J'ACCUSE: "President [Bush] approved the leaking of the name of the CIA agent" claims John Loftus

transcribed radio broadcast | June 3, 2004 | Batchelor & Loftus

[Boot Hill]

The John Batchelor Show
WABC 770 AM News Talk Radio
New York City
Thursday, June 3, 2004
7:35pm, EST

On Thursday night's broadcast of the John Batchelor Show, long-time intelligence gadfly, John Loftus accused that "the President himself approved the leaking of the name of the CIA agent". What follows is an exact transcription of the relevant portions of the show.

(Transcription begins 3:52 minutes into The Loftus Report segment of the John Batchelor show. [transcriber's notes in brackets])

Batchelor:   And I'm certain that Patrick O'Donnell and John Loftus have now convinced you all that the landings on Normandy, the landings on June sixth, sixty years ago, depended upon intelligence and counter-intelligence operations that were successful operations. Fortitude, there was Ultra, the German code and doesn't that bring us to today, gentlemen? Lets, let's deal with the fact that we're in a war right now and the DCI, the man comparable to Wild Bill Donovon, the only one comparable, [talk over] who landed on Utah Beach, lied to everybody and got onto Utah Beach, the man comparable to Wild Bill Donovan, has resigned, John. Ahh, surprised, not surprised and why do we believe he left his office suddenly?

Loftus:   You know, it's a combination of things. Partly was because he realized that he was missing his family. The guy has given up a huge amount of his time. His son was getting ready to go to college next year, this is his last year to do it. That was on his mind, but you know part of it was, something else. Now, the the liberals are saying its, oh, he had to be the fall guy for the intelligence screw ups. That's not it. And, uhh, the conservatives are saying that, ahh, you know, he had to fall on his sword to protect the Bush administration, that's not it. What people are telling me tonight is that the guy finally had it. The straw that broke his camel's back was that [Curry?] came to CIA two days ago saying, oh my God, this is what's going on at the grand jury. That it wasn't just Carl Rove and other people, the President himself approved the leaking of the name of the CIA agent.

Batchelor:   And were not going to use that aim..., name. I believe everybody knows this in terms of the Wilson affair. This has to do with visit of Africa by Joe Wilson, ambassador Joseph Wilson, who, uhh, visited there at the behest of the Bush administration in two-thousand and three, two-thousand and two, two-thousand and three, two-thousand and two, brought back information that is itself complicated, to do with whether the Iraqi's were trying to buy uranium, U-235, uhh, uhh, ore, in a nuclear weapons program, the reporting, I can not encapsulate it anymore than that. But, there is an active grand jury, we know this from Joe Wilson, himself.

Loftus:   And the witnesses are talking.

Batchelor:   And this has to do, and Patrick your, your, this is why it's intelligence matter, with the fact that there are laws on the books, and then there's the general understanding that you never reveal the name of a "NOC". What is the..., what is a "NOC", John?

Loftus:   Ahh, Non-Official Cover [unintelligible]. It's the toughest job in the world. You have to go in without diplomatic immunity and spy. And, uhh, Ambassador Wilson's wife was a really serious high level CIA spy. For political reasons, a couple people in the Whitehouse said, let's expose this woman to get brownie points.

Batchelor:   And this has to do with the summer of two-thousand and three, after that there was contradiction about the uranium 235 story, ahh, from Joseph Wilson who published an op-ed in the New York Times in July of two-thousand and three.

Loftus:   Now there's a real danger saying "post hoc ergo propter hoc", it's an old fancy phrase for saying "just because something happened yesterday, doesn't predict what happens tomorrow", there's no connection maybe connecting the dots. But, there's a lot of gossip on the intel side saying, this was it, this was the straw, that that broke Tenant's heart. And he resigned under protest, but didn't protest. He'll protect the Bush administration, umm, John McLaughlin will be the anointed successor. There will be no hearings until after the election is over. Uhh, but Tenent's had it, I mean, he had to stand up for his agency and he's a stand-up guy, he's a class act. A lot of people knock him, but I think that we were very lucky to have a guy like him.

Batchelor:   George Tenent, born 1953, graduated Georgetown and Columbia University, uhh, was app..., was confirmed DCI in 1997, we're now an acting DCI.

(Transcription ends 7:43 minutes into The Loftus Report segment of the John Batchelor show.)

 

[pawdoggie]

It's pretty obvious that whoever "leaked" Plame's name was a Washington newcomer who believed that Plame was a CIA "employee", but not an agent (probably because the "secret" was so open in DC). The intent of the leak was not to endanger or "blow Plame's cover", but to let everyone know who it was that recommended sending former Ambassador Wilson to Africa in the first place. The whole incident is equivalent to Senator Leahy getting caught leaking classified information, and the person who did it (Rove is a logical suspect) ought to own up to it and resign; everyone else should then let the matter rest (after all, "Leaky Leahy" is still a sitting Senator). It was perfectly predictable, after Mr. Bush hired an attorney, that some loony lefties would hang this charge out there.

[Boot Hill]

"...you're wrong on other counts too."

Nope, the claims I posted in #1 may be crazy and they may be looney, but they are, in fact, claims made by John Loftus.

--Boot Hill

[11th Earl of Mar]

What people are telling me tonight is...

Ok, who are those people?

DU posters? Paid political hacks? Al Franken?

[Boot Hill]

"More interesting is the revelation that Tenant's heart is a camel's back."

LOL, what else would you expect from someone that's got his head up his rear?

--Boot Hill

[mewzilla]

While we're on the subject, sort of, did we ever find out just who is was that sent Wilson on his little junket?

[Paul_B]

Thanks, I seldom listen and was unaware of that.

[laconic]

Well, if the incompetent George Tenet is the source of this nonsense and is as accurate about this as he was about: 1) 9/11; 2) WMDs a "slam dunk" in Iraq; and 3) Pakistan having "No" nuclear capability in 1998, then Bush has nuttin' to worry about.

[Mitchell]

Ping.

[Hop A Long Cassidy]

Thanks for the picture. He looks like Moore's daddy to me.

Hoppy

[cricket]

"How much longer will people continue to give this far-left buffoon any credibility?" No parameters for 'fairness' for Loftus or his political ilk. They reveal themselves to be the lowest common denominator in the political equasion of Republican/Democrat.

. . .And while there may be other similarities; Joe Wilson is not the 'horses mouth' either; and the same goes for Loftus.

[dasboot]

You must be on Mission Hill?

[Mitchell]

This is the man that claims that Bush profited from the Holocaust.

I don't know anything about the merits of Loftus' claim, but he's talking about Prescott Bush, isn't he? George W. Bush wasn't born until July 6, 1946, after World War II had ended.

[Boot Hill]

"[Loftus is] talking about Prescott Bush, isn't he?"

His accusation has been made against the Bush family, which would include Prescott as well as George W.

--Boot Hill

[edweena]

Good grief, he can assert anything he likes. He can claim President Bush is in cahoots with aliens. How about some PROOF before passing on gossip and liberal wishful thinking as meaningful commentary. No proof? No evidence?

Didn't think so.

[zook]

Loftus makes stuff up as he goes along. Up until Saddam Hussein was arrested, Loftus claimed he had been killed in the first bombings of Baghdad.

I do not believe for an instant that Bush would approve this. He is not that kind of man.

[Ann Archy]

This blowhard is a Fox personality on the weekend and he's NEVER said one thing thtat has come true! Gadfly??? Liar.

[The Scourge of Yazid]

My own, personal theory involves a nervous breakdown at 'Elaine's', a confrontation at gunpoint and a horrific scene whose denouement came when Alexander fled, in a bid to preserve some semblance of sanity after working with that pretentious, insufferable WASP for the past three years.

If you want the official story, here goes:

Alexander got bored, a little tired of Bachelor hogging the spotlight and found a much better offer courtesy of The 'Great White Way.'

Aside from being an historian and a freelance journalist, Paul Alexander is also a very successful playwright. One of the off-Broadway plays he wrote hit a nerve, became successful and he decided to ditch his longtime co-host.

Does that clarify things a little?

[Boot Hill]

"How about some PROOF before passing on gossip and liberal wishful thinking as meaningful commentary."

That's the beauty of his scam, he's "connected", don't ya know, and all his sources are deep black and can't be disclosed! Pretty convenient, wouldn't you say?

--Boot Hill

[Boot Hill]

"Loftus makes stuff up as he goes along."

You mean like when he made the unsubstantiated claim that when the Jordanians busted the terrorist plot in April, that the "chemical weapons" they caught them with were VX nerve agent? Major news if true, but the claim was never substantiated.

--Boot Hill

[Boot Hill]

You nailed it.

--Boot Hill