Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Today's Topics:
1. Is Ms. Piggy Chemical Judy Protecting Bolton?
([EMAIL PROTECTED])
sent by Jane Franklin
The following analysis is from Bill Goodfellow, Executive Director of the
Center for International Policies, Washington, DC.
sent by Eric Reuther - Tuesday, 26 July 2005
Friends:
The endgame is near for the Bolton nomination. Conventional wisdom still
holds that President Bush will give Bolton a recess appointment after
Congress leaves town for the month of August. But many believe that this
is increasingly unlikely, particularly since Bolton's name has been linked
to the Valerie Plame Wilson scandal. MSNBC has reported that Bolton was
interviewed by the Plame grand jury. There are unconfirmed reports that it
was Bolton, then undersecretary for arms control and international security
and thus the State Department's WMD point man, who first spoke to Judith
Miller of the NYTimes about Ms. Plame.
If Bolton was one of Judith Miller's sources, it seems only a matter of
time before this information comes out. If Bush gives Bolton a recess
appointment in August and then Bolton is fingered as a source of the Plame
leak, his tenure at the UN would be brief indeed.
Here (...is an article...) from a well-informed conservative who
pronounces Bolton's nomination dead.
It is hard at this moment to see how all this is going to play out.
Reporters from the top papers are on the story, but I have not talked with
anyone in the media or in Congress who has definitive information about
Bolton's role in the Plame affair. The special prosecutor, Patrick
Fitzgerald, may be the only one in town who knows, other than Mr. Bolton
and, maybe, Ms. Miller. So stay tuned!
Bill Goodfellow
***
RAGGED THOTS
Ruminations on politics, race, pop culture, sports, comic books & various
other sundry temptations of the human condition.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
John Bolton, R.I.P.
John Bolton will never be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
By Robert A. George
Whether he should be or not is no longer the question. Whether the
"temperament" charges against him were fair or if he was just a victim of
Chris Dodd's pro-Cuba fetish doesn't matter.
It is now politically impossible. On Friday, individual clouds that had
been drifting around for months -- in some cases, years -- finally merged
into a media perfect storm. It is now raging. Whether he knows it or not,
Bolton has been thrown overboard as far more significant players start
working overtime before the ship of state begins taking on water.
Bolton arch-nemesis Steve Clemons called it at the beginning of the month:
The announced retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor effectively killed Bolton's
chances -- at least at a Senate confirmation. I thought that, still -- even
despite Democrats holding firm in refusing to allow cloture on the
nomination (even post "Gang of 14" filibuster deal), the White House was
still pushing the pick -- and seemed to be moving toward the recess
appointment contingency.
But then consider what has become known -- and what new questions have
arisen -- in the last 48 hours: Richard Keil of Bloomberg News reports that
special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald maybe looking at testimony of Karl
Rove and Scooter Libby that could be in conflict with testimony given by
various journalists.
That suddenly brings into sharp focus the possibility that Rove and Libby
may be facing serious legal trouble. On top of that, the Times story Friday
discusses the State Department memo that clearly identified Valerie Plame
(Wilson) as being undercover with the CIA -- and whether former press
secretary Ari Fleischer had access to it.
Then, as Josh Marshall points out, as part of her confirmation hearings for
a State Department public relations position, Karen Hughes was, by law,
obligated to answer a questionnaire, that among other things, asked whether
there were any legal proceedings to which she might be a be part of: She
admitted that she had testified before Fitzgerald's grand jury. Marshall
points out, Bolton answered "no" on the questionnaire -- though, it turns
out he also testified before the grand jury on the contents of the Plame
memo.
If Bolton intentionally misled the Senate in his questionnaire, he's toast.
End of story. But, that's relevant to the big picture.
The key is revealed in Clemons' latest post: He asserts that Bolton was a
major source for NYT's Judith Miller, currently incarcerated for refusing
to surrender a source's name to the Fitzgerald grand jury. Now, one has to
toss in a couple of caveats here: Steve, of course, has to depend on an
anonymous source that somehow "knows" that Bolton was an anonymous source
for many of Miller's stories.
Still, bringing it all together: DC now has two major players potentially
facing legal peril, a reporter in jail -- and the most contentious
confirmation process ever for a nominee to the United Nations. But the link
of Bolton to Miller -- and thus to the Plame-Rove story -- is what can turn
a confusing, "silly summer season" story into Washington nuclear
pyrotechnics.
The other new wild card? SCOTUS nominee John Roberts.
His existence makes it impossible for the White House to recess appoint
Bolton: If that were to occur, with speculation of Bolton possibly
deceiving the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on top of the fact that he
might be the source that Miller is protecting, Democrats would go
ballistic. Even Democrats supporting Roberts might be inclined to
filibuster the nomination in protest.
There's no way the administration would let that occur. Many like Bolton
and feel that he is important -- but not so important that they would let
an appointment that could only last until January 2007 endanger a lifetime
appointee to the Supreme Court and while mustering all other necessary
resources on a legal-political fight involving the president and vice
president's closest aides. Too much to handle all at once.
Say good night, John.
***
Fighting Rove's Gang of Bullies
By Larry C. Johnson,
AlterNet Posted on July 25, 2005
http://www.alternet.org/story/23691/
Editor's Note: Below is testimony presented by former
CIA analyst Larry C. Johnson on July 22nd, 2005 in
hearings held by Senate and House Democrats on the
national security implications of the Rove CIA leak.
I submit this statement to the Congress in an effort to
correct a malicious and disingenuous smear campaign
that has been executed against a friend and former
colleague, Valerie (Plame) Wilson.
Neither Valerie, nor her husband, Ambassador Joseph
Wilson, has asked me to do anything on their behalf. I
am speaking up because I was raised to stop bullies. In
the case of Valerie Plame she is facing a gang of
bullies that is being directed by the Republican
National Committee.
I entered on duty at the CIA in September 1985 as a
member of the Career Trainee Program. Senator Orin
Hatch had written a letter of recommendation on my
behalf, and I believe that helped open the doors to me
at the CIA. >From the first day, all members of my
training class were undercover. In other words, we had
to lie to our family and friends about where we worked.
We could only tell those who had an absolute need to
know where we worked. In my case, I told my wife. Most
of us were given official cover, which means that on
paper we worked for some other U.S. Government agency.
People with official cover enjoy the benefits of an
official passport, usually a black passport -- i.e., a
diplomatic passport. If we were caught overseas engaged
in espionage activity, the black passport was a
get-out-of- jail-free card. It accords the bearer the
protections of the Geneva Convention.
Valerie Plame was a classmate of mine from the day she
started with the CIA. At the time I knew her only as
Valerie P. Even though all of us in the training class
held Top Secret Clearances, we were asked to limit our
knowledge of our other classmates to the first initial
of their last name. So, Larry J. knew Val P. rather
than Valerie Plame. Her name did not become a part of
my consciousness until her cover was betrayed by the
government officials who gave columnist Robert Novak
her true name.
Although Val started off with official cover, she later
joined a select group of intelligence officers a few
years later when she became a NOC, i.e. a Non-Official
Cover officer. That meant she agreed to operate
overseas without the protection of a diplomatic
passport. She was using cover, which we now know
because of the leak to Robert Novak, of the consulting
firm Brewster-Jennings & Associates. When she traveled
overseas she did not use or have an official passport.
If she had been caught engaged in espionage activities
while traveling overseas without the black passport,
she could have been executed.
We must put to bed the lie that she was not undercover.
For starters, if she had not been undercover, then the
CIA would not have referred the matter to the Justice
Department. Some reports, such as one in the Washington
Times that Valerie Plame's supervisor at the CIA, Fred
Rustman, said she told friends and family she worked at
the CIA and that her cover was light. These claims are
not true. Rustman, who supervised Val in one of her
earliest assignments, left the CIA in 1990 and did not
stay in social contact with Valerie. His knowledge of
Val's cover is dated. He does not know what she has
done during the past 15 years.
Val only told those with a need to know about her
status in order to safeguard her cover, not compromise
it. Val has never been a flamboyant, insecure person
who felt the need to tell people what her "real" job
was. She was content with being known as an energy
consultant married to Joe Wilson and the mother of
twins. Despite
the repeated claims of representatives for the
Republican National Committee, the Wilson's neighbors
did not know where Valerie really worked until Novak's
op-ed appeared.
I would note that not a single member of our training
class has come forward to denounce Valerie or question
her bona fides. To the contrary, those we have talked
to have endorsed what those of us who have left the CIA
are doing to defend her reputation and honor.
As noted in the joint letter submitted to Congressional
leaders earlier this week, the RNC is repeating the lie
that Valerie was nothing more than a glorified desk
jockey and could not possibly have any cover worth
protecting. To those such as Victoria Toensing,
Representative Peter King, P. J. O'Rourke, and
Representative Roy Blunt, I can only say one thing: you
are wrong. I am stunned that some political leaders
have such ignorance about a matter so basic to the
national security structure of this nation.
Robert Novak's compromise of Valerie caused even more
damage. It subsequently led to scrutiny of her cover
company. This not only compromised her "cover" company,
but potentially every individual overseas who had been
in contact with that company or with her.
Another false claim is that Valerie sent her husband on
the mission to Niger. According to the Senate
Intelligence Committee Report issued in July 2004, it
is clear that the Vice President himself requested that
the CIA provide its views on a Defense Intelligence
Agency report that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium
from Niger.
The Vice President's request was relayed through the
CIA bureaucracy to the Director of the Counter
Proliferation Division at the CIA. Valerie worked for a
branch in that Division.
The Senate Intelligence Report is frequently cited by
Republican partisans as "proof" that Valerie sent her
husband to Niger because she sent a memo describing her
husband's qualifications to the Deputy Division Chief.
Several news personalities, such as Chris Matthews and
Bill O'Reilly, continue to repeat this nonsense as
proof. What the Senate Intelligence Committee does not
include in the report is the fact that Valerie's boss
had asked her to write a memo outlining her husband's
qualifications for the job. She did what any good
employee does: she gave her boss what he asked for.
The decision to send Joe Wilson on the mission to Niger
was made by Valerie's bosses. She did not have the
authority to sign travel vouchers, issue travel orders,
or expend one dime of U.S. taxpayer dollars on her own.
Yet she has been singled out by the Republican National
Committee and its partisans as a legitimate target of
attack. It was Karl Rove who told Chris Matthews,
"Wilson's wife is fair game."
What makes the unjustified and inappropriate attacks on
Valerie Plame and her reputation so unfair is that
there was no Administration policy position stipulating
that Iraq was trying to acquire uranium in February
2002. That issue was still up in the air and, as noted
by SSCI, Vice President Cheney himself asked for more
information.
At the end of the day we are left with these facts. We
went to war in Iraq on the premise that Saddam was
reacquiring weapons of mass destruction. Joe Wilson was
sent on a mission to Niger in response to a request
initiated by the Vice President. Joe Wilson supplied
information to the CIA that supported other reports
debunking the claim that Saddam was trying to buy
yellow cake uranium from Niger.
When Joe went public with his information, which had
been corroborated by the CIA in April 2003, the
response from the White House was to call him a liar
and spread the name of his wife around.
We sit here more than two years later, and the storm of
invective and smear against Ambassador Wilson and his
wife, Valerie, continues. I voted for George Bush in
November of 2000 because I wanted a President who knew
what the meaning of "is" was. I was tired of political
operatives who spent endless hours on cable news
channels parsing words. I was promised a President who
would bring a new tone and new ethical standards to
Washington.
So where are we? The President has flip-flopped and
backed away from his promise to fire anyone at the
White House implicated in a leak. We now know from
press reports that at least Karl Rove and Scooter Libby
are implicated in these leaks. Instead of a President
concerned first and foremost with protecting this
country and the intelligence officers who serve it, we
are confronted with a President who is willing to sit
by while political operatives savage the reputations of
good Americans like Valerie and Joe Wilson. This is
wrong.
Without firm action by President Bush to return to
those principles he promised to follow when he came to
Washington, I fear our political debate in this country
will degenerate into an argument about what the meaning
of "leak" is. We deserve people who work in the White
House who are committed to protecting classified
information, telling the truth to the American people,
and living by example the idea that a country at war
with Islamic extremists cannot expend its efforts
attacking other American citizens who simply tried to
tell the truth.
Larry C. Johnson is a former CIA analyst. (c) 2005
Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. <11>
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