More Cheney dirt on the Plame leak from TruthOut...

[FormerRepublican]

"Vice President Dick Cheney and then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley led a campaign beginning in March 2003 to discredit former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for publicly criticizing the Bush administration's intelligence on Iraq, according to current and former administration officials.

The officials work or had worked in the State Department, the CIA and the National Security Council in a senior capacity and had direct knowledge of the Vice President's campaign to discredit Wilson.

In interviews over the course of two days this week, these officials were urged to speak on the record for this story. But they resisted, saying they had already testified before a grand jury investigating the leak of Wilson's wife, covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, and added that speaking out against the administration and specifically Vice President Cheney would cause them to lose their jobs and subject their families to vitriolic attacks by the White House.

The officials said they decided to speak out now because they have become disillusioned with the Bush administration's policies regarding Iraq and the flawed intelligence that led to the war."

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/020906J.shtml

This is starting to look ugly for Cheney and Libby. :rofl:

Next is Bush.

[MadMaddie]

1. Say it ain't so....

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

Bring em down!! Send them to the Hague!!

[tmooses]

2. It's good these officials finally spoke up, but three years to

finally become "disillusioned" with Bush's policies? Of course, you are dealing with a crime family here.

[FreedomAngel82]

9. Who knows

Maybe they feel safe now or something. Beats me. :shrug: I just hope this brings them down!

[HereSince1628]

23. I don't get some of this...they admit to having been in the room

when Cheney did some of this, but are afraid to speak because they'll lose their jobs.

Seems to me unless it was a damned big room, the number of state department and CIA staff present is going to be pretty easy to figure out.

[myrna minx]

3. What's bu$h gonna do?

:cry:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200507120004?offset=20&show=1

Q: Given recent developments in the CIA leak case, particularly Vice President Cheney's discussions with the investigators, do you still stand by what you said several months ago, a suggestion that it might be difficult to identify anybody who leaked the agent's name?

BUSH: That's up to --

Q: And, and, do you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so?

BUSH: Yes. And that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts.

[0007]

4. Cheney has to be brought down before the whole country for the liar he is.

"The way I remember it," the CIA official said about that first meeting he attended in Cheney's office, "is that the vice president was obsessed with Wilson. He called him an 'asshole,' a son-of-a-bitch. He took his comments very personally. He wanted us to do everything in our power to destroy his reputation and he wanted to be kept up to date about the progress."

A spokeswoman for Cheney would not comment for this story, saying the investigation into the leak is ongoing. The spokeswoman refused to give her name. Additional calls made to Cheney's office were not returned.

[emulatorloo]

6. more classic Republican projection -- call others what you are yourself

EOM

[Dhalgren]

7. Isn't this against the law for a sitting VP to do to a private citizen,

for any reason? - - "He wanted us to do everything in our power to destroy his reputation". How can the Republicans allow someone with this criminal type of ethical and moral personality continue in high office? Cheney soils the standing of all Republicans by his very presence in their ranks...

[0007]

12. I don't know the law that well...but Cheney has committed treason.

[MadisonProgressive]

26. awww, that's OLD NEWS!!

[HereSince1628]

24. Wrecking someones reputation with the truth isn't illegal.

Not nice, but then not being nice may be what gives Cheney his permanent grimmace.

on edit, outing the covert role of Wilson's wife at the CIA in the process would seem to me to be clearly illegal.

[Fiendish Thingy]

5. If this gains traction in the MSM, it's over for Cheney...

Sounds like we've got a couple of timid Deep Throats who are justifiably scared to go on the record with this. Might Mr. Leopold expect a subpeona from Fitz to reveal his sources?

[emulatorloo]

8. somewhere in the article it says they testified to Fitz and Grand Jury

so Fitz already knows. I get a feeling that Fitz knows a hell of a lot that he ain't saying yet.

[FreedomAngel82]

11. Oh yes

I've thought since the beginning they were going after someone big whether Cheney or someone else. I believe Fitzgearld is probably using Rove and Libby as keys to get more information etc. One good thing about Fitzgerald is he keeps everything close and tightlipped which is good. I can't wait until he's totally done with his investigation. I wish it would be soon because I feel like I'm going to pop.

[HereSince1628]

25. Yeah, it seems he would know, but hasn't acted what does that mean?

[progressoid]

10. I think it's up to us to give it traction so the MSM pays notice

Emails. FAx. Flares. Semaphore. Morse Code. Smoke Signals.

What ever it takes.

[mom cat]

13. Gee. I feel all warm and gushy inside. It must be happiness.

:bounce:

[BuyingThyme]

14. kcik

:rofl:

[stop the bleeding]

15. Boom! Booom! Booooom! I here bombs dropping and Asses leaking

:hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts::hurts:




this is too good all the shit is hitting the fan all at once.


I haven't read the whole article yet but I will and then hopefully I will have more to share.

K&R!!!! thank you and PEACE!

[wishlist]

16. Wow- kick

[stop the bleeding]

17. will not let this thread die

[midnight]

20. very funny

Did you photo shop this?

[stop the bleeding]

22. No from what I hear that is a real picture - CT is a very blue state n/t

[rateyes]

18. "There's this saying in Tennessee...well, it's in Texas...

probably in Tennessee, too: Fool me once shame on, shame on you....fool me, you can't be fooled again."

Cheney, we don't buy snake oil!

[femrap]

19. Now I am getting my hopes up again....great article!

And does everyone know that Cheney is only 5'8" tall? Rummy is only 5'6".

I can just see Cheney now...his stubby little legs pacing back and forth while he spins his itsy-bitsy arms like a Dutch windmill...he's the perfect example of a male who suffers with the Napolean complex. And he's bald....yep, I bet he really has it for Joe Wilson. All the money and power in the world will never make Cheney feel worthy.

[NVMojo]

32. ah, the Napoleon complex. I should have known ....

they are probably packing other small units too. No wonder they need big bombs and Halliburton toys to feel good about their inadequecies....

[femrap]

34. If women ran the AMA, I bet there would be quite a few more

'syndromes' listed in those medical tomes.... Not only do we have the 'Napolean Complex' but there is the FME Syndrome....the Fragile Male Ego Syndrome....which honestly most all the neocons suffer from.

I was looking at pictures of Libby today...he is very short as well. I wish I could find out how short he is...and Wolfowitz...how short is he? And Rove...? I guess being short makes them think that they are women....and that brings up the whole homophobic thing....I swear these neocons have MAJOR sexual problems....it's all short! lol.

It's a shame that our culture doesn't value anything that is feminine...so if a man is short, he feels he has to constantly combat his 'femininity.' But I have met quite a few very secure and well-balanced short men...and I have asked them about it...and they agreed that many short men are really fucked up with regard to women and power.

But no one ever talks about it....

[stop the bleeding]

21. Key parts for me - highlighted here: Tell me what you all think

In interviews over the course of two days this week, these officials were urged to speak on the record for this story. But they resisted, saying they had already testified before a grand jury investigating the leak of Wilson's wife, covert CIA operative Valerie Plame Wilson, and added that speaking out against the administration and specifically Vice President Cheney would cause them to lose their jobs and subject their families to vitriolic attacks by the White House.

The officials said they decided to speak out now because they have become disillusioned with the Bush administration's policies regarding Iraq and the flawed intelligence that led to the war.

They said their roles, along with several others at the CIA and State Department, included digging up or "inventing" embarrassing information on the former Ambassador that could be used against him, preparing memos and classified material on Wilson for Cheney and the National Security Council, and attending meetings in Cheney's office to discuss with Cheney, Hadley, and others the efforts that would be taken to discredit Wilson.

~snip~
Wilson's comments enraged Cheney, all of the officials said, because they were seen as a personal attack against the Vice President, who was instrumental in getting the intelligence community to cite the Niger claims in government reports to build a case for war against Iraq.

~snip~

What in the previous months had been a request to gather information that could be used to discredit Wilson now turned into a full-scale effort involving the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council, and the State Department to find out how Wilson came to be chosen to investigate the Niger uranium allegations.

"Cheney and Libby made it clear that Wilson had to be shut down," the CIA official said. "This wasn't just about protecting the credibility of the White House. For the vice president, going after Wilson was purely personal, in my opinion."

Cheney was personally involved in this aspect of the information gathering process as well, visiting CIA headquarters to inquire about Wilson, the CIA official said. Hadley had also raised questions about Wilson during this month with the State Department officials and asked that information regarding Wilson's trip to Niger be sent to his attention at the National Security Council.

That's when Valerie Plame Wilson's name popped up showing that she was a covert CIA operative. The former CIA official who works in the counter-proliferation division said another meeting about Wilson took place in Cheney's office, attended by the same individuals who were there in March. But Cheney didn't take part in it, the officials said.

"Libby led the meeting," one of the State Department officials said. "But he was just as upset about Wilson as Cheney was."

The officials said that as of late May 2003 the only correspondence they had had was with Libby and Hadley. They said they were unaware who had made the decision to unmask Plame Wilson's undercover CIA status to a handful of reporters.

Wasn't the outing of Plame to discredit Wilson?

I mean you have these officials that are not going to take it anymore and maybe have started squealing as soon as this week, and they say that there was an orchestrated effort to get Wilson.

I think Cheney/Rove/Hadley told Libby to out Plame.

I think Cheney is done.

MY my we have had alot of people talking an awful lot lately especially from the State Dept. and CIA - the same agencies that have egg on their faces from this. :popcorn:

[fooj]

27. I'm hoping that people are starting to wake the hell up...

We are facing some serious times. The democracy of this country is at stake. It's time to step up and speak truth!

Peace.

[Disturbed]

28. The House must Impeach Cheney NOW!

Impeachment is a trial. The evidence of possible crimes is now available. Impeachment is to find out if actual crimes have been committed. Many think that Impeachment means "firing" a Govt. Official, so once again I felt the need to clear this up.

The House must Impeach Cheney NOW!

[in_cog_ni_to]

30. Whoa! Cheney is as good as finished! TOAST!

I've always thought they killed 2 birds with 1 stone by outing Plame. She was in the anti-proliferation dept. and was investigating WMD. I've even read that she caught the U.S. trying to plant WMD in Iraq and they decided they had to take her out. That story came from Wayne Madsen and can be taken with a grain of salt. If you want a link for it, I can post it. Maybe, the trashing of Wilson was their way of getting them both at the same time? Leak Plame's name, enraged Wilson, get Plame removed from WMD investigations and Cheney's lust for revenge is satisfied too. Just a thought though.:)

Also...this could be covering up the BIGGER story of the WMD issue? Could be.:shrug:

[stop the bleeding]

33. in_cog_ni_to check this link out by a fellow DU'er called peace patriot

He goes into the WMD pretty heavily also here is another article from RS that talks about this, you could call me a Plame buff and there are a few of us on DU that go through this stuff from top to bottom. I also included whats called a twofer by robertpaulsen and H2Oman - Enjoy!


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2023349 - from Peace Patriot

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x66847 - from Rawstory

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4390395 - Plame Twofer (The Waterman Paper and American Judas by H2Oman and robertpaulsen)

Enjoy!

PS

I also PM'd you this in case you did not make it back to this thread.

[in_cog_ni_to]

29. This is just too good to be true!

:woohoo::woohoo:

[Nothing Without Hope]

31. K & R. Here are some links to related threads:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x370469
thread title (2-9-06 GD): Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information
Comment/excerpt: “Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff, I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby, testified to a federal grand jury that he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" in the summer of 2003 to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration's use of prewar intelligence in making the case to go to war with Iraq, according to attorneys familiar with the matter, and to court records.“ Direct link: http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0209nj1.htm#
LBN thread on this:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2096783
thread title (2-9-06 LBN): Cheney 'Authorized' Libby to Leak Classified Information

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x372755
thread title (2-9-06 GD): KENNEDY ON REPORTS CHENEY AUTHORIZED LIBBY TO LEAK CLASSIFIED INFORMATION
Comment/excerpt: “These charges, if true, represent a new low in the already sordid case of partisan interests being placed above national security. The Vice President's vindictiveness in defending the misguided war in Iraq is obvious. If he used classified information to defend it, he should be prepared to take full responsibility. President Bush has clearly said he would 'clean house' of everyone who had anything to do with the Plame leak. The American people are also entitled to know whether the President knew that classified information was being used for this purpose, and whether he authorized it himself. In addition, they are entitled to know that the case will not be scuttled by the administration when the decisions are made on declassifying documents necessary for the trial. “

And another punch from an intelligence insider at Cheney's highly politicized Iraq war-mongering also came today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2098146
thread title (2-9-06 LBN): WP A1: Ex-CIA Official Faults Use of Data on Iraq ("cherry-picking")
Comment/excerpt: “The former CIA official who coordinated U.S. intelligence on the Middle East until last year {Paul R. Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005} has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, and of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein…."Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq." ‘It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized,’ Pillar wrote.”
Also predicted civil discord inside Iraq as we are seeing today – it’s civil war, and it was all spelled out and ignored by the Bushies.