The Office of Strategic Influence

"The neoconservatives who have taken us down this path are actually very few in number. It is a small pack of zealots whose dedication has spanned decades, and that through years of selective recruitment has become a government cult with cells in most of the national security system. Among those cells are the secretive Office of Special Plans in the Department of Defense (reportedly now disbanded) and a similar operation in the State Department that is managed in the office of Under Secretary for Disarmament John Bolton. ….

"….They are clustered at the National Security Council (NSC), in the Defense and State Departments, and within Vice President Cheney’s own parallel national security office. That particular little-known organization – not accountable to Congress and virtually unknown to the American people – should be completely dismantled. Never in the history of our democracy has there been established such an influential and pervasive center of power with the ability to circumvent long-standing and accepted reporting structures and to skew decision-making practices. It has been described to me chillingly by a former senior government official as a coup d’etat …." – The Politics of Truth; Joseph Wilson; pages 432 & 434.

As the Scooter Libby criminal trial unfolds, it is important to keep in mind that the operation to damage Joseph and Valerie Wilson took place on four distinct levels. There is, of course, a certain amount of over-lapping among these four layers. Thus, the recent media focus on the activities of Douglas Feith may provide an opportunity to promote a greater understanding of the relationship between the Plame scandal and the purposeful lying about "intelligence" that brought this nation to war in Iraq.

The first level that is involved is the Office of the Vice President (OVP). For our discussion, this generally refers to Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby. The vice president also had linkages with other high-ranking officials, of course; the most important may have been the relationship he enjoyed with Donald Rumsfeld. At this time, I assume that readers are familiar with the history between Rumsfeld and Cheney. Their relationship allowed for the dangerous linkages found at the second level.

The second level is the intelligence operations created by the "cells" that Wilson spoke of. "They call themselves, self-mockingly, the Cabal – a small cluster of policy advisors and analysts who were based in the Pentagon’s Office of Special Plans," Seymour Hersch noted in "Chain of Command." (page 207) The OSP was set up to "find evidence of what Wolfowitz and his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, believed to be true" – evidence to convince the American public that Iraq posed a threat to our national security.

Douglas Feith, who played a leadership role in the OSP, has a curious history. He was "fired from a job in the National Security Council early in the Reagan years for leaking classified information" to a foreign country. (A Pretext for War; James Bamford; 2005 edition; page 404) Feith, who is tied to the current neoconservative/AIPAC espionage scandal, would get in touch with his associate David Wurmser, who at the time was in the State Department, and ask him "to set up a small and very secret intelligence unit in his office." (Bamford; page 288) Wurmser’s unit, called the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group, focused its efforts on discrediting the CIA analysis that indicated that Iraq posed no threat to the USA. In time, Wurmser would transfer to the OVP, and the OSP would absorb the PCEG.

Feith also created "the Orwellian-sounding Office of Strategic Influence" (Bamford; page 296), which was to coordinate "a massive disinformation factory" with the Rendon Group. This type of disinformation campaign attempts to convince people that their friends are really their foes, and their foes are actually their allies. For example, the Feith group would attempt to discredit MSNBC’s Hardball, which exposed the OVP’s purposeful lies on WMD, among progressive democrats.

Feith & Friends are mentioned in Thomas Ricks’ "Fiasco." He quotes the Marine General who served as operations director for the Joint Staff as saying they "were essentially an extra-governmental organization … (operating) in the shadows" (page 55) Also, on page 167, he quotes an administration official as saying, "Feith ought to be drawn, quartered, and hung."

The third level was the secretive White House Irag Group, which included high-ranking officials from the Office of the President and the OVP. Bamford writes that "its job was to sell the war to the general public, largely through televised addresses and by selectively leaking the intelligence to the media." (page 318) The WHIG was focused on presenting the "smoking gun/mushroom cloud" propaganda.

The fourth level is found embedded in the corporate news media. It includes a wide range of journalists. In the Libby trial, we are seeing that a significant amount of the Washington press corps is dependant upon the table scraps from groups like the WHIG for leads for their stories. This is one of the major factors that influenced what was presented as "news" to the public in the build-up to the war.

Even after Joseph Wilson exposed the OVP for purposefully lying to this country about Saddam and WMDs, few journalists dared to tell the truth On page 440 of his book, Wilson describes his attempts to "piece together the truth about the attacks on myself and the disclosure of Valerie’s employment by carefully studying all the coverage and by speaking confidentially with members of the press who have been following the story. A number of them have been candid with me in our private conversations but unwilling to speak publicly with the same candor. When I asked why the reporting on the story has not been more aggressive, I have received responses that are very disturbing. A reporter told me that one of the six newspeople who had received the leak stated flatly that the pressure he had come under from the administration in the past several months to remain silent made him fear that if he did his job and reported on the leak story, he would ‘end up in Guantanamo’ – a dark metaphor for the career isolation he would suffer …" Journalists felt threatened, pure and simple. Again, Rove’s call to Chris Matthews was a threat that was intended to convey the message that the administration would go after their enemies’ families.

The weak and pathetic nature of many of the "leading" journalists has been put on display during the Libby trial. Yet, this alone does not explain all that went on. For example, Libby clearly was tasked by Cheney to leak the "declassified" NIE to specific journalists, but not to others. The reason is that a minority of the journalists are used by the forces found within the second level , as opposed to the third level. In other words, some journalists coordinate with the shadowy sources in the OSP-type groups, rather than simply the WHIG. These are those few "journalists" who enjoyed the greatest access to classified information.

Scooter Libby inhabited the top three levels. His defense strategy is centered on making the Plame scandal appear to be a simple misunderstanding between people in the White House, attempting to "correct" the "false stories" that Joseph Wilson was spreading about the vice president. The truth about the scandal, however, is found between the OVP, the OSP, and those "few" journalists.

like peeling back layers of an Onion.

Or did they want it to be true? Everyone says they believed but I don't think so. They couldn't, with all the evidence pointing to the contrary so they Fit the facts to enable the ideology.

something, they rarely rely upon purposeful lies to convince others.

Another thing as far as belief goes, what is maddening is the oft repeated statement, "he believes what he believes" Do you know anyone who doesn't believe what they believe>

As for the other miscreants, I had hopes to see Hannah doing more than testifying. As for Wurmser and Feith, it is outrageous that so few, unelected, people should have determined the course of this country's national policy. That they would be allowed to send others to their death for lies which covered up a policy that was based on nothing and more like a game of risk. Very generous they are with other people's lives.

"It is difficult to make a man believe something if his paycheck epends upon his believing the exact opposite." - I paraphrase, but you get the drift.

Mr. Waterman :yourock:.

Everday I look for your posts on the Libby Trial. You make sense of it all for me.

Thank you!!!

I think that DU has the best group for discussions on the Plame scandal. I enjoy being part of this group.

and you are most certainly correct, this is the place for the best Plame scandal discussion.

Kicked and recommended

I have all along, but until lately people thought I was CRAZY!

In his classic 1955 evaluation of modern society, Erich Fromm noted that those who were "sane" in an unstable society would appear "CRAZY" to the masses.

But I've been watching everything he'd written about twenty five or thirty years ago, come to pass lately. Check this book out sometime, if you haven't already. It's free on line here, but you can still find it in print. It's what started me to thinking and watching a long time ago, along with some other books like 'Trading With The Enemy'. Sometimes nightmares really do come true and I think that is what we are watching the "American Dream" do under Bush/Cheney/PNAC.

The Rockefeller File
by Gary Allen


Congress of the United States
House of Representatives
Washington D.C. 20515

Introduction

Dear Reader:

The super rich in America enjoy power and prerogatives un-imaginable to most of us. Who can conceive of owning a private empire that includes 100 homes, 2,500 servants, untold thousands of luxuries, and untold millions of dollars? America has a royal family of finance that has known such riches for generations. It is, of course, the Rockefellers.

But if the Rockefellers were content with their wealth, if their riches had satisfied their desires, this book would not have been written. And I would not be urging you to read it. Money alone is not enough to quench the thirst and lusts of the super-rich. Instead, many of them use their vast wealth, and the influence such riches give them, to achieve even more power. Power of a magnitude never dreamed of by the tyrants and despots of earlier ages. Power on a world wide scale. Power over people, not just products.

The Rockefeller File is not fiction. It is a compact, powerful and frightening presentation of what may be the most important story of our lifetime, the drive of the Rockefellers and their allies to create a one-world government, combining super-capitalism and Communism under the same tent, all under their control.

For more than one hundred years, since the days when John D. Rockefeller Sr. used every devious strategy he could devise to create a gigantic oil monopoly, enough books have been written about the Rockefellers to fill a library. I have read many of them. And to my knowledge, not one has dared reveal the most vital part of the Rockefeller story: that the Rockefellers and their allies have, for at least fifty years, been carefully following a plan to use their economic power to gain political control of first America, and then the rest of the world.

Do I mean conspiracy? Yes, I do... MORE....

http://www.mega.nu:8080/ampp/gary_allen_rocker/index.html#metatop

When I first read this book years ago I thought, "Is this guy CRAZY?" But now when I go back and read it again I know he wasn't.

Greed for Power is the new Cocaine.

thx. And what about the Rothsc*ilds? And the 6,000 members of the Fed Res Syst?

After all this:

"Wells: Prior to lunch I indicated to the court that I would be making recommendations to Libby wrt the progress of his case. Over the lunch hour Mr Jeffress and I advised Cheney's lawyer. If we had called he would have been available on Thursday. We have released the VP as a witness. Jeffress and I recommended to Libby that subject to putting on the briefers and some documentary evidence, he should rest following that. After consulting with us and his wife, he indicated he would follow this advice."



http://www.firedoglake.com/

Even the decision to not call Karl fits in the attempt to make the case appear to be a public relations error.

I heard Walton has a cold. Would be hard to work while sick.

to bring these cannons on stage and not fire them.
I cannot imagine how this can be successfully trivialized.
This defense seems feckless.

<snip>

Page 281: On Douglas Feith, the Pentagon's undersecretary for policy: "I have to deal with the fucking stupidest guy on the face of the earth almost every day."

http://www.slate.com/id/2099277/


Not that Tommy Franks is any Einstein either. :eyes:


Thank You H2O Man for another excellent read! :hi:

It is amazing that a guy who was fired (but not prosecuted) for engaging in espionage in the Reagan days would again be trusted with classified information.

putting it all together. Thanks!

of the betrayal of America took place because of the cowardly nature of the journalists at the top. I think that is why so many people have lost faith in the corporate media. We are far better off having the alternative news sources made available on the internet, etc. I have far more confidence in Robert Parry, for example, than the entire cast on CNN.

I watch the evening news just so I know what propaganda they're spewing...

and now for Iran... And so it continues...

had the wisdom to create science and art; why should it not be capable to create a world of justice, brotherliness, and peace? The human race produced Plato, Homer, Shakespeare, and Hugo, Michelangelo and Beethoven, Pascal and Newton, all these human heroes whose genius is only the contact with the fundamental truths, with the innermost essence of the universe. Why then should the same race not produce leaders capable of leading it to those forms of communal life which are closest to the lives and the harmony of the universe?" -- Leon Blum

I'd like to see what would happen if women had a substantial, solid control of the governments of the world. Seems to me, lots of men in government treat real war (with attendant death and destruction) with the same lack of awe and respect they would give to a playground scuffle or a football game.

This is hugely stereotyping both men and women, but still . . . .

The prophet Bob Marley used the speech given by H.I.M. Haile Selassie in California on February 28, 1968 for his song, "War":

What life has taught me
I would like to share with
Those who want to learn...

Until the philosophy which hold one race
Superior and another inferior
Is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say war

That until there are no longer first class
And second class citizens of any nation
Until the colour of a man's skin
Is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes
Me say war

That until the basic human rights are equally
Guaranteed to all, without regard to race
Dis a war

That until that day
The dream of lasting peace, world citizenship
Rule of international morality
Will remain in but a fleeting illusion
To be persued, but never attained
Now everywhere is war, war

And until the ignoble and unhappy regimes
that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique,
South Africa sub-human bondage
Have been toppled, utterly destroyed
Well, everywhere is war, me say war

War in the east, war in the west
War up north, war down south
War, war, rumours of war

And until that day, the African continent
Will not know peace, we Africans will fight
We find it necessary and we know we shall win
As we are confident in the victory

Of good over evil, good over evil, good over evil
Good over evil, good over evil, good over evil

Violence is easier to begin than a real dialogue.

value on machoism, which is unfortunate....because I do believe it results in violence. And our culture has devalued the feminine as subservient...again very unfortunate.

There was a brief time in our recent history (the Peace, Love and Rock 'n Roll '60's) where some in our culture were questioning the emphasis on masculinity. This scared and angered many...like the neocons we see today (Rove, Norquist, etc.) But also there were many so-called Liberal men who were not ready to share their power with women. And so it goes....two steps forward and now a huge Backlash encompassing a giant step backward.

To many men, the worst they can be called or compared to is a woman. And this is pounded into their heads by many facets of our culture.

If men had the privlege of carrying a life in their bodies for 9 months, if they had to go thru such physical changes to keep the human race going, I don't think there would be so many wars. I'm sure the Goddess and God are fairly dismayed by the acts of humans...our cruelty seems to know no bounds.

I think women need to stop believing they need to think and act like men to be successful. Right now, it seems that women are sending mixed messages, probably in response to the bellicose RWers attacks on feminists. Maybe after the country sees the full effects of having war-mongering chicken-hawks in charge of the USA, we'll have a resurgence of feminine thought and philosophies.

of feminine thought....and the guys coming back from Iraq may just get it, too. This macho crap is just that...CRAP and men need to stop buying into it...it'll drive them crazy.

Some people are able to make contact with the innermost essence of the universe, and fly to the stars.

Here's what I have been kicking around in my head...


Scooter shuffles off to prison.

Cheney holds a promise of a * pardon over Scooter's head, to keep Scooter from dropping a dime on Cheney in the near future. Scooter is effectively neutered, buying Cheney more time for *proceeding* with his wars.


Meanwhile, *no one* has been charged with conspiracy in outing Plame, her network, and endangering national security of the United States for political purposes, leading to taking the country to war on fabricated evidence. Some pretty serious charges still hanging out there, for no one to be charged as yet....

There is still a boatload of information Fitz has.... both * and Cheney were interviewed... * was with Fitz for 70 minutes, if I remember correctly. Also members of WHIG, etc...


Cheney is leaving the country for 10 days on Feb 19 for a trip to Asia.... could be an attempt to run before a surprise indictment comes knocking at his bunker.


Call me jumpy, but I have a feeling that something big is imminent with all of this..

Those battle groups will soon be in position in the Gulf... within about 10 days I read yesterday...
and the mine sweepers have already been deployed ahead of time.


It looks and feels to me that * is going to act against Iran by the end of this month, because Bu$hCo sees all four sides closing in on them.... Congress, The People, Patrick Fitzgerald and The Law.

They can't afford to give Fitz a chance to indict Cheney.

So Cheney skips the country, Gonzales fired US Attorneys across the country to *set a precedent* for it, then * turns around and fires Fitz, ala Nixon's firing of Archibald Cox, the special prosecutor in the Watergate case, who refused to back off when Nixon refused to release documents in the case.


If Fitz has a prepared indictment ready to issue for Cheney and co-conspirators, and issues it, it may be what ultimately stops *'s imminent aggression against Iran.


All I know is, the window for stopping this catastrophic crescendo is slamming shut.



What do you think the next 2-3 weeks will bring?

Things are tense, both in the Libby case and in the Middle East. I understand and appreciate that people are on edge. This admministration is attempting to raise the level of hatred and fear both here and abroad. Our job is to avoid letting them do this.

Keep in mind that: (1) if Cheney had the juice to get Scooter a pardon, it would have happened 16 months ago. The "support group" tried very hard for a pardon in december, '06. It didn't happen. (2) the AG does not have the authority to remove Mr. Fitzgerald from this investigation.

Now to clean up this sordid mess.

:hi: Your concise narrative allows those of us who may find this to be terribly confusing the ability to put the pieces together. :applause:

Only those who pay attention understand the gravity of the situation and the consequences which will flow therefrom, but the media rolls over like complacent dogs, getting their tummies tickled by the bush administration, instead of being the guardians of truth. The American public knows more about A. N. Smith's private life than they do about Cheney's participation in treason.

I knew Cheney would never take the stand, that gutless coward. I bet he did his share of arm-twisting behind the scenes. I don't believe for one second the rationale contained in the legalese and pretty prose from Libby's counsel.

that like with other great scandals, the "official record" will not disclose the whole truth, and the general public will not be fully aware of the truth. It has always been that "only those who pay attention understand the gravity of the situation..." We can deal with that. There is a heck of a lot here for dedicated grass-roots activists to use to expand the public's consciousnes.

"Things are in the saddle and ride mankind." -- Emerson

I can't tell you how depressing it is. I've been talking to people about the Plame scandal for years, and no one I talk to seems to get the significance of it. It's just a big shrug, so-what, business as usual. The outing of Plame has facilitated the warping of intelligence which will lead us to war against Iran. That is my belief.

With all the information available to people like never before in our history, I can't wrap my mind around how ignorant and desensitized to lies and injustice so many in our country have become. I'm beyond the point of thinking anything will shake them out of their stupor, until it's too late. And the fools will take the rest of us down with them.

Thank you, as always, for your insightful posts. How in God's name people would rather listen to someone like bush than someone like you is beyond my comprehension. :(

there events today in the trial -- with Team Libby backtracking on all their big talk during the pretrial hearings and their opening statement -- has upset many progressive democrats. We would love to have seen Rove, libby, and especially Cheney on that witness stand.

But the contest isn't over. We are still fighting the Good Fight.

To do otherwise, to give up, means that they win. But it still hurts, really bad.

Thanks, H20 Man. No wonder you get all those hearts.

My aunt lives in Saratoga.

I can't help but smile when you say you're amazed that Feith was hired despite his leaking, I'm sure that he was hired because of his leaking.

Happy Valentine's Day!

and when I feel this way, I try to remember what Margaret Mead said.."Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has."

I blame the Masters of the Media (Murdoch, in particular) for dumbing down our people. And maybe most of the people are only interested in Bread and Circuses....?

my comprehension."

It seems very few people do.

Why the persistently negative mindset, in the teeth of so many positive developments? Is this the place to do the neocons' work for them? You should be thanking God that things are not looking so grim, these days.

"Persistently negative mindset"?

Who's running the show? Who's getting away with treason? Who's going to start another war when there are two going on that are being lost?

This isn't a "negative mindset." This is facing reality, the enormity of what we've lost and what we have yet to lose.

If I had a negative mindset, I would turn away from DU, subscribe to cable, and say "FU" to the world.

Have a nice day. :hi:

"Feith ought to be drawn, quartered, and hung."

This seems illogical. In my humble opinion, he would have to be hung BEFORE he was drawn and quartered, but if he was hung, it would pretty much negate completely the "drawing" part. So, the unnamed administration official was Wrong (geez, can't they do anything right, it's a disease or sumthing). The proper method would be: Drawn, Hung, then Quartered, and Gibbeted thereafter.

I know I don't add to much to these threads, but I just had to add my bit of criticism to another fine post.

"To be hanged, drawn, and quartered was the penalty once ordained in England for treason. It is considered by many to be the epitome of "cruel" punishment, and was reserved for treason as this crime was deemed more heinous than murder and other capital offences. It was only applied to male criminals. Women found guilty of treason in England were burnt at the stake, a punishment abolished in 1790.

Details of the punishment

Until 1870, the full punishment for the crime was to be "hanged, drawn, and quartered" in that the convict would be:

1. Dragged on a hurdle (a wooden frame) to the place of execution. (drawn)
2. Hanged by the neck for a short time or removed until almost dead. (hanged).
3. Disembowelled, and the genitalia and entrails burned before the victim's eyes (often mistaken for drawing).
4. Beheaded and the body divided into four parts (quartered).

Typically, the resulting five parts (i.e. the four quarters of the body and the head) were gibbeted (put on public display) in different parts of the city, town, or, in famous cases, country, to deter would-be traitors. Gibbeting was abolished in England in 1843." (wiki)

Drawing and Quartering

Thanks, H2O Man, for reminding us of the "bigger picture", what is really at stake in the scandal engulfing the White House. I have to keep reminding myself not to be taken in by "shiny thing over there" that being focused solely on the Libby perjury/obstruction of justice trial. As shiny as it is, it is but one branch of the whole rotting tree for sure.

Recommended.

Thank you for this excellent summary. Very useful.

Pay attention to H20Man

you picked a good thread with good posters :)

Someday, future generations will look for the answers
as to how it all went down; and you,
you will provide many with much knowledge and understanding.
Thank you.
BHN:hug:

today in my solitude will be echoed Tomorrow by the multitude." -- Kahlil Gibran

He will have coverage of the Libby trial .... The show is starting now.

still envious of your book shelf :-)

K, R, bookmarked, emailed.

a strange trial. The defense wouldn't have decided to not call Karl, Scooter, and Dick, if things were going well for them. The administration is used to fighting on their own turf. Things have changed ....

I think that's what many of us were hoping to get if Cheney took the stand. :)

Special Counsel Fitzgerald has done a masterful job. He would make an excellent Attorney General.

thank you your hard work and diligent updates on this case.

I can't wait to see how it all ends- hopefully, with those treasonous jerks at the top in their own set of chains- behind bars, of course.

Team Libby wants to impugn the government's testimony by saying that they didn't force David Gregory to testify, thus proving that their claim to be in search of the truth was incomplete and lacking integrity.



But Fitzgerald rejoins,



Judge Walton agrees:



All this courtesy the good folks at FDL, and I envy them:




:toast:

hell I would love to have dinner with several of the people in this thread including you and the OP

not enough see, STB.

All good with you?

:toast:

I went through a breakup back in November, we were together for over 5 years, I am back on my feet with a new laptop so lets get it on.

Great to see you and some of the ole gang :grouphug:

:thumbsup:

DU'er rosesaylavee has been busy to say the least, really busy

We have missed you! Rosesaylavee has been keeping the research forum updated with H2O Man's recent essays about the Libby trial, and Fitzgerald's DOJ website seems to have an entry for those days with trial exhibits...
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/iln/osc/index.html

a much appreciated job

You have been missed!

:hug:

Wondered where your document finding self had gone

You were certainly missed.

:hi:

When Wilson said about the reporter that "... pressure he had come under from the administration in the past several months to remain silent made him fear that if he did his job and reported on the leak story, he would ‘end up in Guantanamo’", and he (Wilson) referred to that as a 'dark metaphor', I seriously question whether it was really meant as a metaphor. I wonder if Wilson misinterpreted that.

Just call me paranoid :scared:

Just thinking of people like James Hatfield, Gary Webb, Raymond Lemme, and a few others.

thoughts. This group of thugs places no value on human life.

From FDL:

"Things got a bit more brutal for Team Libby with juror questioning when one juror wanted to know how Scooter, being as horribly memory-challenged as he appears to be, could do a job that was so sensitive and important. The jury sounds, based on their questions, like they're getting a bit cynical."

And this

"Murray Waas, whose reporting on this story has been totally vindicated by the revelations in this trial, also joined us and announced he has a story coming out in the National Journal this week which should be pretty interesting. Even though Shooter didn't come through for me, we've had a wonderful time at the courthouse, blazed some new pathways with the liveblogging on the trial and I think on the whole done a very commendable job of covering it."

I would be wanting to cop a plea at this point if that is still even an option, I mean if there could be possible(S) conspiracy charged brought against others - sorry if I speaking out of place but I have been away for while.

but new and powerful connections are being formed.

Things (if I may borrow the phrase) are good. :)

AIPAC TBA?

GWB AWOL.

SCOTUS GOP.

USA FUBAR.

:D

I hadn't seen this piece of Boschian work!

You do credit to Bosch, Dali, and Picasso.

QED.


:thumbsup:

(lying motherfuckers)

"Effing" possible.

Different names, acronyms and oh so exclusively non-linear.

Some of us in this thread should form the DU Intelligence Agency since that's what some of us have been doing over the years.

with a new laptop and renewed enthusiasm for life and what we do best here at DU, actually this is my first night back.

The really cool thing is that there was a heart waiting for me when I logged in tonight, I haven't logged in since before Christmas, and only twice since before Thanksgiving, I love this place.

Oh yeah Kudos on the great summary, especially Feith, funny how his name comes up over and over again in the news as of late, but America hasn't a clue as to what role(s) he and others play.

:kick:

the one and only USAF US Space Command BrigGen(ret) Simon Peter Worden. He currently is the "civilian" Director of NASA's Ames Research Center.

SIMON PETER WORDEN is the last person on this list of lecturers at The Institute of World Politics
http://www.iwp.edu/faculty/pageID.32/default.asp

Simon Peter Worden authored "The Air Force and Future Space Directions Are We Good Stewards?" in the spring of 2001.
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj01/spr01/worden.htm

On September 11, 2001 the Global Guardian exercise was in full swing. STRATCOM, US Space Command and NORAD were the participants in Global Guardian.

Simon Peter Worden was the OSI until it "closed".

Researchers take care when investigating Simon Peter Worden and related topics, it goes directly into black operations.

can be calculated from studying Air Force 2025
http://www.fas.org/spp/military/docops/usaf/2025/index.html

Does this have anything to do with Chris Matthews' wife, Kathleen, leaving her job as one of the evening news anchors on a local DC station?

since Libby's attorneys said they would not be caling cheney..and they spoke with libby about not testifying..could they have advised him..take a deal..

that they are pretty sure libby is going to lose this trial..

they would not have wanted him to be in debt to cheney for testifiying..

could they have advised Libby to take a deal if one is put on the table..either before the jury deliberates..or after..

i remember being on a rape jury..and for 2 days we heard nothing from the judge..they gave us time off..

only afterwards ..after we came in with a verdict..the judge came into the jury room and thanked us ..and told us.that a deal was almost made..and that was whywe got time off..in deliberation..the judge was mad about it..but he said at the time he could nt tell us about what was going on in his chambers..betwwen the prosecutor and defence..

the judge also told us then that the guy had been convicted of rape 2 other times!!..but that info was witheld from us until after our deliberation and our conviction was read in court..and wewere released from our duty...

but i am just wondering..did Libby's defence tell him..no cheney ..and no testifying for himself.,.so he can strike a deal??

ok that is my outloud wondering...

thanks for your great post H20 man!!

fly

in this trial. Nothing.

The members of the defense team have to consider: (a) tactics for each day; (b) tactics for the week; and (c) long-term strategy. All options must be given consideration. Can they do things to disrupt the prosecutor's case? This includes selection of witnesses. Can they look to find one or more jurors to have "reasonable doubt"? Have they created solid grounds for appeal(s)? Should Scooter consider the possibility of making a deal? Is a presidential pardon a realistic thought?

I think that the trial's testimony went far astray from what was hoped for by Team Libby. Their decisions to not call a number of witnesses, including Karl Rove, Jack Eckenrode, and especially Scooter Libby and Dick Cheney, is the result of their recognizing their case would suffer extreme damage from any/all of these fellows taking the stand. Team Libby knew that Mr. Fitzgerald anticipated the defense calling these four, and was fully prepared. The prosecution had prepared a foundation that would have allowed them to bring each of these witnesses into areas that Libby simply could not afford.

That said, as we heads towards the conclusion of the trial, one side is dealing from the position of "advantage," while the other is at a distinct "disadvantage." Everything flows from there.

That works for me.

I would estimate the groups at a few thousand players. Having watched the power consolidation within the DoD during the early eighties that led to the Iran-Contra fiasco, I witnessed how the boys systematically eliminated opposition to their plan by marginalizing or driving out potential opponents and engaging in massive discretization campaigns against anyone who dared question their motives or call attention to their ex-legal activities.

As we have witnessed by the familiarity of faces between the operators in the early Bush I years and the current crop of operatives, many of the lower level operatives during the Iran-Contra period have been promoted and replaced by new players yet to be identified.

The only way to prevent a recurrence in the future of what is happening today will be to identify all of the chains of command and break them to prevent them from regrouping in the future. I have seen how the boys will fade into the shadows when times get tough, only to reemerge when conditions become favorable to their activities.

...and lead ABCNNBCBSFalseNooseNutwork and all the rest of Corporate McPravda, if these members of the Fourth Estate weren't controlled by The Cabal.

Thank you very much for an outstanding analytical article, Mr. Waterman. May all who have means, distribute it far and wide. They, and you, will be doing the work guaranteed by the First Amendment.

When we understand the true nature of the beast, we can combat it.

If they pardoned Libby, he would soon find himself back on the hotseat in front of another Grand Jury; and given his recent life experience, I don't think Libby's memory problems will be a factor in the future.

Letting him do some time is the only way to keep him from singing; they'll just string him along until Jan. 2009, when they all leave for Paraguay with their pockets full of gold. To the best of my knowledge, they can't pardon him from perjuring himself in the future.

understand why people would be concerned that Libby will be pardoned. And it is a possibility. But it is very unlikely. Any political benefit to the president would have caused him to pardon Libby 16 months ago. There is no benefit now, and Bush does nothing that does not benefit him.

The idea of Libby being on the hotseat in the future is simply not true. A pardon yesterday or today would allow him to stick with his lie tomorrow. The confusion about what is real in this case is a large part of the mistaken perception that Bush is planning to pardon Libby. He's not.

Would he lie then? (after a pardon).

And I am 99.9% certain that Libby will not be in prison by Jan. 31, 2009. You think he doesn't have any dirt on *, Darth, or TBlossom? Do you think he doesn't know who Jeff Gannon was visiting in the WH? If he's still alive, he'll be pardoned, IMHO.

simply is not going to happen. I'm not discounting the significance of Gannon, though it has nothing to do with who he visited in the White House. If Scooter were inclined to tell the truth .... to to expose that "dirt" .... it would only be in the context of his making a deal before the jury returns the guilty verdict in this trial.

Thanks H20 Man!

Judge Walton is proving himself to be a fine jurist:

"Walton if the Appeals court wants to tell me, I think we turn this whole process into a game, This is supposed to be about finding the truth. When we play games with the process–there are already too many games as there are."

and this:

"Walton I believed all along throughout these statements that iw as understaood that Libby was going to be testifying. All of these processes would only come in as substitute for his ability not to be able to testify. That was always understood. Now, to suggest that an agreement entered into in that environment. If that's what SCOTUS is going to require, we're going to say govt isn't entitled to fair trial,but defense is. If I get reversed on that one, maybe I need to hang up my spurs. I think you should have been clear that Libby wanted this even if he didn't testify."

About the underhanded, scheming, dirty dog varmints.

That's a start. Walton is sooo mad, and I don't blame him.

Here's the direct link to their story. http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/02/14/libby.trial/index.html

I predict that we will see Feith & Friends attempt to spin the story by doing the following: (a) Plame wasn't covert; (b) Wilson lied; (c) even England knew Saddam was trying to buy yellow cake; and (d) Chris Matthews can never be forgiven.

Makes me wonder if the fury is real or manufactured

I could swear I've seen that episode. :eyes:

What a colossal waste of time and effort this all turned out to be for Walton; and who knows how many taxpayer dollars worth of legal time Fitz's team spent on this charade. I guess I can see that Wells would have to give Ms. Comstock, et. al., as good of a defense as he could for their money, so if the gray-mail angle worked, that would have been a nice payout.

But how could Wells not know how strong the case against his client was? Why would he continue to pursue the memory defense knowing that his client would have to take the stand to make that case? Why would he even pretend to be bringing in Rove? I never did get to find out how that would have gone. Damn.

My take is that he's just a bad lawyer. IMO, his first mistake was that rambling opening statement. It went on too long, it was convoluted, and it set the stage for the jury to see that Libby had no real defense. If you're gonna throw out ten reasons this happened, bore the jury senseless, and none of them speak to the actual charges, there's a problem.

However, in all of this, they were kind enough to help expose the WH's stenographers for who and what they are, and turn over a bunch of rocks. For that, I am grateful.

I'm hoping Fitz holds a nice big press conference after the verdict.

is a good attorney. But his client is guilty as hell, and had been caught in a stupid series of lies. And when you add Patrick Fitzgerald, that doesn't leave Wells much room for success.

It's true, he had a guilty client and a dog of a case. Maybe he is a better lawyer than this case indicates, but I never liked the tone of his filings, and it seems that the jury didn't respond to him positively, even from the first day. I'm not sure he played the case he had as well as he could have. Of course, this is all premature criticism, since the jury could acquit and I'll have to stand in awe of his magnificent litigiosity.

Maybe he should have waited until the prosecution rested before opening his case? That might have been interesting. It's allowed, but rarely done. That way he could have laid out the most sensible rebuttals and recalled anyone he wanted. The jury would be days removed from the witnesses previous testimony and might at least have a glimmer of a doubt about a detail or two. I guess I was hoping for something more -- and something not quite so pathetic.

Add to the Fitz factor Libby's refusal to take a plea, and the whole thing had to be frustrating for Wells and the guys too. Maybe it was the frustration that came across in addition to the desperation? I don't know.

I wonder if it the defense would have been different if it was Libby's money out of pocket rather than a big old defense fund?

is missing some great courtroom drama - and I'm not done reading!!! 3:31PST xactly today thursday.