Monday, September 29, 2003
Wilsongate
The name may not grab, but this budding scandal has been out there since July and may prove to have ‘legs’
To review, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" uranium ore from Africa for possible use in nuclear weapons. Days later, Robert Novak’s syndicated column disclosed that ‘two senior administration officials’ had disclosed that Wilson’s wife that been a CIA operative. Now, a “senior administration official” said that before Novak’s column ran, two “White House officials” had called “at least six Washington journalists” and disclosed the identity / occupation of Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame. Such disclosure violates the Intelligence Protection Act, passed in 1982, which imposes maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information.
Of course, scandals only take root when the media grab on. The major players- the NY Times and Washington Post have joined the bloggers, and, more ominous for the Bushies, is that right-wing Fox (Brit Hume, Tony Snow) actually grilled Condi Rice on the subject.
The Wilson-Plame suspects? While Wilson has said that he suspects Karl Rove, other possibilities include Cheney, Condi Rice, Andy Card, White House Chief of Staff, then press secretary Ari Fleisher , Dan Bartlett, Assistant to the President for Communication, John Gordon, Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor and Scooter Libby, Cheney’s Chief of Staff.
Place your bets!
More “Bad” News:
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which contains notable Republicans, is condemning the Administration for going to war based on outdated, “vague”, “circumstantial” and “fragmentary” information re weapons of mass destruction and Iraq’s purported ties to al-Qaeda. Criticizing the logic, or lack thereof of the Administration’s efforts, the committee questioned the Administration’s logic. "The absence of proof that chemical and biological weapons and their related development programs had been destroyed was considered proof that they continued to exist."
Really!
And…
The Washington Post (Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin) reported on Republicans in Congress being upset with particulars in the $87 billion request. Examples: A new curriculum for training an Iraqi army for $164 million. Five hundred experts, at $200,000 each, to investigate crimes against humanity. A witness protection program for $200,000 per Iraqi participant. A computer study for the Iraqi postal service: $54 million.
“Such numbers, buried in President Bush's $20.3 billion request for Iraq's reconstruction, have made some congressional Republicans nervous, even furious. Although the GOP leadership has tried to unite publicly around its president, cracks are beginning to show.”
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Well, if other countries won’t help us…
Despite the improved atmospherics with the Germans and a hint of civility in dealings with Jacques Chirac, neither country nor the Russians will commit troops to the Iraq operation. And, despite rumors of a resolution that will ultimately be adopted, the Administration (and its ally, Great Britain) is preparing to go it alone. Kate Holton’s Reuters report quotes Britain’s confident special representative to Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock
"It would be a very good development if we had a wider international involvement but that doesn't mean to say we cannot do what needs to be done with the forces we have deployed already."
And, troubled by less-censored reports out of Iraq, the Pentagon is expected to re-embed reporters. Twas a golden age during the invasion , when reporters parked their journalist training and became faithful conveyers of U.S. heroism and good intentions.
WMD: Time weighs in: There Weren’t Any!
It’s noteworthy when the establishment periodicals make the case for weapons of mass destruction being absent from Iraq in the pre-war period, that Iraqi scientists had confirmed to Time (Nancy Gibbs and Michael Ware) that the weapons were destroyed long before the war, just as Saddam’s defecting son had told media and the CIA in 1995.
Over the past three months, TIME has interviewed Iraqi weapons scientists, middlemen and former government officials. Saddam's henchmen all make essentially the same claim: that Iraq's once massive unconventional-weapons program was destroyed or dismantled in the 1990s and never rebuilt; that officials destroyed or never kept the documents that would prove it; that the shell games Saddam played with U.N. inspectors were designed to conceal his progress on conventional weapons systems—missiles, air defenses, radar…
Still More?
Hard not to notice that a notable local Republican has endorsed Howard Dean. Fosters.com (Anne Saunders) notes that Hilary Cleveland, wife of the late Congressman James Cleveland was the local co-chair for Junior’s 2000 campaign and had served as the state party’s finance chair of Senior’s 1980 campaign. Why the change? “I have been disappointed in the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq, and former Governor Dean has best articulated why we should not have gone to war in Iraq. I like his emphasis on the importance of internationalism and his fiscal program.”
Demonstrations Abroad:
Saturday’s anti-Iraq war demonstrations were in Edinburgh, London (20- 100,000), Paris, Dublin, Athens, Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, and Seoul.
October 25 is the Washington D.C. demonstration.
Moyers’ NOW (www.pbs.org/NOW):
TV at its best:
Bernard-Henri Levy, French philosopher and author of the book on Daniel Pearl, focused on Pakistan, “the very core of terrorism.” Levy underscored the cozy relationship that binLaden has with Pakistan, noted that the head of Pakistani intelligence funneled money to Mohamed Atta, and focused on two scientists linked to al-Qaeda “with nuclear know-how.”
The program also highlighted “Faith Partners”, one of many faith-based “social service” organizations that utilize “untrained” citizens to “mentor” troubled locals; “phase 2” of such interventions steers clients to a “Christian Church”, sometimes providing the car pool to ensure attendance.
With Moyers’ retirement oft-rumored, it’s notable that non-progressive David Brancaccio has become co-host.
9/11: More intransigence
Newsweek (Mark Hosenbalol, Michael Isikoff) makes its contribution, underscoring the foot-dragging and worse of the Administration, as it delays/obstructs the work of the 9/11 Commission.
Despite pubic claims of cooperation, White House lawyers are still resisting turning over to the September 11 commission key documents—including the text of daily intelligence briefs provided to President Bush in the months before the attacks and closely held National Security Council memos on terrorism, sources familiar with the negotiations tell Newsweek. . ..At a minimum, the specter of White House lawyers claiming “executive privilege” over September 11 documents is sure to fuel charges—already heard from some of the Democratic presidential candidates—that the White House is covering up politically embarrassing details about the attacks, such as the administration’s failure to heed stark intelligence warnings in the summer of 2001 and its cozy relations with Saudi Arabia.
Apres Arnold…Dennis?
The LA Times (Joe Mathews) reports on some momentum for enlisting the iconoclastic comic Dennis Miller for statewide office. Once left-of-center, the comedian has marked his fading t.v. career by marrying himself to the Republican party. The contest? To oppose Barbara Boxer for the Senate. While Miller is more informed, intelligent and articulate than Arnold, he lacks Schwarzenegger’s muscle and following.
-R
The name may not grab, but this budding scandal has been out there since July and may prove to have ‘legs’
To review, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had tried to buy "yellowcake" uranium ore from Africa for possible use in nuclear weapons. Days later, Robert Novak’s syndicated column disclosed that ‘two senior administration officials’ had disclosed that Wilson’s wife that been a CIA operative. Now, a “senior administration official” said that before Novak’s column ran, two “White House officials” had called “at least six Washington journalists” and disclosed the identity / occupation of Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame. Such disclosure violates the Intelligence Protection Act, passed in 1982, which imposes maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and $50,000 in fines for unauthorized disclosure by government employees with access to classified information.
Of course, scandals only take root when the media grab on. The major players- the NY Times and Washington Post have joined the bloggers, and, more ominous for the Bushies, is that right-wing Fox (Brit Hume, Tony Snow) actually grilled Condi Rice on the subject.
The Wilson-Plame suspects? While Wilson has said that he suspects Karl Rove, other possibilities include Cheney, Condi Rice, Andy Card, White House Chief of Staff, then press secretary Ari Fleisher , Dan Bartlett, Assistant to the President for Communication, John Gordon, Assistant to the President and Homeland Security Advisor and Scooter Libby, Cheney’s Chief of Staff.
Place your bets!
More “Bad” News:
The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which contains notable Republicans, is condemning the Administration for going to war based on outdated, “vague”, “circumstantial” and “fragmentary” information re weapons of mass destruction and Iraq’s purported ties to al-Qaeda. Criticizing the logic, or lack thereof of the Administration’s efforts, the committee questioned the Administration’s logic. "The absence of proof that chemical and biological weapons and their related development programs had been destroyed was considered proof that they continued to exist."
Really!
And…
The Washington Post (Jonathan Weisman and Juliet Eilperin) reported on Republicans in Congress being upset with particulars in the $87 billion request. Examples: A new curriculum for training an Iraqi army for $164 million. Five hundred experts, at $200,000 each, to investigate crimes against humanity. A witness protection program for $200,000 per Iraqi participant. A computer study for the Iraqi postal service: $54 million.
“Such numbers, buried in President Bush's $20.3 billion request for Iraq's reconstruction, have made some congressional Republicans nervous, even furious. Although the GOP leadership has tried to unite publicly around its president, cracks are beginning to show.”
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Well, if other countries won’t help us…
Despite the improved atmospherics with the Germans and a hint of civility in dealings with Jacques Chirac, neither country nor the Russians will commit troops to the Iraq operation. And, despite rumors of a resolution that will ultimately be adopted, the Administration (and its ally, Great Britain) is preparing to go it alone. Kate Holton’s Reuters report quotes Britain’s confident special representative to Iraq, Sir Jeremy Greenstock
"It would be a very good development if we had a wider international involvement but that doesn't mean to say we cannot do what needs to be done with the forces we have deployed already."
And, troubled by less-censored reports out of Iraq, the Pentagon is expected to re-embed reporters. Twas a golden age during the invasion , when reporters parked their journalist training and became faithful conveyers of U.S. heroism and good intentions.
WMD: Time weighs in: There Weren’t Any!
It’s noteworthy when the establishment periodicals make the case for weapons of mass destruction being absent from Iraq in the pre-war period, that Iraqi scientists had confirmed to Time (Nancy Gibbs and Michael Ware) that the weapons were destroyed long before the war, just as Saddam’s defecting son had told media and the CIA in 1995.
Over the past three months, TIME has interviewed Iraqi weapons scientists, middlemen and former government officials. Saddam's henchmen all make essentially the same claim: that Iraq's once massive unconventional-weapons program was destroyed or dismantled in the 1990s and never rebuilt; that officials destroyed or never kept the documents that would prove it; that the shell games Saddam played with U.N. inspectors were designed to conceal his progress on conventional weapons systems—missiles, air defenses, radar…
Still More?
Hard not to notice that a notable local Republican has endorsed Howard Dean. Fosters.com (Anne Saunders) notes that Hilary Cleveland, wife of the late Congressman James Cleveland was the local co-chair for Junior’s 2000 campaign and had served as the state party’s finance chair of Senior’s 1980 campaign. Why the change? “I have been disappointed in the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq, and former Governor Dean has best articulated why we should not have gone to war in Iraq. I like his emphasis on the importance of internationalism and his fiscal program.”
Demonstrations Abroad:
Saturday’s anti-Iraq war demonstrations were in Edinburgh, London (20- 100,000), Paris, Dublin, Athens, Vienna, Berlin, Madrid, and Seoul.
October 25 is the Washington D.C. demonstration.
Moyers’ NOW (www.pbs.org/NOW):
TV at its best:
Bernard-Henri Levy, French philosopher and author of the book on Daniel Pearl, focused on Pakistan, “the very core of terrorism.” Levy underscored the cozy relationship that binLaden has with Pakistan, noted that the head of Pakistani intelligence funneled money to Mohamed Atta, and focused on two scientists linked to al-Qaeda “with nuclear know-how.”
The program also highlighted “Faith Partners”, one of many faith-based “social service” organizations that utilize “untrained” citizens to “mentor” troubled locals; “phase 2” of such interventions steers clients to a “Christian Church”, sometimes providing the car pool to ensure attendance.
With Moyers’ retirement oft-rumored, it’s notable that non-progressive David Brancaccio has become co-host.
9/11: More intransigence
Newsweek (Mark Hosenbalol, Michael Isikoff) makes its contribution, underscoring the foot-dragging and worse of the Administration, as it delays/obstructs the work of the 9/11 Commission.
Despite pubic claims of cooperation, White House lawyers are still resisting turning over to the September 11 commission key documents—including the text of daily intelligence briefs provided to President Bush in the months before the attacks and closely held National Security Council memos on terrorism, sources familiar with the negotiations tell Newsweek. . ..At a minimum, the specter of White House lawyers claiming “executive privilege” over September 11 documents is sure to fuel charges—already heard from some of the Democratic presidential candidates—that the White House is covering up politically embarrassing details about the attacks, such as the administration’s failure to heed stark intelligence warnings in the summer of 2001 and its cozy relations with Saudi Arabia.
Apres Arnold…Dennis?
The LA Times (Joe Mathews) reports on some momentum for enlisting the iconoclastic comic Dennis Miller for statewide office. Once left-of-center, the comedian has marked his fading t.v. career by marrying himself to the Republican party. The contest? To oppose Barbara Boxer for the Senate. While Miller is more informed, intelligent and articulate than Arnold, he lacks Schwarzenegger’s muscle and following.
-R
