Please Read! Plame Case Update by Raw Story!

I think the following article concerning the Plame scandal investigation, which includes background information on "sources," as well as identifying the players who are going to be center stage in the upcoming weeks, is a "must read." Earlier today, I was re-reading other RS articles that mentioned Wurmser. I think RS is correct in focusing attention on him; most people are unaware of his role in heading the PCE Group, which was absorbed by the OSP. A lot of the scandal began at that level. Please read the article, and let me know what you think of it. Thank you!

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Editors_Note_Examining_Raw_Storys_leak_1215.html

They do a tremendous job and they fact check to an nth degree. There are only three reports that have NOT been confirmed and I am willing to bet that the Susan Ralston story will be confirmed.

their focus on Hannah and Wurmser. Then I go back to page 445 of Wilson's book:

"In fact, senior advisors close to the president may well have been clever enough to have used others to do the actual leaking, in order to keep their fingerprints off the crime. John Hannah and David Wurmser, mid-level political appointees in the vice president's office, have both been suggested as sources of the leaks. I don't know either, though at the time of the leak, Wurmser, a prominent neoconservative, was working as a special assistant to John Bolton at the State Department. Mid-level officials, however, do not leak information without authority from a higher level. They would have been instruments, not the makers, of decisions."

That Hannah & Wurmser were used to do the actual leaking. Don't they lead straight to Cheney, though?

Makes sense. Why would higher-ups take a fall, when they have mid-level appointees for their dirty work.

:thumbsup: to Raw Story. Thus far, they've been right on the money most of the time. Seems another always posts right after or before them, literally & strangely here.

And thank you, H2OMAN. Always read you're posts with much interest, and respect.

makes sense to me. :shrug: I trust them more than the Steno Newspapers because I think they are "cutting edge." The others are "losing edge."

Fitzgerald's timing can be difficult to predict, but the substance of what Raw Story has reported is very accurate. I'm still fascinated that the corporate media in the USA would not cover the role of Hadley in telling Bob Woodward about Plame. They had both attorneys close to the case, and an intelligence source, for their report identifying Hadley. It was interesting to compare that with the media that reported other things, without documenting that they had any sources.

like the NYT & WaPo. I think they're honest, struggling investigative jornalists--a rare breed--and they make no more errors than is natural under the circumstances in which they must work these days.

And thanks for the link, H2O Man.

being an old boxer, I'm reminded of young George Foreman: every punch might not land perfectly, but the ones that do score knockouts.

...but then that puts Rawstory in the same category as the National Enquirer and other tabloids. Might be spot on, then again, might be Batboy.

If they predicted that there would be two people indicted, and in October, it was "only" Libby .... and due to caution, the second person was not indicted for two months .... that means only that RS missed slightly. It certainly doesn't put them in the same category as the tabloids. There isn't a single media source that is accurate with 100% of reporting on current events.

That's what RS is saying. Bush has been real effusive in his praise of Karl in recent days. Kiss of death?

Guess Wurmser and Hannah rolled over on Cheney early on. Was that when Dick and Lynn bought their estate in St. Mary's?

This whole thing sorta makes sense.

but is it Cheney only? (Wurmser and Hannah)

the reporting is fairly accurate. It like trying to collect all the pieces of a jig saw puzzle.

The unconfirmed: (but heavy on the wink and nod)Hannah & Wurmser were reportedly told to leak Plame's name. It didn't say in what context they were told, but it obviously has to come from the VP's office. Fitzgerald has already demonstrated that he gives people chances to correct the official record, but no mercy is available if they lie - more than once. This may be why Tweety is so jumpy and twitching and waiting for it to be confirmed.

The previous reports set up the premise that Rawstory has its facts confirmed independently too by other established publications. The mainstream American press is not consistently reporting these items either. Another reason those media whores are always a day late and a dollar short.

This may, upon confirmation, actually put pressure in two places - on Libby because if they give him up, then more felony charges. The Special Prosecutor may be able to further shed some powerful search light on Cheney and his direct involvement. (The VPster tripped up by his own micromanaging would be irony at its best.) Second if Wurmser and Hannah - both have independent corroborating evidence, then Fitzgerald can bring loads of pressure to bear on the president and the vpster. Libby would be left hanging or aspen turning because the deal option window could be dramatically & quickly closed and shut tight.

Excellent H20 Man! You read exceedingly carefully!

(pages 288-289) he notes that Douf Feith, then the 3rd ranking official in the Pentagon after Deputy Secretary Wolfowitz, had Wurmser "set up a small and very secret intelligence unit in his office."

It's worth noting that Wurmser's coworker in this intelligence unit was fellow neocon traveler and student of Richard Perle, F. Michael Maloof. This guy, who was a player in the Reagan administration, had had his security clearance suspended during the Clinton years. After Wurmser tried to bring him back into play, the FBI apparently linked him to Lebanese-American businessman/arms trafficer Imad El Haje. It seems that Feith had gone to bat for him, in an effort to have him active in Wurmser's highly secret "Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group," but he was again stripped of his security clearance.

Bamford notes: "Wurmser's unit was little more than a pro-war propaganda cell. It was designed to produce evidence to support the pretexts for attacking Iraq. .... But the primary purpose of the unit was to come up with some basis to counter the CIA, whose analysts had consistently found no credible links between Al Qaeda and Hussein. The CIA's analysis, said Perle with his trademark arrogance, 'isn't worth the paper it's written on.'"

Wurmser has no real background in intelligence analysis. I think he was selected for his "job" for other reasons. The focus of the neocon conflict with the CIA may be found in his PCEG, which would become part of the OSP.

Perle during a segment on the MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour regarding the pardon(s), From "Firewall: the Iran Contra Conspiracy and Cover-Up", by Lawrence Walsh,page 501:

"...Perle, who had been an assistant secretary of defense under Weinberger. Perle characterized my prosecutions of Abrams and Weinberger as 'malicious'."

"Perle expressed concern that officials 'simply won't keep any notes...That is what happened during the McCarthy period. Nobody kept any records. This business of criminalizing policy judgments, particularly complicated policy judgments, can only have the effect of paralysis and eventually the destruction of any significant paper trail of the decision-making process.'"

Perles' acolytes are referred to as "string of Perles" per David Rothkopf, in "Running The World: The Inside story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power." Page 431

Wurmser is one of the "string of Perles" that specializes in propaganda. In Running The World, it states that perle an adherent of eliminating Saddam Hussein in the 90's was squarely toe to toe against the Scowcroft adherents. Perle decided to tip the balance of power to his perspective and they used all of the old playbook.

Thanks H20 Man for that info on PCEG, (and Bamford is always a fave) that was very helpful!

conduit. That puts him in close contact with the Rendon Group who essentially created the INC, with Chalabi as head. If his duties put him anywhere in the loop on the handling or vetting of the Niger forgeries, this could shed light on a few things:

1. Why a secret panel of judges would decide that Fitzgerald's material constituted possible evidence of a serious crime that might impinge on national security, and that thus any journalists could be compelled to testify.

2. Why Fitz stopped including mentions of the "retribution" angle. CitizenSpook has an informative blog on this, and draws the inference that Fitz had moved beyond thinking that this was no more than a slap at Wilson as revenge, or to intimidate further potential whistleblowers. Perhaps the Niger forgeries have become the center of gravity for his investigation, as has been pondered in numerous places on the web.

http://citizenspook.blogspot.com/

3. Why he may have rolled over. If it is true he is cooperating (and we don't know if Fitz might have secured the kind of "limited" cooperation he's gotten from other witness, or if there was truly a potential indictment of Hannah), one would assume he was acknowledging culpability based on the evidence that the prosecutor possesses. But of what? Maybe of passing Plame's name around, and maybe of something related to Iraq intel and areas beyond blowing Mrs. Wilson's cover.


The question remains: if any of this is close to correct, why did he get promoted into Scooter's post?


And kudos to the folks at Rawstory. I really appreciate their work.

It is difficult to find accurate information on his background.

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/3660169/


By Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff
Newsweek
Dec. 15 issue - A memo written by a top Washington lobbyist for the controversial Iraqi National Congress raises new questions about the role Vice President Dick Cheney’s office played in the run-up to the war in Iraq.

The memo, obtained by NEWSWEEK, suggests that the INC last year was directly feeding intelligence reports about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and purported ties to terrorism to one of Cheney’s top foreign- policy aides. Cheney staffers later pushed INC info—including defectors’ claims about WMD and terror ties—to bolster the case that Saddam’s government posed a direct threat to America. But the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have strongly questioned the reliability of defectors supplied by the INC.

For months, Cheney’s office has denied that the veep bypassed U.S. intelligence agencies to get intel reports from the INC. But a June 2002 memo written by INC lobbyist Entifadh Qunbar to a U.S. Senate committee lists John Hannah, a senior national-security aide on Cheney’s staff, as one of two “U.S. governmental recipients” for reports generated by an intelligence program being run by the INC and which was then being funded by the State Department. Under the program, “defectors, reports and raw intelligence are cultivated and analyzed”; the info was then reported to, among others, “appropriate governmental, non-governmental and international agencies.” The memo not only describes Cheney aide Hannah as a “principal point of contact” for the program, it even provides his direct White House telephone number. The only other U.S. official named as directly receiving the INC intel is William Luti, a former military adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who, after working on Cheney’s staff early in the Bush administration, shifted to the Pentagon, where he oversaw a secretive Iraq war-planning unit called the Office of Special Plans.

Hannah did not respond to a request for comment. But another Cheney aide insisted that the memo was misleading, and flatly denied that the vice president received “raw” intelligence from the INC. Hannah discussed only Iraqi political issues with INC representatives, not intelligence, the aide said. Francis Brooke, another D.C. lobbyist for the INC, said he often orally discussed Iraqi issues—including claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Saddam’s terrorist connections—with Hannah, Luti and Cheney’s chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby. But he insisted he talked with them only about INC intelligence matters that had already been reported in the media. A Pentagon official also denied Luti directly got INC intel reports, suggesting the author of the memo was just “dropping names” to drum up support for the INC on Capitol Hill.

© 2005 Newsweek, Inc.

Highlights & Quotes

During the weeks leading up to the indictment of I. Lewis Libby , the vice president's former chief of staff, a number of bloggers and pundits speculated on whether John P. Hannah, then the principal deputy assistant to Vice President Dick Cheney , was providing information to the special prosecutor that could be used to indict White House officials in the so-called PlameGate affair.

On October 19, shortly before the Libby indictment was handed down, the Nelson Report , produced by Washington “uber-insider” Chris Nelson, reported that “ today's hot gossip is that Special Prosecutor Fitzgerald may have sent a ‘target letter' … an official warning of a likely indictment …to Vice President Cheney's deputy chief of staff, John Hannah. According to sources which have been right from time to time, Hannah has told associates he has been forced to cut a deal, and that they think this includes testifying against his immediate boss, Lewis ‘Scooter' Libby.” (2)

At about the same time, the Washington Post reported that Hannah had “told friends in recent months he is worried he may be implicated by the investigation, according to two U.S. officials. It is not clear whether Hannah had any role in unmasking Plame, or why he should fear Fitzgerald's probe. But the eleventh-hour emergence of another possible target shows how Fitzgerald has cast his net so widely over the past two years that it is impossible to know who, if anyone, it might ensnare.” (3)

On October 28, Fitzgerald announced—no doubt, much to Hannah's relief—a single indictment against Libby. Three days later, the White House announced that Hannah, along with the vice president's council David Addington, had been appointed to fill Libby's post in the VP's office.

(more at: http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/2926 )

contradiction between Hannah's "co-operation" with Fitz, and his promotion.

Something's not right here, and maybe it's my question.

move on the part of the VP. Almost like a challenge to the prosecutor.

*** on edit: Yet it may not have been the VP's choice. Another faction, hoping to shift focus on the VP, may have been the hand pulling strings behind the scenes. The investigation appears to have created tensions between the offices of the president and vice president.

and as they mention, when they screw up, they promptly correct it and provide an explanation. In the fast-paced setting of breaking news, you can't ask for much more. I trust them.

BTW, any organization that includes lala_rawraw is tops with me. :thumbsup:

The reporters have been fantastic in keeping us informed about the whole PlameGate.

:-)

Was it as direct as Cheney or did he in his usual little chicken heart manner have someone talk to the boys? Say Bolton? I can't believe Bolton isn't involved in this somewhere, though his name seldom pops up.

Who told Libby? Tenet? At whose behest?

Isn't Wurmser knee deep in AIPAC too? Circles you know.

I believe that Cheney is also referenced in the indictment against Libby.

The AIPAC connection may be possible if Wurmser also worked along side future felon (and cooperating with another prosecutor) - the dishonorable Larry Franklin. :shrug:

were the authors of the blueprint for the Bush administration's attack on Iraq. It was authored five years earlier, as a recommendation for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Their plan, called "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realms," advocated the "reestablishment (of) the principle of preemption," and gaining the support of the American public by creatting a phony pretext for invading a Middle Eastern country -- the threat of WMDs! (Bamford; pages 260-3)

..."Many of the key figures in the second Bush Administration and in PNAC have intimate connections with Ariel Sharon and Likkud. Among them are...Perle...Wolfowitz,...Feith,...Wurmser,...Bolton, and Michael Ledeen, a former Iran Contra conspirator cooperates closely with his colleagues at the American Enterprise Institute to promote Israeli causes. All of these men have long records of opposing peace initiatives and accords between Israel and the Palestinians and of calling for American wars, not just against Iraq but also against Syria, Lebanon, and Iran..." pages 234, 235

"...Wurmser was head of Middle Eastern projects at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute...Another influential figure, Meyrav Wurmser, David Wurmser's wife and cofounder of the Middle East Research Institute (Memri)..." Page 235

It's even a Wurmser family project. it's been a while since I have read this but just :wow: then :puke: These idiots wanted to dismantle the Oslo Accords!

extraordinary for a trio of former, and potentially future, high-ranking American government officials to become advisors to a foreign government. More unsettling still was the fact that they were recommending acts of war in which Americans could be killed, and also ways to masquerade the true purpose of the attacks from the American public." -- Bamford, page 263

“Those close to the investigation say that Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has been told that David Wurmser, then a Middle East adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney, met with Cheney and his chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby in June 2003 and told him that Plame set up the Wilson trip.”

http://dailykos.com/story/2005/10/24/153827/80


<<<snip>>>
“From Fleitz's own testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on April 7, 2005:

FREDERICK FLEITZ: My name is Frederick Fleitz, I'm a CI
officer on detail to John Bolton's staff as a Special Assistant, I've been on detail since August 2001. I've been a CI officer for nineteen years, and I came the, a CI WINPAC, the Weapons Intelligence Non-Proliferation and Arms Control Center. I've done some work in WMD, most of my work has been on international organizations,...

WINPAC. Sound familiar? It should, because Scooter Libby told Judy Miller that Valerie "Flame" worked for WINPAC, which we now know was inaccurate information. Also, from emptywheel's diary on Fleitz we know that it is possible that Fleitz, despite working in a different office Plame, may still have known of her identity (maybe only enough to get the name wrong?).” cont.

So, let's follow the logic regarding Wurmser so far:

* Wurmser worked within the office that helped create the phony Niger documents
* Wurmser then is moved to State to help Bolton push for the war in a Department headed by the more moderate Colin Powell
* When Joe Wilson begins discrediting the yellowcake accusations, the Neocons probably get nervous that the faked documents will be tracked back to them. Wurmser learns from Fleitz that Wilson's wife works at CIA
* Wurmser, believing that Plame worked with Fleitz at CIA, tells Scooter that Valerie Plame/Flame worked at WINPAC
* Scooter passes this inaccurate information on to Judy Miller, who dutifully jots it down in her notes. Cont.

These events take place in May/June 2003. It was not until mid-September 2003 that Wurmser was moved over Cheney's office as Middle East adviser.”

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/24/153827/80

It always seems to point back to a small group of people promoting the neocon agenda, which is clearly not in the United State's best interests.

I am dancing as fast as I can and I can not believe how much we DON'T know.:wow:

Thanks Me.!

conclusion is that Cheney gave Bolton the job of spreading the name around.

This directive would be diluted via both distance from Cheney, and as would deniability in terms of things like "need to know" basis and the original motive to put these wheels in motion.

criminal and traitorous play-callers.

They must stop Brewster Jennings while they 'manage' the CIA and promote the DIA. They must fool the State Dept except for partner operatives within the department. They must make sure the FBI and other agencies cooperate.

They must pretend that they are retaliating against Wilson by targeting a female CIA employe-operative.

They must play the press.

They must exoriate the peaceniks.

They must play Israel.

They must play Chalabi.

They must keep themselves protected against the law with set-up firms like the Rendon Group.

They must figure out who can be 'in the know' about genuine plans vs pretend plans and motives at institutions such as the AEI, Heritage FOundation, JINSA and all their other main think tankers and supporters who don't have the interests of the citizens in mind.

They must play juggling balls with Congress and determine how many lies they can tell in a day before a Conyers or Waxman opens up the books and makes demands.

They must figure out what to tell th reverends who 'lead and lie' to their flocks - their voting base.

They must satisfy the real barons who want the world owned - by them. Who want us submissive, silent, and bowing and never protesting or breaking a law.

They must promise the ceo's and lobbyists what they want and follow through.

They must try to get more money from the pearl necklaced and suit and tied country club have-mores.

They must manage George to make sure he doesn't ah out all the secrets, but balance it with what he needs to say in his role as fund raiser.

Then, they have to figure out what they can cover up, how, and how they can cover-up a cover-up.

Now, they are the ones who are working hard.

Should the Rendon Group go to jail?

What a mess. Where are the straight-up politicians? Where are the peoples' representatives? They are not in the White House or the bunker.

intercepted in Turkey--- VX headed for Iraq

What idiots thought they could juggle all that and never mess up?

...answers their critics in terms of what they've reported and when they reported it.

By her lawyer: We reported that Susan Ralston, a special assistant to Karl Rove, was told not to log a call placed by Time reporter Matthew Cooper, who spoke to Rove about Valerie Plame Wilson. We also reported that Ralston was called back to testify a second time. This report remains in question. An attorney for Ralston told a reporter that Ralston did not in fact testify a second time, and did not say anything about not logging a call. Raw Story is currently trying to reach Ralston's attorney.

My understanding of that was that Ralston didn't log the call because Rove told her not to. If that's true, it's the smoking gun. Rove was trying ot hide his call from Cooper right from the beginning. I'm wondering if she may have given this to Fitz outside of the Grand Jury and so, it wasn't "testimony".

After the Libby indictments, it did seem that Fitzgerald was taking depositions, rather than having people actually testify in front of a grand jury. What you are saying makes sense. Attorneys are good at making statements that appear true on the surface, but that are as hollow as Easter candy.

I note that some of those who commented about Hadley said he "was not one of Woodward's sources on Plame." True: Woodward only claimed to have one source.

These people tie together Israel, White House, and intelligence on the Middle East. So it would seem Cheney used Israel ties to further plans to for getting ownership of middle east oil. Meyrav Wurmser works at Jerusalem Post, formerly owned by Conrad Black, who is now under investigation by Fitzpatrick.



David Wurmser, Dick Cheney's Middle East adviser, is a neocon ideologue who has participated in several key reports outlining the neoconservative agenda in the Middle East.

Meyrav Wurmser, an opponent of the Oslo peace accords and a central neoconservative figure, is a senior fellow at the right-wing Hudson Institute and a columnist for the Conrad Black-owned Jerusalem Post.

In 1996 David Wurmser and Meyrav Wurmser, helped write a report for Israel's Likud party that urged Israel to break off then-ongoing peace initiatives. The report, which was titled "A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" and was published by the Institute for Advanced Strategic and Political Studies (an Israeli- and DC-based think tank) advised then-Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "to work closely with Turkey and Jordan to contain, destabilize, and roll-back" regional threats, help overthrow Saddam Hussein, and strike "Syrian military targets in Lebanon" and possibly in Syria proper. Coauthors of the report included Richard Perle, David Wurmser, and Douglas Feith.

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/wurmser_d/wurmser-d.php

on these two.

You may remember I've been betting on Wurmser since like June :D

Merry Fitzmas.

-Hoot

is right on the mark!

Cheney has used media connections and people that own them such as Conrad Black and Jerusalem Post, and Richard Parsons and Time magazine to further his causes?

in Chicago (which necessitated canceling a scheduled grand jury meeting in Washington for the Plame case).

You get a lot. I can live with that. Pay it forward. :)

:hi: Happy Friday.

Oh well, so many crooks, so little tree :)

For those that haven't seen this:

MERRY FITZMAS - Decorate YOUR own Fitzmas Tree!

**********

I wanted a Fitzmas Tree ever since I heard the term invented on the Web, and NOW by god I have one, and you can too..

YOU can actually DECORATE YOUR OWN FITZMAS TREE, by dragging and dropping Ornaments and dropping them on the FITZMAS TREE - if an Ornament sticks to your "hand" it may be because of the slimy people encased within, just give it another mouse click on the tree to shake it off. The first flash can be found here:

http://www.tbtmradio.com/flash/merryfitzmas.swf

But there are two Flashes that interact with each other - one is the Fitzmas Tree itself, with a box FULL of decorations, the decorations being the Subjects of Indictments, Investigations, etc - something your Right Wing brother-in-law might also be interested in knowing, lots of facts

If you click (click all over the page, lots of surprises on it) on the TITLE's of the Flashes you can go between the Tree itself, and another Flash that will load up with all the Decorations and an explanation of WHO they are, and WHAT they did.. for folks that don't know much about the Plame Outing they can get educated on the Ornaments and then click on back to the Tree and Decorate the Hell out of it

The first link goes to the Fitzmas Tree itself, but like I said, you can click to the other Flash for more info, or a pal can get more info and Trim the Tree after.

You can check out the Ornaments information at this link secondly (but maybe miss some surprises where the Presents are in the first link) HERE:

http://www.tbtmradio.com/flash/merryfitzmasornaments.swf

In case you're wondering what that building is in the background, it's the HAGUE, I thought it rather appropriate - and the guys in ORANGE, well, I think you'll recognize them

And don't forget to open the presents under the FITZMAS TREE, I wrapped them special just for YOU.