Saturday :: July 09, 2005Here's more Harkin, speaking out on July 7, 16 and 20, 2004 ...
Lewis Libby and the Valerie Plame Investigation1. First up is the transcript (25 pages, pdf) of a Democratic Policy Committee Hearing held on October 24, 2003, presided over by then Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, on the national security implications of the leak of Valerie Plame's identity. The chief witnesses were Jim Marcinkowski, Former CIA Case Officer; Larry Johnson,Former CIA Analyst; and Vince Cannistraro,Former Chief of Operations and Analysis, CIA Counterterrorism Center.
In his opening remarks, Cannistraro says:
CANNISTRARO: Thank you, Senators, for inviting me here today. I'll make my comments as brief as possible. I think it's very important to understand the context in which this leak occurred. We had a pattern of pressure directed at CIA analysts for a long period of time beginning almost immediately after September 11th in those disastrous events. The pressure was directed at providing supporting information data for the belief that Saddam Hussein was, one, linked to global terrorism and, two, was a clear danger not only to his neighbors but to the United States of America. ...Later, the Senators take turns asking Cannistraro questions:The vice president and his chief of staff went out to CIA headquarters on a number of occasions -- at least on two occasions -- specifically to address the questions of weapons of mass destruction and the attempt to acquire a nuclear capability. These meetings, I'm told secondhand, were contentious, but the vice president insisted that there must be some support for this reporting of the yellow cake acquisition attempt. CIA analysts, I'm told, didn't have any independent data to verify that, but as a result of the insistent pressure being applied to the analysts and particularly to the nonproliferation center, the CIA did send, as they've said publicly, Former Ambassador Joseph Wilson on a fact-finding mission to Niger.
Sen. Harkin: The last point I wanted to make was, again, Mr. Cannistraro, I want to be perfectly clear on this as much as I can. I read your testimony and I heard you say it again that the vice president and his chief of staff, Lewis Libby, visited the CIA headquarters to engage the CIA analysts directly on this issue of uranium acquisition in Africa.You call it, "an unprecedented act for the vice president to engage desk-level analysts resulted in a contentious give-and-take. Vice president insisted that CIA analysts were not looking hard enough for the evidence."
HARKIN: Again, in all of your years you've never seen a vice president or his chief of staff come down and engage in that kind of activity?
CANNISTRARO: No, I haven't, Senator. The vice president gets the president's daily brief every morning and he's briefed by a senior-level CIA official who goes out to the White House and does the briefing. So he has no need in going out and debating with desk-level analysts.
This transcript makes it clear that to the CIA, Valerie Plame was indeed an undercover operative at one time, that she might have gone back into undercover work, and even if she didn't, the agency and other agents would still want to protect her identity. For example, if it were known she had been an undercover CIA agent, she'd be ripe for a kidnapping ever after to get classified information out of her. ...
Some questions I still have: ...
3. Is Scott McClellan going to be a corroborative witness for Fitzterald on a perjury charge? See below:
USA TODAY, October 8, 2003,
On Tuesday, Bush spokesman Scott McClellan ruled out three senior Bush aides as possible sources of the leak: Karl Rove, Bush's political adviser; Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of staff; and Elliott Abrams, a senior official on the National Security Council. All have been named in Washington speculation.http://www.talkleft.com/new_archives/011403.htmlHe said each, when asked by him, denied leaking the name of CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson to newspaper columnist Robert Novak, who revealed her identity in an article July 14. "They were not involved in leaking classified information, nor did they condone it," McClellan said.
And one last piece - I think it pretty well refreshes the memory that the Democrats were pushing HARD for a special prosecutor.
Monday :: July 25, 2005A repeat of link to the press release ... [Hahahahahahaha!!]
Senators Call for Congressional Plame InvestigationPress release out today ....26 Senators have written a letter to the House Speaker and Majority Leader of Congress calling for a Congressional investigation into the outing of Valerie Plame. Here's part:
The United States Congress has a constitutional responsibility to provide oversight of the executive branch, whether a law has been broken or not. It is time for Congress to fulfill that constitutional responsibility in this matter by initiating a thorough investigation.The Senators named in the letterWe recognize that a criminal investigation is underway and that a special prosecutor continues to present testimony before a grand jury. These actions in no way preclude Congress responsibility to provide oversight. We urge you to exercise your authority as Congressional leaders by requesting the appropriate committees to begin oversight hearings and an investigation immediately.
Senators Kerry, Levin, Stabenow, Schumer, Lautenberg, Rockefeller, Reed, Feinstein, Dorgan, Harkin, Kohl, Durbin, Carper, Salazar, Boxer, Inouye, Corzine, Wyden, Mikulski, Obama, Murray, Bayh, Johnson, Clinton, Sarbanes, and Landrieu.http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011625.html