[Shermy]

Both Isikoff and Risen use the word "quietly". IE, they have the same source that uses that word?


Isiskoff:
It shouldn't have. Newsweek has learned that a few months ago, the Czechs quietly acknowledged that they may have been mistaken about the whole thing.

Risen:

The Czech president, Vaclav Havel, has quietly told the White House he has concluded that there is no evidence to confirm earlier reports that Mohamed Atta, the leader in the Sept. 11 attacks, met with an Iraqi intelligence officer in Prague just months before the attacks on New York and Washington, according to Czech officials.

Mr. Havel discreetly called Washington to tell senior Bush administration officials that an initial report from the Czech domestic intelligence agency that Mr. Atta had met with an Iraqi intelligence officer, Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, in Prague in April 2001 could not be substantiated.

[okie01]

IE, they have the same source that uses that word?

Is "quietly" a Richard Clarke word, I wonder. A word search thru his testimony and the text of his book might prove fruitful.

"Quietly" is an Inside The Beltway kinda word, as is "discreetly" -- which Risen also uses. Though I would wager "discreetly" would be favored by State Dept types, while "quietly" might be more to the taste of intelligence bureaucrats.

What would Foster think...???