When And Why Joseph C Wilson IV Outed Valerie Plame

Sweetness & Light ^ | March 17, 2007 | Steve Gilbert

[the Real fifi]

At the time Continetti wrote about the missing minutes, the later minutes were there.
My hypothesis is that Wilson first floated his storytale there and, if so, it is somewhat at odds with his later verioons--indeed. his story has undergone a number of permutations as we all know.

[Sam Hill]

They do still list a hearing from January 6, 2003.

DPC Hearings
http://democrats.senate.gov/dpc/dpc-hearing.cfm?A=all

[Marine_Uncle]

Search engines are only as good as the data one adds/deletes from them.
They probably simply deleted all the info in given servers's search engine record database, either by permission from a given ISP, and or by asking people at given sites (DNS server) sites to do so.
Sam. Thanks for the time sequences. You both have obviously did much homework over a period of time to not allow this issue to fall through the cracks.

[Sam Hill]

"The meeting after the May 2003 one starred the notorious VIPS."

I don't recall that. I believe that the October 2004 meeting was the first with VIPS. At least that's all I could find back last May when I first posted about it.

[lepton]

bookmark bump

[Tut]

Pings for Kaslin and Jen's Mom

[Txsleuth]

How the heck did some guy that called for Cheney's resignation end up on the ISG???

[piasa]

I don't know if it is relevent or not but in May 2003 Wilson spoke with Chris Lehane.

At the end of June 2004, Chris Lehane was in the news again in connection with his getting a brand new job from Michael Moore, just back from the Cannes Film festival in Paris, which was preceded by the untimely decapitation of Nick Berg who had some ties with Moore's cameraman and of course, had been working in the vicinity of Abu Ghraib, and by the 60 Minutes Abu Ghraibh panty raid story. Some speculated Lehane was hired for damage control, but his hiring corresponded to valerie Plame going on unpaid leave from the CIA.

[Txsleuth]

Please see post #56....the mention of Mark Zaid, in context of "Haditha marine"....

He was on the panel with Victoria Toensing at the Valerie Plame cartoon yesterday...

Is he a lawyer OF one of the Haditha Marines? Do you know?

[piasa]

MAY 2003 : (JOE WILSON SPEAKS TO FORMER CLINTON WAR ROOMER CHRIS LEHANE - SPOKESMAN FOR JOHN KERRY) The Wilson story did not have legs before Wilson spoke to Lehane in May of 2003. It also has been said that Lehane was the force behind the Vanity Fair article and the NYT article.
55 posted on 11/02/2005 11:40:28 AM PST by ravingnutter | To 46

[* My note : Chris Lehane would be fired by Kerry in the fall of 2003, around Sept 1]

JUNE 20, 2004 : (DOCUMYTH MAKER MICHAEL MOORE HIRES DEMOCRAT STRATEGIST CHRIS LEHANE- IS MOORE GETTING SCARED? See NICK BERG, AL GORE, KERRY CAMPAIGN, JOE WILSON) "Mr. Moore is readying for a conservative counterattack, saying he has created a political-style "war room" to offer an instant response to any assault on the film's credibility. He has retained Chris Lehane, a Democratic Party strategist known as a master of the black art of "oppo," or opposition research, used to discredit detractors."
Moore apparently is feeling some vulnerability and hopes to abort criticism/accusations with a preemptive strike.  The excellent work done here might be what frightened him.
Will Michael Moore's Facts Check Out? [Lawsuits threatened against those who "libel" Moore]  NY Times   FR  6-20-04
1,972 posted on 06/21/2004 8:07:29 AM PDT by windchime (Podesta about Bush: "He's got four years to try to undo all the stuff we've done." (TIME-1/22/01)) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1971

[piasa]

I think he's involved with both the Haditha cases and the Hamidiya case but I'm not 100% certain if it's both cases since I've just grazed across him a few times while digging around on the Amerithrax topic and I have not been following those cases closely. There was a thread posted where Zaid was asking for help.

He fits the bill for the VIPS antisecrecy type and there seem to be some links there.

[Txsleuth]

I know that during yesterday's hearing, he was pretty much ignored after his opening statement...which he gave so fast, I had a hard time keeping up with what he was saying.

After Toensing gave her opening remarks...the Dems were all over her...trying to get her to kowtow to their agenda.

thanks for the info.

[piasa]

He had clients involved in the Able Danger story with which I was never quite comfortable. He tried to sue the US government in a silly case concerning Lady Di, her boyfriend Mohammad Al Fayed by claiming the CIA, NSA, DIA and just about every agency imaginable had info held in secret which could be relevent to the case, etc. He does this sort of nonsense with self-righteous flair but it just eats up our tax dollars and serves for propaganda purposes.

He runs something called "The James Madison Project," which is notable in that one of its researchers is or was a Patrick Eddington, who is a member of ... VIPS. Eddington & Zaid also had something to do with the effort to halt anthrax vaccinations along with folks from FAS like Meryl Nass and friends. Nass, who has ties to Cuba and antisanctions groups favoring Iraq, was involved indirectly in the campaign to blame Hatfill for the 2001 anthrax attacks.

Zaid signed on to this at one point:

Coalition Letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft Regarding the Relaxation of Guidelines In the Use of Domestic Spying (3/5/2002)


Attorney General John Ashcroft
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530

Dear Mr. Ashcroft: 
The undersigned organizations are writing to ask you to leave the current guidelines on domestic spying in place rather than relax them.1 Relaxing the guidelines to allow the FBI greater freedom to investigate individuals and groups based on their beliefs is unwise, and unsound law enforcement policy. 
The Church Committee Hearings in the 1970s revealed an FBI run amok. Americans were shocked to learn the FBI "monitored political demonstrations, infiltrated civil rights groups, conducted illegal break-ins and warrantless wiretaps of anti-war groups, [and] sent anonymous poison-pen letters intended to break up marriages of political group leaders."2 
The Guidelines were adopted to prevent the intrusive investigations and techniques used by the FBI to target individuals or groups because of their beliefs. They make it clear that constitutionally protected advocacy of unpopular ideas or political dissent alone cannot serve as the basis for an investigation. 
The rules require a valid factual basis for opening an investigation, which largely precludes wholesale FBI fishing expeditions. The threshold for opening a formal investigation is already minimal, requiring "reasonable indication." Preliminary inquiries require even less. The Bureau can begin a preliminary inquiry when it receives any information or allegation "whose responsible handling requires some further scrutiny."3 Nothing, however, prevents a preliminary inquiry from turning into a full investigation upon the Bureau receiving "reasonable indication" that a crime has been, or is about to be, committed. 
Furthermore, the FBI's hands are not tied waiting for a crime to occur. The Guidelines recognize that "[i]n its efforts to anticipate or prevent crime, the FBI must at times initiate investigations in advance of criminal conduct."4 
Even advocacy of violence, protected speech under the First Amendment, may form the basis for an investigation when there are indicia that a crime may be committed. While urging respect for the First Amendment, the guidelines state: "When, however, statements advocate criminal activity or indicate an apparent intent to engage in crime, particularly crimes of violence, an investigation under these guidelines may be warranted. . ."5 
The Guidelines, therefore, focus the FBI on investigating crimes or gathering foreign intelligence information rather than harassing dissenters. 
History has demonstrated that without those guidelines, the FBI targets individuals and groups based on their advocacy and association rather than for legitimate law enforcement. Relaxing the guidelines to allow greater spying on groups based on their First Amendment activity is counter-productive and wastes resources. 
Political spying subverts our political freedom. It chills those who disagree with the status quo. Our Constitution allows everyone to have a voice, whether or not they agree with the majority. 
Increased political spying not only harms our freedoms but has other consequences as well. It diverts resources from fighting real crime. While there may be groups in our country that espouse views with which many disagree, a relatively small number ever engage in criminal activity. Every FBI agent spending his days taking photographs at an anti-abortion rally, gun show, or other political rally is an agent not engaged in preventing and fighting crime. 
Political spying is also likely to increase violence. Justice Louis Brandeis recognized long ago that the First Amendment acts as a safety valve. If people marginalized in our society are free to express their views and engage in political activity, they are less likely to resort to violence. 
The FBI is already apparently filing reports on those who disagree with the current administration.6 Relaxing the Guidelines will only result in more intrusive activity. History and current events demonstrate the need for Guidelines that focus the FBI on investigating crime and legitimate intelligence-gathering. We, therefore, urge you not to relax those guidelines. 
Sincerely, 
Laura Murphy, Director
American Civil Liberties Union
Washington National Office

Sonia Arrison, Director
Center for Technology Studies
Pacific Research Institute

Ziad Asali, President
American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)

Nihad Awad, Executive Director
Council on American- Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Jerry Berman, Executive Director
Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT)

Joan Bertin, Executive Director
National Coalition Against Censorship

Yaser Bushnaq, Chief Coordinator
Solidarity USA

Jay Daryl Byler, Director
Mennonite Central Committee, US Washington Office

Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director
National Lawyers Guild

Rob Cavenaugh, Legislative Director
Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

Christine Chen, Executive Director
Organization of Chinese-Americans

Suzanne Crowell, Co-Chair
Fund for the Fourth Amendment

Lisa Dean, Deputy Director
Center for Technology Policy
Free Congress Foundation

Chris Finan, President
American Booksellers Foundation

Cheryl Fischer, Director
The Kumba Human Rights Focus Group

Stephanie Foster, Director Public Policy
People for the American Way (PFAW)

Margaret Fung, Executive Director
Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund

Kit Gage, Director
National Committee Against Repressive Legislation

Beth Givens, Director
Privacy Rights Clearinghouse

Ron Hampton, Executive Director
National Black Police Officers Association

Evan Hendricks, Editor/Publisher
Privacy Times

Albert Hirsch, Co-Director
Washington Ethical Action Office

Chris Hoofnagle, Legislative Counsel
Electronic Privacy Information Center

Amy Isaacs, National Director
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)

Rafeeq Jaber, President
Islamic Association for Palestine

Florence Kimball, Legislative Secretary
Friends Committee On National Legislation (Quakers)

James Landrith, Editor
The Multiracial Activist and Abolitionist Examiner

Scott Long, Program Director
International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Organization

James H. Matlack, Director
American Friends Service Committee
Washington Office

Ken McEldowney, Executive Director
Consumer Action

Joe Montano, Executive Director
National Federation of Filipino Americans (NAFFA)

Karen K. Narasaki, President
National Asian-Pacific American Legal Consortium

Hilary Shelton, Director
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Manjit Singh, Executive Director
Sikh Mediawatch and Resource Task Force

Keith Stroup
National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana

Nkechi Taifa, Director
Equal Justice Program
Howard University School of Law

Rep. James L. Thomas (AL), President
National Black Caucus of State Legislators

Coralee Whitcomb, President
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility

Mark S. Zaid, Executive Director
The James Madison Project

Kevin Zeese, President
Common Sense for Drug Policy

Jim Zogby, President
Arab-American Institute

[Txsleuth]

Wow....thanks for that further information.

It may take me a week, but I am reading all of the links you and Sam have posted here..

I thought I was pretty informed...but, I realized after about 10 minutes here tonight, how little I did know about all of this.

Does Mary McCarthy....who was let go awhile back, fit into any of this??

[Fedora]

But while you are here, I wonder if you have any exact date as to when Mr. Wilson came to be involved with VIPS.

As background, first a comment on the date of the founding of VIPS and its prehistory. VIPS started issuing public statements in January 2003. Its nucleus seems to have come together somewhat before that as the war debate was heating up in fall 2002, with Vince Cannistraro acting as a key media relations contact. They weren't calling themselves VIPS yet before January 2003, but what would become VIPS was emerging in late 2002.

Now to answer your question about Wilson's first contact with VIPS: definitely in public by June 14, 2003, probably in private as early as January-March 2003. McGovern says he already knew Plame from CIA. Wilson's book mentions he knew Pat Lang as well, calling Lang "a longtime colleague of mine" and indicating he was trading information with Lang at the time of Powell's February 2003 UN speech (see Politics of Truth, 315-316, 432-433). IMO there is circumstantial evidence the Wilsons were working with VIPS personnel behind the scenes by the January-March 2003 time frame, when Wilson appeared on Nightline with Carl Levin while VIPS was talking to CNN about the Niger forgeries and running around Europe giving antiwar interviews ("Cannistraro would claim that Saddam Hussein used him to make peace overtures to the US via Iraqi agent Tahir Habbush in December 2002. . .Meanwhile as Cannistraro was serving as Saddam Hussein’s courier and discrediting Bush’s war effort in the European media, the German TV show Panorama broadcast a similar message from VIPS’ Ray McGovern and David MacMichael, along with Bob Baer and former UN weapons inspector David Albright, in an episode which aired March 6, 2003, a day before Mohamed ElBaradei of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA, headquartered in Vienna, Austria) first publicized the Niger forgeries. . .[Jay] Rockefeller’s request had been preceded by a request on January 29 from his Intelligence Committee colleague Levin to the CIA asking for details on what the US intelligence community knew about the Iraqi attempts to acquire uranium from Africa mentioned in President Bush’s January 28 State of the Union address. While awaiting the CIA’s reply, which came on February 27 and did not mention the forgery issue, Levin travelled to New York to meet with UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix on February 1, and then he, Rockefeller, and their Intelligence Committee colleagues Pat Roberts and John Warner went on their own secret fact-finding mission to the Middle East on February 15. . .before returning to the US on February 25. After Levin got back, he and Joseph Wilson appeared together on ABC’s Nightline on March 4, 2003. . .On Nightline, Wilson, Levin, and left-wing theologian Susan Thistlethwaite of Chicago Theological Seminary joined together to debate war supporters James Woolsey, John McCain, and Richard Land. Asking questions from the audience were French ambassador Jean-David Levitte and German ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger. Levitte, Levin, and Wilson all called for prolonging UN inspections before war, with Levitte’s call to 'Give peace a chance' being echoed by Wilson suggesting, 'Give disarmament a chance'. . .Meanwhile [CNN's David] Ensor followed up his March 8, 2003 interview with Wilson with a March 14 interview of VIPS’ Ray Close, who had been writing on the Niger forgeries since March 10.: Wilsongate: Motive, Means, and Opportunity). But like I say this is circumstantial. As far as direct evidence, the first event I know of where Wilson actually appeared with VIPS personnel in public is their joint presentation at the EPIC forum on June 14, 2003.

[Sam Hill]

As many of us have noted before, at the very least Joe Wilson knew about Ray McGovern by the evening of June 14, 2003, when they shared a podium at the Iraq Forum:

Evening Public Lecture: A State of the Movement Address
EVENING KEYNOTE LECTURE

Ray McGovern was a CIA analyst for 27 years and is on the Steering Group of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity. He is co-director of the Servant Leadership School, an outreach ministry in inner city Washington D.C. Hear Ray McGovern now.Or download and listen.

Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, IV served as a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 until 1998. From 1988 to 1991, Ambassador Wilson served in Baghdad as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy. As acting Ambassador during "Desert Shield," he was responsible for the negotiations that resulted in the release of several hundred American hostages. He was the last official American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the launching of "Desert Storm." Ambassador Wilson graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1972. He has been decorated as a Commander in the Order of the Equatorial Star by the Government of Gabon and as an Admiral in the El Paso Navy by the El Paso County Commissioners. Hear Ambassador Joe Wilson now.Or download and listen.

Valerie was also in attendance.

Here are some excerpts from the speech transcribed by FR's Fedora and reposted at the American Thinker by Clarice Feldman:

Let me just start out by saying, as a preface to what I really want to talk about, to those of you who are going out and lobbying tomorrow, I just want to assure you that that American ambassador who has been cited in reports in the New York Times and in the Washington Post, and now in the Guardian over in London, who actually went over to Niger on behalf of the government——not of the CIA but of the government——and came back in February of 2002 and told the government that there was nothing to this story, later called the government after the British white paper was published and said you all need to do some fact—checking and make sure the Brits aren't using bad information in the publication of the white paper, and who called both the CIA and the State Department after the President's State of the Union and said to them you need to worry about the political manipulation of intelligence if, in fact, the President is talking about Niger when he mentions Africa.

That person was told by the State Department that, well, you know, there's four countries that export uranium. That person had served in three of those countries, so he knew a little bit about what he was talking about when he said you really need to worry about this.

But I can assure you that that retired American ambassador to Africa, as Nick Kristof called him in his article, is also pissed off, and has every intention of ensuring that this story has legs. And I think it does have legs. It may not have legs over the next two or three months, but when you see American casualties moving from one to five or to ten per day, and you see Tony Blair's government fall because in the U.K. it is a big story, there will be some ramifications, I think, here in the United States, so I hope that you will do everything you can to keep the pressure on. Because it is absolutely bogus for us to have gone to war the way we did...

Of course Wilson was speaking of himself as a thinly disguised third person. He promised the audience that he would see to it that his "mission to Niger" story would have legs.

(Ironically, in his further remarks Wilson still continues to contend that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction. But insisted that was only right, since he was so close to Israel, who also have WMD.)

Mind you, this was still weeks before he finally wrote his NYT op-ed. And it is exactly one month before Bob Novak wrote his column about Wilson and Plame.

[Kaslin]

Thanks for the ping

[piasa]

She seems to...

Mary McCarthy is said to be responsible for a secret prisons leak, among others. She leaked to the Wash Po's Dana Preist, who is married to William Goodfellow, executive director of the Center for International Policy, which was founded about 1975 by reddoperdaiperbabies. It's mission : To "reform" US intelligence agencies to fit with their internationalist goals and disarmament ideas. Priest is a coworker of Walter Pincus.

McCarthy's position at the CIA was more recently in the inspector General's office which would have been charged with looking into leaks such as the alleged leak about Valerie Wilson. She's given a fair amount of congressional testimony before being caught.

Mary McCarthy was a Sandy Berger pick at the NSC before going to the CIA. She was involved in the planning of the US bombing of the el Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Sudan back in the 90s... but it seems her role was to always say "we need more proof." Sudanese intermediary Tourabi [seems to have a tie with Sami al Arian of Tampa FL ].

Former CIA guy Larry Johnson, now of VIPS, worked for Mary McCarthy when she was over the Latin America division.

She was a donor to a gentleman named Steve Andreason... as I recall there are a number of curious GWOT figures who donated to him but at the moment I'm coming up dry.

She donated to Kerry and made a very substantial donation to the Ohio Democrat Party

[Txsleuth]

LOTS of political "incest" it looks like to me....

All of it with the goal of taking down the Bush Admin..but NOT our real enemies.

[pinz-n-needlez]

Did you see this, kc and rheo.... I truly believe you two can track down anything that is out there. ;-)