The Cheney Cha-cha-cha
After 9/11, Vice President Richard Cheney seized the initiative. He pushed to expand executive power, transform America\’s intelligence agencies and bring the war on terror to Iraq. But first he had to take on George Tenet\’s CIA for control over intelligence. – \”The Dark Side,\” – FRONTLINE
Emptywheel has a great post up over at Firedoglake, which teases her book.
Read it, then buy the book. (Lower left hand column of this blog is a link to Amazon. It\’s published by Jane and Markos, not to mention a great price. Buy the book.)
Rove needed to get the spotlight off himself and onto someone else. That
someone turned out to be former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer.
On the same day that the Times identified Rove as one of Novak\’s two sources,
the New York Daily News published an article citing unnamed sources \”close
to the probe\” explaining that, in addition to Rove, the grand jury was
investigating Fleischer\’s role in the Plame affair. \”Ari\’s name keeps
popping up,\” one source told the paper.[i]Clearly, the behind-the-scenes media campaign was giving reporters fresh
meat (in the form of Fleischer) to distract them from Rove. The campaign based
its insinuations about Fleischer\’s involvement on what is now called the INR
memo, the same document from which Armitage had learned of Valerie Wilson\’s
identity. The memo was faxed to Air Force One during President Bush\’s trip
to Africa during the week of July 6, 2003. The Daily News story, quoting the
unnamed sources, pointed out that the memo \”included background on Wilson\”
and that it \”appears to be a key\” to revealing who gave Valerie
Plame Wilson\’s name to Robert Novak. … ..
Then take a look at some other juicy tidbits, which are a must read if you
want to see Cheney getting slowly hung out to dry.
The “Scooter” Libby Trial and Uranium from Africa saga and The
Under-Reported War on Joseph Wilson are here,
here
and here.
All the FDL Libby live blogging can be found if
you\’ve missed a moment, including here.
Pick your favorite episodes for great late Sunday night reading. The Super Bowl
is over and TV sucks tonight, except for \”Rome.\”
Swopa\’s also got some gooey
stuff on Cheney.
Read it and smile, then finish up with Christy\’s \”Traitorgate\”
foundation, which is great prep.
The White House is soooo busted, though it remains to be seen if anyone will ever pay for it. But the bottom line is obvious. It\’s the same old theme Cheney (and Rummy, before he got canned) has been playing for years.
Why was the White House so nervous in the summer of 2003 about the CIA\’s reporting on alleged Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Niger to build a nuclear bomb? That\’s the big question that runs through the many little details that have emerged in the perjury trial of Vice President Cheney\’s former top aide, Lewis \”Scooter\” Libby.
The trial record suggests a simple answer: The White House was worried that the CIA would reveal that it had been pressured in 2002 and early 2003 to support administration claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and that in the Niger case, the CIA had tried hard to resist this pressure. The machinations of Cheney, Libby and others were an attempt to weave an alternative narrative that blamed the CIA. … ..
The truth began to emerge on July 11, 2003, when CIA Director George Tenet issued a public statement disclosing that the agency had tried to warn the White House off the Niger allegations. In that sense, the Libby trial is about a cover-up that failed. … ..
A Failed Cover-Up
What the Libby Trial Is Revealing
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