And another thing! If Scooter didn't give her "Valerie Flame" as she says, how did that name get in her notes? She basically spent 85 days in jail to guard a source that she "can't recall?"
Miller and Fitzgerald: it just gets weirder... http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-salah18.html -- N.Y. Times reporter could testify for suspect October 18, 2005 BY ANNIE SWEENEY AND LISA DONOVAN Staff Reporters Bridgeview used car salesman Muhammad Salah recalls being beaten, housed in a "refrigerator cell" and threatened with rape by Israeli soldiers until he admitted to bankrolling overseas terrorists, according to a new filing in U.S. District Court. In an odd twist, the interrogation was witnessed by embattled New York Times reporter Judith Miller, and defense attorneys suggested Monday the best way for the U.S. government to prove its case -- and prove Salah wasn't abused -- is to call the controversial journalist to the witness stand. "We think the government is going to call her," said Chicago defense attorney Michael E. Deutsch. A message left for Miller -- author of the book God Has Ninety-Nine Names: Reporting From a Militant Middle East -- at the New York Times on Monday was not returned. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who subpoenaed Miller to testify in the leak of a CIA agent's name and whose office is prosecuting Salah, declined to comment on whether Miller might be called to testify in the case. In the filing Monday, Salah wants to keep any alleged confessions from being aired at trial, arguing he was coerced into implicating himself at the hands of Israeli soldiers who beat him and threatened to kill him and his family. "When I was not being actively interrogated, I was still forced to remain awake. I was either handcuffed behind my back to a forward slanted child-size chair in a position that caused excruciating pain between my shoulder blades and in my back since I had to balance myself and the chair so I wouldn't slide off," Salah said, according to court records. "If I was not shackled to the small chair, I was put in a dark, freezing, closet-sized cell in which I could not stand upright, sit or lie down. ... Most of the time, my head was covered with a filthy, foul-smelling hood reeking of urine, vomit and other unpleasant substances." Deutsch, speaking on behalf of his client, said: "Once we make these allegations, they [prosecutors] have the burden to show the statements were voluntary." Spent five years in Israeli jail In Israel, Salah gave a 64-page, handwritten statement describing his activities in the group, prosecutors say. Salah served five years in an Israeli prison for terrorism activities before he returned to the United States in 1997. Now Salah and a second person are facing federal charges of laundering millions of dollars in a 15-year conspiracy to fund Hamas. Hamas has taken credit for dozens of attacks abroad, including suicide bombings. Both have pleaded not guilty. Salah -- a naturalized U.S. citizen born May 30, 1953, in a refugee camp near Jerusalem -- has recanted all of his statements to the Israelis. Miller told the Sun-Times in 1998 that Salah did not appear to be a man under duress when questioned and that she believed his recanted statements.
So the ISraelis torture their prisoners? Big surprise! You know the tactics that were used in Abu Ghraib? Guess where we learned that? The Israelis are notorious for their treatment of suspected Palestinian 'terrorists', so I would not doubt for a second that they tortured this guy or anyone else. However, from reading about this guy, it does sound like he's guilty of at least funding some suspicious groups in Palestine, but we'll leave it up to the prosecution to make the case against him.
Once again Jr. is caught in a lie. He knew all along that Rove was the leaker and that Rove was lying. But the kicker is that Jr wasn't so mad about the leak itself but that Rove got caught. So all that **** about "wanting to get to the bottom of it" and "no one wants to get to the bottom of it more that I do" is just that! ****! ------------------------- Bush whacked Rove on CIA leak BY THOMAS M. DeFRANK DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF Wednesday, October 19th, 2005 WASHINGTON - An angry President Bush rebuked chief political guru Karl Rove two years ago for his role in the Valerie Plame affair, sources told the Daily News. "He made his displeasure known to Karl," a presidential counselor told The News. "He made his life miserable about this." Bush has nevertheless remained doggedly loyal to Rove, who friends and even political adversaries acknowledge is the architect of the President's rise from baseball owner to leader of the free world. As special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald nears a decision, perhaps as early as today, on whether to issue indictments in his two-year probe, Bush has already circled the wagons around Rove, whose departure would be a grievous blow to an already shell-shocked White House staff and a President in deep political trouble. Asked if he believed indictments were forthcoming, a key Bush official said he did not know, then added: "I'm very concerned it could go very, very badly." "Karl is fighting for his life," the official added, "but anything he did was done to help George W. Bush. The President knows that and appreciates that." Other sources confirmed, however, that Bush was initially furious with Rove in 2003 when his deputy chief of staff conceded he had talked to the press about the Plame leak. Bush has always known that Rove often talks with reporters anonymously and he generally approved of such contacts, one source said. But the President felt Rove and other members of the White House damage-control team did a clumsy job in their campaign to discredit Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, the ex-diplomat who criticized Bush's claim that Saddam Hussen tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger. A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President. "Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way," the source said. None of these sources offered additional specifics of what Bush and Rove discussed in conversations beginning shortly after the Justice Department informed the White House in September 2003 that a criminal investigation had been launched into the leak of CIA agent Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak. A White House spokesman declined to comment, citing the ongoing nature of Fitzgerald's investigation. http://nydailynews.com/front/story/357107p-304312c.html
Wow. This stuff is amazing. Question- if there are indictments, what happens next? They set a date for a trial? If there's a trial, can they keep investigating further, calling witnesses to testify under oath? It would be great if we could get a deeper investigation into the activities of the WHIG.
More of WHIG from today's Daily News... Prez Iraq team fought to squelch war critics BY JAMES GORDON MEEK and KENNETH R. BAZINET DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON - It was called the White House Iraq Group and its job was to make the case that Saddam Hussein had nuclear and biochemical weapons. So determined was the ring of top officials to win its argument that it morphed into a virtual hit squad that took aim at critics who questioned its claims, sources told the Daily News. One of those critics was ex-Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who debunked a key claim in a speech by President Bush that Iraq sought nuclear materials in Africa. His punishment was the media outing of his wife, CIA spy Valerie Plame, an affair that became a "side show" for the White House Iraq Group, the sources said. The Plame leak is now the subject of a criminal probe that has seen presidential political guru Karl Rove and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby, hauled before a grand jury. Both men were members of the group, also known as WHIG. From late 2002 through mid 2003, it was locked in a feud with officials inside the CIA and State Department over claims Saddam tried to buy "yellow cake" uranium in Niger to build nukes, a former Bush administration and intelligence sources told The News. "There were a number of occasions when White House officials or Vice President [Cheney's] staffers, or others, wanted to push the envelope on things," an ex-intelligence official said. "The agency would say, 'We just don't have the intelligence to substantiate that.'" When Wilson was sent by his wife to Africa to research the claims, he showed the documents claiming Saddam tried to buy the uranium were forgeries. "People in the Iraq group then got very frustrated. It was a side show," said a source familiar with WHIG. Besides Rove and Libby, the group included senior White House aides Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin, James Wilkinson, Nicholas Calio, Condoleezza Rice and Stephen Hadley. WHIG also was doing more than just public relations, said a second former intel officer. "They were funneling information to [New York Times reporter] Judy Miller. Judy was a charter member," the source said. http://www.nydailynews.com/10-19-2005/news/wn_report/story/357082p-304302c.html
"this stuff" is just reportarial mutual masturbation. it's all speculation, based on anonymous sources. i wouldn't get too excited about it.
From today's gaggle concerning the DeFRANK article... QUESTION: Scott, is it true that the President -- SCOTT McCLELLAN: Welcome back. QUESTION: Thanks. Is it true that the President slapped Karl Rove upside the head a couple of years ago over the CIA leak? SCOTT McCLELLAN: Are you referring to, what, a New York Daily News report? Two things: One, we're not commenting on an ongoing investigation; two, and I would challenge the overall accuracy of that news account. QUESTION: That's a comment. QUESTION: Which part of it? QUESTION: Yes, that is. QUESTION: Which facts -- SCOTT McCLELLAN: No, I'm just saying -- no, I'm just trying to help you all. QUESTION: So what facts are you challenging? SCOTT McCLELLAN: Again, I'm not going to comment on an ongoing investigation. QUESTION: You can't say you're challenging the facts and then not say which ones you're challenging. SCOTT McCLELLAN: Yes, I can. I just did. (Laughter.) ... QUESTION: Scott, let me come back to -- so you say you're challenging the accuracy, but you won't tell us why. Why would it be irresponsible for us to report that? SCOTT McCLELLAN: Report what? QUESTION: What you said -- SCOTT McCLELLAN: It's up to you what you want to report. I'm just trying to -- QUESTION: Well, if you want us to say it's inaccurate, you need to give us a reason why, or it wouldn't be responsible to report it. SCOTT McCLELLAN: Well, there's an ongoing investigation, and as you know, our policy is not to comment on it. So that's where we are. QUESTION: You just did. SCOTT McCLELLAN: Go ahead. QUESTION: Based on your personal knowledge, based on your opinion, based on your frustration with the story -- what caused you to say that? SCOTT McCLELLAN: No, I mean, I read the story and I didn't view it as an accurate story. QUESTION: Why not? SCOTT McCLELLAN: Again, I'm not going to go any further than that. There's an ongoing investigation. This is bringing up matters related to an ongoing investigation. QUESTION: After you read the story, Scott, did you check with either the two people mentioned, the President or Rove, to ask them? Is that what you base -- SCOTT McCLELLAN: I don't have any further comment, Peter. QUESTION: Well, is that what you base your guidance on, or is it just -- you know, is it just you're feeling that this couldn't have happened? SCOTT McCLELLAN: I stand by what I just said and I'm going to leave it at that. ... QUESTION: No, just some details on why you're challenging the facts of this case by the briefing would be great. SCOTT McCLELLAN: Because you asked the question. QUESTION: No, I think we're all interested to know on what basis you're challenging it. SCOTT McCLELLAN: Like I said, I'll be glad to talk about the investigation once it has come to a conclusion, but until that time -- QUESTION: You're on the record now. We expect you to really talk about it. SCOTT McCLELLAN: I'm on the record every day. QUESTION: Well, I mean, this is really -- you have said you really are going to go into a deep, profiled explanation -- SCOTT McCLELLAN: No, I said I'd be glad to talk about it. I don't know all the facts, Helen. QUESTION: Didn't you say you were going to write a book about it? (Laughter.) QUESTION: I mean when it's all over, you said you were going to give us a total explanation -- SCOTT McCLELLAN: Exclusive interview for John Roberts. QUESTION: A PowerPoint presentation, the whole thing. (Laughter.) SCOTT McCLELLAN: No, I'm not committing to that. Welcome back. I'm glad your gloves are left back there. (Laughter.) QUESTION: Was that particular story part of what you shared with the President today from highlights of the news? SCOTT McCLELLAN: Again, you have my comment on it and I'll leave it there.
A second stoolie... ------------------ Second Cheney aide cooperating in leak probe, those close to case say Jason Leopold and Larisa Alexandrovna A second aide to Vice President Dick Cheney is cooperating with the special prosecutor's probe into the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, those close to the investigation say. Late Monday, several sources familiar with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe said John Hannah, a key aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the architects of the Iraq war, was cooperating with Fitzgerald after being told that he was identified by witnesses as a co-conspirator in the leak. Sources said Hannah was not given immunity, but was likely offered a “deal” in exchange for information that could result in indictments of key White House officials. Now, those close to the investigation say that a second Cheney aide, David Wurmser, has agreed to provide the prosecution with evidence that the leak was a coordinated effort by Cheney’s office to discredit the agent's husband. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq war. Wurmser, Cheney’s Middle East advisor and an assistant to then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton, was in attendance at several meetings of the White House Iraq Group (WHIG), a little-known cabal of administration hawks that formed in August 2002 to publicize the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, the sources said. Those who say they have reviewed documents obtained in the probe assert that the Vice President was also present at some of the group’s meetings. Wurmser did not return a call seeking comment. The investigation into who leaked the identity of a covert CIA agent to reporters is heating up, reaching deep into the White House and threatening to bring down key members of an administration not seen since the days of Watergate. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, may be indicted for his alleged role in the agent's outing, as well as discrepancies in his testimony provided to the grand jury. The sources say that Hannah and Wurmser were given orders by senior officials in Cheney’s office in June 2003 to leak Plame’s covert status and identity in an attempt to muzzle Wilson. The former ambassador had been a thorn in administration’s side since May 2003, when he began questioning claims that Iraq was an imminent threat to the U.S. and its neighbors in the Middle East. That July, Wilson penned a New York Times op-ed calling into question the veracity of intelligence President Bush cited in his State of the Union speech six months prior that led the nation to war. Specifically, Wilson said there was no truth to the claims that Iraq had tried to purchase yellow-cake uranium from Africa. Bush officials said Wilson’s trip was a boondoggle, and was set up by his wife, Plame Wilson, who worked at the CIA on weapons of mass destruction. The White House Iraq group was founded by Bush chief of staff Andrew Card and operated out of the Vice President’s offices. To spread its message that Saddam Hussein was a nuclear threat, WHIG relied heavily on New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who, after meeting with several of the organization’s members in August 2002, wrote an explosive story that many critics of the war believe laid the groundwork for military action against Iraq. http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Second_Cheney_aide_cooperating_in_leak_1019.html
The rumor mill is going into overdrive. From The Agonist- Wall Street's Take On Plame Sean-Paul Kelley | San Antonio | October 19 The Agonist - Wall Street, as you all probably know, is a rumor mill's rumor mill, especially the traders and the guys and gals that work with them and deal with them on a sometimes minute to minute basis. Although I don't work on Wall Street, my work revolves around it. It is the essence of what I do. That being said I want to share something interesting with you. I recieved an email that reportedly came from Wall Street And it is something that seems to have been making the rounds today. I post this email with a few big caveats, ok, so listen up. I don't know who wrote it and frankly I don't care. What I find most interesting is the level of specificity with which this denizen of Wall Street is speculating. Keep this in mind when you read it, after all, if Washington, DC is the brain of our capitalistic society, Wall Street is the heart. Also, I want to state that while I think the email is probably incorrect in most, if not all the particulars, it is imminently 'plausible.' Now, there is a big difference between plausible and true. Plausible means to me, that in the real world it could happen. Finally, the person who forwarded me the email is well connected and someone I trust, which adds another level to this. But again, I'm posting this email not for what it says, but for how it says it and for what it says about Wall Street's view of the seriousness of this affair. Below you will find the text. - Add to hotlist By Sean Paul in USA: Intel and Policy on Wed Oct 19th, 2005 at 01:14:19 PM PDT Begins: Below, some extremely sensitive information about the impending conclusion of the valerie plame investigations. The sources include two senior members of senate and key staffers; counsel for individuals that have been called before the grand jury; and two journalists taking a lead position in investigating the case. the following represents a composite of the information from those sources. Plamegate coming to conclusion. The investigation has focused mostly closely on vice president cheney and his staff, as well as us ambassador to the un (and former undersecretary of state for arms control) john bolton and his staff. We are told that eight indictments have already prepared, with the possibility of another ten. These indictments include senior white house staff, most notably vice president cheney's chief of staff scooter libby, fred fleitz (special assistant to john bolton), and--very surprisingly--national security adviser steve hadley. Apparently, libby and hadley have both been told by their lawyers to expect indictments. The indictment of senior bush political advisor karl rove seems highly probable. Most critically, a plea bargain process has evidently been opened with vice president cheney's lawyer. That does not mean that an indictment is coming. But i've some critical background around the issue. In the past several days, former secretary of state Colin Powell had a meeting with senator John McCain (R-AZ), primarily about the McCain-sponsored amendment on inserting a rider prohibiting torture onto the us defense budget (a bill which Powell has himself been lobbying heavily for, against objections of President Bush). during the meeting, Powell recounted to the senator that he had traveled on air force one with Bush and Cheney, and brought to their attention a classified memorandum about the issue of whether there was indeed a transaction inolving Niger and yellow cake uranium. the document included Ambassador Joe Wilson's involvement and identified his wife, Valerie Plame, as a covert agent. The memorandum further stated that this information was secret. Powell told McCain that he showed that memo only to two people--president and vice president. according to Powell, Cheney fixated on the Wilson/Plame connection, and Plame's status. Powell testified about this exchange in great length to the grand jury investigating the Plame case. according to sources close to the case, Powell appeared convinced that the vice president played a focal role in disclosing plame's undercover status. In his conversation with McCain, Powell felt that--at a minimum--there would be a serious shakeup at national security council as a consequence. In particular, vice president Cheney would no longer hold a pivotal role in us national security affairs. Powell apparently did not discuss the potential of a Cheney resignation. Lead prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has apparently been looking at the precedent of formerly indicted Nixon vice president Spiro Agnew. This shows the likely path, because addressing executive immunity and privilege questions would necessarily begin start with a plea-bargain deal that would entail a resignation. This is all likely to occur within the next week. 28 october (next friday) is the last day of the grand jury, and no requests have been made to extend their session. The investigator is expecting to wrap up by then. There are enormous implication for what would be the biggest white house shakeup since the Iran-Contra scandal in the Reagan era. president Bush's approval rating at 39% has already led to a significant decrease in policy efficacy with key legislators in congress (which I've already discussed at length elsewhere). I'll spin out the broader policy implications when I have some time to write at greater length, but I wanted to get this out immediately. One interesting point though--it is worth noting that a parade of senior republican senators have evidently been privately pushing McCain to lobby to be Cheney's replacement. Senator Lindsay Graham (R-SC) has also been mentioned. Meanwhile, the White House has already been developing countermeasures--notably including senior White House officials privately voicing president Bush's disappointment in Karl Rove's involvement in the case, calling it "misconduct." An urgent search for a Rove replacement is already underway. Ends http://www.agonist.org/story/2005/10/19/131419/52
The indictment of senior bush political advisor karl rove seems highly probable. This would be freakin sweet.
It's plausible my wife and i are gonna have a threesome with evangiline lilly tonight, but not bloody likely...
Another mc josh post... Ahhh -- good point. All day we've been discussing Tom DeFrank's article in today's Daily News which reports that President Bush has known about Karl Rove's role in the Plame leak for two years. But this site points out that this sure seems to contradict what Murray Waas reported not long ago over at National Journal ... In his own interview with prosecutors on June 24, 2004, Bush testified that Rove assured him he had not disclosed Plame as a CIA employee and had said nothing to the press to discredit Wilson, according to sources familiar with the president's interview. Bush said that Rove never mentioned the conversation with Cooper. Now, don't lose sight of the fact that we're stacking a lot of 'ifs' on top of each other here. But we do have two articles from well-credentialed journalists pointing to two alleged facts -- one, that President Bush knew in late 2003 that Rove was involved and that Rove had told him he was involved; two, that a year later President Bush denied Rove had told him he was involved in an interview with the special prosecutor. If both those 'facts' bear out, someone's in a lot of trouble, no? -- Josh Marshall
Basso, can you please keep your mutual masterbation and threesome's out of the D&D. That stuffs belongs in the Hangout. Oh to see Rove get pwned!! Remember loose lips sink ships.
