Do you remember what it was? This is basically what I'm finding on that:
Plame Investigation - Perjury?
And where does Judith Miller fit in? My guess is that at some time she contacted Plame. Miller was regarded as a genuine expert on weapons of mass destruction or, in Washington parlance, WMD. I dont know what circles NYT reporters travel in or if its likely that Miller knew Plame, but WMD folks probably cross paths a bunch. (Miller has interviewed Scott Ritter and was an embedded reporter with the unit tasked to search for Iraqi WMD.) But in her 9/16/04 WaPo article Susan Schmidt writes: Miller did not write an article about Wilson and his wife, but, according to the judge's order, she contemplated doing so, and "spoke with one or more confidential sources regarding Wilson. Its probable that she spoke with Plame at some point, no? And Fitz wants in on the girl-talk.
Here's some of the Ritter tie stuff, but it was loaded with hot links that you had to follow. This is all from Just One Minute. The last poster is a flaming liberal that is trying to tie Aburdene back to the administration.
osted by: The Kid | October 10, 2004 09:07 PM
Is it possible that Fitzgerald has moved past the Plame outing into something more serious?
Everyone assumes that Plame nominated her husband for the non-paying Niger trip out of dull domestic motives. It is further assumed that he misrepresented his findings because he's a politically motivated horse's ass. What if those assumptions are wrong?
The Niger documents found in Italy were forgeries. The forger says he created them for French Intelligence, with the expectation that they would be exposed and thus damage the Saddam/yellowcake link. In other words, the French - possibly with the connivance of others - ran a counterintelligence operation against the United States.
Joe Wilson's credentials for the Niger trip were weak. He was not an investigator. But because he was sent, a professional investigator was not. When his findings were ignored, he went public via the New York Times - with a claim that is now known to be false. Just as false as those Italian forgeries, in a distinctly similar way, with distinctly similar intent.
Wilson was not paid for the Niger trip but he does receive a paycheck from Arab sources. It would be easy to hide a payoff in plain sight. Has Fitzgerald found something suspicious? Is it possible that Wilson and his wife were part of the same operation that created the Italian forgeries?
Posted by: lyle | October 10, 2004 09:18 PM
The head rats have weighed in.
Posted by: The Kid | October 10, 2004 09:21 PM
Speaking of investigations that have fallen off the radar screen, what about the neocon(s) who supposedly were leaking secrets to the Israeli government?
Posted by: Jerry | October 11, 2004 05:32 AM
Jerry,
The subject was dropped because it was discovered that the "so called secrets leak" was false. It was discovered that the leak was one lower level flunky who WAS NOT passing secret information. What he gave out was readily available Non-secret information.
The Terrorist supporting, Jew hating Demoncratic press struck out. They are still foaming at the mouth, as usual.
Posted by: leaddog2 | October 11, 2004 06:52 AM
These are the questions I have yet to see asked:
1. What, if any, the connection is there between Saddam's bribing of diplomats and Joe Wilson, a UN diplomat?
2. Was Joe Wilson mentioned in the list of officials bribed by Iraqi intelligence?
3. What connection, if any, is there between, Saddam's mention of a "susceptible" weapons inspector and Plame? Everyone suspects Scott Ritter, an outspoken critic of the war. Could Plame also have been passing counter-intelligence using her status as a WMD "expert"?
4. Was Plame "outed" rather than simply "taken care of" due to her diplomatic husband? Outing her effectively terminated her access to confidential materials and end her CIA career.
5. What is Ms. Miller's connection to Chalabi (http://slate.msn.com/id/2083736/) and how does Chalabi's connection to Iran (outed by Tenet) imapact this story? Was Miller a conduit feeding CIA inside information to Chalabi via Plame?
Interesting indeed.....
Posted by: Retrograde | October 11, 2004 07:11 AM
Retrograde's number 4 has been swirling as a rumor inside the CIA. Many people inside the CIA are furious how Kerry supporters, including Plame, have been politicizing intelligence. That was the alleged motivation of the outing. Some forms of the rumors have Tenet as the person who outed Plame.
We shall see if the rumors are true.
Posted by: Rich | October 11, 2004 07:35 AM
Read Novak's original column. Nowhere does he say that the administration sources gave him Wilson's wife's name or identified her as a CIA agent. Novak gets some info from the admin sources. Novak names Plame. He does not say that the name came from the admin sources.
Posted by: tipton cole | October 11, 2004 09:21 AM
So I was chuckling at Retrogrades speculations, figgerin that the answer to #1. was probably none because Wilson was a US, not a UN diplomat. The answer to #2 will take some time because US law prevents the naming of US citizens in this case. But then I got to #3 and vaguely remembered that Ritter had Iraqi-linked financing for his movie, did a Google, and got this:
Mr Ritter formed a partnership with Mr al-Khafaji to finance the film, Shifting Sands which, according to Mr Ritter, "proved" that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction. In an interview with the New York Times in 2001, Mr Ritter stated that none of Mr al-Khafaji's funding came from Saddam's regime. Of the £250,000 spent on the film, he said that only £26,250 went into his own pocket.
While he confirmed that he had received money from Mr al-Khafaji, Mr Ritter said that he had had his business associate checked by CIA "sources" via a friend who was a reporter, and was reassured.
(Further on the article does mention Iraqs thoughts of funding Mr al-Khafaji through an oil deal.)
So Im going to go wrap my head in duct tape after I apply a double layer of tin foil right after I note that:
For #4, per the NYTs Kristof, the CIA brought Plame and others back to Washington for safety reasons out of concern that Aldrich Aimes had disclosed their identities to the Russians before his arrest in 1994.
For #5, Miller and Chalabi were an item, and Fitzgerald has subpoenaed Millers phone records.
BTW, I recommend Nashua 398 as the very best duct tape for home or business use - it'll stick when others won't - and ditto for Reynolds heavy duty - it really keeps those mind rays out. I think. I hope.
Posted by: The Kid | October 11, 2004 10:00 AM
Kid, even paranoids have real leads. I am cutting and pasting a comment left by a "Don Williams" from a July 22 post:
BEGIN EXCERPT
...Actually , the real target of New Republic is probably the money man behind Joe Wilson --
Elias Aburdene.
I posted the following over on Roger L Simon's blog back in Oct 2003 (See http://rogerlsimon.com/archives/00000404.htm
and scan for my name )
Reportedly there is a link between Valerie Plame and Judith Miller in the AIPAC scandal.
That prosecution is separate from Fitz' case so he may not have juridiction over all the
Plame/Miller stuff.
Judith Miller is Unnamed Woman in AIPAC Spy Ring Indictment
http://www.sw-asia.com/People/Judith_Miller_Naor_Gilon_Franklin_AIPAC.htm