Now THIS Is a Scoop
David Corn has posted the scoop that should have been the first teaser from his and Isikoff's Hubris--a post detailing Valerie Plame's role in the CIA. It turns out Plame managed the group tasked with studying Iraq's WMDs, the Joint Iraq Task Force.
Though Cheney was already looking toward war, the officers of theagency's Joint Task Force on Iraq--part of the CounterproliferationDivision of the agency's clandestine Directorate of Operations--werefrantically toiling away in
What Tipped the Balance?
John Amato provides some perspective on the most ominous development of the week, when Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani announced that he can no longer restrain his followers. Sistani announced this in the last few days. But, as one of Amato's readers pointed out, David Ignatius reported that Sistani was worried about this back in July.
David:..
I'm Not Surprised
I'm not surprised by several things in the WaPo's disingenuous editorial on the Plame Affair today. For example, I'm not surprised it relies on the word, "primary."
But all those who have opined on this affair ought to take note of thenot-so-surprising disclosure that the primary source of the newspapercolumn in which Ms.
Rove's Silence Amid the Din
The credulous journalists are making quite the racket, with everyone reading NYT's "lawyer involved in the case" to be Armitage's lawyer, admitting that Armitage was Novak's first and primary source--something that Armitage has no direct way of knowing (Fitzgerald may have told him, but Novak apparently hasn't spoken to him since the leak conversation, so Armitage could only go by Novak's public comments).
Why Are They Afraid of a Living Wage, Clean Air, and Free Speech?
Well, the Republicans have launched their long-planned attack on the Representatives who will be Committee Chairs when we take back Congress. It will get nastier than this--the WSJ hides, at least, the degree to which this fear campaign depends on race-baiting and gay-baiting. But let's look at some of the things they fear:
Energyand Commerce would return to the untender mercies of John Dingell, thelongest-serving Member first elected in 1955, who was
Primary Source
As part of my new practice of reminding journalists that even my dog--McCaffrey the MilleniaLab--knows more than them about the Valerie Plame leak, here he is, ready to walk a journalist or two around the block.
For example, McCaffrey knows that Marc Grossman did not write the famous INR memo. Rather, someone in INR did.
Clearing the Air on Iran: Ledeen v. Cirincione
I'd like to recommend Teri Gross' Fresh Air (Part One Part Two). She juxtaposed the Neocon crazyman Michael Ledeen with the sane Joseph Cirincione to show both sides in the battle over our next war, with Iran. But rather than simply expose Ledeen's nuttiness, the juxtaposition served to show the holes in both the Neocon exhortations and the pragmatists' rationality.
I knew it was going to be an intriguing program when I
One-by-Two-by-Timing
I mentioned the other day the story Armitage's colleagues told Corn and Isikoff raises interesting questions for the 1X2X6 story; I'd like to explain why. First, let's review the timing:
September 26: DOJ launches an investigation into the Plame leak
September 28: Priest and Allen publish the 1X2X6 article
September 29: Novak and Rove speak about the leak--Novak assures Rove he will protect him
September 29 (evening):
The Armitage Bombshell that Isikoff Didn't Mention
Gotta go have a good old old fashioned floor fight at my state convention (Go Amos Williams!!), so will have to post more later. But here are the most important passages in Isikoff's new article:
Armitage acknowledged that he had passed along to Novak informationcontained in a classified State Department memo: that Wilson's wifeworked on weapons-of-mass-destruction issues at the CIA.
Who Decides If We Go to War?
In my post on Fred Fleitz' Iran propaganda the other day, merciless asked how we can stop the Iran War. Which got me thinking of a different question--who decides if we go to war? There are a couple of factors playing into this that I think we'd all do well to suss out--because if we're going to prevent this, we need to start working.
Chief among the factors is one I've been
Jim Marcinkowski on the Latest Iran Propaganda
Many of you will recognize the name of Jim Marcinkowski. He's Valerie Plame's classmate from the CIA--the guy who reported she was the best shot in their class with an AK-47. Well, he's running against Mike Rogers in MI-8. Rogers is the head of the House Intell Subcommittee that produced the Iran propaganda we've all been talking about--the one John Bolton's buddy Fred Fleitz fluffed together?
Well, as you can imagine, Jim
Search and Replace: Q, N
Summary: In this post I look at the report released by the House Intelligence Committee. It serves two purposes, in my opinion: To present the first "case" against Iran, under the guise of calling for better intelligence on Iran. And to suggest that, since we don't have good intelligence on Iran, we can't negotiate with them, because we'd have no way of verifying any agreement.
I've been pondering two questions of late.
Why Didn't Judy Flog the Purported Iraq-Al Qaeda Connection?
President Bush's claim the other day that no one ever claimed a connection between Iraq and 9/11 got me thinking. Judy Miller reported extensively on Al Qaeda before 9/11--both the previous World Trade Center bombing and on terrorist financing. We know she tried to report on imminent threats from Al Qaeda in summer 2001.
The Armitage "News"
Just a few words about the story that some are pointing to as a big deal. Armitage, whom we've been arguing was Woodward's source since March, is probably the Woodward source. And in other exciting news, my corn just grew 1/4 inch last night. (Actually, it is exciting, I picked the first cob last night, and it was stunningly beautiful.
Chronological Jujitsu with the Bioweapons White Paper
Back in April, I speculated that Judy Miller had been leaked the CIA/DIA White Paper on the purported mobile bioweapons labs (MBL) to pre-empt the report of an expert team, the "Jefferson Team," sent to Iraq to investigate the trailers. Via Steve Aftergood and this report on the trailers (which I will follow-up with shortly and which lukery is busy working on as well), I found the White Paper itself.
Predictable Failure Update
Justin Rood points to this Observer article which supports two of my past speculations.
emptywheel, 8/18
But I suspect he may be misreading theadministration's dominant impulse with regards to information. Roodargues that because the administration hates leaks, the leak musteither have been sanctioned or just something the administrationmissed.
Most likely, the leak was sanctioned.