WP,pg1: A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic (Ambassador Wilson)

[DeepModem Mom]

A 'Concerted Effort' to Discredit Bush Critic
Prosecutor Describes Cheney, Libby as Key Voices Pitching Iraq-Niger Story
By Barton Gellman and Dafna Linzer
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 9, 2006; Page A01

As he drew back the curtain this week on the evidence against Vice President Cheney's former top aide, Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald for the first time described a "concerted action" by "multiple people in the White House" -- using classified information -- to "discredit, punish or seek revenge against" a critic of President Bush's war in Iraq.

Bluntly and repeatedly, Fitzgerald placed Cheney at the center of that campaign. Citing grand jury testimony from the vice president's former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald fingered Cheney as the first to voice a line of attack that at least three White House officials would soon deploy against former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV.

Cheney, in a conversation with Libby in early July 2003, was said to describe Wilson's CIA-sponsored trip to Niger the previous year -- in which the envoy found no support for charges that Iraq tried to buy uranium there -- as "a junket set up by Mr. Wilson's wife," CIA case officer Valerie Plame.

Libby is charged with perjury and obstruction of justice for denying under oath that he disclosed Plame's CIA employment to journalists. There is no public evidence to suggest Libby made any such disclosure with Cheney's knowledge. But according to Libby's grand jury testimony, described for the first time in legal papers filed this week, Cheney "specifically directed" Libby in late June or early July 2003 to pass information to reporters from two classified CIA documents: an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate and a March 2002 summary of Wilson's visit to Niger.

One striking feature of that decision -- unremarked until now, in part because Fitzgerald did not mention it -- is that the evidence Cheney and Libby selected to share with reporters had been disproved months before....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800916.html

[Spazito]

1. My, my, my, it looks like the spin by the repubs isn't working

Good article, thanks for posting.

[rodeodance]

6. I think this is the second good front page story today by WPost.

[Spazito]

9. The detail included in this article is very interesting!

They have included dates, mention of a memo received about the lack of credibility of the Niger issue, etc. The pieces are being put together and they are not looking good for bush and Cheney at all.

[Pirate Smile]

18. This is KEY!

One striking feature of that decision -- unremarked until now, in part because Fitzgerald did not mention it -- is that the evidence Cheney and Libby selected to share with reporters had been disproved months before.

[grytpype]

2. HOLY SH*T, K&R!!!! Lots and lots of new info here!

Wow. Just, wow. Read the whole article, you won't believe your eyes.

[Rose Siding]

8. What they chose to leak "had been disproved months before"!

:wow:

[DeepModem Mom]

11. That is one powerful sentence! nt

[Radio_Lady]

31. Still bleary eyed from computer work all day long. Whazzit say...

in a nutshell?

I need the Reader's Digest version. Kicked & recommended nevertheless on you guys say-so...

[Rose Siding]

3. That's certainly better than the trash from VandeHei

[rodeodance]

4. Cheney boy is really key in this:

......At Cheney's instruction, Libby testified, he told Miller that the uranium story was a "key judgment" of the intelligence estimate, a term of art indicating there was consensus on a question of central importance.

In fact, the alleged effort to buy uranium was not among the estimate's key judgments, which were identified by a headline and bold type and set out in bullet form in the first five pages of the 96-page document.

Unknown to the reporters, the uranium claim lay deeper inside the estimate, where it said a fresh supply of uranium ore would "shorten the time Baghdad needs to produce nuclear weapons." But it also said U.S. intelligence did not know the status of Iraq's procurement efforts, "cannot confirm" any success and had "inconclusive" evidence about Iraq's domestic uranium operations.

Iraq's alleged uranium shopping had been strongly disputed in the intelligence community from the start. In a closed Senate hearing in late September 2002, shortly before the October NIE was completed, then-director of central intelligence George J. Tenet and his top weapons analyst, Robert Walpole, expressed strong doubts about the uranium story, which had recently been unveiled publicly by the British government. The State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research, likewise, called the claim "highly dubious." For those reasons, the uranium story was relegated to a brief inside passage in the October estimate.

[creeksneakers2]

47. In short

Cheney told Libby to lie.

[ClintonTyree]

56. Yes, in true Republican form.....

in the absence of any facts supporting your position, make shit up. What the hell, with the Corporate Media ready and willing to parrot anything you tell them (and not bother to check facts).......why not? :shrug: It's not like there were questions about honor and ethics to deal with. Those pesky little annoyances were smothered to death long before Bush was sworn in for his first term of office. The "culture of corruption" was already under a full head of steam at this point....."full speed ahead..damn the torpedoes"! Fuckwits! :grr:

[KennedyGuy]

5. Did you see this paragraph!! Holy Sh*t!!

"Fitzgerald wrote that Cheney and his aides saw Wilson as a threat to "the credibility of the Vice President (and the President) on a matter of signal importance: the rationale for the war in Iraq." They decided to respond by implying that Wilson got his CIA assignment by "nepotism."

They were not alone. Fitzgerald reported for the first time this week that "multiple officials in the White House"-- not only Libby and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, who have previously been identified -- discussed Plame's CIA employment with reporters before and after publication of her name on July 14, 2003, in a column by Robert D. Novak. Fitzgerald said the grand jury has collected so much testimony and so many documents that "it is hard to conceive of what evidence there could be that would disprove the existence of White House efforts to 'punish' Wilson".

[Media_Lies_Daily]

14. I bet the members of WHIG made up most of those "officials"....

...as listed in a Kos article entitled:

Glengarry Glen Rove
<http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/12/203922/44>

[katinmn]

20. Wow. Sounds like a full-fledged campaign

Lucky for us Wilson chose to fight them instead of backing down like so many others.

[americanstranger]

52. Wrong 'C' word.

I prefer 'full-fledged conspiracy.'

I think Shotgun's gonna get a conspiracy charge leveled against him.

-as

[Pirate Smile]

25. How do you show "nepotism" without telling who his wife was and what she

did? How can they even claim that this doesn't related to outing her as a CIA agent?

[grytpype]

7. Article tells the whole uranium/Niger/Wilson/Plame story

What a disgusting tale of deception and treason.

[ginnyinWI]

10. Cheney at the center of it all

It fits. The biggest chickenhawk-warhawk-neocon in the WH, the one who most wanted war, wanted to reclaim presidential powers. The sneakiest, lyingest bastard of them all. I still think that * is bad, but he's not as tricky as this Nixonian throw-back--him along with Rummy. We've been focusing all of our hatred against * but I think Cheney deserves his share.

How many kids have you killed today, Mr. VP?

[Nickster]

12. Are people FINALLY going to get it? WTF, does it take? ITMFA!

I look at this article and all I can say is "Yeah, I knew that...". Where are all the friggin pundits that said Wilson was full of it now?! Where are all the liberal media's calls for impeachment? Where's the 24/7 coverage of every little aspect of Dubya's persona life?? God I hate the media.

[madame defarge]

13. If this is all true...

(and I'm sure it is, because Fitz knows his stuff)... It may mean that Cheney will be forced to resign... And then who do they replace him with? My bet: McCain, in a set-up for 08. Bush won't take the hit, I'll bet... They'll blame it all on Cheney...

[colorado_ufo]

16. Too late - Bush has been outed!

But to lose both No 1 and No 2 is a tremendous shakeup. My guess is that Crashcart goes and is replaced by McCain. I can almost see McCain pursing his lips now . . .

[RaRa]

23. I have often worried

about any scenario that has Cheney leaving before the term is up for that very reason: setting up the next repuke candidate. Otherwise, it would give me great joy to see the Dick hauled out of office.

[Zorra]

50. Cheney could conceivably take the fall by saying that he lied to

Libby about Bu*h's authorization of the leak. He could say that he wanted to make Libby confident that he could legally leak the information and therefore told Libby that Bu*h had authorized the leak. Cheney could then resign in disgrace and get Bu*h off the hook.

Is there other evidence that could eliminate this scenario?

Maybe Fitz has more goodies in his basket?

[Qutzupalotl]

61. That would be okay.

No, really. Cheney represents the worst of the Administration. Cheney and Rove. Take them out of the equation and at least the most heinous of offenses will cease. Of course, there are still many others, but these two men are the driving forces.

But I'm thirsting for a good old-fashioned impeachment or two.

[lovuian]

15. If Bush & Cheney don't watch out and come clean soon

Fitzgerald will have them up for Conspiracy to make War and lie to the American public in the State of the Union address...

Cheney has to be having palpitations seeing his underling turn on him!!!

[killbotfactory]

17. Can we arrest these assholes now?

Or are people like them above the law?

[maseman]

19. Now we'll just nuke Iran

Time for some "Shock and Awe."

I hope the that mainstream Joe and Jane finally wake up. I'd love to see the approval rating go to about 23%.

[Radio_Lady]

32. Maseman, let's hope and pray (if you wish) there will be no nukes.

It's frightening enough just to have them around screwing up the Iraq war.

Tomorrow, I'm going to light a candle for my terminally ill ex-husband in Vermont (my daughter is at his side) and for the continued life of this wonderful USA as a nation. That will be at a Unitarian service at 10:15 AM here in Oregon.

Somehow we must find a way through this terrible darkness with these horrible scumbags at the helm.

Let the sunshine in... please.

Make peace a worldwide priority in 2006!

Radio_Lady in Oregon

[Maat]

21. I agree that Cheney will resign, and McCain will be in.

They 'tested the waters' on the rightwing websites I check a month or so ago; it was as if they wanted to see how people would react to Cheney resigning 'due to health reasons' or something.

[Catherine Vincent]

26. Yep.

Rev. Falwell has already ordered his flock to support McCain.

[Maat]

28. Yes ... I noticed that ... disgusting, isn't it? (n/t)

[Catherine Vincent]

29. Yes it is.

I heard Medved and that disgusting Mona Charen the other day discussing it on hate radio here and they couldn't believe Falwell would suggest that. Either they are too stupid to see what Falwell is doing or they don't want the listening audience to know.

[Maat]

33. Oh, what tangled webs they are weaving!

They may not be as smart as they think they are.

[Rex]

22. Ratting out an active CIA agent is treason if you knowingly do it.

It doesn't matter WHO you are, no excuse will fit a legal billing in the courtroom. Spin spin spin...doesn't matter, Justice will have her day.

[LynnTheDem]

24. So Poppa Bush; you called Joe Wilson "an American hero". Whatcha think

of your son?

Real piece of total shit, isn't he.

[Catherine Vincent]

30. Apparently he thinks his son should be tired for treason.

He said a while back that anyone that would out one of our CIA agents is treasonous.

[orleans]

27. wish the title was something more like

bush is a big LEAKER!

[kohodog]

34. Iraq Findings Leaked by Cheney's Aide Were Disputed

WASHINGTON, April 8 — When President Bush authorized Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide to reveal previously classified intelligence to a reporter about Saddam Hussein's efforts to obtain uranium, as the aide has testified, that information was already being discredited by several senior officials in the administration, interviews show.

A review of the records and interviews conducted since that crucial period in June and July of 2003 also show that what the aide, I. Lewis Libby Jr., said he was authorized to portray to reporters as a "key judgment" by the intelligence community had in fact been given much less prominence in an earlier intelligence report.

Mr. Libby said he drew on that report, the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq, when he spoke with the reporter. Records and interviews show that the key judgment's lack of prominence in the report was a reflection of doubts about its reliability.

The new account of the interactions among Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby was spelled out last week in a court filing by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the C.I.A. leak case. It adds considerably to a picture of an administration in some disarray as the failure to discover illicit weapons in Iraq had undermined the central rationale for the American invasion in March 2003.

<more>

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/09/washington/09leak.html?hp&ex=1144555200&en=ae8daa5efe411a3c&ei=5094&partner=homepage

More fuel for the fire.

[rodeodance]

36. I think the WaPost and NYTimes are trying to outdo each other--FireAway!

[kohodog]

37. Finally a little reporting going on in the msm

That being said, they have much nto answer for.

[journalist3072]

38. In their rush to trash Joseph Wilson

Cheney and Libby leaked BOGUS information to the media.

The Washington Post says that the information Cheney and Libby chose to leak, had been disproved months before!!!

[IndianaGreen]

40. They were trying to cover up that they had lied about WMD

They knew that the selective information that they leaked from NIE had been challenged by others. Their attack on Wilson was not over disputed intelligence but over the fact that they had lied our country into war.

[journalist3072]

42. Can we skip impeachment, please?

And just go ahead and remove these bastards from office?

No articles of impeachment in the House.

No trial in the Senate.

Just go straight for removal from office immediately.

[rodeodance]

39. Cheney is the naughty boy!--and Libby is squealing.

......According to Mr. Fitzgerald's motion, Mr. Libby testified that he was directed by Mr. Cheney and Mr. Bush to describe the uranium allegations to Ms. Miller of The Times as a "key judgment" of the National Intelligence Estimate. Citing intelligence as a "key judgment" in such estimates carries great weight with policy makers, because the reports are meant to highlight the most important and solid judgments of the government's intelligence agencies.

"Defendant understood that he was to tell Miller, among other things, that a key judgment of the N.I.E. held that Iraq was 'vigorously trying to procure' uranium," prosecutors wrote.

In fact, the estimate's key judgments, which were officially declassified 10 days after Mr. Libby's meeting with Ms. Miller, say nothing about the uranium allegations. The key judgments on Iraq's nuclear program — namely, that Iraq was again trying to build a bomb — were based instead on other intelligence, like the assertion that Iraq was seeking high-strength aluminum tubes for nuclear centrifuges. Ms. Miller authored no newspaper article about the leaked weapons information.

In an interview with The Times in 2004, a senior intelligence official involved in drafting the estimate said the uranium allegations were excluded from the key judgments because the drafters knew there were serious doubts about their accuracy.

[NashVegas]

41. Isn't This All Hearsay?

Call me paranoid, thinking of Rathergate, but unless Dick Cheney, himself, testified that Bush okay'd it to him, this is pure hearsay the press is running with.

Half of me is loving this, the other half is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

[kohodog]

43. This may be the other shoe.

I, for one, and many others on this board have been waiting since July 2003 for the MSM to take this seriously. Fitzgerald in his quiet way has been turning over rocks, one at a time until the full picture has begun to emerge. Congress had better well stand up and stop his saber rattling against Iran before BFEE uses that as a distraction and nukes us all to hell.

With Bush dropping like a stone in terms of credibility, he may think he needs something big to regain some level of status. How do we stop this?

[rodeodance]

44. Yes, The stuff coming from Libby would be hearsay.--so who will I believe?

Well, I am weary of believing cheney or bush! even if Libby is trying to save his butt from prison.

[NashVegas]

58. That's Okay - For You

I'm talking more about the press. My feelings are so divided. It's about damn time they treated national security with the seriousness of a blow-job.

They really are children.

[rodeodance]

35. I am so glad to see all the press over this!! whow!

[me b zola]

45. Let's see if the Sunday talking heads quote this report

I dare you Russert, & Wolf. I dare you to do your jobs as members of the media.

[creeksneakers2]

48. Wilson will be on Stephanopoulos tommorow

Maybe this will be brought up.

[Beetwasher]

46. Juicy!!!!

The wheels are comin' off.

[MGKrebs]

49. Fantastic article, but they left out the coolest line:

from Fitz's filing:

"Moreover, as a practical matter, there are no documents showing an absence of a plot, and it is unclear how any document custodian would set out to find documents showing an “absence of a plot.” "

[luckyleftyme2]

51. THIS ONLY CONFIRMS WHAT WE ALL KNOW

we all know now what a slime administration we have in office.
TIME TO CLEAN HOUSE:VOTE STRAIGHT DEMOCRAT TICKET IN NOV.
then demand complete investigations of corruption,and abuse of power!

[SKKY]

53. But remember people, sending hummers into battle without armor...

...is in no way remotely as bad as getting one in the oval office.

:sarcasm:

[darkmaestro019]

57. ....without armor? heee..........

I know that's unclear, but if I clarify it won't be funny anymore. : )

[HuffleClaw]

54. wow, what a great story, it VERY clearly exposes the uraniam lies

and in particular how BUSH KNEW it was a fabrication but chose to use it anyways.

[shaniqua6392]

55. Send the entire Bush Administration to Baghdad

with inadequate body armor and an unarmored Humvee!! Bring home our troops and just leave Bushco to their own defenses. Let them see what they have done.

[BlueInPhilly]

59. What is Fitz waiting for?

Indict the bastard NOW!!!

[shaniqua6392]

60. Hopefully it will be worth the long wait!

But I can't stand the waiting anymore. The wheels of justice grind ever so slowly. I just wish he would hurry up and put a stop to the power grab in Washington. It also makes me really nervous to see them eying Iran. We can not handle any more. They are killing America. I feel like we have a disease and we are desperately searching for a cure!

[magellan]

62. Cheney needs to go, but no way is Bush** off the hook

You don't cherry-pick what to declassify the way he did without knowing what you're doing.

Bush** is LYING, STINKIN' DIRTY.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

63. Then what the hell is up with the WaPo's "A Good Leak" editorial?

Is this paper of a dozen different minds when it comes to shrubco?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800895.html