Month: October 2005

According to an article at RawStory.com, prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has indeed decided to seek indictments, one of which has already been submitted to the Grand Jury.

Fitzgerald will seek at least two indictments, the sources say. They note that it remains to be seen whether the grand jury will approve the charges.

Those familiar with the case state that Fitzgerald likely will not seek indictments that assert officials leaked Plame’s name illegally. Rather, they say that he will focus charges in the arena of lying to investigators.

Suspense.  Killing.  Me.

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CNN reports that the number of American military deaths in Iraq had passed the 2,000 mark.  

The difference between 1,999 deaths and 2,000 deaths speaks more to a fondness of round numbers than to any trend.  It’s a grim milestone – a chance to stop and reflect on what George Bush is doing to America’s military families.  

2,000 dead soldiers is 2,000 grieving mothers, 2,000 grieving fathers.  It’s thousands of children, cousins, aunts and uncles.  It’s friends, co-workers, lovers, husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends.  It’s childhood memories.  First kisses.  Camping trips.  Getting stoned with buddies.  Shoplifting at 13.  Standing with friends.  Fights.  Tears.  Laughs. Hugs.

2,000 dead soldiers is over 100,000 dead Iraqi civilians.  And that is over 200,000 parents.  Countless children, cousins, aunts and uncles.  Countless hugs, tears, joys and all the other little things in life.

Tip: Kos

Cross posted: Political Porn

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Update [2005-10-25 15:34:49 by susanhu]: Larry Johnson is on the Ed Schultz show at 1:05pm PT today. Call-in number: 1-877-934-6833 (Identify yourself as a BooTribber if you get on!)

Times are tense. Will Scotty crack under the pressure? Will he at least break a sweat? Will he finally break down and come over from the dark side? Is that really Adam’s baby that Jill is having? Oh wait…that’s another soap opera…

Join us live at approximately 1 pm ET as we live blog the daily briefing.

Watch or listen at C-SPAN or the WH site.

Highlight:

Helen Thomas to Scotty: you demean all Americans when you support torture.

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by Larry C. Johnson

The pathetic whiny column by Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times today makes one wonder if we must see the actual bodies before we understand the damage done to this country when White House officials exposed the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Valerie, who was still working under non-official cover, was in the process of converting to official cover.All that means is that she would no longer have to travel overseas and face the threat of death if caught while carrying out espionage activities. No, in the future, she would have traveled with a black U.S. diplomatic passport and would have been entitled to Geneva Convention protections. However, she would have still been undercover and still protected by the law.

Unfortunately the media appears to be helping spin the spin by suggesting that Patrick Fitzgerald is a prosecutor, a la Ken Starr, run amuck. While Starr brought the Clinton White House to its knees because the President lied about sex with an intern, the current case is far more serious than a blow job from a willing adult.

The activities of the Bush White House, their politics as normal, involve trashing the reputation and motives of anyone who dares speak the truth. If Joe Wilson had been the only victim of this tactic, one could make the argument that this was an isolated, unusual event. But that is not true. Just ask Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill, Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki, Secretary of the Army Thomas White, Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, and any other American who dared speak up about the Administration’s flawed record on fighting terrorism and dealing with Iraq.

Only, in this case, the White House crossed the line. In an orchestrated, organized effort they planned and disseminated false information about Joe Wilson. People who have demonstrably lied to the American people–including Karl Rove, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and Scott McClellan–try to pin the label of liar on Joe Wilson. Why? Because Joe Wilson told his CIA briefers that there was no evidence that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Niger. Guess what? That is the position held by all analysts in the intelligence community except one. Consequently, senior CIA officials repeatedly told members of Congress and the White House that there was no substance to the reports, including the British white paper, alleging that such activity was underway. Despite these repeated warnings from the CIA that the information was no good, Dick Cheney and George Bush continued to tell the American people the opposite. And they call Joe Wilson a “liar”?

What will become increasingly obvious in the coming days is that the White House was fully organized in its effort to attack Joe and Valerie Wilson. Too bad the Bush Administration has not shown the same enthusiasm for finding Osama Bin Laden or rescuing the three Americans that have been held by terrorists in Colombia for the last three years.

If the Bush White House spent the same amount of time looking for terrorists rather than conspiring to attack the reputation and livelihood of American citizens they would have made significant progress in the war on terrorism. Instead, terrorist attacks in which people were killed and wounded rose to unprecedented levels last year and more than 2000 Americans have died in Iraq.

This scandal is not about semen stains on a blue dress. This scandal is about destroying and diverting national security resources for petty political gains and using the power of the White House to attack American citizens. If that is not justification for impeachment than nothing meets the test.

Biography:

Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.

Larry C. Johnson
Personal Blog: No Quarter || Bio
Recommended Book List || More BoomanTribune Posts

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The revelation of the fact that Bush knew about Rove’s involvement in Plamegate means that this is no longer just about Rove and Libby. This is about how George Bush covered up Karl Rove’s involvement in leaking the name of Valerie Plame to the media, which may have caused the loss of life of a CIA agent.

Not only does the Espionage Act directly cover the treason of Rove and Libby, it covers Bush’s concealment of Rove’s action by failing to report his knowledge of the affair to Patrick Fitzgerald.

The Washington Times editor Wes Purden guffaws this morning about how incomprehansible to the average person this is and how Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame were living a glamourous lifestyle. But the joke is on him, since he focused on the Espionage Act and I looked it up.

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