEPTEMBER 2002 : (FORMER DEMOCRAT US SENATOR FROM SOUTH DAKOTA JAMES ABOUREZK TRAVELS TO IRAQ TO MEET WITH IRAQI DPTY PM TARIQ AZIZ ----- See CNSS, ADC) The former senator made a trip to Baghdad in September 2002 to meet Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz. Abourezk said that a U.S. attack on Iraq would be "immoral."---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon, Talon News, July 31, 2003
SEPTEMBER 2002 : (DENNIS KUCINICH ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION OF A CONGRESSIONAL ANTWAR DELEGATION - See ABOUREZK, LEE, MCDERMOTT, SHAKIR AL KHAFAJI) The CPC overlaps with the Iraq antiwar lobby organized in September 2002 by CPC Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Kucinich announced the formation of a Congressional antiwar coalition immediately following the return of a delegation to Baghdad co-led by former MCPL Senator James Abourezk [ ----- See CNSS, ADC]. Kucinich’s coalition initially consisted of 19 Democrats, notably CPC members Barbara Lee, who had cast the lone vote against military action in Afghanistan after 9/11, and Jim McDermott, who had also criticized military action against Afghanistan. McDermott would soon follow up Abourezk’s delegation with another trip to Baghdad. Accompanying McDermott’s delegation was Iraqi agent Shakir Al-Khafaji, who later paid McDermott a check. Al-Khafaji had also been using Oil-for-Food vouchers to finance a film by antiwar spokesman Scott Ritter, who met Abourezk’s delegation in Baghdad. Since 2002, Kucinich’s coalition has spearheaded the movement to defund the war effort.-------------- "In Fonda’s Footsteps: Murtha, Kucinich, and the Antiwar Movement’s Economic War," Original FReeper research | 1/15/2007 | By Fedora
JANUARY 16, 2003 : (GLOBAL TAX, MORTON HALPERIN, PHILLIP AGEE) AFL-CIO former assistant director of public policy, Thomas Palley, was a featured speaker at the January 16 [2003 Global Tax] event. Palley wrote an article for the May-June 2001 issue of Challenge that made "the Case for an International Currency Transactions Tax." He is now the director of the Globalization Reform Project at Soros' Open Society Institute, which claims operations in 50 countries. The Open Society Institute's office in Washington, D.C. is headed by Morton H. Halperin, a former associate of CIA defector Philip Agee who served as the "Senior Director for Democracy" at the National Security Council under President Clinton. ----- "Franco-German Alliance Pushes Global Tax Against America," by Cliff Kincaid, America's Survival Posted on 03/27/2003 2:04:39 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
MAY 2003 : (JAMES ABOUREZK FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST PROBUSH.COM - See N.I.O.N. , CNSS, ADC, Iran, Hezbollah) In May, former Sen. James Abourezk (D-SD) filed a $5 million lawsuit against a website operator who included him among a group of "traitors." The website, www.ProBush.com, lampoons liberals from the entertainment industry and politics who have been vocal in their opposition to the war in Iraq or critical of President George W. Bush.
Some of the others on the list are Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as well as actors George Clooney, Susan Sarandon, and Janeane Garafalo and the country music group, the Dixie Chicks.
While the website disclaimer states that the list is a parody and is not to be taken seriously, Abourezk claims that he has been defamed. In his lawsuit he states that ProBush.com's statement "is intended to injure" his standing in the community.
The operator of the website is Mike Marino, a 20-year-old web designer from suburban Philadelphia. He believes that Abourezk's lawsuit against ProBush.com is without merit."This is clearly a first amendment issue," Marino told Talon News.
While Marino is concerned about the legal ramifications of the lawsuit, he feels the need to stand up for the constitutional principle of free speech."The Internet is a new medium, where ordinary individuals have the greatest opportunity to make their voices heard," Marino said. "Lawsuits like this will have a chilling effect on free expression."
The ProBush.com president said he created the website, because he "disagreed with the protestors and celebrities who were voicing opposition to the war in Iraq," and wanted "to make sport of their arguments.""I also thought President Bush deserved to be defended against such criticism," Marino added.
When asked how Abourezk came to be on the "traitor" list, Marino explained, "These are the signers of the famous 'Not in Our Name' petition against the war. He was alphabetically at the top of the list."
ProBush.com also has a "patriot" list that includes actor James Woods, comedian Dennis Miller, and musician Toby Keith as well as talk show hosts Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, and Bill O'Reilly.
This week, ProBush.com filed a motion in U.S. District Court to dismiss Abourezk's lawsuit. The motion cites a long line of federal court rulings protecting free speech.---- "20-Year-Old Republican Website Owner Sued by Former Democrat Senator, " By Jeff Gannon Talon News, July 31, 2003
OCTOBER 2003 : (HAVANA, CUBA : PHILIP AGEE RUNS A TRAVEL SERVICE BUSINESS) Agee now runs a travel services business in—of all places—Havana, Cuba. ------ "CIA Defector Defends Joe Wilson," By Cliff Kincaid , AIM Report, October 21, 2003
[I wonder if he knows Vivian Mannerud Verble, John Kerry campaign donor who owns Airline Brokers Company, Inc, a company which provides service to the Cuban government? Verble had ties to drug runner Jorge Cabrera and was intermediary in his donations to the DNC]
OCTOBER 21, 2003 : (PLAMENAMGAME/NIGERFLAP - PHILIP AGEE, LYNDON LAROUCHE, RAY MCGOVERN, VIPS) The "scandal" over the naming of a CIA agent demonstrates the enormous liberal bias of the major media. The liberals were not concerned when pro-communist activists were naming CIA agents for the purpose of destroying secret operations against the Soviet Union and its client states. In fact, journalists relied on people such as CIA defector Philip Agee, who specialized in naming the names of CIA operatives, for stories. The federal law that prohibits the naming of agents under cover was passed in response to the activities of Agee and his associates.
Today, however, it has become a major controversy that one or two Bush administration officials have named a CIA employee to a respected conservative journalist, Robert Novak, who published the information. What those officials were doing, in their conversation with Novak, is far different than anything that Agee and his media collaborators ever did.
Incredibly, Agee, who wrote the book "Inside the Company: CIA Diary," has come to the defense of Joe Wilson, whose wife’s employment by the CIA was revealed by Novak. Agee now runs a travel services business in—of all places—Havana, Cuba. Agee calls the outing of Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s wife "dirty politics."
The affair is depicted as an attempt by the administration to take revenge on Ambassador Joseph Wilson for opposing Iraq policy. But the name of his wife was provided in the context of the administration trying to explain why Wilson was picked by the CIA to conduct a mission to investigate the Iraq/uranium matter. This is a potential conflict of interest with a possible partisan motivation. What’s more, as Internet writer Darren Kaplan points out, such a selection might violate the federal anti-nepotism statute, which prohibits federal employees from even recommending the appointment of family members for jobs. The real story, the Wall Street Journal reports, is whether a group of CIA bureaucrats is "hoping to defeat" Bush by undermining his foreign policy and whether the Wilson mission was part of that effort.
A group calling itself Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, representing former CIA employees, has fanned the flames of this controversy. But its spokesman, Ray McGovern, has some explaining of his own to do. He admits that he has given permission to reprint his articles critical of the Bush administration to publications associated with Lyndon LaRouche. McGovern, who had a 27-year career in the CIA, says researchers for LaRouche "do some fairly good work" and he sees "no downside" to them using his material. He claims to know nothing about LaRouche.
That’s hard to believe. Larouche is running for the Democratic presidential nomination, again, and served time in prison on financial fraud charges. He has said that Bush and Cheney should be declared insane. Back in 1976, LaRouche called for bringing into being "a new Marxist International throughout the capitalist sector" and, before the first Persian Gulf War, he issued a statement calling for support for Iraq.------ "CIA Defector Defends Joe Wilson," By Cliff Kincaid , AIM Report, October 21, 2003
JANUARY 10, 2006 : (ANTIWAR POLITICAL STUNT - See VIPS' RAY MCGOVERN, ABU GHRAIB'S KARPINSKI, NION, JAMES ABOUREZK)
To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor
Contact: Connie Julian, 917-449-9064, Janet Yip 212-941-8086 or commission@nion.us
News Advisory:
From: International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration
WHEN: January 10, 2006 at 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: The White House, Walk-in Gate, across from Lafayette Park
WEBSITE: http://www.bushcommission.org
An unprecedented series of indictments alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity, in five separate areas, on moral, political, and legal grounds, will be delivered by a citizens' tribunal to President Bush at the front gate of the White House this Tuesday, January 10th. Named in the indictments are: President of the United States George W. Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, U.S. Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, U.S. Army Major General Geoffrey Miller, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, et al. The indictments will be delivered to the White House by: Retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, authors William Blum and Larry Everest, Code Pink, Mike Hersh (Progressive Democrats of America/After Downing Street), Kevin Zeese (Director, Democracy Rising; candidate for U.S. Senate in Maryland), Travis Morales (World Can't Wait -- Drive Out the Bush Regime) and others TBA. A press conference will follow delivery of indictments, which will also be delivered to the Department of Justice. The indictments result from preparatory work and testimony presented in New York City in October 2005, before the International Commission of Inquiry on Crimes Against Humanity Committed by the Bush Administration which featured former UN envoy to Iraq Denis Halliday, Guantanamo prisoners' lawyer Michael Ratner, and former State Department officer Ann Wright. The Commission's second tribunal will be held at Riverside Church and the Columbia University Law School in New York, January 20- 22. Witnesses will include Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, former British ambassador Craig Murray, and former arms inspector Scott Ritter, among many more. The indictments allege war crimes and crimes against humanity authorized by the Bush Administration in relation to:----------Citizen's Tribunal Indicts Bush Administration for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity US newswire ^ | 1/9/06 [* My note: I think Adam Gadahn or Zawahri used the same talking points listed above almost word for word- need ot check ]1) Wars of Aggression, particular reference to Iraq and Afghanistan;Appended to these indictments will be the demand for investigation of the war crimes of Tony Blair and George Bush submitted by prominent British citizens to the UN Secretary General and the UK Attorney General.
2) Torture and Indefinite Detention;
3) Destruction of the Global Environment, particular reference to distortion of science and obstruction of international efforts to stem global warming;
4) Attacks on Global Public Health and Reproductive Rights, particular reference to the potentially genocidal effects of enforcing abstinence only, global gag rule, distortion of science, and restriction of generic drugs; and
5) Failure of Bush administration, despite foreknowledge, to protect life during and after Hurricane Katrina.The commission was organized by the Not in Our Name Statement of Conscience and is endorsed by: Center for Constitutional Rights, National Lawyers Guild, After Downing Street.org and others, including Former Sen. James Abourezk, former British MP Tony Benn, authors Gore Vidal and Howard Zinn, poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and actor Edward Asner.
[Charter, full indictments, standards for judgment, and audio and video coverage of the first session: http://www.bushcommission.org]
AUGUST 2004 : (AGEE IS IN SWEDEN SPEWING MORE ANTI US ANTI CIA VOMIT )
JULY 2006 : (ADC SUES THE US GOVERNMENT OVER "FAILURE TO PROTECT AMERICAN CITIZENS FROM FIGHTING IN LEBANON" ----- See DEMOCRATS, ABOUREZK, CNSS, NION, HEZBOLLAH, IRAN) WASHINGTON — A leading Arab-American advocacy group has sued the U.S. government, claiming that it failed to protect American citizens from the fighting in Lebanon. The lawsuit, filed Monday on behalf of about 30 American citizens by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee [ADC], alleges that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld did not take all possible steps to secure the safety and well being of U.S. citizens when fighting erupted between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas. The committee is asking the U.S. District Court in Detroit to order the U.S. government to request a cease fire and to stop shipments of weapons or any other military support to Israel during the evacuation of U.S. citizens from Lebanon.(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...----------Arab-American Group Sues U.S. For Slow Lebanon Evacuation Fox News ^ | July 24, 2006
I don't know if it's been mentioned, but Isikoff has also cowritten articles with Mark Hosenball, a coauthor of Philip Agee who along with Agee was deported from Britain for revealing classified information on UK SIGINT in a 1975 article. 28 posted on 05/19/2005 2:11:32 PM PDT by Fedora
Also, check this out and remember it every time you see something from ABC News:
* Morton Halperin : Former National Security Council staffer who drafted the Pentagon Papers of the Vietnam era; he was also the Clinton Admin's Senior Director for Democracy; he is a member of George Soros's Open Society Institute ; he is a former associate of Phillip Agee, CIA leaker and defector to Cuba; he was an advisor to the 2004 presidential campaign of governor Howard Dean; Morton Halperin is the father of Mark Halperin the ABCNews Political Director
* Mark Halperin : ABC News Political Director - see Halperin Memo, Rathergate . Mark Halperin is the son of George Soros-connected Morton Halperin of Pentagon Papers, IPS, CAP, Open Society fame.
correct. Libby should have resigned when this all started, and just walked into the GJ and said "I do not recall" 1000 times.
"Ari Fleischer had conversations with reporters about Wilson's wife that he should not have had," Fitzgerald said.
don't you just love that one - all of these reporters probably already knew Wilson's wife was CIA - from his appearances on the DC cocktail party circuit, as tipped by andrea mitchell during her CNBC interview.
You are so right. Not only do they know this, but a big coalition of the major media outlets had their lawyers make this very argument in court when it served their purposes.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0507/14/wbr.01.html
CNN WOLF BLITZER REPORTS Aired July 14, 2005 - 17:00 ET
WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity. ...She was not a clandestine officer at the time that that article in "Vanity Fair" appeared
Fired from the CIA for leaking classified information to WashPost reporter, Dana Priest.
the issue about her "covertness" has been over for a long time.
Wilson hasn't established that his wife was EVER a clandestine officer.
Priest was Walter Pincus' cowriter. Mary McCarthy was fired, so we are told, for leaking info on "secret prisons" to Priest. she may hae leaked more and probably did.
I think that's a good bet ... what much is she stirring up now? I'd love to know, but she's probably so underground .. making sure her name doesn't appear anywhere. I'll bet anything she's involved in the conyers-sheehan-vips impeachment group.
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