WP: A Failed Cover-Up - What the Libby Trial Is Revealing

[Pirate Smile]

A Failed Cover-Up
What the Libby Trial Is Revealing

By David Ignatius
Friday, February 2, 2007; Page A15

Why was the White House so nervous in the summer of 2003 about the CIA's reporting on alleged Iraqi attempts to buy uranium from Niger to build a nuclear bomb? That's the big question that runs through the many little details that have emerged in the perjury trial of Vice President Cheney's former top aide, Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The trial record suggests a simple answer: The White House was worried that the CIA would reveal that it had been pressured in 2002 and early 2003 to support administration claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, and that in the Niger case, the CIA had tried hard to resist this pressure. The machinations of Cheney, Libby and others were an attempt to weave an alternative narrative that blamed the CIA.

The truth began to emerge on July 11, 2003, when CIA Director George Tenet issued a public statement disclosing that the agency had tried to warn the White House off the Niger allegations. In that sense, the Libby trial is about a cover-up that failed.

What helped start the whole brouhaha was a 2003 op-ed article by former ambassador Joseph Wilson, disclosing that his fact-finding trip to Niger the previous year had yielded no evidence of Iraqi uranium purchases. His piece opened with a devastating question: "Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?" A frantic White House tried to rebut Wilson's criticism by leaking the fact that his wife, Valerie Plame, worked at the CIA and had suggested sending him to Niger -- as if the CIA connection somehow contaminated Wilson's allegations and made the White House less culpable.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/01/AR2007020101784.html

[tuvor]

1. The CIA pressured in 2002 by bush? Old, old news.

(That is, if you weren't relying on US media.)

White House 'exaggerating Iraqi threat'
Bush's televised address attacked by US intelligence

October 9, 2002
Officials in the CIA, FBI and energy department are being put under intense pressure to produce reports which back the administration's line, the Guardian has learned. In response, some are complying, some are resisting and some are choosing to remain silent.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,807286,00.html

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. I think everyone felt helpless that they couldn't stop this

People knew within the agencies what was going on but the powerful were too powerful.

[halobeam]

8. Has that changed yet?

I mean right now, is it different? I bet they "know" we are going to war with Iran, so the real question is, will they make the same mistake twice?

interesting, isn't it.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. I think things are getting slowly unwrapped

but it's taking too long. If we had decent media we would be in a better position.

[robinlynne]

7. yes it is, but not to all of mainstream America. So, every article which comes out

in the msm is good news. America seems to function with the old greek way of thinking: if it is written, it is true...

[bleever]

2. The story of the Bush WH v. the CIA is a long time coming.

It's going to be a long time going.

Recommended.

[peacetalksforall]

3. What a waste of words - no mention of Brewster-Jennings & Assoc.

[burythehatchet]

4. Remember, damage control means that you reveal

what the world already knows, but the golden nugget remains hidden to protect the poweres.

[peacetalksforall]

14. Very good answer - damage control and golden nugget and hidden and protect

It tells the entire story.

I immediately want to ask myself what this guy's bonus is.

[halobeam]

9. Do I second that!

[sutz12]

5. Never forget the timing either....

If half of this crap came out before the 2k4 elections, Kerry would be the Pres now.

[salinen]

10. Would a White House that faked Greenhouse gas emissions

also fake a uranium plot?

[Auntie Bush]

11. NEVER!

They would never think of such a thing. Whaaaaat, lie to the American people...no way! :sarcasm:

[young_at_heart]

13. Manipulating intelligence......isn't that illegal?

I wonder if it will ever be proven?