Posted on 11/19/2005 12:17:41 PM PST by parnasokan
Once again the Italian newspaper Il Giornale offers some fascinating insight into the less discussed aspects of the Nigergate affair. I make no comment at all other than ‘read it’.
Cia-gate becomes Woodward-gate
Like something from Dante the affair has been renamed Woodwardgate. The star of the Washington Post, the journalist who went down in history for revealing the Watergate scandal and forcing the Republican President Nixon to resign, now finds himself mixed up in Cia-gate. The author of America’s most important journalistic investigation, the acclaimed writer of best sellers, the man whose name will be forever tied to “deep throat”, has turned out to be the number-one in Cia-gate: it wasn’t the New York Times’s Judith Miller who was the first to found out that Valerie Plame, wife of the ex ambassador Joseph Wilson (sent to Niger by the White House to look for proof of the traffic of uranium with Iraq), was a CIA agent. It was Woodward who, in mid-june 2003, found out from a reliable source in the US administration. His “deep throat” in the White House wasn’t Lewis Libby, «Scooter» for his friends, the right-hand-man of vice president Dick Cheney. Procurator Patrick Fitzgerald’s inquiry changes scene: the dates change, the protagonists change and another round with another jury is going to be needed. The theory of the neocon plot carried forward by the vice president Cheney’s clan and the hawks in the Pentagon starts to lose pieces. Karl Rove is still under investigation but in Washington the question being asked is: if it’s not Scooter Libby then who is the mole? Yesterday the online journal The Raw Report put its money behind Stephen Hadley, current national security advisor. The White House denied it. According to authoritative sources of Il Giornale the ‘deep throat’ that Woodward met on a number of occasions during 2003 while writing his book ‘Plan of Attack’, was Richard A. Armitage, ex right-hand-man of Colin Powell. It will be the investigation that reveals all but if the lens turns from the Pentagon to the State Department, from the hawks to the doves, the scene for the anti-Bush party risks becoming a real boomerang.
Woodward made his revelations only after having been ordere to do so by Fitzgerald. Not only did he cover his source for two years but remained silent even while his colleague Judith Miller spent 85 days in jail. Woodward stated that he met Scooter Libby on the 23 and 27 June 2003. The vice presidents assistant didn’t talk about or mention Valerie Plame. Libby’s defence team is shouting for joy: if he was so concerned in getting the CIA agents name out as a vendetta against Wilson why not take advantage of a Pulitzer prize? As happened with Dan Rather, Woodward risks closing his brilliant career with a flop. Plame’s husband, ambassador Wilson, has asked for an inquiry into the Post and Woodward («ther’s a conflict of interests») who criticised Fitzgerald. At the Washington Post moral is way down low. Woodward made a public apology to the readers but inside the Post’s building there’s a heavy atmosphere. Yesterday the director, Leonard Downie Jr, opened an online forum to respond to the readers questions. Ciagate isn’t simply a problem of the New York Times anymore. It’s so embarrassing that the at the Post the director has opened, and is encouraging, the hunt for the ‘deep throat’: the promise of confidentiality is only valid for the journalist that made it. 23 years on the Post passes from Watergate to Woodwardgate.
The Niger mystery, «pressure» on Martino
Rediscovered: notes made by the Italian spy at the service of the French. Martino was forced to agree to an interview with CBS.
If Cia-gate is becoming inedible to those that cooked it Niger-gate is by now totally rancid. The latest news from Washington sinks the neocon plot pushed in Italy – with dozens of imprecision’s – by La Repubblica who, playing a support role, to the bloggers and liberal American journalists belonging to the «anti-three B» (Bush, Blair e Berlusconi) party. Very shortly the director of SISMI (the Italian Military Intelligence Service), Nicolò Pollari, and the under secretary Gianni Letta will return to the Copaco commission and very probably will illustrate the results of SISMI’s counterespionage inquiry into the false documents regarding Niger. A more than relaxed counteroffensive to the media cabal responsible for publishing falsities until the official denials became unbeatable. All considered, as the clamorous declarations of Woodward reveal, the role of the media in this story is enormous. The very same Washington Post, who until a couple of days ago were celebrating the woes of the rival New York Times, now has to defend itself over the behaviour of Woodward. The Post had its fun with Niger-gate and gave La Repubblica occasion to launch the SISMI as author of the false documents line. A line where SISMI produced the forgeries to do the United States a favour in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq. Just what did the Post write? «The ex CIA resident received Martino, who tried to sell him the Niger forgeries, in 2001». The reconstruction is false, the letters arrived at the American embassy in Rome on October 9 2002, while those mentioned ny the Post were «the information» - shared with numerous intelligence agencies – on presumed traffic of uranium between Niger and Iraq. This example of support role is useful in understanding the global scene in which the Cia-gate and the Italian part of Niger-gate developed. One of the key points is the role of BS which interviewed Rocco Martino, the Italian spy at the service of the French 007’s, twice and twice had to refrain from airing the interview: The first time because Martino omitted to tell the (he didn’t admit to working for the French Dgse) and the second time because of the fiasco over the Bush’s military service, a fiasco that cost Dan Rather his job. Why did Matino fly to the States for the interview? He explained to Il Giornale that he wanted to tell his version of the truth while at the same time ‘changing environment’. He felt in danger. True? We don’t know. One thing is true, the Digos (Italian investigative police) were following his every move, Sismi were tracking him, even the FBI had begun to keep an eye on him. In a hand-written note Martino explained that the trip to CBS in America was due to «pressure». This is a little known part of the story, little known because omitted, it’s not conducive to the plot and conspiracy theory Martino shaved his moustache off for CBS, he was escorted and hosted by a CBS journalist. He flew in in business class and stayed in first-class hotels in the States. Two trips that allowed Martino to let things settle down a bit. As in Cia-gate Rocco’s spy story was pushed by bloggers, liberal journalists, democrats and ex CIA agents. All this with support from La Repubblica. It’s easy to discover the truth. On the intelligence front the work is done by the Vips of the Cia, the association of veterans that played a key role in Niger-gate. Alongside Raymond McGovern, Richard Beske, Kathleen McGrath, William Christison and Patrick Eddington <> ex –agents like Vincent Cannistraro and Robert Baer played their part. All belonging to that part of the CIA that doesn’t like the Bush reforms, the arrival of Porter Goss and the promotion of John Negroponte. Amongst the bloggers there is the excellent work done by Joshua Marshall (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) and Laura Rozen (www.warandpiece) who play ping-pong with La Repubblica, but lately have adopted the intriguing analysis from theleftcoaster.com. «Interesting» is the work of crookedtimber.org and nuralcubicle.blogspot.com. The members of the independent media involved are The American Prospect, Democracy Now and The Washington Monthly. It’s a network that shares a common political line «anti-Tre B», the targets are the neocons in Washington. The attack is co-ordinated but it wouldn’t have such a loud voice or global coverage without the support of the big players from the printed press, without the Knight Ridder chain and, last but not least, the New York Times and the Washington Post, a daily that finds itself licking it’s wounds today over Cia-gate.
I am a man of faith. I always knew Woody had it in him. Ba bye Woody.
How sweet it would be to have this thing turn on the antibushites at the CIA.
I'm just so disappointed in all this...
...there, ... it's all better now.
With very little change, I'd could agree even more.
the MSM has already testified that Plame was outed twice by the CIA in the 90's...the Washington Post even wrote a story on it....they just seemed to forget that when they thought they could get rid of Rove and Libby...search this title on here for the story....
National Review: Did the CIA “Out” Valerie Plame? (REPEAT, REPEAT & REPEAT-THE MSM MAY NOTICE?)
Thank you for the response. I appreciate the info.
The Wilsons are nobodies. I doubt if the WH really gave a damn whether Plame was CIA or not. The WH guys probably smelled the trap and led the libs around, or let them lead themselves around. After all everyone knew/knows Ames is doing life for outing several agents. Everyone knows the State Dept. flubbed up in it's routing of a message re/agents. The MSM fell for their own scam it seems. Now, it may transform itself into a blatant attempt at treason by the libs. and most of the MSM. Shades of Dirty Dan.
He also accused Elizabeth Bumiller of the NY Times of being "totally in the tank" for the Bush administation. I thought the only friend of the Bush administration at the NYT was the hand-wringing columnist David Brooks. (At least he pretends to wish them well, but is always predicting doom.)
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