I go away for a few hours & look what happens

I go away for a few hours & look what happens

While I was at work today, something happened (to say the least).

Are we finally going to get the investigation for which we've had to beg for over two solid years while these Democrat-hating partisans of the GOP covered up a presidential administration's lies which culminated in the rash, poorly timed, disastrously planned, strategically flawed, and terror-increasing war in Iraq? How could they - any of these Republicans in power - have done this to the American people and thought they could have gotten away with it? I suppose they thought they could keep talking happy talk about the war and that it would all blow over. Well - now it's blown UP.

For three years, I've gone to bed each night asking how this could have happened in a democratic society like America. Over 2000 troops gone. Over 2000 troops gone. Over 2000 troops - - far more than just numbers - - - gone.

How many more will have to die?

I wrote to my (Republican) Congressman James Walsh last June and have never gotten a response or even an acknowlegement. Why does he feel unaccountable to constituents?

Perhaps now we'll finally get the answers that Senator "I choose party-loyalty-over-America" Pat Roberts has denied us for so long (along with the President and Senate majority leader Bill Frist.)

And that seasoned journalist named Jeff Gannon (aka James Guckert) was right on top of the Pat Roberts story. Hmmmm....Who was feeding him these assignments - and why?

I said this in November, 2003:

Good People of this nation:
If you aren't outraged, you simply aren't paying attention.
*see:Frist Freezes Senate Probe of Prewar Iraq Data

I hope we'll all pay attention now.

Mark Schmitt called this a political 'tipping point.' [TPM Cafe]

The GOP cried "Politics!" every time they were close to getting caught in their lies. If they were lies that didn't matter, it would be different. Since those lies were the proximate cause of the death of 2000 troops and all the people who loved them, I think they are material lies. If not for the lies, partisan-political maneuvering, and deliberate omissions, we would not have gone to war the way we did; at the time that we did. It's high time for an investigation into the use/abuse of intelligence.

_____________
See Dave Johnson's blogpost.

On the politics within the Senate chamber -

Look for plenty of kvetching about how Harry Reid is schooling hapless Bill Frist, and how the Senate Republicans can't control the chamber. One day after the Alito nomination, which is interpreted as Bush's caputulation to his conservative base, that can't be overlooked. After all, the Republicans will only want a fight if they think they can win, and fewer and fewer Republicans will believe Frist can ever lead them to a procedural victory. - DHinMI

NYT - Democrats Force Senate Into Closed Session Over Iraq Data

Raw Story - Democrats detail times their efforts to examine intel were blocked

Next Hurrah Story on Chris Matthews/DNC/Alito

Next Hurrah Story on Chris Matthews/DNC/Alito

Flu - - SCHMLU! Fear mongering isn't my cup of tea, but I suppose it's a good way for the Bush administration to divert all the public's attention away from their many troubles.

DHinMI has the most interesting story of today:
Boneheads of the Day: The DNC

I don't know who ever deemed Chris Matthews the "Archbishop of Democratic Ethics," although I think it was probably Chris Matthews himself. According to this story, Mr. Matthews alleged, all day long yesterday on MSNBC, that there was an "unfair and distasteful attack" by the DNC on Judge Samuel Alito, thus spinning a negative talking point that will, inevitably, soon hurl out of control. Gee, what fair journalism, Chris Matthews. The minority has an ultraconservative Supreme Court nominee shoved down their throats and you make a hyperspeed attack upon the minority. Way to go, Captain Courageous. Come out of the gate beating up on the citizens who don't care to have an extreme ideologue taking the place of "swing-vote Sandra Day O'Connor." That's how mainstream journalism speaks to power these days, eh?

The point DHinMI is making, which is a far more fair and balanced point than that of Chris Matthews, is not just a call of unfair mainstream journalism toward Mr. Matthews. He asks you to "choose the biggest DNC bonehead of the day."

While I understand the spirit of his comments, I think that DHinMI is being a bit too generous by saying:

We can and should be angry about how the press reacts to stuff like this, but in a sense it's like getting angry at your dog for eatiing the pot roast you put on the garage floor. You have to prevent screw ups like this, because it's easily exploitable into a "story" or a "controversy." People can argue about whether the press would be as likely to jump on the GOP if the situation were reversed; maybe hey wouldn't, and maybe the deck is stacked against us. But it is what it is, and you can't complain too much about the media environment we operate in if it distracts you from attending to the details and making sound decisions.

I agree that screw-ups open the door to mainstream grousing. However, we Democrats have lost too much political ground by the creation of a false conventional wisdom by this type of disproportionate concentration of criticism by MSM. The values of the people who belong to the Democratic party are not adequately represented when hay is made of small (yet admittedly relevant) details. I'm angry at MSM for their yapping and I'm upset at the DNC for making any case for the yapping to continue. I'm SICK of my values, as a Democrat, getting completely lost in this flurry of bullshit.

Billmon comments:

"...I personally have nothing against slime if it's well done -- we're in a war here and the Rovians have already made it clear that they don't respect the Geneva Conventions. But if the DNC really wants spread the rumor that Alito is soft on the Mafia, there are hell of lot more intelligent ways of getting the job done."

(*partial excerpt - see link for full text.)

At Slingshot.org, Dave Meyer has a theory about the Committee for Justice being behind the smear.

Joseph Wilson Speech - National Press Club

Joseph Wilson Speech - National Press Club
See Joseph Wilson at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. in a speech from yesterday, October 31, 2005. [CSPAN]

Quotes:

The nature of his mission - "I don't "do" clandestine - I "do" diplomacy."

The focus of the mission- "This was not a WMD issue. This was a mining issue. Uranium yellowcake is not WMD."

Regarding Bob Novak's curiosity as to why the CIA would send Joe Wilson, a Democrat, to Iraq: Mr. Wilson's answer was that the CIA did not send "Joe Wilson - a Democrat," but as an American diplomat with a certain amount of expertise in Niger. Wilson said he was well-known by Republicans as charge d'affaire for GHW Bush and GWH Bush's ambassador to African countries.

On his experience during the first Gulf war - "What I brought to the table for my argument was not any sense of partisanship. I brought my experience in Iraq during the first Gulf war... When I had met with the Iraqi government day in and day out - where I had worked 20 hours a day on behalf of my fellow citizens and on behalf of the notion that we had to do everything diplomatically that we possibly could to get Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait rather than to have to use American military to drive him out of Kuwait."

On Regime Change (for the sake of regime change): "WMD, disarmament of Saddam Hussein, was a legitimate international objective and a worthy American objective. Regime change, for the sake of regime change, was a recipe for future problems."

'The Challenge' was not about WMD: "I did not ever challenge the question of WMD or whether or not Saddam had WMD or had a nuclear program. I challlenged the rationale for regime change - not for disarmament.."

The Politics of the Alito Nomination

The Politics of the Alito Nomination

Conservative judge Samuel A. Alito has been nominated for SCOTUS by President Bush.

Bush winds up looking weak, weak, weak (Oh- and did I say weak?)

The stiff ghosts of truth have been biting at the heels of GW Bush in the aftermath of Scooter Libby's indictment and Harriet Miers' rejection by the religious right. The newspapers are ripe with a plentiful harvest of stories about the way Bush has hit political "rock-bottom" - and the rightwing pundits talk their happy-talk about how it can be only "up from here" for Bush.

Like a good boy, Bush has sent the religious right back into their cages and has proved to American voters (all across the board - not just Democrats) that he (and his party) desperately need the Dobsonites and Falwellians to hold onto power.

Citizens' common values are once again cast aside for a far more narrow (bowling-alley-shaped) version of "values" - with only one or two hot-button issues in focus. What an insult to citizens! American values are about so much more than one or two issues!

Harriet Miers was a "religious woman" - an "evangelical Christian" - and she was not good enough for the far religious right. Why? She was not an extreme ideologue with a track record.


I believe that the Democrats on the "Gang of 14" were remiss when they agreed to the limiting compromise on the filibuster rules in the name of "bipartisanship". Perhaps they felt it was all they could do at the time (to avoid Frist's Nuclear Option,) and to me, that is only a tribute to their ineffective communication of conviction, values, and leadership. Democratic leadership can do so much better!

Because of this "Gang of 14" filibuster-suicide pact, a SCOTUS nominee's philosophical views must amount to "extraordinary circumstances" in order for a filibuster to be deemed as "justified" - - but it can only be related to questions of personal ethics or character - not ideology.

In other words, I don't doubt that Alito will get an "up or down" vote. The Dems will only risk the threat of Nuclear Option if they attempt to filibuster.

Last Spring, in the name of all Democrats, seven Democratic representatives gave up opposition to three of Bush's bench nominees in exchange for nothing but the promise of a "nuclear option" showdown somewhere down the line.

I said it (last May and last July, (see: Dems Shouldn't Have Compromised on Filibuster)
I think you will now see the chickens of Democratic political miscalculation come home to roost. It's pretty much a no-win situation. The goalposts on the showdown on the Nuclear Option were simply moved - and the return "gift" was Pryor, Brown, and Owen on the bench. (With gifts like that - who needs gifts, already?)

When our only hope is to have a Republican like John McCain act as "big hero" and join in with Dems on agreeing to the terms of a filibuster, it is McCain who comes out to be the big political hero for centrist voters of all stripes. Grrrr.

Think 2008.
I believe the seven Dems were suckered into making guys like McCain look like Superman - while they looked like soggy marshmallows.

_____

DemFromCT has a recommendation at The Next Hurrah to brush up on Kagro X's Nuclear Option series. He says that we're going to need it before we're done.

Update: At the Next Hurrah, DHinMI sees the glass half-full, where I have been more pessimistic about the political outcome I foresee when the smoke has cleared from the Alito nomination:

There's "....a greater likelihood that the Republicans could find themselves in a minority in 2007, and may wonder about the wisdom of getting rid of the filibuster just as they may need it." - DHinMI

I"m looking at this from the Republican mindset - with an eye always on the future. I still believe this is the perfect political posturing-opportunity for 2008, and John McCain will come out smelling like a rose, leaving Frist in the dust.

This and That

This and That

I cannot help but to question the dignity of seasoned journalist Mike Wallace after hearing him on the Don Imus show this morning - in an interview where he seemed mentally scattered - calling for the firing (or resignation) of Dan Rather. What a catty thing to suggest, especially since the media storm over the whole thing has now blown over. To me, it appears to be lacking in grace and collegiality.

Speaking of Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume, whether consciously or unconsciously, showed yesterday that he still links being black with the civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama circa 1963. He looked at Juan Williams, didn't like what he was hearing from Mr. Williams, and loudly proclaimed, "Someone needs to hose you down." What a jerk.

According to Media Matters, Brit Hume recently made false statements that "..'no one was prosecuting' those who violated a Connecticut law that prohibited the use or provision of contraceptives, which was overturned in the U.S. Supreme Court's 1965 decision in Griswold v. Connecticut -- the case that established the constitutional right to privacy. He got a hearty (and blatantly false) agreement from Douglas W. Kmiec, a constitutional law professor at Pepperdine University (who also called CSPAN this morning crowing about Alito's nomination to the Supreme Court.) Misinformation abounds on Fox News.

Alito's nomination sends the Religious Right back into their cages. It just goes to show you that Bush would never have been President had it not been for the radical religious leaders who pull his strings. White evangelical Christians are catching on to the sham of the myth of "Bush as remaker of America in God's image." In the most recent Pew Research Center survey, there has been a significant decline in favorable ratings of the GOP among white evangelicals and Catholics.

The same Pew survey lists former Senator John Edwards as the least polarizing Democrat in the field of potential 2008 presidential candidates. See my One America guest-blogpost.

Wilson/Plame/CIA Leak - My Archives

"I believe that citizens in a democracy are responsible for what government does and says in their name."

- Joseph C. Wilson IV

Wilson/Plame/CIA Leak - My Archives

I have posted an archive of my many of my posts related to the outing of Valerie Plame (Wilson), wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV. See American Street.

See the Statement of Ambassador Joseph Wilson with Respect to the Indictment of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby (at Citizens for Legitimate Government).

Our 27 Months of Hell by Joseph C. Wilson IV - LA Times

Hersh Interviews Ritter on Iraq Agenda

"..the best we can do is mitigate failure."

- Former UN Weapons Inspector Scott Ritter, on the Iraq War

Hersh Interviews Ritter on Iraq Agenda

Seymour Hersh and Scott Ritter discuss a hidden foreign policy agenda in the Middle East. Ritter says that "disarmament [of Saddam Hussein] was only useful insofar as it contained through the maintenance of sanctions and facilitated regime change. It was never about disarmament, it was never about getting rid of weapons of mass destruction. It started with George Herbert Walker Bush, and it was a policy continued through eight years of the Clinton presidency, and then brought us to this current disastrous course of action under the current Bush Administration."[...]

..by 1995 there were no more weapons in Iraq, there were no more documents in Iraq, there was no more production capability in Iraq because we were monitoring the totality of Iraq's industrial infrastructure with the most technologically advanced, the most intrusive arms control regime in the history of arms control. And furthermore, the CIA knew this, the British intelligence knew this, Israeli intelligence knew this, German intelligence, the whole world knew this. They weren't going to say that Iraq was disarmed because nobody could say that, but they definitely knew that the Iraqi capability regarding WMD had been reduced to as near to zero as you could bring it, and that Iraq represented a threat to no one when it came to weapons of mass destruction. [..] .. [Nation]

Mr. Hersh attended a panel discussion on "The Challenges of Reporting About Iraq" at the Associated Press Managing Editors annual conference in San Jose, California on Friday, Oct. 28, 2005 [see WaPo/Michael Warren].
He described a "perfect trifecta" of problems as the [Iraq] conflict unfolds -

..an Iran-friendly Shia regime in the south that is hostile to Sunni-led Arab governments in nearby countries, an independence-minded Kurd region in the north that may go to war with Turkey, and a war of attrition in the center of Iraq.

"The exit plan is really simple, folks _ you're going to see fewer troops and more bombs," Hersh said. "We don't control anything outside the Green Zone," the fortified district of Baghdad where most non-Iraqis stay.

Hersh also predicted that the new Iraqi constitution practically guarantees civil war.

"The religions and ethnic divisions there are not only deep and complicated, we don't know much about them, and we have to learn about them if we're going to be involved in the country, particularly as it breaks up," he said.

Owen Harries, veteran diplomat and senior fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies (Australia), writes about the failure of the Bush doctrine, stating that the notion that democratic values could be imposed by force was doomed from the outset.

I believe that the first great test of the Bush Doctrine in Iraq is also likely to be its last. Failure there will restore balance and prudence to American foreign policy. With reasonable luck, it will lead to the conclusion that the smartest way of being hegemonic is to be content with appearing to be primus inter pares in a concert of powers. [Age]

NOT QUITE DONE

"Truth is the engine of the justice system."

-Patrick Fitzgerald

FITZGERALD: "NOT QUITE DONE"

UPDATE: ROVE IS "OFFICIAL A"

In a press conference today, Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald would say he's not quite done with his grand jury work, but he would not specify or detail his meaning. He said that no one would like to have the investigation over with as much as he, but that the investigation would not be over until he feels that it's been covered sufficiently. "Be patient," he asked the press corps.

"Truth is the engine of the justice system," said Fitzgerald, making the point that there is no different standard for those in higher office.

The legal process has been frustrated by I. Scooter Libby's lies and stonewalling, and I'm wondering how a new grand jury investigation could ever be considered to be "unfair," as I've heard some pundits have suggested? Fitzgerald was stopped from getting to the truth, which he obviously prizes and holds as priceless in the halls of justice.

Damage has been done to all of us in this case - not just damage to Joseph and Valerie Plame Wilson.

He commented that the dispute over Joseph Wilson and the Niger trip is "irrelevant to the investigation" and "not in focus."

He averred, unabashed, that damage has been done to all of us in this case - not just damage to Joseph and Valerie Plame Wilson. When asked what he'd meant by that statement, he focused on the CIA workers and the importance of the need for their IDs, covers, and information to be protected. Our CIA workers need to know nothing bad will happen to them and that every government official - especially those who hold the highest offices - should never work against those all-important interests. Our national security depends upon it.

Fitzgerald requested a respect for his silence on matters of law as to which he is bound, and a sense of dignity in the press reporting of the matter. He would (and could) only comment on matters regarding the specific indictment of I. Lewis Scooter" Libby, who resigned his position as VP Dick Cheney's chief of staff this morning.

While stating that he was surely not in favor of jailing journalists for failure to reveal sources, he was, disturbed in this case, that journalist Judith Miller was an eyewitness to facts that were material to the indictments on theis out-of-the-ordinary legal case.

Though Fitzgerald spoke as if he knew who the actual leaker was, he advised the press corps that even if he knew, he could not mention it, by law, if it's not contained in the indictment of Libby. He said that anyone who's been against the Iraq War who is looking for this case to confirm suspicions will likely be disappointed. This case is focused upon the Libby indictment - the Libby lies - and there were many in which Libby seems to have been caught. (See the video of Fitzgerald's opening statement at Crooks and Liars.)

Raw Story reports that Fitzgerald is expanding the probe, believing he can get Rove on more serious charges. Sources are lawyers directly involved in the case.

Sources say that Karl Rove is "Official A"

Think Progress has great coverage today, including the Full Text of the Libby indictment in PDF.

NEWSFLASH:

Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove was the mysterious 'Official A' named in the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's Chief of Staff, lawyers close to the case have told RAW STORY...Friday's indictment identified "Official A" as a "senior official in the White House who advised Libby on July 10 or 11 of 2003" about a conversation with conservative columnist Robert Novak about an upcoming column where Plame would be identified as a CIA employee

In the WaPo's "A New Moment of Truth For a White House in Crisis," Dan Balz and Juliet Eilperin show the political challenges that lie ahead for the president. They say that "there is little way for [Bush] administration officials to adopt the pose of business as usual with Libby under indictment."

The long leak investigation and the Libby indictment threaten to rekindle the debate over how the United States went to war, only this time with the administration, rather than Bush's opponents, on the defensive.

Libby Now - Karl Later?

Libby Now - Karl Later?

(Reuters) Legal sources said Fitzgerald has informed President George W. Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove, that he will be spared indictment on Friday, although he will remain under investigation and in legal jeopardy. Rove's attorney, Robert Luskin, had no immediate comment. Legal sources said Libby appeared likely to be charged with making false statements to the grand jury...Some lawyers in the case said Fitzgerald may not be prepared at this time to bring charges against Rove and could keep the investigation open...It was unclear how Fitzgerald would keep the Rove investigation going since the current grand jury is scheduled to expire at the end of the day on Friday.

At Talk Left - Based upon this statement by one "non-legal" member of Rove's team, Jeralyn Merritt believes that Rove took a deal and Fitzgerald has agreed not to announce it immediately.

Borrowing from Andrew Sullivan:

If the New York Times' version is correct (a big 'if' these days), then it seems to me to be a pretty horrible scenario for the president. You have Libby indicted and Cheney thereby under suspicion, with a raft of potential questions heading his way; and you have Rove still under threat from the Grand Jury, fighting for his legal and political life, but required to stay mum (and understandably distracted) if the prosecution continues. You don't even get a clean break, and a chance to start over.

Murray Waas tells us that VP Dick Cheney and his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, "overruling advice from some White House political staffers and lawyers, decided to withhold crucial documents from the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2004 when the panel was investigating the use of pre-war intelligence that erroneously concluded Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, according to Bush administration and congressional sources..."

According to Richard Sale, unnamed sources who are former senior and serving U.S. intelligence officials have said that the phone call revealing to I. Lewis Libby the identity of the CIA operative Valerie Plame defintely came from the State Department office of John Bolton, then the arms control chief of the department....and that Cheney still remains at the center of the probe. [tip of the hat to Sic Semper Tyrannus and Hunter]

Pete Yost reports that "leaving Rove in legal jeopardy keeps Bush and his team working on problems like the Iraq war, a Supreme Court vacancy and slumping poll ratings beneath a dark cloud of uncertainty."

The theme from the film "Titanic" comes to mind - and the Bush administration is a sinking ship, indeed....

It ain't over til Patrick Fitzgerald sings.



Near - - far - - wherever you are
I believe that the investigation goes on.
Once more we'll open the door
You'll be here in my court and -
this probe will go on and on.....

glllllrrrrggghhhh - - (*the sound of sinking)

Harriet Miers, We Hardly Knew Ye

Harriet Miers, We Hardly Knew Ye

The moment I heard about Harriet Miers, I thought I'd use the above title for my blogpost. James Ridgeway beat me to it.

I feel sorry for Harriet Miers. Progress for America and the Committee for Justice swarmed us with millions of dollars worth of TV, radio and Internet ads in a campaign touting John Roberts as a "brilliant" choice by President Bush - asking the Congress to give the man a chance. Because Harriet Miers wasn't ideologically obvious, the Republican party allowed their fear of the radical right to abandon President Bush's choice.

This action, in essence, is just another name for what the Democrats would do in their only way to strongly protest - by way of filibuster.

The hypocrisy is astounding.

Look at the Committee for Justice and their statement: CFJ to Red-state Democrats: You will be held responsible for attacks on the President's nominee

I don't think so.

Progress for America has been more careful:

"Progress for America has long said that it would defend the President's Supreme Court nominees against unfair attacks we did that for both John Roberts and Harriet Miers. Ms. Miers has a long and distinguished record of service to her country and the field of law. Unfortunately, Harriet Miers recognizes that many Senators will not be satisfied until they gain access to internal White House documents protected by attorney client privilege. Her withdrawal demonstrates her deep commitment to the fundamental constitutional principle of separation of powers. Looking forward, PFA is anxious to engage in a debate that will result in the confirmation of a highly qualified, conservative justice."

Who Is Francis Brooke? (Reposted from June 2004)

This is a re-post from IDDYBUD/June 6, 2004. Richard Sale has written, in an article today, that Brooke may be involved or implicated somehow in the Fitzgerald CIA leak investigation cover-up.

Who Is Francis Brooke?

--Ahmed Chalabi's right-hand man in Baghdad
--An American consultant
--An Iraqi National Congress lobbyist
--Worked with the shady Rendon group on the Iraq project, a London-based C.I.A.-funded program to influence global opinion on Saddam Hussein.
--An evangelical Christian
--Ex-CIA consultant
--A recent consultant for BKSH and Associates, a company run by Charlie Black, a Republican Party veteran.
--A man who has boasted of engineering the war on Iraq by providing the United States the "evidence" it was seeking on (apparently non-existent)weapons of mass destruction along with Saddam's supposed ties to terrorists.


Where is Francis Brooke now?

--It's thought he scrambled back to Washington D.C.

Who wants to know?

An Iraqi judge...Judge Zuhair Al-Maliky of the central criminal court in Baghdad, to be precise.

Why?

Francis Brooke allegedly obstructed the Iraqi police from conducting a legitimate raid on Ahmed Chalabi's place. They say Brooke stopped the Chalabi raid by telling the police they didn't have the legal power to do it because "he was an American and they were Iraqis."

Reports from Iran suggest Francis Brooke acted as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran, passing letters between the two governments, which do not have diplomatic relations.

Brooke is trying to pass the buck and blame it all on a fellow by the name of Arras Habib, who is Chalabi's security chief.

[LINK]

More on Francis Brooke:

--Telegraph: Iraqi judge orders arrest of American aide to Chalabi
--Disinfopedia
--New Yorker- The Manipulator
--MSNBC- Chalabi-A questionable use of U.S. Funding
--Washington Post- Chalabi Aides Suspected of Spying for Iran; Raid at Leader's Home Targeted His Associates

Sale: Libby/Rove Will Likely be Indicted

Sale: Libby/Rove Will Likely be Indicted

Federal law enforcement officials told Richard Sale that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald was likely to charge the people indicted with violating Joseph Wilson's civil rights, smearing his name in an attempt to destroy his ability to
earn a living in Washington as a consultant. No action was taken today, it will likely take place on Friday, according to unnamed sources from federal law enforcement and unnamed senior US intelligence officials.

I. Scooter Libby, the chief of staff of Vice President Richard Cheney, and chief presidential advisor Karl Rove are expected to be named in indictments this morning by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald..

..Others are to be named as well, these sources said. According to US officials close to the case, a bill of indictment that named five people has been in existence since before October 17. Various names have surfaced, such as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley
(see my previous comments about Hadley here), yet only one source would confirm that Hadley was on the list. Hadley could not be reached for comment.

..The probe is far from being at an end. According to this reporter's sources, Fitzgerald approached the judge in charge of the case and asked that a new grand jury be impaneled. The old grand jury, which has been sitting for two years, will expire on October 28...

..They said that Fitzgerald is looking into such individuals as former CIA agent Duane Claridge, military consultant to the Iraqi National Congress Gen. Wayne Downing, another military consultant for INC, and Francis Brooke, head of INC's Washington office
(see my previous post from 2004 - Who is Francis Brooke? ) in an effort to determine if they played any role in the forgeries or their dissemination. Also included in this group is long-time neoconservative Michael Ledeen, these federal sources said. [Truthout Perspective]

** See my thoughts on the web of links, whether direct or indirect, between the CIA leak, the Niger forgery, INC, SISMI, the INR memo, the infamous 16 SOTU words, Joseph Wilson, and AIPAC/Larry Franklin indictments.

Laura Rozen has some excellent updates. Via Kevin Drum, Nur al-Cubicle has put online her translations of the Repubblica series (On the Fake Yellowcake Dossier):

Part I
Part II
Part III

Laura says:

I am not sure how the Berlusconi government can plausibly deny that Sismi didn't have a direct role in the Niger yellowcake claims to western intelligence, and a very cozily indirect role to the forgeries themselves. Unless it's the kind of denial that Rove and Libby meant when they told the grand jury that they hadn't told journalists about Wilson's wife or her place of employment.

See Laura's column "La Repubblica's Scoop, Confirmed" at American Prospect.

With Patrick Fitzgerald widely expected to announce indictments in the CIA leak investigation, questions are again being raised about the intelligence scandal that led to the appointment of the special counsel: namely, how the Bush White House obtained false Italian intelligence reports claiming that Iraq had tried to buy uranium "yellowcake" from Niger.

The key documents supposedly proving the Iraqi attempt later turned out to be crude forgeries, created on official stationery stolen from the African nation's Rome embassy. Among the most tantalizing aspects of the debate over the Iraq War is the origin of those fake documents -- and the role of the Italian intelligence services in disseminating them.

Blech!!!

BLECH!!!!

Good Night and Good Luck

Good Night and Good Luck

David K. Beckwith has written a review of the film "Good Night and Good Luck": Holding a mirror to BushWorld

If you want to understand the 21st century, and how we got derailed, see this film. It explains why the Bridge never made it to the 21st century...

...I suspect most of the bloggers feel a kinship with Mister Murrow...Bloggers may, in fact, be the new Murrows.

Daniel Goetz: Censored

Daniel Goetz: Censored

Fred, who is my my co-blogger at Syracuse Progressive, has posted about a soldier who's apparently had his internet access restricted on the basis of political statements made on his blog, not any tactical or security error.

Daniel Goetz is a 'stop lossed' soldier serving for his second time in Iraq. Though forbidden to express himself freely, he had created his blog, All the King's Horses, to remind himself that he is more than just another of the king's horses.

He recently was showcased at Operation Truth, and apparently was shortly thereafter censored by his military superiors.

On October 14th, he wrote:

Operation Truth has published my story as their Veteran of the Week profile. I am excited and nervous for the extra attention this will attract. Excited because the army is trying very hard to muffle the cries of battered soldiers, abused by the system they are sworn to protect. Each time our story is heard by someone new, the country comes that much closer to understanding what is happening to us in Iraq and Afghanistan...I'm also nervous, though. Every time I add a new writing to my site, I ask myself if I've gone too far. I have a pretty good grasp on what constitutes a violation of the laws I am bound to; in specific, I am very familiar with the sections of the Uniform Code of Military Justice that strips every servicemember of his or her First Amendment rights. Unfortunately, the laws are purposely vague; designed to muzzle even those of us who tread with caution.

Daniel mentions a stateside blogging friend whose site fails to appear at this time.

Daniel's statement on Operation Truth begins:

Seven months ago, my service in the army was to have terminated. Instead, I am in Iraq for the second time. I sit next to a DOD contractor whose job is identical to mine. Except he makes $120,000 more, works four hours less, and visits home four times more often than I do....When we were here in 2003, there was anger, but there is a difference between anger and bitter hatred. The atmosphere of discontent is thick and contagious. Even soldiers not stop-lossed feel The Betrayal. They know it might be them next time. Dissent will not change anything for us now because our voices are muted. Still, there is hope. It is that in twenty years, it will be these men and women in office.

It ends with:

I want to go home as badly as I want to be proud of my country again.

On Dick Cheney: Look back to Sept, 2003

On Dick Cheney: Look back to Sept, 2003

Dan Froomkin reports:

The New York Times this morning reports that I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby apparently first learned that Joseph Wilson's wife was a CIA agent from none other than his boss -- Vice President Cheney. [WaPo]

Please see my post from September, 2003. From "Dick Cheney Denies Joe Wilson Three Times:

"Cheney has avoided the questions as to who in the office of Vice President was informed of the contents of Ambassador Wilson's report....(conveniently saying he doesn't know Wilson--he must think we're total idiots out here...)

Cheney has avoided the question as to what efforts were made by his office to disseminate the findings of Ambassador Wilson's investigation to the President, National Security Adviser, and Secretary of Defense.....

..and whether or not his office regarded Ambassador Wilson's conclusions as accurate or inaccurate...


Let's face it, his reticence and usual cloak of secrecy and avoidance serve to make him appear to be hiding something from us."

It appears that Dick Cheney was lying, bold-faced, to the American public in his September, 2003 appearance on Tim Russert's Meet the Press.

Mr. Froomkin asks some inportant questions:

today's news raises even more questions than it answers, among them:

* Who told Cheney, and under what circumstances?

* Did Cheney acknowledge his own role when he spoke to prosecutors last summer? If not, could he be indicted himself?

* Did Cheney encourage Libby not to disclose their conversation?

* Did President Bush know about Cheney's role?

* Who leaked this latest development -- and what was their motivation?

* Does this mean the White House will stop blaming reporters for everything? (That one was rhetorical: The answer is no.)

See McClellan this morning on Cheney (Josh Marshall)

Paul Wellstone

Paul Wellstone

We lost Paul Wellstone three years ago today. He died in a plane crash on a frozen Minnesota morning at the age of 58. Wellstone's wife Sheila, their only daughter Marcia, three staff members, and two pilots also died.

I recall my sorrow upon hearing the news on my car radio as I drove south toward Maryland. I recall watching him speaking with conviction on the Senate floor - he always drew me in. I'd cheered him on from my living room. I admired him. He'd often expressed love for the people that he'd represented. I loved him - and I wasn't alone.



It seems as if he has been gone forever, yet a look back at the time of his all-too-early death gives us pause for reflection about the intuitive wisdom that this man possessed:

Washington Post, October 26, 2002:

"I voted against the resolution," he concluded quietly, "and I just thought that was the honest vote for the people I represent and love in Minnesota." .....

......Before he walked to a waiting car, Wellstone was asked if he had "agonized" over his vote on Iraq. "Well, I mean, uh, sure," he said. "But certainly not on the political part." He went on to give a classicly Wellstonian answer in which he seemed to be debating the response in his own mind while delivering the transcript in a quiet, halting cadence. "I think these questions, the sort of life-and-death questions, where you don't know what's going to happen . . ." He paused, scrunched his face and veered in another direction.

"You know, if people are going to be in harm's way, you really struggle to know what's right." He stopped again, and then injected a parenthetical about how he's consulted with experts all over the country about the Iraq question. And how that's one of the things he truly loves about being a U.S. senator.

Wellstone said he examined the Iraq question from every angle. This was a painful choice -- one that well could have hurt him against [Norm]Coleman -- but the process of making it was invigorating. It reminded him why he came to the Senate in the first place, he said, and why he was eager to return. [WaPo]

David Sirota has blogged about a new book by Bill Lofy about Wellstone's life.

Nothing's been the same since Paul left us.

Shortly after his untimely death, I began to blog. My memory of Paul was one of my reasons - one of my chief inspirations - to write. His voice had disappeared, and in his loving public spirit and tradition, I wanted to keep his ideas and his convictions in focus.

Expose WHIG

Expose WHIG

Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-OH) has introduced a Resolution of Inquiry to demand the White House turn over all white papers, minutes, notes, emails or other communications kept by the White House Iraq Group (WHIG).

"This group, comprised of the President and Vice President's top aides, was critical in selling the Administration's case for war," Kucinich said. "We now know that the Administration hyped intelligence and misled the American public and Congress in their effort to 'sell' the war."

This Resolution must be voted on in the House International Relations Committee by November 9th, 2005. The same committee, on September 14, came within one vote of passing a Resolution of Inquiry into the Downing Street Memo (H. Res. 375).

That near victory came after a great deal of citizen activism. This time we need to persuade all of the Democrats on the Committee to push a little bit harder and a few more Republicans to do the right thing. Co-Sponsorship of the Resolution by members not on the committee helps this effort.

Email Your Congress Member

More Information and How to Get Involved:
http://www.AfterDowningStreet.org/whig

Mocking the NY Sun

Mocking the NY Sun

People are mocking the New York Sun editorial from today. I don't have much to add except an extra chortle.

Who has been the better journalist - Judith Miller or those attacking her in her own paper's pages?

Tough choice - I'll go with those attacking her. She was that bad. She was suckered in by a foreign influence (Chalabi) who persuaded and misled her (at best) about WMD, enabling and empowering an inept and conniving American president and his secretive cabal to fix the shady untelligence around a wrong-minded foreign policy - and lie our nation into a war for which he had no adequate plan.

Yep - Final Answer. I'll go with the ones attacking her.

Aldon Hynes on Poverty

Aldon Hynes on Poverty

The always-creative Aldon Hynes (who is one of my fellow writers at the Idea Consultants blog) was surprised and inspired by John Edwards when he saw him speak at an Opportunity Rocks tour stop at Yale last week.

In early September, I wrote, “It is my dream that just as Freedom Riders hopped on buses over forty years ago to help bring equality to blacks in the south we will see a new generation of people head to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild and help fight poverty.”

So, when Senator Edwards invoked the image of Robert Kennedy in Appalachia, my friend excitedly said, “That is exactly what you were talking about.” I wondered if this is what I’ve been hoping for.

Senator Edwards said all the right things, talking about a movement, led by college students to touch the national consciousness and address the growing problem of poverty....

.....will we see a new generation of Freedom Riders? Will they document the plight of poor in America, generating great work like the writers from the WPA? Will we see a 21st Century equivalent of ‘Let us now praise famous men’? Will this result in a drastic reduction in poverty?

Let us hope so. I will do my part, which right now, is about spreading the word through the blogosphere. Go to Opportunity Rocks. If Senator Edwards is going to be visiting a school by you, please go. If not, try to get a school near you on the list for his next tour. If you do get a chance to go, please blog about it and spread the word.

Aldon is looking for ideas for a new Poverty Blog Project