Larry Johnson: "The Betrayal of Valerie Wilson"

[understandinglife]

Valerie Plame was a covert intelligence officer covered by the Intelligence Officer's Identity Protection Act and Lewis "Scooter" Libby lied to the Grand Jury. These two truths emerge from the opinion written by Judge Tatel, of the US Court of Appeals, and released in February 2005. Thanks to a FOIA request by the Wall Street Journal we now have a more complete record, although key parts of his decision are still blacked out. Perhaps most of the media will now realize that they have been fed a pack of lies by the likes of Ken Mehlman, Victoria Toensing, Cliff May and others.

Tatel's opinion also is relevant to the current furor over "domestic spying" and whether reporters will have any ability to protect their sources. It certainly appears that Tatel would uphold the right of the reporters to protect sources who told them about illegal spying. Tatel's concludes his opinion that Judy Miller and Matt Cooper had to testify before the Grand Jury with the following:

In sum, based on an exhaustive investigation, the special counsel has established the need for Miller’s and Cooper’s testimony. Thus, considering the gravity of the suspected crime and the low value of the leaked information, no privilege bars the subpoenas. . . .Here, two reporters and a news magazine, informants to the public, seek to keep a grand jury uninformed. Representing two equally fundamental principles—rule of law and free speech—the special counsel and the reporters both aim to facilitate fully informed and accurate decision-making by those they serve: the grand jury and the electorate. To this court falls the task of balancing the two sides’ concerns. . . .

. . . .Were the leak at issue in this case less harmful to national security or more vital to public debate, or had the special counsel failed to demonstrate the grand jury’s need for the reporters’ evidence, I might have supported the motion to quash. Because identifying appellants’ sources instead appears essential to remedying a serious breach of public trust, I join in affirming the district court’s orders compelling their testimony.

Tatel's incisive opinion makes it clear that he understands the difference between someone who leaks information designed to hurt U.S. intelligence assets, as happened in Valerie's case, and someone who leaks information about Government malfeasance, as happened with the leak to James Risen that the Bush Administration was spying on Americans. The key issue for Tatel was "harm" to the United States versus the public's right to know.

Speaking to the harm caused by the leak, Judge Tatel wrote:

More at the link:

http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2006/02/vindication_in_.html

Liars, war criminals and traitors -- the neoconster gang led by Bush has written the most vile chapter in American history. It's time we take away the pen, ink and paper or the Republic may never recover.


Peace.

[oasis]

1. With Bushco's house of cards about to tumble, only Iran can save them now.

:scared:

[understandinglife]

3. I think Russia has made it clear that Iran is not something mindless ...

... neoconsters should touch. Bush is out of options. The only issue is how many folk are going to die before he (and Cheney, and others) is removed from the White House and prosecuted.


Peace.

[Tigress DEM]

5. Haliburton has been doing its pre-war best to make them ready.

Halliburton Secretly Doing Business with Key Member of Iran’s Nuclear Team


by Jason Leopold

August 5, 2005
GlobalResearch.ca



Scandal-plagued Halliburton, the oil services company once headed by Vice President Dick was secretly working with one of Iran’s top nuclear scientists on natural gas related projects and, allegedly, selling the scientists’ oil company key components for a nuclear reactor, according to Halliburton sources with intimate knowledge of both companies’ business dealings.


Just last week a National Security Council report said Iran was a decade away from acquiring a nuclear bomb. That time frame could arguably have been significantly longer if Halliburton, which just reported a 284 percent increase in its fourth quarter profits due to its Iraq reconstruction contracts, was not actively providing the Iranian government with the financial means to build a nuclear weapon.


Now comes word that Halliburton, which has a long history of flouting U.S. law by conducting business with countries the Bush administration said has ties to terrorism, was working with Cyrus Nasseri, the vice chairman of Oriental Oil Kish, one of Iran’s largest private oil companies, on oil development projects in Tehran. Nasseri is also a key member of Iran’s nuclear development team.

more>>>
www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=LEO20050805&articleId=806

[druidity33]

10. dammit!

Those f*ckers! Has this been posted as its own thread? I'd love to see a list of Halliburton's/KBR/subsidiary's business dealings in the past 10 years or so. Maybe this 'subsidiary" has been fomenting in Iran... stirring the pot so to speak. Ugliness, truly.

[DemReadingDU]

7. Most Americans don't support the war in Iraq now,

so I doubt that Bush would find much support to go to war in Iran

[hvn_nbr_2]

13. 75% of Americans...

will support any war anywhere any time for any reason or no reason at all, until they get tired of it. They've had time to get tired of Iraq. They're not yet tired of Iran.

The neoconsters and the neoconster media will hype up fear and loathing, as they've already started to, the sheeple will go along (chanting "We're number 1" because they think it's like a football game where we always win), and the Congress will act like neutered sheeple, afraid of their own shadows. (Well, part of the Congress is already blood-frothing demons; the rest are afraid of their own shadow.)

Sooner or later (as Ike said, I think), people will want peace enough that politicians have to give it to them, and I think that the time period from approval of war-starting to disapproval of war-continuing is shortening, but people will still approve initially.

[DoYouEverWonder]

11. Nothing can save them

not even Iran.

Iran will only make their end worse.

[NVMojo]

2. MAJOR KICK!

[oasis]

4. Kicked and recommended.

[Catrina]

6. I remember that the judge said this was a crime of such magnitude

that he would forego his normal reservations regarding press' right to protect its sources.

What is most difficult for Fitzgerald is that he most likely knows what their intent was but how to prove it?

If Cheney is the leaker to Libby he has the cover of being able to say that because of his position and Libby's, talking to Libby was not a crime (hard to prove what he intended when Libby won't talk).

I can see why it is taking so long ~ someone has to talk ~

In today's WSJ there is a surprising article which deals with Larry Johnson and the Pentagon Spy case ~ and at first I thought that maybe they were beginning to report the truth (they did, some of it) but as you read on (sorry I don't have link) it's obvious that the article is separating Bush/Rice from Cheney and the neocons ~ I had the feeling from reading it that they are expecting the neocons to go down, and they want to keep Bush and Rice who they talked about as though she were the second coming.

I wonder how that would affect Cheney? And as I recall, Condy was quite involved in the Niger documents debacle.

What a tangled web of intrigue and corruption, and in this case, treason, they have woven. And from what I read today about the Pentagon spy case, there is a lot more treason to be uncovered. This is a very dark period in US history ~

:kick: and recommended!

[understandinglife]

9. "This is a very dark period in US history" -- I agree.

And, as I've posted before, without an order from Bush I do not think Cheney, Libby, Rove, et al., would have outed a CIA NOC. Squeeze Libby, squeeze Cheney .... as time in a Federal prison becomes ever more a reality, one of them will talk because Bush is prohibited from pardoning impeachable offenses and Bush himself should be facing a variety of Articles of Impeachment if the Dems take control of the 110th Congress (which they can if they just focus and demonstrate leadership during the next several months).


Peace.

[chat_noir]

8. K&R

[flyarm]

12. oh yes * wants to know who the leaker to Risen was about his spying on

Americans..yes indeed, * Wants to get the person or persons who exposed his illegal spying of Americans..and spitting at the second and fourth amendments of our constitution..

...all the while, the leaker for a CIA noc sits at his right side..
yes Karl Rove leaked Valerie's name and occupation..exposed her operation , Brewster Jennings..and yet that filthy criminal sits next to *shy boy and *shy boy had no predispostion to get to the bottom of exposing a CIA noc in his own offices...yes *shy is consistant ..he only goes after people who would be dis-loyal to him in exposing his criminal activitites...

*shy boy would never concern himself with the outing of someone
involved in national security and protecting us all by knowing where all the nuclear proliferation was taking place and guarding us at great personal risk..by running an operation for 13 years ...with the explicit duty of knowing where the worlds nucs are!!nope...*shy boy is not concerned that 90 + of Valerie Plames double agents are missing ...and possibly dead..who all risked their lives to protect the national security of Americans.. Nahhhhh that would not fit with wonder boys plans of dictatorship!

what morons Americans have become...how does this criminal in our white house even have one poll giving him support of 1% let alone in the 40's...

Americans are so dumbed down..that i just wonder how these people who support this nit wit criminal get through the day!

fly

[mod mom]

14. yeah, they were talking about espionage at the Gonso hearing yesterday and

that the PLAME investigaion was a "two bit nothing". Unbelievable, the pugs think outing a lifelong covert agent is ok but having a whistleblower expose an illegal act that was okayed by the pResident is espionage. Damn, they must have some pretty nasty photos on those repukes.

[Emit]

15. kick n/t

[autorank]

16. Larry Johnson is a key to UL's "We the People...have no clothes.

Get it, read it, spread the link and the paper around. It's nedednow more than ever.

We the people...have no clothes...(PDF)

[stop the bleeding]

17. I love this last part

Regardless of whether Fitzgerald can prosecute an Intelligence Identities Protection case, this much is clear--people who work for President Bush knowingly compromised an intelligence officer's identity.

[Just Me]

21. Also, knowingly destroyed a CIA op on WMD proliferation.

I have no doubt that some, if not most of the motive underlying that crime was darker than anyone wants to imagine.

[stop the bleeding]

22. Have you read the thoughts by robertpaulsen or peace patriot?

American Judas


Peace Patriot's theory


Sorry if this is old for you - sometimes it is hard to keep track of who has read what. But both of these are one in the same if you ask me.

[Just Me]

23. Yep. I always suspected it was the operation they wanted to expose.

The "retaliatory" aspect served as cover IMO. I mean, look at what this cabal is: they are THE military/industrial/energy complex. Motive seems pretty obvious just by virtue of what they are/represent.

[stop the bleeding]

24. yep - hammer striking head of nail

[stop the bleeding]

18. kicking for awareness n/t

[Oilwellian]

19. I posted a comment on his board...

and he responded to me via email. He said he was forwarding my post to "Val." Way cool, eh? :D

[stop the bleeding]

20. What was your comment - yes that is WAY cool