Blah Blah Blog

Oh what I would give to have either of these flawed human beings back in the White House.

In the meantime, more startling revelations about the CIA leak case in today's Washington Post, with more hints that this case is going to be about much more than Karl Rove and a couple of phone calls.

The special prosecutor in the CIA leak probe has interviewed a wider range of administration officials than was previously known, part of an effort to determine whether anyone broke laws during a White House effort two years ago to discredit allegations that President Bush used faulty intelligence to justify the Iraq war, according to several officials familiar with the case.

Prosecutors have questioned former CIA director George J. Tenet and deputy director John E. McLaughlin, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow, State Department officials, and even a stranger who approached columnist Robert D. Novak on the street.

In doing so, special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald has asked not only about how CIA operative Valerie Plame's name was leaked but also how the administration went about shifting responsibility from the White House to the CIA for having included 16 words in the 2003 State of the Union address about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium from Africa, an assertion that was later disputed.

By all accounts, Fitzgerald is running a tight, tight, ship: unlike Ken Starr's operation, his office ain't leaking nothing. But it's obvious from the recent string of articles in the Post, the Times, Bloomberg and elsewhere that some former higher ups in the administration are talking to each other, and helping the press piece things together based on the questions Fitzgerald asked them.

Powell?

Tenet?

Both?

If only they'd spoken up when it really counted.

Ounce of prevention and all.

Also, someone goes on the record (for once): it's former CIA spokesperson Bill Harlow, chipping away at the few things that columnist Robert Novak has said before he conspicuously went so silent.

Harlow, the former CIA spokesman, said in an interview yesterday that he testified last year before a grand jury about conversations he had with Novak at least three days before the column was published. He said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson's wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.

Check.

This points to the fact the players in this game aren't the Bush White House versus public opinion (the School of Direct Mail Marketing and Preaching to the Base and Everyone Else Be Damned, from whence Gepetto Rove and Pinnochio Bush were spawned).

This is the Bush White House versus the rule of law.

This is the Bush White House versus the career intelligence professionals in the CIA who feel they were used and abused to go to war on false charges.

And it looks like those CIA officials have handed Patrick "Bulldog" Fitzgerald one heluva case.

The grand jury is up in October, with indictments to follow.

Pop your popcorn, sit back, and watch the show.

And to point out just how wide this may get: may I remind you of what John Dean (yes, Nixon's lawyer, THAT John Dean ) had to say more than a year ago about President Bush retaining outside counsel for this investigation:

On this subject, I spoke with an experienced former federal prosecutor who works in Washington, specializing in white collar criminal defense (but who does not know [Bush's private counsel] Sharp). That attorney told me that he is baffled by Bush's move - unless Bush has knowledge of the leak. "It would not seem that the President needs to consult personal counsel, thereby preserving the attorney-client privilege, if he has no knowledge about the leak," he told me.

What advice might Bush get from a private defense counsel? The lawyer I consulted opined that, "If he does have knowledge about the leak and does not plan to disclose it, the only good legal advice would be to take the Fifth, rather than lie. The political fallout is a separate issue."

A "cancer on the presidency," indeed.

And may I remind you: a condition of Bush's eventual meeting with Fitzgerald was that he not be under oath.

This message brought to you by the estate of Orville Redenbacher.

UPDATE JULY 28:

The juicy juice just gets juicier, as The Huffington Post posits the theory that Judy Miller may have received the tip on Wilson's wife from her (innocent?) intelligence contacts while working her WMD beat and, in fact, leaked the info back to the White House - who in turn did everything they could to get the Valerie Plame name out to the masses while being careful not to get their fingerprints on it. I mentioned the idea of leak laundering briefly a coupla posts ago, but Arianna articulates it much better than I could. And it seems Huffington's talking directly to people inside the NY Times shop about the pro-Miller and not-so-pro-Miller factions emerging. You'd also think she'd be receiving more sympathy from her peers in the media, who may be sixth-sensing that something about her martydom don't smell so good.

All interesting, but it also raises questions: If Judy Miller (kinda) started it, or at least introduced the idea of Wilson's wife to the White House after hearing it from another source, shouldn't she be taking the Fifth instead of invoking a reporter's privileges?

Unless of course she thought that would be enough.

Still more: now there's talk of them talking about canning Fitzgerald when the grand jury is up in October.

Tune in next week.

Same batshit crazy time.

Same batshit crazy channel.

Labels: in the news

From today's Washington Post, on President Bush's Supreme Court nominee John Roberts:

In September 1982, Roberts played the role of diplomatic coach, advising Smith on how to handle an upcoming meeting with Coretta Scott King, the widow of the slain civil rights leader. The Carter administration's Justice Department had supplied a $250,000 grant to the Atlanta-based King Center for Non-violent Social Change, to teach conflict resolution in the hopes of reducing violent crime.

The grant, approved in 1980, had run out and the Reagan administration planned not to renew it. Roberts, in a Sept. 16, 1982, memo, called the program "very poorly run" and said that it had only received funding because of "political ties" between King and Homer Broome Jr., a black Justice Department official. But rather than share those concerns bluntly with King, Roberts advised, Smith should instead tell her "there is simply no money available for additional funding," and "indicate support for the activities of the King Center, and even pleasure that the Justice Department was able to be of assistance in advancing" its goals.

So basically lie to her, right?

No wonder the president likes him.

He'll fit right in.

Labels: in the news

Acoustic soul rock, that is.



Here are the liner notes.

Spy Love Box.
The Babylon B-Sides.

1. Spy (4:23)
2. Love (American Style) (3:33)
3. Box (5:33)
4. Harder (6:09)
5. Beatitude (5:28)
6. Julia (8:48)
7. Babylon (reprise) (2:21)

All songs by Bryan Thomas copyright 2004, 2005 Radical Plastical Music.

This collection of bootleg demos recorded in Bryan's bedroom is the sequel to the Babylon album. Bryan sings and plays acoustic guitar. Jennifer plays electric guitar. Baby Z plays the bass guitar. Julia produced the album. Larry DeVivo mastered the album at Silvertone Mastering, Saratoga Springs, New York. Unlisted track #8 is "Out," written for Jason Thomas' short film In the Alley. Photography and design are by TheHiddenCity.com. Lyrics, notes and the music video for the song "Babylon" are online at bryanthomas.com. You should see them.

"Ye are the light of the world; a city that is set on a hill can not be hid... Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matthew 5:14 and 16.

SPY LOVE BOX. Copyright © 2005 WT3 Records. All rights reserved.

For Mommy and Daddy. Jason and Justyn. Cindy and Zoe.

Special thanks to Carl W. Liss, Ben Spillers, GoPicture Productions, Bionic Media, Tess' Lark Tavern and cast and crew for the extraordinary video for "Babylon." (So go see it already - it's at bryanthomas.com.)

On a long drive back to Albany from Buffalo Wednesday night, I forced myself to listen to Babylon and Spy Love Box back to back.

And in a weird way, it all made perfect sense.

MP3s of the newly mastered tracks are now at the music page. Stream the whole damn thang.

You've been warned.

Peace y'all,

B.

Labels: music

From CBS News/Associated Press:

For two years, the White House has insisted that presidential adviser Karl Rove had nothing to do with the leak of a CIA officer's identity. And President Bush said the leaker would be fired.

But Mr. Bush's spokesman wouldn't repeat any of those assertions Monday in the face of Rove's own lawyer saying his client spoke with at least one reporter about Valerie Plame's role at the CIA before she was identified in a newspaper column...

White House press secretary Scott McClellan refused to answer questions about Rove at two news briefings Monday.

From that press briefing:

Q Scott, I mean, just -- I mean, this is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and tell people watching this that somehow you decided not to talk. You've got a public record out there. Do you stand by your remarks from that podium, or not?

MR. McCLELLAN: And again, David, I'm well aware, like you, of what was previously said, and I will be glad to talk about it at the appropriate time. The appropriate time is when the investigation --

Q Why are you choosing when it's appropriate and when it's inappropriate?

MR. McCLELLAN: If you'll let me finish --

Q No, you're not finishing -- you're not saying anything. You stood at that podium and said that Karl Rove was not involved. And now we find out that he spoke out about Joseph Wilson's wife. So don't you owe the American public a fuller explanation? Was he involved, or was he not? Because, contrary to what you told the American people, he did, indeed, talk about his wife, didn't he?

MR. McCLELLAN: David, there will be a time to talk about this, but now is not the time to talk about it.

Q Do you think people will accept that, what you're saying today?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I've responded to the question.

Go ahead, Terry.

Q Well, you're in a bad spot here, Scott, because after the investigation began, after the criminal investigation was underway, you said -- October 10th, 2003, "I spoke with those individuals, Rove, Abrams and Libby, as I pointed out, those individuals assured me they were not involved in this." From that podium. That's after the criminal investigation began. Now that Rove has essentially been caught red-handed peddling this information, all of a sudden you have respect for the sanctity of the criminal investigation?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, that's not a correct characterization Terry, and I think you are well aware of that. We know each other very well, and it was after that period that the investigators had requested that we not get into commenting on an ongoing criminal investigation. And we want to be helpful so that they can get to the bottom of this, because no one wants to get to the bottom of it more than the President of the United States. I am well aware of what was said previously. I remember well what was said previously. And at some point, I look forward to talking about it. But until the investigation is complete, I'm just not going to do that.

Q Do you recall when you were asked --

Q Wait, wait -- so you're now saying that after you cleared Rove and the others from that podium, then the prosecutors asked you not to speak anymore, and since then, you haven't?

MR. McCLELLAN: Again, you're continuing to ask questions relating to an ongoing criminal investigation...

The video is priceless.

Labels: in the news

Newsweek published this story just a few weeks after the election last year.

The Real Target?
Updated: 10:16 a.m. ET Nov. 22, 2004

The latest analysis of evidence that led to last summer's Code Orange alert suggests that Al Qaeda operatives were plotting a "big bomb" attack against a major landmark in Britain--but had no active plans for strikes in the United States,, U.S. intelligence sources tell NEWSWEEK...

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge first announced the financial-buildings alert on Sunday, Aug. 1, just three days after Sen. John Kerry gave his acceptance speech at the Democratic Party convention in Boston. Ridge's references to what he called "very specific" and "alarming" intelligence about Al Qaeda surveillance of such buildings as the World Bank in Washington and the New York Stock Exchange set off a new wave of fears about a possibly imminent terrorist attack and, in the view of some, had the effect of substantially suppressing Kerry's "bounce" in the polls...

Some U.S. law-enforcement officers based in London, NEWSWEEK has learned, have become extremely concerned about evidence regarding possible active Al Qaeda plots to attack targets in Britain. According to a U.S. government official, fears of terror attacks have prompted FBI agents based in the U.S. Embassy in London to avoid traveling on London's popular underground railway (or tube) system, which is used daily by millions of commuters. While embassy-based officers of the U.S. Secret Service, Immigration and Customs bureaus and the CIA still are believed to use the underground to go about their business, FBI agents have been known to turn up late to crosstown meetings because they insist on using taxis in London's traffic-choked business center.

Full story from November is here.

And there's more here.

It gets worse.

Recall, if you will, that in August the White House leaked intelligence about the capture of al Qaeda operative to justify the Orange Alert.

That leak may have disrupted a sting being conducted by British and Pakistani officials.

U.S. leak 'harms al Qaeda sting'
Monday, August 9, 2004 Posted: 6:24 AM EDT (1024 GMT)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The effort by U.S. officials to justify raising the terror alert level last week may have shut down an important source of information that has already led to a series of al Qaeda arrests, Pakistani intelligence sources have said.

Until U.S. officials leaked the arrest of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan to reporters, Pakistan had been using him in a sting operation to track down al Qaeda operatives around the world, the sources said.

In background briefings with journalists last week, unnamed U.S. government officials said it was the capture of Khan that provided the information that led Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to announce a higher terror alert level...

"The Pakistani interior minister, Faisal Hayat, as well as the British home secretary, David Blunkett, have expressed displeasure in fairly severe terms that Khan's name was released, because they were trying to track down other contacts of his," [Senator Charles] Schumer told CNN.

Politics above all.

That tragic abuse of power and risking of lives as a political CYA is what finally pushed me over the edge to start blogging about this White House, back in August (follow the link and scroll all the way down).

I was angry then.

Beyond angry.

Now I'm just numb.


UPDATE: In the wake of the stupid, stupid conspiracy theories going around regarding the recent terrorist attacks on London, I feel compelled to clarify my intensions with this post.

The point is not to give credence to anything that suggests that British and U.S. officials willfully allowed the London bombings to happen (or worse yet, were behind it).

It's to point out how the United States specifically used a REAL counter-terrorism effort for their own political purposes last summer, putting that counter-terrorism effort in jeopardy.

The very people seeking our vote because they claimed they would make us safer in fact sold out our safety and security the first chance they got.

Gross incompetence, yes. Negligence, yes. Abuse of power, yes.

Conspiracy, no.

Look, we've got enough on the unethical dealings of this administration without having to make up stuff about how they're purposefully killing their own citizens to justify past stupidity.

We don't need to legitimize dumb rumors.

The facts are bad enough.

Here endeth the update.

Labels: in the news

"I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our [intelligence] sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious of traitors." Former President George Herbert Walker Bush, 1999.

If you've been following the latest developments in the Valerie Plame case this holiday weekend, you might get the feeling that the tide is truly turning against the White House - specifically with news that Time magazine's recent document dump for the special prosecutor may implicate White House advisor Karl Rove in outing Plame as a CIA operative, presumably to punish her husband for telling the truth about Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons.

My gut tells me not to get too excited.

I don't want to give Mr. Rove more credit than he deserves by saying he is too smart for that; he may be a genius of dirty politics, but that's about it. Let's just say I bet he's got some doozy of a loophole, as Lawrence O'Donnell suggests today in his latest revelation on the case (cleverly calling it a possible "I did not inhale" defense).

But thanks to prospect.org, here's what we do know:

Rove insisted [to FBI investigators] he had only circulated information about Plame after it had appeared in Novak's column. He also told the FBI, the same sources said, that circulating the information was a legitimate means to counter what he claimed was politically motivated criticism of the Bush administration by Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson...

Rove and other White House officials described to the FBI what sources characterized as an aggressive campaign to discredit Wilson through the leaking and disseminating of derogatory information regarding him and his wife to the press, utilizing proxies such as conservative interest groups and the Republican National Committee to achieve those ends, and distributing talking points to allies of the administration on Capitol Hill and elsewhere.

Man. Notice how they couldn't use that massive Capital Hill energy to say that Wilson was wrong, because he wasn't. So they had to attack him personally.

Man.

Hunter at Daily Kos thankfully puts it all in context (and you really, really should read the whole thing):

We know from Senate investigations that John Bolton, to give one specific example of an administration official, has a special obsession with the punishment of anyone -- agent, analyst, or foreign official -- who contradicted his "preferred" pre-Iraq War intelligence analysis. What we learn from the Plame case is that that wasn't unusual behavior. White House officials mobilized en masse to extract a particularly vicious punishment via the Plame outing. En masse. Whether it proves a felony or not, it is remarkable to think that the highest levels of government would take it so intimately upon themselves to destroy a single critic -- and that they would en masse think nothing of using leaked classified information as the centerpiece of a political hit.

At this point, nothing that happens in the Plame case will shock me. We already know the shocking part -- the level of attacks deemed acceptable and justifiable by Bush and his closest advisors.

This information has been known since 2003. At any point, Bush could have dismissed the culprits. Considering how many of them were involved, he'd have his work cut out for him in the restaffing department, but nonetheless it is transparently obvious what behaviors George W. Bush finds acceptable. What movements, among his staff, he rewards...

Our country is better than these men. Felony or no, I am ashamed of them. And that shame represents a deeper patriotism than a hundred tattered flags waving from car antennae.

Happy Fourth of July.

B.

Labels: in the news