Prosecutor In CIA Leak Case Casting A Wide Net (My Title: CIA Questioned in "Leak" Case)

Washington Post ^ | Wednesday, July 27, 2005 | Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei

[SolidSupplySide]

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.

[Fedora]

That's interesting given that Ollie North came out with a rant way back in 2001 about people in journalism who knew of Bin Laden from past interviews refusing to assist the government in any way in the hunt for bin Laden.

I've gotten the distinct impression North and Canistraro don't like each other very much. . .The way I look at it, underlying this whole thing is a battle between the side of the intelligence community that was on North's side of Iran-Contra and the other side of the intelligence community represented by Canistraro, Stansfield Turner, Anthony Lake, etc., and the underlying theme of Canistraro et al's propaganda effort seems to be to implicate old Iran-Contra-era assets in the Niger forgeries.

Thanks for the other info.

[ravingnutter]

The Iraqi ambassador to the Holy See, Zahawi, traveled to Niger in February 1999.

Wilson also made a trip to Niger in 1999. The details are sketchy (reason for the trip was redacted from the report) and I have not been able to find the exact date.

[ravingnutter]

From the Senate Report:

Several analysts interviewed by Committee staff also pointed out that information in the second intelligence report matched [Several words blacked out] reporting from 1999 which showed that an Algerian businessman, Baraka, was arranging a trip for the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican, Wissam al-Zahawi, to visit Niger and other African countries in early February 1999. The former ambassador was selected for the 1999 trip after his wife [Plame] mentioned to her supervisors that her husband was planning a business trip to Niger in the near future and might be willing to use his contacts in the region [a few words blacked out]. Because the former ambassador did not uncover any information about [word blacked out] during this visit to Niger, CPD did not distribute an intelligence report on the visit.

I have not been able to find anything on Baraka...although to Islam it means "a supernatural gift that has been defined variously as blessing or mystical power". So...it may have not been his real name. Dang.

[Enchante]

fwiw, some important info for understanding Joseph Wilson IV's mentality as some deranged far-left "prophet" of doom spouting "wag the dog" nonsense:

Below are excerpts from a speech (June 14, 2003) given by the supposedly non-partisan professional diplomat Joe Wilson in the same time period in which he was launching his jihad against the Bush administration.

For the coming 15 months (run-up to 2004 presidential election), Wilson 'predicts' US casualties at a rate of 10-20 per DAY (at least 3,650 per year), huge catastrophe around Israel/Palestinians, and then Pres. Bush will START A NEW WAR to distract attention and rally patriotism before the US elections. Yes, this is Joe Wilson embracing whole-hog the loony-left's favorite "wag the dog" scenarios......

Now tell me whether a pompous self-important egomaniac like Joe Wilson would have scruples about doing anything he thinks he can get away with to block what he views as the evil neo-cons of the Bush administration, even if it involved undermining US relations with Turkey or deceiving the public about the whole "Niger uranium" issue???

http://billhobbs.com/hobbsonline/000503.html

Joe Wilson (June 14, 2003):

"The pressure here in the United States will begin to build because by that time (November 2004 US elections] Ariel Sharon will have made life so miserable for the Palestinians that you'll either see a de facto transfer occurring, the movement of Palestinians across into Jordan, or you will just see a lot of bloodshed. You will see Hamas just doing things every day, you'll see Israeli gunships... It will be not very pleasant for the President in the run-up to the campaign. So you'll have ten Americans dying every day in Iraq and you'll have the Middle East peace process in tatters, and the president who will find that it is increasingly difficult for him to run for reelection as Commander in Chief."

"And of course at the same time you'll still have the American economy that is weak, unemployment will be up by perhaps another percent and people will be pretty unhappy. And we'll be looking at $500 to $600 billion deficits and we'll still be looking at tremendous trade deficits and all that will start to make people wonder about things like tax cuts and all that stuff we ought to be wondering about anyway. The President wants to run away from that. He doesn't want to run as President. He wants to run as Commander in Chief. so if the Commander in Chief stuff isn't working very well for him and the President stuff isn't working very well for him, what's he gonna do? Start another war."

[Mad Mammoth]

I would like to think that our national intelligence collectors and resources (I'm talking NSA, FBI, etc.) have been monitoring Joe Wilson et al much more closely than he dares suspect.

Think about this a moment.

The moment, the VERY moment that Wilson started his perpetual wah-wah about his wife being outed, about the White House "retaliating" against him, blah-blah ad-nauseum, I would be very surprised if somewhere up the counter intelligence chain of command if the order had not been given to place Wilson, Plame and their associates under the closest, yet subtle and unobstrusive surveillance and scrutiny, i.e., start building a file on who they associate with, who they blab to, and what about.

I would be astounded if the Wilson/Plame cellphones AND landlines were not tapped 24/7, ditto for Judith Miller of the NYT (who still fits into this byzantine puzzle in some fashion, IMHO).

I submit that the Feds already KNOW all there is to know about Wilson/Plame and their chattering fans like Larry C. Johnson, Ray McGovern and the rest of that motley crew called "VIPS", and at some point the hammer is going to come down on them like a shoe on a couple of big fat cockroaches on a kitchen counter.

We may not see it happen, and it may not even be apparent that it happened, but I do believe that it WILL happen.

Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, V.P. Dick Cheney, those guys have absolutely NOTHING to worry about.

The leakers and underminers in the CIA, at State, and their affiliated weasels infesting various areas of the federal government?

They have a LOT to be worried about.

Like that big shoe coming down on their fragile exoskeleton.

Just one of my many theories, "your mileage may vary".

[ravingnutter]

I have started to suspect Cannistraro (who has frequently been in Italy lately talking to left-wing Italian papers) is a point man on this, linking Wilson, VIPS, and the liberal media in the US to the European end of the French forgery operation that predated Wilson's allegations

I remembered you said this when I was checking Cannistraro's profile page...the journalist who received the forgeries from Rocco Martino was Italian Panorama journalist Elisabetta Burba.

Cooperative Research

Now...

On January 2nd, 2001, police discover that the Nigerien Embassy [in Rome] has been broken into and documents and files were stolen. Italian investigators now believe that the breakin is related to the Niger forgeries.

Elisabetta Burba, a journalist for Panorama, receives a telephone call from Rocco Martoni telling her about the Niger documents, offering to sell them to here for ten thousand dollars. She meets with him and he gives her photocopies. She asks how they could be authenticated and he shows her a photocopy of the codebook from the Niger Embassy.

Italian authorities believe the codebook was obtained in the breakin of the Niger Embassy in 2001.

Daily Kos {Ugh}, while trying to blame Ledeen

Was Vince still with the Vatican in 2001? Dang I wish I had more time today...gotta leave in 3 minutes, hubby is coming home tonight {Sigh}...

[piasa]

Wilson also made a trip to Niger in 1999. The details are sketchy (reason for the trip was redacted from the report) and I have not been able to find the exact date.

It may not have been at the time he was in Africa here, but we do know he was in Africa in early 1999 attending a state dinner- unfortunately I can't find my copy of the web page in question any more:

1999 early : (VALERIE AND JOE WILSON ATTEND AFRICAN STATE DINNER) Ha! Wilson and his wife showed up at a big African State dinner in 1999, as shown on this guest list published in "Africa Today." Click here and scroll down...guest list is alphabetical, and wife is listed as "Valerie Wilson" Wilson is listed as the President of Wilson International Ventures, and this dinner took place in early 1999.
via 40 posted on 08/04/2003 5:43 AM PDT by Miss Marple

[Enchante]

Link is not working - have they taken the page with this list down to hide the evidence, or is it just a temporary glitch???? Hope someone here has copied the info....

[ravingnutter]

You are right...piasa's link no longer works...BUT, I found this, which gives more information:

WASHINGTON — On the guest list of the 1999 state dinner hosted by President Clinton for President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, no occupation was listed for Valerie Wilson, the wife of Joseph C. Wilson IV, Clinton's top White House Africa analyst from 1997 to 1998.

USA Today

Now, if you do a search on the dinner, without Wilson's name, you come up with:

WASHINGTON, DC -- The President and Mrs. Clinton are hosting his Excellency Flt. Lt. Jerry John Rawlings, President of the Republic of Ghana and Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings, at a White House State Dinner on Wednesday, February 24, 1999.

Source

So the dinner wasn't in Africa, it was at the WH, so that does us no good.

[Fedora]

I'll have to see what Cannistraro's relation to the Vatican was in 2001. But you'd think he'd have maintained whatever intelligence contacts he developed while he was there.

So who broke into the Nigerian embassy in Rome?

[ravingnutter]

So who broke into the Nigerian embassy in Rome?

I am searching for that...of course it is being blamed on the Joooos, Sharon in particular, LOL!

[ravingnutter]

At night, between the first and second of the January 2001, a mysterious thief came to the embassy of Niger in Rome and into the residence of the counselor in charge. It turned out that some letterhead and seals were missing.

Source

Well this explains the connection between the burglaries and the forgeries. The forgeries were planned before the burglary, they only took what they needed to do the forgeries.

[Enchante]

Just had some thoughts on why (it now seems to me) Joe Wilson HAD TO BE a key source for Judith Miller:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1452115/posts?page=163#163

This (in her eyes) was Judith Miller's turf - she had 'owned' WMD stories more than just about anyone in American journalism. THERE IS NO WAY that she could have failed to pursue Joe Wilson as a source after his op-ed of 7/6/03!!!! No self-respecting journalist (whose reputation was under fire) who considered Joe Wilson's op-ed to raise critical issues about the whole WMD aspect to the war could fail to go after him for interviews, and given that he was eager to promote himself and his views he would have bitten, hard.

[nuffsenuff]

I like it.

Make sense.

[Sam Hill]

"This (in her eyes) was Judith Miller's turf - she had 'owned' WMD stories more than just about anyone in American journalism. THERE IS NO WAY that she could have failed to pursue Joe Wilson as a source after his op-ed of 7/6/03!!!! No self-respecting journalist (whose reputation was under fire) who considered Joe Wilson's op-ed to raise critical issues about the whole WMD aspect to the war could fail to go after him for interviews, and given that he was eager to promote himself and his views he would have bitten, hard."

I think it's more likely that Wilson approached Miller. We know he approached Kristof and Pincus. Why not Miller?

And, as I've said before, it would be perfectly natural for him to try to burnish his credentials by mentioning that his wife worked at the CIA--in WMD.

[Mad Mammoth]

I like it. Makes sense.

Ditto. THAT is why Judith Miller is cooling her heels in jail. It isn't about journalistic "ethics", it's about covering her (and everybody else's) ASS!!!

[Enchante]

"I think it's more likely that Wilson approached Miller. We know he approached Kristof and Pincus. Why not Miller?"


Good point - he was definitely retailing his story before he wrote his op-ed. He was anxious to pound on the doors of the MSM.... he wouldn't have had any trouble finding his way to Miller.

[nuffsenuff]

It is the only rational explanation.

Should would NOT be doing it to protect Rove at this point.

[Stultis]

No bias here.

Of course not. Obviously it is in the natural order of things that former State Dept officials working on the campaigns of Democrat presidential candidates must be allowed to lie to the public with impunity (which is called "the politics of truth") whereas Republican presidents may never be permitted to correct or question them, or even warn others about the disinformation (which is called a "smear campaign").

Now, if you finally understand this, please acknowledge by shutting up, shutting down your website, and fore-swearing any future contradiction of the MSM.

[Enchante]

Glad you have such a good grasp of "the politics of truth"........ :^)