Caption: David Corn is escorted to the Grand Jury investigating the Plame leak.
Posted on 10/07/2006 11:22:24 AM PDT by STARWISE
The publication of Hubris is filled with irony for David Corn, Washington editor of the left-wing Nation magazine. He was present at the creation of the Valerie Plame "scandal," which the enemies of George W. Bush hoped could bring down a president. Nobody was more responsible for bloating this episode. Yet Corn is coauthor of a book that has had the effect of killing the story.
Thanks to Corn's intrepid coauthor, Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff, Hubris definitively revealed then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage as my source that Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie, worked for the CIA and suggested her husband's mission to Africa.
Armitage, an internal critic of the administration's Iraq policy, did not fit the left's theory of a conspiracy led by Karl Rove and "Scooter" Libby to discredit Wilson as a war critic. Nor did it fit the overriding theme of Isikoff and Corn in depicting "spin, scandal and the selling of the Iraq war."
As a result, Corn has been frantic--in the Nation, on his blog, and all over television--to depict an alternate course in which Rove, Libby, and Vice President Cheney attempted, by design and independently, to do what Armitage purportedly accomplished accidentally.
The introduction of Hubris states that Armitage's statement to me was (according to the deputy secretary's colleagues) "a slip-up by an inveterate gossip--but one that occurred alongside a concerted White House effort to undermine a critic of the war." This, the authors continue, "was a window into a much bigger scandal: the Bush administration's use of faulty intelligence and its fervent desire (after the [Iraq] invasion) to defend its prewar sales pitch."
I can only imagine the debates that must have taken place between coauthors to determine the direction of this book. The resulting product is some of the investigator Isikoff and a lot of the ideologue Corn. Hubris is not an unmitigated apologia for the Wilsons, but it comes close.
This desperate attempt to resuscitate a dubious conspiracy theory falls flat, and undermines what seems to be the real reason for writing Hubris.
While its reportorial tone gives the book a façade of objectivity, in fact it constitutes a broad assault on Bush, his administration, and his policies in the war against terrorism. That entails the retelling of manifold allegations of perfidy, so familiar that they grow tiresome. The book's only new element is what it reveals about the Plame case, and there they trumped their own ace by facilitating the source's exposure in advance of publication.
The book is also exceptional partly because its authors are so oddly matched.
Isikoff, who views himself as nonideological and nonpartisan, led reporters in tracking Bill Clinton's Monica Lewinsky affair (recorded in his Uncovering Clinton).
Corn is a stereotypical leftist activist without a nonideological bone in his body. His first book, Blond Ghost, was a vicious attack on the legendary CIA operative and Cold War hero Theodore Shackley, and the bias of his later work, The Lies of George W. Bush, is obvious from its title.
Corn telephoned me on July 16, 2003, two days after publication of my Valerie Plame column. He was neither a dispassionate reporter seeking information nor a former colleague on CNN's Crossfire, where we maintained a relatively friendly relationship when he was a substitute liberal cohost in 1997-98.
Instead, he was an impassioned, angry activist who accused me of "outing a CIA agent" and breaking the law. Since the Nation had never before been concerned with the protection of intelligence agents, I suspected political motives behind Corn's outrage. It was our final conversation. The last thing Corn wanted from me was additional information.
>>>>>>>>Rest at link.
1. Free Scooter!!!
2. Jail Wilson!!!
3. Fire Fitzgerald!!!
... So the leaking of the story to the press dovetails EXACTLY with Wilson's joining the Kerry campaign. Keep in mind, it was more than a year since his trip before he went to the media, or at least until anyone wrote about it.Don't forget, Chris Lehane is the one who ginned up a fake story during the 2000 campaign about an RNC ad using a subliminal message of "RATS" and got the New York Times to run it on the front page. He got the Bush DUI story held until five days before the 2000 election. He thought he had nailed Rove and Bush then. He was the source of the slime campaign against Katherine Harris during the Florida recount.
Lehane was later fired by the Kerry campaign in the fall of 2003. I'm still wondering why. It was around the time this Boston Globe story appeared, which was very embarrassing to Kerry and hurt Wilson's credibility. Perhaps Lehane failed to prevent the Globe from running this story, or perhaps some higher-ups realized this whole Wilson thing might be blowing up in their faces and that Lehane had once again sold them a bill of goods about a surefire plan to nail Karl Rove and bring down Bush.
Lehane was one of those slimy guys that nobody wanted to have working for their opponents, but knew they would end up smelling if he were on their side for long. He later hooked up with Wesley Clark's campaign and immediately leaked to Drudge that Kerry was an adulterer. Clark eventually fired him too.
---- 42 posted on 11/02/2005 11:02:51 AM PST by Dems_R_Losers | To 33
To: Dems_R_Losers"I am also wondering why Chris Lehane has not been seen or heard of for months. A Google search on his name shows nothing since an ill-fated effort in late 2004 to do PR for Michael Moore."
Lehane is working for KFM. KFM is a joint venture partnership of three construction giants: Kiewit Pacific of Vancouver, WA; FCI Constructors Northern Division of San Jose; and Manson Construction Company of Seattle.
Thursday, April 14, 2005 ADAMICK: In a sign the Bay Bridge contractor plans to vigorously fight allegations of faulty work -- claims that triggered an FBI investigation -- the joint venture’s lead contractor hired famed political strategist Chris Lehane to serve as spokesman. Lehane served in the Clinton war room, before becoming spokesman for former Vice President Al Gore’s 200 presidential bid. He also was a spokesman for Sen. John Kerry last year, before defecting to the camp of Gen. Wesley Clark. Californians may recall he was also hired by former Gov. Gray Davis to handle strategy during the energy crisis-------------http://editorchrislopez.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_editorchrislopez_archive.html
46 posted on 11/02/2005 11:10:16 AM PST by MilleniumBug | To 1
I wonder if his nickname is "Corn-holio".
In other words, KFM has hired a LOSER!
Sucks to be them.
"Yawn....."
Caption: David Corn is escorted to the Grand Jury investigating the Plame leak.
Leaked, maybe, but I doubt if the DUI story had to be "found." Courthouse pols have some of the longest memories known to man. A lot of them are political obsessives whose talents didn't take them beyond local wardheeling. In a county where not much of note has happened in 200 years, you can bet your booties some of them would remember the son of a prominent family getting a DUI. You never outrun that kind of stuff in a small town.
I am still interested in this story, however, because I have trouble buying the idea that MADD marched in and sought the unsealing of old records just as a coincidence. My supposition is that a dem courthouse pol recalled the story, passed it up the chain, and the move to open the records was the result. But I've never seen this analyzed and confirmed. Does anyone here have the background?
There was a lot of investigations and research done by FReepers back when this story came out, and even more details in the months afterward. I read them with interest. You're right, there was one old wacky bird who knew of the story back from the day it occured and tried to sell it. The conspiracy part was this: How long did the Drive by Media know of it before they all ran with it the Friday before the election? Some say as much as a year!
You'll have to do a search from that time period. I don't have any links.
Paul Pillar's given speeches at the Middle East Institute, which is Saudi-funded and which was against regime change and Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress.
MEI's president is Wyche Fowler, who is describes as a "close friend" of Prince Turki Al-Faisal.
I would like to know how close Paul Pillar was to Valerie Plame.
Also, it is clear at this point that the State Department hooked up with a group of rogues at the CIA to try to fix the '04 Presidential election and I hope to someday see a "family tree" of the whole operation.
More than that, I would love to see the President of the United States use every power at his disposal to bury these people forever.
Regards,
LH
Pillar and Drumheller were two big ones at CIA, IMO. Some other names to keep an eye on:
This Is Called “Picking The Wrong Guy To Argue With”
If one is to tangle with Christopher Hitchens, one had better come well-prepared, a lesson David Corn has learned the hard way. Corn purports to show Hitchens is wrong about Niger (and by extension, about Joe Wilson) here:
"In mid-October 2002, a nuclear analyst named Simon Dodge in the State Department’s intelligence division was forwarded copies of documents purporting to outline a recent sale of 500 tons of yellowcake uranium—which can be enriched for use in nuclear weapons—from the impoverished African nation of Niger to Iraq. As he reviewed the papers—which had been handed to the U.S. Embassy in Italy by an Italian journalist who had received them from a not-so-credible paid source—Dodge zeroed in on a bizarre companion document. It described a secret 2002 meeting at the home of the Iraqi ambassador in Rome of representatives of the world’s outlaw states—Iraq, Iran, Sudan, and Libya (and Pakistan, too). The purpose of this session was to form a clandestine alliance against the West and to concoct a “plan of action” for “Global Support.”
"Iran and Iraq in a secret pact to create a partnership of rogue states? This was something out of James Bond—or Austin Powers. Dodge considered it “completely implausible,” as he later told congressional investigators. Yet this memo bore the same “funky” (as he saw it) embassy of Niger stamp that appeared on the uranium-deal papers.
"That was, for Dodge, a telltale sign. If the uranium-agreement papers were coming from the same source as the outlandish rogue-state alliance memo (and bearing the same suspect markings), they, too, must be fishy. He concluded that the entire set of papers from Italy was likely fraudulent and e-mailed that assessment to colleagues within the intelligence community. Three months later, he reiterated his concerns in a Jan. 12, 2003, e-mail to other intelligence-community analysts and warned that the uranium-purchase agreement “probably is a hoax.”
"…Dodge’s evaluation should have ended all talk within the Bush administration about Saddam Hussein’s supposed pursuit of uranium in Niger.
Hitchens responds. . .[Cont.]
The INR memo's circulation cover says clearly that only Grossman received the June 10 version. Armitage may have gotten "it"--but if so, it may have violated SCI (which is something Bolton was reknowned for). And the two memos clearly show that it was readdressed to Powell (and that a reference to whom we now know to be Simon Dodge--who doesn't show up in Google at all--was removed).
How Many Times Did Libby Talk To Novak?
The INR memo makes clear that State was responding to allegations that INR had some involvement in Wilson's trip, and was being blamed for not reporting back to OVP. The only connection to Wilson's trip and State was Wilson's visit to Kansteiner, and Rohn's memo. Since Rohn and Simon Dodge weren't available when Silver wrote his memo, that leaves only Silver and Kansteiner (and his deputy, per Wilson's book) available to be among the state dept personnel who could or would be saying Wilson's wife was responsible for Wilson's trip (per the indictment, where Grossman tells Libby, in late May or early June that "state department personnel" were saying Valerie sent Joe.
Top Counterterrorism Officer Removed Amid Turmoil at CIA
Charlie Siddel, the station chief in Amman, Jordan, took early retirement late last year when he was recalled to headquarters. In the fall, the head of the European division [Drumheller], whose undercover role included overseeing the hunt for al Qaeda on the continent, also left.
Call for CIA probe into Iran dissident 'leak'
Curt Weldon, vice-chairman of the House armed services committee, told the FT he wants the CIA to investigate whether Bill Murray, a former CIA Paris station chief, disclosed the identity of “Ali,” the alias used by a Paris-based Iranian dissident which he says was classified. . .
Mr Murray says he warned Mr Weldon that Ali was a fabricator the night before the congressman met Ali and Mr Ghorbanifar in Paris last year, which Mr Weldon said is “an absolute lie”.
Mr Weldon said the CIA is trying to protect its reputation. He accused Steven Kappes, former CIA deputy director of operations, of lying by saying he would arrange for a CIA operative to meet Ali, only to learn that he was interviewed instead by French intelligence. Former senior officials say the French met Ali after he alleged that Iranians were planning to assassinate former President George Bush. Mr Murray later met Ali on several occasions.
Mr Weldon also said he threw Mr Kappes out of a meeting in Moscow in 1999 when Mr Kappes was CIA station chief because he believed embassy officials had lied about their ability to contact a source he wanted to meet. But former officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr Kappes was not present.
James Woolsey, former director of the CIA who endorsed Mr Weldon's book as "a case study of an intelligence failure with potentially catastrophic consequences for the US" on Wednesday said he had no knowledge of the circumstances surrounding Ali. But he said he generally agreed with Mr Weldon's criticisms of the CIA.
"I don't know Ali," said Mr Woolsey. "But I have a good deal of confidence in Curt Weldon.
I won't pretend to know where the truth lies between the various contending allegations mentioned above--I would certainly want to hear all sides of the story before drawing conclusions--but the controversy itself is at least is a striking piece of data, and gives some clues to how the sides lined up.
Thank you for the very interesting post. As far as the discrepancies between what Weldon says and what the various CIA bureaucrats say, I put my money on Weldon telling the truth because he has the least motivation to lie.
BTW, please ping me when your full column is completed.
Regards,
LH
Will do!
The cover letter on those documents was real- an invitation from Iraq to an official in Niger to visit Baghdad.
Why, he is calling a liar a liar!
Pray for W and Our Troops
AUGUST 2002 - MARCH 15?, 2003 : (RAND BEERS IS A WHITE HOUSE ANTI-TERRORISM ADVISOR) After working at the National Security Council for 35 years, under presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bill Clinton, Beers, 60, had been the main counter-terrorism advisor from August [2002] until his resignation in March [2003]. ------- "Former security advisor says Bush failing to counter terror threat ," AFP via Yahoo, Mon Jun 16, 2003 2:36 PM ET
* My note: March 2003 was when the bad Foley/Page IMs/emails started, weren't they?
SEPTEMBER 2002 - JULY 2003 : (CAPITOL HILL BLUE'S DOUG THOMPSON USES "TERRANCE J. WILKERSON" AS A SOURCE IN SIX STORIES AS AN UNNAMED SOURCE, AS A NAMED SOURCE IN ONE OTHER)
SEPTEMBER 14, 2002 : (AFTER FLYING INTO IRAQ FROM SYRIA, FORMER US SENATOR JAMES ABOUREZK, US REPRESENTATIVE NICK J. RAHALL AND TWO OTHER AMERICANS - NORMAN SOLOMON EXEC DIRECTOR OF THE 'INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY' & JAMES JENNINGS, PRESIDENT OF 'CONSCIENCE INTERNATIONAL, ' MEET WITH IRAQI HEALTH MINISTER OMED MEDHAT MUBARAK)
COTOBER 1, 2002 : (REPORT : IRAQ & SOUTH AFRICA AXIS) The Iraqi regime is turning increasingly to South Africa to procure nuclear materials and forbidden equipment needed for its weapons programs, INC sources tell Insight. A top Iraqi intelligence official, Nadhim Jabouri, has been dispatched to the Iraqi embassy in Johannesburg to handle contacts with South African nuclear engineers. He also is in touch with Armscor, the state armaments directorate (also known as Denel), which supplied Iraq with advanced 155 mm howitzers during the Iran-Iraq war. To grease the skids and arrange travel documents, Iraqi procurement agents operating in Amman, Jordan, go through the first secretary of the South African embassy, Shoeman du Plessis. The willingness of the South African government to sell nuclear material and weapons to Iraq, and their fear of getting caught, could explain the virulent outburst by former South African president Nelson Mandela, who told Newsweek recently that the U.S. — not Saddam Hussein — presents "a threat to world peace." - "How Saddam Got Weapons of Mass Destruction" By Kenneth R. Timmerman, Insight Magazine via WorldNetDaily.com , Tuesday, October 1, 2002
See : MAY 10, 2002 : (REPORT : SOUTH AFRICA HAS BEEN SELLING ALUMINUM TUBES TO IRAQ; SOUTH AFRICAN EMBASSY OFFICIAL IN JORDAN PLAYED MIDDLEMAN) "Well, Mr Mandela's country has been busy selling aluminium tubes for uranium enrichment centrifuges to Saddam. The first secretary of the South African embassy in Jordan is serving as the local sales rep to Iraqi procurement agents. Thanks to these sterling efforts, they're bringing significantly closer the day when the entire Middle East, much of Africa and even Europe will be under the Saddamite nuclear umbrella and thus safe from Bush's aggression." - Mark Steyn, Spectator, MAy 10, 2002 via "SA reportedly assisting Iraq with nuclear weapons - DA requests clarity from govt," October 8, 2002 , http://www.woza.co.za/oct02/da08.htm* Note that May 2002 was when the Daschle and Senate Intel leaks from Democrat staffers on the Senate Intel committee occured concening the briefings Bush received in Aug 2001
JUNE 18, 2002? check date: (ANTHRAX ISSUE : SENIOR STAFF AIDES TO SENATORS DASCHLE, LEAHY AND ANOTHER UNNAMED SENATOR MEET WITH FOUR FBI AGENTS AND DR BARBARA HATCH ROSENBERG) As 2002 proceeded, there were numerous Rosenberg references, Kristof’s “Mr.Z” musings, etc. The Hatfill/Domestic theory gained wide circulation, his name well known by June. To end here, here’s an article from the Boston Globe: ...After she left the room, the FBI agents forcefully denied to the congressional aides - some of whom worked for two Democratic senators who had been targets of the anthrax killer, Thomas A. Daschle, Democrat of South Dakota and the majority leader, and Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont and the Judiciary Committee chairman - that they would overlook anyone suspected of causing five deaths. But the media were reporting Rosenberg's concerns as well, citing circumstantial evidence that pointed to a government employee, and were chiding the FBI for its lack of progress....
OCTOBER 2002 first week : (THIS IS THE WEEK JOHN KERRY LATER [IN AUGUST 2004] CLAIMED HE MET WITH THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL - note that this would be a violation of the law) "I believe in my heart of hearts and in my gut that this president fails that test in Iraq. And I know this because I, personally, and others were deeply involved in the effort with other countries to bring them to the table. I met with the Security Council of the United Nations in the week preceding the vote in the Senate." --- "Kerry Claims He Met with Security Council of United Nations over Iraq (OOPS - FOREIGN LEADER ALERT)," John Kerry / Unity Conference, CNN , 8/7/2004, http:/www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0408/05/lt.02.html
OCTOBER 7, 2002 : (TENET LETTER) The CIA has had “solid reporting” of senior level contacts between Iraq and al-Qaeda over the past 10 years, Tenet wrote in the letter. The contacts have discussed safe haven arrangements and reciprocal nonaggresssion, he wrote. Since the war on terrorism began last year, there has been evidence that al-Qaeda members have been in Iraq, including Baghdad, he wrote.
“We have credible reporting that al-Qaeda leaders sought contacts in Iraq who could help them acquire WMD capabilities,” Tenet wrote. “The reporting also stated that Iraq has provided training to al-Qaeda members in the areas of poisons and gases and making conventional bombs” --------New York Times, Oct. 8. 2002
OCTOBER 8, 2002 : (IRAQI DEFECTORS ACCUSE SOUTH AFRICA OF BEING INVOLVED IN IRAQ'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM; IRAQI AGENT NADHIM JABOURI HAD BEEN SENT TO SOUTH AFRICA TO ARRANGE PURCHASES OF SPECIALIZED ALUMINUM TUBES) Renewed suspicion has been cast over SA's possible involvement in the Iraqi nuclear weapons programme, with allegations by a former Baghdad intelligence officer surfacing in a US magazine. The Democratic Alliance has written to three government ministers to ask about the claim that SA had been supplying Iraq with special aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium to a weapons grade in centrifuges. The allegations came in a recent article published in Insight magazine an insert in the Washington Times and were repeated by Mark Steyn, a columnist writing in last week's Spectator a weekly magazine based in London. Sales of such tubes to Iraq would violate United Nations security council resolution 687 of 1991, which prohibits the transfer of technology that has a civilian as well as military use. Following a recent statement in a British government report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, that Baghdad had attempted to acquire "significant quantities of uranium in Africa", the SA government denied that it had tried to do so in SA. Comment on the latest allegations was not available from government last night.
The article in Insight by journalist Kenneth Timmerman quotes a former Iraqi intelligence officer as saying that Baghdad had bought specialised magnets from Germany and aluminum tubes from SA. According to Insight, the Iraqi intelligence officer is associated with a broad-based group opposed to Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi National Congress (INC).
Insight quoted the INC as saying that Iraq "is turning increasingly to SA to procure nuclear materials and forbidden equipment needed for its weapons programmes". The article saida top Iraqi intelligence official, Nadhim Jabouri, had been sent to the Iraqi embassy in SA, which Insight said mistakenly was in Johannesburg. According to the Iraqi embassy in Pretoria, no one by that names works there.
Insight said that to arrange travel documents, Iraqi agents in Amman, Jordan, went through a senior diplomat based at the SA embassy.
Most nuclear weapons programmes, including the one dismantled by SA in the early 1990s, would use aluminum tubes in the process of uranium enrichment. Manufactured to high tolerances, the tubes are used because of the highly reactive and toxic nature of uranium hexafluoride gas, which is separated into lighter and heavier isotopes by a centrifuge. - "IRAQ ALLEGEDLY SOUGHT SA NUCLEAR MATERIAL," Business Day (South Africa), 8th October , http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1194892-6094-0,00.html 8 posted on 07/23/2003 1:15 AM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
OCTOBER 8, 2002 : (REPORT : SOUTH AFRICA DENIES THAT IRAQ TRIED TO OBTAIN URANIUM FROM SOUTH AFRICA) RENEWED suspicion has been cast over SA's possible involvement in the Iraqi nuclear weapons programme, with allegations by a former Baghdad intelligence officer surfacing in a US magazine. The Democratic Alliance has written to three government ministers to ask about the claim that SA had been supplying Iraq with special aluminum tubes used to enrich uranium to a weapons grade in centrifuges. The allegations came in a recent article published in Insight magazine an insert in the Washington Times and were repeated by Mark Steyn, a columnist writing in last week's Spectator a weekly magazine based in London. Sales of such tubes to Iraq would violate United Nations security council resolution 687 of 1991, which prohibits the transfer of technology that has a civilian as well as military use. Following a recent statement in a British government report on Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, that Baghdad had attempted to acquire "significant quantities of uranium in Africa", the SA government denied that it had tried to do so in SA. Comment on the latest allegations was not available from government last night. ------- "Iraq allegedly sought SA nuclear material," Business Day, Oct 08 2002 12:00:00:000AM Jonathan Katzenellenbogen, International Affairs Editor, Business Day 1st Edition, of http://www.bday.co.za/bday/content/direct/1,3523,1194892-6094-0,00.html.
OCTOBER 9, 2002 : (AP REPORTS THAT IRAQ HAS REBUILT SEVERAL SITES ASSOCIATED WITH ITS NUCLEAR PROGRAM - SEE THE AL-FURAT CENTRIFUGE DEVELOPMENT CENTER) U.S. officials have said that Iraq has rebuilt several sites that were associated in the past with the country’s nuclear weapons program, possibly indicating increased efforts to develop a weapon, the Associated Press reported today. New structures have been built at al-Furat centrifuge development center, the Nassr/Taji Steel Fabrication and Military Production Facility, al-Qa’im uranium ore refinery and the Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, the AP reported. All four sites were damaged during the 1991 Gulf War and U.S. and British airstrikes conducted in 1998. A recently released CIA report said that Iraq has attempted several times to obtain aluminum tubes for use in a uranium-enrichment centrifuge, placing special importance on al-Furat [centrifuge development center] , according to the AP (see GSN, Oct. 7). The Nassr/Taji [Steel Fabrication and Military Production ] facility contains much of the precision manufacturing equipment that would be needed in a nuclear program, a U.S. defense official said (Matt Kelley, Associated Press/Yahoo.com, Oct. 9, 2002).
OCTOBER 10, 2002 : (US HOUSE APPROVES JOINT RESOLUTION ON THE USE OF FORCE IN IRAQ) Congress adopted joint resolution authorizing use of force against Iraq. The Republican-controlled House voted 296 to 133 to allow the president to use the military "against the continuing threat" posed by the Iraqi regime. The Democratic-run Senate followed at 1:15 a.m. 11 October with a vote of 77 to 23 for the measure. - http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iraq-timeline.htm.
OCTOBER 11, 2002 : (US SENATE APPROVES JOINT WAR RESOLUTION) WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In a major victory for the White House, the Senate early Friday voted 77-23 to authorize President Bush to attack Iraq if Saddam Hussein refuses to give up weapons of mass destruction as required by U.N. resolutions." --- "Senate approves Iraq war resolution: Administration applauds vote, CNN, Friday, October 11, 2002 Posted: 12:35 PM EDT
OCTOBER 11, 2002 : (PERHAPS AS PART OF SADDAM HUSSEIN'S EFFORT TO DERAIL A LOOMING WAR THAT MIGHT TOPPLE HIM, FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT NELSON MANDELA RANTS AGAINST BUSH AND THE US, CALLING THE UNITED STATES "A DANGER TO WORLD PEACE") In an extraordinary twist to the current tensions between the United States and Iraq, former South African president (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Nelson Mandela has not only sided strongly against President George W. Bush, but appears on the point of being recruited to a stratagem by Saddam Hussein to block U.S. military intervention.
Mandela has uttered stronger and stronger statements critical of Bush. Originally he attempted to telephone the U.S. President to communicate his views, but Bush did not take his calls, so Mandela phoned ex-president George Bush Sr. to complain about his son and ask for his criticisms to be passed on. When this failed to move Bush Jr., Mandela declared the U.S. threat of pre-emptive war to bring about regime change in Iraq meant that the United States, not Iraq, was now "a danger to world peace." He followed this up by announcing that "some people" were saying that the United States was flouting the United Nations' authority because Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, was a black man. ---- "Mandela picks Iraq over U.S.," by R.W. Johnson, National Post, October 11 2002 , http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/767623/posts
OCTOBER 12, 2002 : (BOMBING OF BALI NIGHTCLUB) The bombings killed 191 people, about half of them Australians. Seven Americans died in the attack---? ****** All indicators received till now point to its being a terrorist strike, most probably connected to the first anniversary of the beginning of the US air strikes in Afghanistan on October 7 and the preparations for a possible US-UK intervention in Iraq to have President Saddam Hussein overthrown. ------ 170 people dead after bomb blasts in Bali "At least 183 dead in Bali bombings," CNN
************
The talk in Pakistani madrasas has been that from now onwards members of the International Islamic Front would conduct a well-orchestrated series of terrorist attacks against Western nationals and interests in different parts of the world as warning signals to pre-empt US-UK military strikes against Iraq. The attacks on the French tanker off Yemen and in Bali were apparently part of this planned series and more are likely as the US and the UK go ahead with their preparations for an attack on Iraq for the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein. -- "Indonesian terror groups want to establish Islamic Caliphate in South East Asia, " by B Raman, Rediff , Oct 14, 2002
OCTOBER 15, 2002 : (REPORT : UK'S INTELLIGENCE SERVICE MI6 HAS UNCOVERED FRENCH, GERMAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN EQUIPPING OF IRAQ; SAY IRAQI INTELLIGENCE OFFICER NADHIM JABOURI MAKES CONTACT WITH SOUTH AFRICAN NUCLEAR ENGINEERS AND ARMSCOR OFFICIALS) An MI6 investigation has uncovered how France, Germany and South Africa have equipped Iraq with almost £1 billion of equipment capable of being used to boost Saddam's arsenal. The sales have been approved by the UN sanctions committee after "intense lobbying" from the countries involved - and supported by China and Russia. Both already have substantial trade deals with Iraq. UN Resolution 1409, adopted last May, allows exports to Iraq of a wide range of equipment with military applications. Agricultural sprayers which could be adapted to disperse biological weapons. Fibre-optics and telecommunications hardware have a dual capability of creating a powerful air-defence network. Much of this equipment has come from Europe's leading technology giants - Siemens in Germany and Alcatel in France.
All were sold for civilian use only. But some of the equipment includes neutron generators which UN weapons inspectors discovered were key components in the crude gun-implosion nuclear device Iraq had created before the 1991 Gulf War.
Last week [early Oct 2002], a top Iraqi intelligence officer, Nadhim Jabouri, arrived at the Iraqi embassy in Pretoria to pursue contacts with South African nuclear engineers and meet with senior officials at Armscor, the country's arms corporation.
MI6 believe Jabouri's task is to obtain the vital aluminium tubes needed for the enrichment centrifuges to produce a nuclear bomb.
The MI6 report says the willingness of the South African government to help Iraq lies behind the extraordinary outburst by the country's former president, Nelson Mandela, who recently branded President Bush as "a threat to world peace" - not Saddam Hussein.
But it is Europe's role in helping Saddam that will cause fury in Washington and London. In Iraq the operation is controlled by Saddam's older son, Uday. Central to it is freeing large sums of money from Iraq's blocked account in the Banque Nationale de Paris. The money is deposited in the bank's New York branch. Once the UN sanctions committee approves an export licence to Iraq, the money is freed. "Uday relies on middlemen to sign the contracts for food and medicine. But in reality the contracts are for dual purpose equipment", an Iraqi defector has told MI6 investigators. -- "MI6 Report Reveals How France, Germany And South Africa Boost Saddam's Arsenal," by Gordon Thomas, Globe Intel, 10/15/02 , http://www.gordonthomas.ie/, page http://www.life-info.de/inh1./texte/GLOBE_INTEL2.html.
OCTOBER 2002 midmonth : (SIMON DODGE ALLEGEDY RECEIVES DOCUMENTS REPORTING THE SALE OF 500 TONS OF YELLOWCAKE FROM NIGER TO IRAQ [as I recall some reports said IRAN] ) In mid-October 2002, a nuclear analyst named Simon Dodge in the State Department’s intelligence division was forwarded copies of documents purporting to outline a recent sale of 500 tons of yellowcake uranium—which can be enriched for use in nuclear weapons—from the impoverished African nation of Niger to Iraq. As he reviewed the papers—which had been handed to the U.S. Embassy in Italy by an Italian journalist who had received them from a not-so-credible paid source—Dodge zeroed in on a bizarre companion document. It described a secret 2002 meeting at the home of the Iraqi ambassador in Rome of representatives of the world’s outlaw states—Iraq, Iran, Sudan, and Libya (and Pakistan, too). The purpose of this session was to form a clandestine alliance against the West and to concoct a “plan of action” for “Global Support.”
* I wonder if Simon could be Doug Thompson's invisible friend "Terrance J. Wilkerson" from the Sept 2002 Cap Hill Blue articles that were so quickly dleted from the web. OCTOBER 2002 : (IRAQ : ARCHBISHOP HILARION CAPUCCI & FATHER BENJAMIN HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE DURING THEIR TRIP TO BAGHDAD TO OPPOSE THE WAR) In October 2002, Capucci and Benjamin held a press conference during a trip to Baghdad to oppose a U.S.-led war. “If Bush attacks Iraq, the resentment and hatred of the Arab-Islamic world will be accentuated against him personally and against the interests of the American people,” Capucci warned.
Privately, Israeli sources express irritation at this activity, arguing that it violates the spirit of their agreement with the Holy See. Vatican officials say Capucci has no official church assignment and speaks only for himself, though they concede that no canonical process has ever been brought against him. --- "And tonight’s guest is … Vatican plays host to an uneasy world," Vatican Correspondent, John Allen, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word0221.htm as retrieved on Jun 28, 2004
AUGUST 2002 : (ROME, ITALY : FR DAVID MARIA JAEGER COMMENTS ON ARCHBISHOP HILARION CAPUCCI'S PAST) To call Capucci’s past “checkered” would be an under-statement. He first came to public attention when he was arrested on August 18, 1974, by Israeli security forces in after returning to Jerusalem from a trip to Lebanon. His car was found stuffed with TNT and guns headed for the Palestinian Liberation Organization.
At the time, Israeli interrogators said Capucci had blamed “blackmail” by Al Fatah guerillas, claiming that they had threatened him with physical force and “disclosure of actions that might threaten his position in the church.” In August 2002, Franciscan Fr. David Maria Jeager, spokesperson for the Franciscan custodians of the holy sites in Jerusalem, supported this hypothesis in an interview with the Italian publication Libero. Jeager said Capucci in the 1960s had developed “personal interests, not at all compatible with the dignity of the priestly or episocopal office” that had left him vulnerable to Palestinian blackmail. --- "And tonight’s guest is … Vatican plays host to an uneasy world," Vatican Correspondent, John Allen, http://www.nationalcatholicreporter.org/word/word0221.htm as retrieved on Jun 28, 2004
OCTOBER 2002 : (DOCUMENTS WERE HANDED TO AN ITALIAN JOURNALIST WORKING FOR THE ITALIAN MAGAZINE 'PANORAMA' BY AN UNNAMED BUSINESSMAN ; THE BUSINESSMAN HAD A RECORD OF TRYING TO SELL DOCUMENTS TO SEVERAL INTELLIGENCE SERVICES) The fake documents were handed to an Italian journalist working for the Italian magazine Panorama by a businessman in October 2002. According to a senior official with detailed knowledge of the case, this businessman had been dismissed from the Italian armed forces for dishonourable conduct 25 years earlier. The journalist - Elisabetta Burba - reported in a Panorama article that she suspected the documents were forgeries and handed them to officials at the US embassy in Rome. The businessman, referred to by a pseudonym in the Panorama article, had previously tried to sell the documents to several intelligence services, according to a western intelligence officer. It was later established that he had a record of extortion and deception and had been convicted by a Rome court in 1985 and later arrested at least twice. The suspected forger's real name is known to the FT, but cannot be used because of legal constraints. He did not return telephone calls yesterday, and is understood to be planning to reveal selected aspects of his story to a US television channel. -- "Evidence of Niger uranium trade 'years before war'," by Mark Huband, FT, (Financial Times UK), Published: 06/27/04, Last Updated: June 27 2004 21:56, http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373295039&p=1012571727085
NOVEMBER 2002 (SCOTT RITTER HINTS HE WOULD TAKE THE JOB OF SECRETARY OF DENSE R SECRETARY OF STATE FROM "SOMEONE") Actually, I can envision this quite well, Ritter eventually with a faculty position, a class of students taking notes. There are plenty of professors who believe their analyses have never been wrong. In time, though, he said, academia could conceivably lose him to public service. ''If my country ever calls upon me to serve, if someone thought I could ever be a good assistant secretary of defense or state, I would smartly salute and go off to serve my country,'' he said, immediately worrying that this sounded as if he longed for the limelight. ''If you write that, people will say I am lobbying for it. I'm just being honest with you here.'' ----------- " Scott Ritter´s Iraq Complex: One man's continuing war with Saddam, Washington -- and himself," New York Times Magazine, November 24, 2002 by Barry Bearak Posted on 11/25/2002 8:21 AM PST
Just weird trivia:
Speaking of congressional interns, was Sami al Arians kid Abdullah a "Congressional page/intern" on Bonior's staff or was he there on some other program?
Also, Novak mentioned some dinner out in LA but never elabotrated on where exactly it was held or by whom. Wonder if this Iranian Namazi-Khan was involved? :
MARCH 27, 2002 : (DEMOCRAT SENATOR BIDEN IS CRITICIZED FOR HOLDING FUNDRAISER AT DR. SADEGH NAMAZI-KHAH'S HOME IN LA, CA) Excerpt from article below: Delaware Republican Chairman Everett Moore today (March 27, 2002) criticized Sen. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) for holding a Feb. 19 campaign fund-raiser at the California home of Dr. Sadegh Namazi-khah, a strong supporter of the Tehran regime and leading pro-Iran lobbyist. Moore called on Biden to return the estimated $24,000 raised for the senator's campaign coffers. "Dr. Namazi-khah is well-known in the Los Angeles area for his support of the ruling clerical regime in Tehran and is one of the regime's leading unofficial lobbyists in America. We thought that Sen. Biden might not know his background." http://www.insightmag.com/news/2002/04/15/DailyInsight/Biden.Taken.To.Task.For.FundRaiser-224023.shtml - Biden Taken to Task for Fund-Raiser (March 27, 2002)
Wilsongate: Motive, Means, and Opportunity
Within two weeks of the release of the September Dossier, attempts to plant the Niger forgeries in British and US intelligence files began. Around October 8, 2002, Rocco Martino began peddling his forgeries, first to the French DGSE he says (confirming information from other sources), and then to Italian Panorama journalist Elisabetta Burba.156
According to Burba she was skeptical of the documents’ authenticity. Her editor-in-chief Carlo Rossella requested verification of the documents from the US embassy in Italy, headed by Melvin Sembler. Thus the forgeries entered US State Department files.157
From here the forgeries spread through the US intelligence community via several routes. According to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s review, within the State Department, the documents passed from the Italian embassy via the Bureau of Nonproliferation (NP) to the Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), headed by Carl Ford (who has also worked for Cassidy & Associates, a firm that lobbies for Gabon and was purchased by Shandwick Public Affairs in 2000), who was assisted on WMD-related issues until September 2002 by Greg Thielmann (later to join VIPS158). The INR was immediately suspicious, with one analyst [Isikoff and Corn say this analyst was Dodge--F] commenting in an email to other intelligence community colleagues, “you’ll note that it bears a funky Emb. of Niger stamp (to make it look official, I guess).” On October 16, 2002 INR made copies of the documents available at meeting of the Nuclear Interdiction Action Group (NIAG) attended by representatives of a number of agencies including CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Department of Energy (DOE). Analysts from the DIA, NSA, and DOE picked up copies at the meeting. None of the four CIA representatives who attended the meeting recall picking up copies, but a later internal inspection found copies in the vault of the CIA’s Counterproliferation Division (CPD),159 where Valerie Plame worked under Alan Foley of the CIA’s Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation, and Arms Control Center (WINPAC).160 CIA spokesman Bill Harlow told Seymour Hersh in March 2003 that the CIA did not obtain an actual copy of the forgeries until after the President’s January 2003 State of the Union address.161 Contradicting this, Vince Cannistraro later told Hersh that the State Department’s Italian embassy had passed the forgeries to the CIA’s Italian station, headed by Jeffrey Castelli, and that the CIA’s Italian station had passed them on to CIA headquarters.162 Whether the CPD got the documents through this alleged route, from the meeting where the INR made copies available, or through another channel is unclear.
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