The WSJ has a lengthy article in its Op-Ed pages by Judith Miller, a “former NYT journalist and a writer in Manhattan” about the “undeniable and unheralded non proliferation success of the Bush administration”.
It begs for a careful deconstruction, which is beyond my courage, as it is, unsurprisingly, an ode to the intelligence, diplomatic and military competence of Bush and Blair. It also reeks of casual name-dropping of the various players that she met:
Col. Gadhafi’s hip, 34-year-old son, Saif-al-Islam, told me in Vienna–where he earned an M.B.A. and lives when he’s not carrying out tasks for his father, or studying for a doctorate in political philosophy at the London School of Economics–that his father changed course because he had to. “Overnight we found ourselves in a different world,” said Saif, referring to the Sept. 11 attacks. “So Libya had to redesign its policies to cope with these new realities.”
But a review of confidential government records and interviews with current and former officials in London, Tripoli, Vienna and Washington suggest that other factors were involved. Prominent among them is a heretofore undisclosed intelligence coup–the administration’s decision in late 2003 to give Libyan officials a compact disc containing intercepts of a conversation about Libya’s nuclear weapons program between Libya’s nuclear chief and A.Q. Khan–that reinforced Col. Gadhafi’s decision to reverse course on WMD.
The context is of course the restoration of full diplomatic ties between the US and Lybia, and the need to prop up the Bush administration.
But can we at least agree that this proves beyond any remaining doubt that Judith Miller is a PR flak and not a journalist?
Sure can.
Perhaps Gadhafi ought to be glad that Bushco has not more closely associated with him, given the current state of US relations abroad.
What it ALSO confirms is that Gadhafi is now the latest in a string of U.S. assets. One of a long, long line that includes such upstanding villains as the Shah of Iran, Manuel Noriega, Fulgencio Batista, and Saddam Hussein. AlL of whom were in the pocket of the U.S. for the simple reasonthat they were bought there. Many of whom coincidentally turned into enemies when they believed that it was financially advantageous to do so.
With assets like these, who needs debits?
AG
P.S. ANYTHING Miller writes is part of an intel op.
Even her signature.
Bet on it.
The question is which intel op. The narrative “the threat of force plus brilliant diplomacy saved the day” isn’t one I would have thought worked for people who were determined to take military action against Iran.
Here’s a possible scenario:
The question is NOT which intel op.
She is a NeoCon flack.
“Why” might be a better question.
My guess…split the opposition.
Publicize a so-called conversion expoerience.
5% here, 10% there, and 7.5% somewhere else, and suddenly the Islamic world is even more spilintered than it is now.
YOU know…just like they do withg the Democrats.
A Congressman or 10 here, a Senator or three there, a blog somewhere else…
KABOOM!!!
Down goes THAT house of cards.
And you know what…???
It’s worked REALLY well so far, this tactic.
Bet on it.,
AG
Well, at least we’re able to keep tabs on who she’s schtupping. I guess if you’re the son of a batshit crazy dictator, nailing an aging dilettante with a taste for desert action counts as a feather in your cap.
I think there is a big story behind the normalization of relations with Libya. One area where you could help Jerome is in figuring out what the oil contract situation was in Libya prior to 2001 and what it is now.
With that piece of information I think I can flesh out the rest of it based on what I know about the Khan network, and Cheney’s lobbying efforts against the sanctions in the 1990’s.
A number of oil contracts were allocated not too long ago. I’ll need to dig it up. If it didn’t play a role, it’s certainly part of the background…
(From memory, the Japanese and Italians did well in the first round, and the Americans in the second).
Still the best I’ve read on nuclear proliferation is Langweische’s Point of no Return (subscription req’d, sorry) in the Atlantic. The short of it is yes, she’s shilling. The track ‘n trail started long before GW or TB (is that a disease?) were elected, and totally independent of either. More than anything else, Libya needs trade with the West. Faced with the collapse of his supplier’s network (Khan in Pakistan), and confronted with evidence, Ghadaffi made a business decision.
Good work by our intelligence folk, whose WMD unit (according to what I’ve read) was later decimated by “the leak”. Bad choice for the WSJ to print an op-ed by a discredited writer.
Any paper letting her write anything proves yet again what a sellout the media is, however in a curious way being able to read the bullshit she is peddling now can probably lead us to the real story.
Knowing how she operates and how she writes her propaganda pieces I think starts to become a plus for us…or us as in all the great investigative reporters on the net.
yes, I agree, she’s like a blink tag for lies.