Author: BooMan

Le Roi Est Mort, Vive Le Roi!

Posted by | Oct 18, 2005 |

I’m gonna tell you about a little hunch I have. We are on the eve of a new political era. All the battles we have been fighting among ourselves? We are going to be fighting new ones soon. All this argument about why we keep losing elections (by absolutely miniscule to non-existent margins)? We are going to move on.

We won’t be seeing stuff like this from Kos anymore:

I’m increasingly convinced that the biggest intra-movement divide nowadays isn’t ideological — we mostly all agree on the same things — but generational. Old school activists view politics and the activist realm differently than new school activists (very generally speaking). Those differences manifest themselves in arguments over single issue groups, effective activism, partisanship, tone, style, pragmatism, the types of candidates we should run, etc.

New school progressives are also less tolerant of ideological orthodoxy. We don’t fall in line with the “acceptable” liberal position, frankly, because we’re not trained to fall in line. We are more likely to be educated in an economy that values “proactiveness” and “self-initiative” and “problem solving” over blindly following the orders of our boss.

Why? I’ll explain below the fold.

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How Fucked is Scooter Libby?

Posted by | Oct 17, 2005 |

Answer: Sooo Fucked.

We all know the cover-up is usually more legally perilous than the original crime. But, in this case there was a re-election to secure and some things had to be sacrificed on that altar. Scooter Libby’s freedom was one of those things. Scooter is going to jail. He’s going to jail without an iota of a doubt…unless…he would prefer that his boss, Dick Cheney, go in his stead.

So far, I can clearly see Libby facing indictments on obstruction of justice, multiple counts of perjury (possibly dozens), passing classified information to those not cleared to see it, possible conspiracy charges, a possible violation of the federal espionage and censorship law, and, of course, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982.

That’s enough legal liability to convince your average Yale graduate that it is time to cut a deal. Let’s look at each of these potential counts in turn.

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Miller, Mylroie, and the Anti-Saddam Wurlitzer: A Thirteen Year Odyssey

Posted by | Oct 17, 2005 |

Let’s looks at a slice of the Plame Timeline and then look at Walter Pincus’s column from June 5th, 2003:

May 2003

May 6

* Nicholas Kristof in “Missing in Action: Truth” for the New York Times mentions Joseph Wilson’s trip to Niger to investigate claims Iraq sought purchase of ‘yellowcake’ uranium (no names mentioned) and that the fabled 16 words in George W. Bush’s 2003 State of the Union Address (SOTU) came from forged documents.

June 2003

June 1-7

* During the first week of June, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus makes an inquiry about Joseph Wilson’s trip, with the CIA public affairs office. That office contacts the Conterproliferation Division (CPD) at the CIA, (Valerie Plame’s unit), but no report is produced. These events are later reported in Time magazines Sunday, Jul. 31, 2005 article, “When They Knew”

June 8

* Then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice appears on Meet the Press and attempts to refute Kristof’s claims in his early May article.

June 10

* A classified State Department memorandum is drafted for Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Marc Grossman (from Carl Ford’s office) containing information about CIA officer Valerie Plame. She is named in the memo in a paragraph marked “(SNF)” for secret, non-foreign (i.e., not to be shared with foreign agencies, even allies). Plame — who is referred to by her married name, Valerie Wilson, in the memo — is mentioned in the second paragraph of the three-page document, which was written by an analyst in the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR).

June 12

* Walter Pincus of the Washington Post writes “CIA Did Not Share Doubt on Iraq Data”, about Joseph Wilson’s trip without naming the retired Ambassador. Pincus also reports that according to an administration official neither Dick Cheney or his staff learned of its role in spurring the mission until it was disclosed by New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof on May 6.

* After the June 12 article by Pincus, “there was general discussion with the National Security Council and the White House and State Department and others” regarding Wilson and his trip, says a former intelligence officer. Source: Time Magazine, “When They Knew”

June 13

* Kristof responds and sticks by his claim. Joseph Wilson is again not named in the article.

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Miller Will Be a Hostile Witness

Posted by | Oct 16, 2005 |

After reading, re-reading, and partially digesting (I really can’t fully stomach it) Judy Miller’s article on her grand jury testimony, I am convinced she is still protecting the administration.

It appears to me that she is going to be a hostile witness when she testifies in Scooter Libby’s trial. Even so, if she was primarily interested in protecting Libby she could have done a better job of it. To see why, let’s start with the heart of the matter: the appearance of the words ‘Valerie Flame’ in Miller’s notes from her second meeting with Libby on July 8th, 2003.

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