Anatomy of a White House Smear, Redux

A couple of months ago, I summarized the Plame Affair best as I could speculate. A lot of new information has come to light, so I decided to update that narrative.

The Background–Niger Claims and Power Struggles

I’ll start with some background. There are two reasons why members of the Bush Administration were reckless enough to out a NOC out of petty revenge. First, Wilson’s criticisms risked exposing their elaborate plot to plant Niger forgeries. There is now a lot of circumstantial evidence that Iran-Contra operative Michael Ledeen and Harold Rhode planted the Niger forgeries with SISMI, Italian intelligence. I think the original plan was just to plant the forgeries so friendly members of SISMI could funnel the intelligence–but never the documents–to the US. But as people within the US Intelligence Community continued to question the Niger claims, the plotters finally had to produce actual documents. Which is why, in October of 2002, Elisabetta Burba, an employee of the Berlusconi-owned Panorama, received the documents.

image_print
  1. emptywheel says:

    Thank you John.

    Two things that stuck out at me, writing this up.

    First, Abrams. He was a sure-fire indictee back in September 2003. But we haven’t heard a peep from him since. I wonder if he was Pincus’ second source?

    Second, these guys are going to be indicted not just for the initial leak of Plame’s identity. But they were almost certainly sharing the INR memo, complete with the paragraph marked with an [S], in October 2003. Hopefully, that will add another 5 years to their jail time!

  2. kaleidescope says:

    Nobody is entitled to have a lawyer before a Grand Jury. As far as I know, nobody who testified before the GJ had one.

  3. emptywheel says:

    kaleidescope

    I think the implication is that Powell has never consulted a lawyer on this matter.

  4. kim says:

    Great work emptywheel, I’ll be re-reading this many times over the next days, weeks, maybe months.

  5. obsessed says:

    Another phenomenal post. I had just been re-reading the original and lamenting that it had become out of date.

    Can you expound on Bolton? Why might his visit have been the catalyst for Judy’s dealing and what does it mean to the possibility that Bolton himself may be indicted?

    Thanks again for your massive contributions to the resurrection of the free press.

  6. Marysz says:

    Will Rove flip? According to O’Donnell at the Huffington Post, Rove received a target letter. He writes: â€Fitzgerald does not have to send Rove or anyone else a target letter before indicting him. The only reason to send target letters now is that Fitzgerald believes one or more of his targets will flip and become a prosecution witness at the pre-indictment stage.â€

  7. emptywheel says:

    obsessed

    I’m not sure, about Bolton or Duelfer. Either of them could have said openly, I’ve talked to Fitz. Would that be obstruction?? I don’t know.

    In any case, the two of them would know of Judy’s larger implication in this. Bolton, if he had dealt her the leak early, would know of the way she had been a vehicle for this information. Duelfer, if Fitz has looked into what I think might be a uranium forgery, would also be subpoenaed to figure out why he described the document inaccurately in his report, which after all is a report to Congress.

    So I guess I’m saying, either of them might have way of knowing if Fitz had more dirt on Judy than just the leak. Which might make it easier for Fitz to convince Judy that in exchange for tetsimony ONLY related to Plame/Wilson, she can hide her other wrong-doing.

    The biggest question, though, is what could they say without incurring an obstruction charge?

  8. emptywheel says:

    Marysz

    Apparently, Rove IS testifying again.

    I’d bet Fitz said he might appreciate a cooperative rather than uncooperative witness, and he might appreciate if Rove all of a sudden remembered which journalist it was whom he learned Plame’s identity from.

    In other words, Rove’s testimony may get us to the stuff Judy was trying so diligently to hide. Boy do I think things are heated between Karl and Libby around now.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Great writeup! It occurs to me (and this may not be new) that this may answer the oft-asked question of why they didn’t just plant WMD in Iraq and then â€discover†them. (The easy explanation, â€that would be really stupid,†clearly is not enough for these clowns.) The answer could be that the failed planting of the Niger documents had spooked them so they understood they couldn’t fool all of the people all of the time, no matter how smart they thought they were. They’d gotten caught once and brought a world of crap down on themselves trying to weasel out of it. Getting caught planting WMD would be much worse than failing to find them.

  10. emptywheel says:

    Redshift

    I’m increasingly convinced it was the Plame outing itself which gave them cold feet.

    They were already backing off–there was too much attention (both Waxman and Rockefeller called for inquiries into the intelligence in the first days of the war). But finally they realized they kept digging themselves deeper in their lies and they needed to stop.

    At least with the lies on that subject.

  11. Sara says:

    Right after Cooper testified, Rove’s assistant Susan Ralston was called to the Grand Jury, it seemed natural as Cooper discussed Rove’s call screening, and she was probably the screener. It seems that after that Rove invited himself back to testify again. I am rather curious whether Ralston was confronted with unanticipated questions leading Rove to feel the need to again spin?

    Excellent summary EW — if and when this thing breaks open those who have not been closely following will need just that sort of outline, and eventually they will have to work their way through the documents. I think much of the press has been asleep on this.

    Today Larry Johnson has a good essay at Tom Paine with particular emphasis on the Forged Niger Documents. I seem to remember that when the forgery was â€realized†in March, 2003, the FBI was tasked to investigate. I wonder if Fitzgerald adopted that investigation?

  12. emptywheel says:

    blaz

    I’ll have to ask mr. emptywheel. I’ll let you know what he says. But thanks for the vote of rock-dom!

  13. Mimikatz says:

    Good, good summary, ’Wheel.

    There were early reports that John Hannah had flipped. That would have pointed the finger at Libby early on. I think you are right that the real fear they had was the exposure of the Niger forgeries and the resultant unraveling of the whole rationale for the war. To this day they still claim to have been duped by Chalabi’s people whom the CIA didn’t properly vet or something, when they themsleves were planting evidence and ginning up alleged defectors right and left and preventing the CIA from pointing out that this â€evidence†was bogus.

    Rove would have had the job of spinning the war, but it was Cheney–to whom Karl deferred on issues of national security–and Cheney’s minions who came up with the substance which Rove then spun. So his ire could go beyond the bungling of the outing and could be more the bungling of the faked evidence–the shoddy forgeries, for instance. Also Cheney’s vanity about being connected to Wilson, which seems to have been the catalyst (along with fear of exposure) for the smear.

    On Powell–I’m sure he has talked. Although people never have attorneys with them when they appear before a grand jury, I think they often do when they are interrogated by investigators from the FBI or prosecutor’s office. My impression is that a lot of people sat down and spilled to investigators, then some were brought before the GJ to provide the bricks for the wall Fitz was building.

    I still feel that we aren’t seeing the whole picture here. The real crime was the lying and manufacturing of â€intel†that got us into war on false pretences. The Plame outing was itself part of the coverup of that crime. So if there are indictments, they will be for trying to cover up the coverup and not for the substantive crime of lying us into a war that has cost almost 2000 American lives, tens or maybe even hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives, threatens to bankrupt our country and wrecked theirs, and cost America it’s image of strength and its moral capital. More’s the pity if we never have that accounting.

  14. blaz says:

    I will wait patiently for his response;)

    Meanwhile, I’m interested on your take on the timing of Larry Franklin pleading guilty ie. â€turning†and Judith Miller deciding to testify – the whole Libby waiver obviously a cover for the real reason – that Fitzgerald agrees to keep questions Plame related. Given that these investigations involve the same cast of characters (Franklin is also a good buddy of Ledeen), Fitzgerald may be getting information now from Franklin that he no longer needs from Miller. Correlation or coincidence?

  15. emptywheel says:

    blaz

    Probably coincidence.

    While I don’t doubt the Franklin case and the Plame case overlap in some significant areas (and particularly, some likely targets), I’d be surprised if they had met in the middle yet.

    Once they’ve got Harold Rhode, then I’ll believe they’ve met halfway.

    But I remain open-minded about it.

  16. obsessed says:

    What is Rove up to?? HuffingtonPost has the quote as

    â€Federal prosecutors have accepted an offer from presidential adviser Karl Rove to give 11th hour testimony…â€

    Why does he WANT to testify further? Is he trying to de-perjure himself?

    A chess game between two masters where only one plays by the rules makes me nervous.

  17. orionATL says:

    it is wonderful to come upon this treasure of information , both in your article and, in general, the other web postings on the subject. finally, details and more details. wonderful – and essential- for figuring our yourself what happened. and missing almost completely from regular media stories.

    i’m not sure i understand all this — rephrase– i am certain i don’t understand a fraction of this — but it seems to me there is a larger outline emerging than â€did x or y act to bust up an important american anti nuclear-spread spy network. yes!! yes!! they destroyed the entire network.

    It sems to me that the various levels of co-ordinated activity include Group Action With a Common Purpose (aka conspiracy) to:

    – mislead the american (and british ) public into believing Hussein ’s government possessed some level of nuclear weapons capability. some believe this was specifically targeted at right wingers in republican party to elicit their concern and support.

    this would include the activity to recruit and supply NYT reporter judith miller with material for her front-page stories.

    – use nuclear and other false WMD info to influence the 2002 congressional election. remember that the State of the Union address in gquestion was in jan, 2002 and the entire drum beat for war was conducted from then through nov 2002. it was impossible for candidates to get any other public issue through to the public than the war discussion.

    would george bush talk up war and send troops to war for his own and his parties political benefit. certainly he would. as he said to McCain after S. Car primary: â€John, it’s only politicsâ€.

    – create and dissiminate forged documents to bolster the â€iraq has nuclear capablity†argument.

    this might include as the above article informed me, two sets of forged documents, forged i might add, by people directed by the white house.

    — act to discredit and retalitate against critics of the Bush administration’s â€war against iraq is necessary†arguments. this inlcudes the effort to discredit Jos. Wilson and retaliate against him by exposing his wife’s CIA anti-nuclear spread activities.

    there is the possiblity that this was a â€simultaneous†effort by the american and british governements given the exposing in the same time frame of the british intelligence anaylyst who committed suicide.

    – act to hide the involvement of senior white house aides libby and rove (at least. but quite a few others, including Bolton, seem to have had both opportunity and motive to join in the play) in the exposing the CIA activities of Amb Wilson’s wife, Valerie Plame.

    more serious than iran-contra? sounds like it to me.

    sounds like a major manipulation of the american (and possibly british) political process.

    so what are we going to do when george pardons Cheney and all trhe others?

  18. Anonymous says:

    EW, great work as usual. It’s a pleasure to know someone who takes the trouble to sift through details to try and find the bigger picture

    Look forward to more of your excellent work in the future.

  19. Cherokee says:

    Where does Condoleeza fit into all this? IIRC, she has testified before the GJ. Surely she was part of the Hadley/Franklin (Dept State-NSC)network.

  20. emptywheel says:

    Cherokee:

    I’m not sure. First, it will be difficult to pin anything on her because of the protection accorded NSC, including the NSA. Recall that Iran-Contra happened largely in the NSC because it had more legal protection from Congressional scrutiny than CIA. They’ve appealed to that standard repeatedly in other investigations (the SSCI and 9/11 investigations, for example). Usually, what they have done, is refused to hand over any documents from NSC, then had Stephen Hadley go in and lie about the content or existence of those documents. I have no way of knowing whether Fitz has fought that.

    But with Rove testifying again, presumably with Fitz knowing that the leak happened internally rather than externally, then I think Fitz might begin to get Hadley. And if he gets Hadley, then he might get more detail on Condi.

    Although ultimately, I think she’ll end up with a conspiracy charge (based on her participation in conversations on AF1 and on her false statements that week–although keep in mind, she actually accidentally told the truth in one of those speeches!) Which is the same conspiracy charge Bush will be associated with as a co-conspirator, if that happens.

  21. Cherokee says:

    â€â€¦Although ultimately, I think she’ll end up with a conspiracy charge (based on her participation in conversations on AF1 and on her false statements that week–â€

    EmptyWheel:
    As I believe Condi is being groomed aggressively by the RNC for the 2008 Presidential, this is cause for early celebration!

    Thanks for your indefatigable sleuthing and brilliant analysis.
    – cherokee

  22. Anonymous says:

    This is really the best summary by far of the thing I have seen. I plan to point people to it who are not up on the subject. Towards that end, I would like to suggest one wee enhancement. There are a couple of places where it is assumed the reader already has basic knowledge of the case. For example, the first time you refer to Judith Miller you simply call her â€Judy†with no elaboration of who she is. We political types, of course, know who â€Judy†is in this context, but you will lose some people at that point. Also, a brief explanation of NOC could be helpful. I think this is something teachers should be using in Current Events type classes.

  23. Anonymous says:

    I’m curious to know what Wilson means by â€the lie that was in the State of the Union address.†Perhaps he is refering to this assertion: â€The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.†If so, I would like to know either: 1)How it is that Wilson knew/knows that the British government did not have such information, or 2)Why it is that anything Wilson purportedly learned during his trip to Niger should nullify intel which the British subsequently reaffirmed?

    In any case, these sixteen words seem to me rather inconsequential given Saddam’s obsession with WMD, his intransigence in abiding the terms of the Gulf War cease-fire and subsequent U.N. resolutions, as well as the innumerable human rights violations of which he is guilty. Not to put too fine a point on it, there were other reasons put forward to remove Saddam beyond those sixteen words, not the least being that it had been official U.S. policy to remove Saddam since Congress passed, and Clinton signed, the Iraq Liberation Act in 1998.

  24. orionATL says:

    CORRECTION

    if the weekend is a great time to ship out bad political news to the world , perhaps the same is true for embarrasing corrections.

    with respect to the post above that begins :

    â€it is wonderful to come upon this treasure of information….â€

    and the paragraph within that post that begins:

    â€use nuclear and other false WMD info to influence the 2002 congressional elections….â€

    as all but the author surely knew, the state of the union address wherein Bush asserted iraq was trying to obtain uranium ore was in January, 2003, not January, 2002 as the author wrote.

    memory and passion are a volatile mix. in particular it seems more appropriately humble not to ask others to â€remember†what oneself cannot accurately remember.

    that said, the drums of war did begin to beat in the spring of 2002 (as I remember!!!), and did drown out other discourse. i believe that was, indeed, a deliberate strategy to use war (and desire for revenge)to influence the outcome of the congressional elections in favor of the republican wing of the sourthern democratic party.

    the conspiracy against wilson and wife were a part of this larger process that began in sept, 2001 and will end with US withdrawal from iraq, probably before bush leave’s office, once this little scandal weans him from rove, and cheney’s henchmen.

    my apologies.

  25. SirMarglar says:

    It was Cheney’s intern! An unfortunate brunette, I think , who fucked up the whole thing by her SHODDY FORGERIES. She was expendable, invisible, etc., so fewer fingerprints all over it. But you get what you pay for…

    VISA ad:

    Scotch tape for ole fashion cut-and-paste: $2

    Fat tip Sharpie to scribble in name of retired Niger official: $3

    The Satisfaction of knowing that your slipshod fakes (didn’t even Google ’Niger’!) brought down the Bush White House: Priceless

  26. Steven says:

    Buy Generic Viagra – Buy Generic Viagra
    Generic Viagra – Generic Viagra
    Generic Cialis – Generic Cialis
    Generic Levitra – Generic Levitra

    ————————————————————————————-

    Generic Propecia – Generic Propecia
    Generic Meridia – Generic Meridia
    Generic Zocor – Generic Zocor
    Generic Soma – Generic Soma
    Generic Prozac – Generic Prozac

  27. Anonymous says:

    Disaster is likely to wreak havoc in the life of an individual as soon as he becomes victim to erectile dysfunction and the most significant dreadful consequence of erectile dysfunction is that the afflicted man becomes incapable of facilitating erections required for sexual intercourse. The sexual vacuum resulted from erectile dysfunction prompts the sufferer to opt for anti-impotency pills, most especially the viagra medication that was approved by FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) as a clinically effective drug to cure erectile dysfunction in men. Viagra is meant to be administered by patients only after availing of viagra prescription from the doctor. The prescription for Viagra provided by the doctor spells out that the patient suffering from erectile dysfunction seriously need Viagra to treat his disorder and further authorizes the patient to avail of Viagra from the pharmacist.

  28. Anonymous says:

    Disaster is likely to wreak havoc in the life of an individual as soon as he becomes victim to erectile dysfunction and the most significant dreadful consequence of erectile dysfunction is that the afflicted man becomes incapable of facilitating erections required for sexual intercourse. The sexual vacuum resulted from erectile dysfunction prompts the sufferer to opt for anti-impotency pills, most especially the viagra medication that was approved by FDA (Food and Drugs Administration) as a clinically effective drug to cure erectile dysfunction in men. Viagra is meant to be administered by patients only after availing of viagra prescription from the doctor. The prescription for Viagra provided by the doctor spells out that the patient suffering from erectile dysfunction seriously need Viagra to treat his disorder and further authorizes the patient to avail of Viagra from the pharmacist.