So much for my crackpot, tinfoil-hat conspiracy theory about Powell as the person described as ‘not a partisan gunslinger:‘
Bloomberg has a version of the State Department memo story that differs from all the others on virtually every significant detail, except for the fact that it, too, places the memo aboard Air Force One — but this time in the possession of Ari Fleischer, not Colin Powell.
On the flight to Africa, Fleischer was seen perusing the State Department memo on Wilson and his wife, according to a former administration official who was also on the trip.
Fleischer in the mix sure makes things more interesting.
Mr Furious
Hmm. Ari thrown in the hot water…?
Schadenfreude overload.
Anderson
I interpreted the sourcing of the initial story as being Fleischer telling Powell “fuck you” and the new one’s as Powell’s cordial reply, “No, Ari, fuck you.”
Doug
I’d kind of hate to see Ari in hot water. He was a shameless administration mouthpiece. But, that was his job, and he was so extraordinarily gifted at it.
Bob
This being the very same memo generated by Powell at the State Dept. the day before the Africa trip?
JC
Did you see Billmon’s humorous take on this?
“Bloomberg has a version of the State Department memo story that differs from all the others on virtually every significant detail, except for the fact that it, too, places the memo aboard Air Force One — but this time in the possession of Ari Fleischer, not Colin Powell.
On the flight to Africa, Fleischer was seen perusing the State Department memo on Wilson and his wife, according to a former administration official who was also on the trip.
Colin: Fuck me? Fuck you.”
Anderson
Yes, I confess — I AM BILLMON!
Great minds swear alike.
eileen from OH
Okay, John, I’m going to confess. I too think it’s Powell -but not as the leaker – I think he’s Catfish Cod’s Source 75. (If not him, then Armitage or Carl Ford.) That is, the “administration official” who told Mike Allen and Dana Priest about the WH peddling the story to 6 reporters and who was obviously disgusted by it.
Bob, the memo was generated by the State Department, but I don’t think it was ever established that it came from Powell. Indeed, I don’t think he ever saw it or even KNEW of it until after Wilson’s editorial. Remember, it was put together on JUNE 10 – weeks before the article came out. But, suddenly, the day after the article came out, Armitage gets a hold of Carl Ford, on a weekend, and says to get it to Powell, pronto. Why, if he was the one that asked for it, hadn’t he seen it already?
(Adjusting tin foil hat.) Okay, remember Carl Ford? He’s the guy who absolutely hates John Bolton – called him a “kiss-up, kick-down” guy. (And Powell and Armitage didn’t like him much, neither.) So suppose, just suppose that John Bolton was the State Dept. guy who put the memo together and Armitage saw it but didn’t think anything of it – until Wilson’s article. (It might also explain all those Bolton docs that the WH doesn’t want to give up – could Ms. Plame’s name be in any of ’em?) The pieces fall together for Armitage and he gets Ford to get the memo to Powell.
So the next thing, we hear about how this memo is so important and how Powell has been trucking it around on Air Force One and immediately digits start pointing in Colin’s direction – indeed, Bob, that’s probably where you got that impression. And Powell (and Armitage and Ford) ain’t gonna have none of that, so it’s time to another leak to place the memo in Ari’s tight little fist.
There was an internal war over at State and between State and the Pentagon all the while that Powell was there and this could all be a continuation of that.
(Putting away tin foil hat, ready to reshape it into another perky little chapeau, should the need arise.)
eileen from OH
Bob
Well, it seems the spin on this memo is to the point where it’s within the Administration, who gets fed to the sharks. As I understood it, wasn’t there an original memo, June 12th or thereabouts, that was brought back after the Wilson op-ed was printed?
Conspiracy Theory: There are battles within bureaucracies and it’s not outrageous to think that inter-agency rivalries spill out into the public on occasion. I have little doubt that some of the rearranging of intelligence powers away from the CIA and towards the military did not suit the spooks there. Much of the torture stuff, as it became public, has been laid at the feet of the CIA. The administration blamed the CIA for intel failures leading up to 9/11. Pretty insulting, considering these attacks on the Agency were coming from the son of the guy they named their headquarters after. So when Bush’s political ops hanged themselves (as it appears they may) perhaps someone in the CIA was feeding them the rope.
Now here’s the theory within the theory: The bait for the Bush boys was the uncovering of Plame’s operation, which was in Saudi Arabia (think Aramco and the House of Saud) looking for things like the Saudi shopping sprees at the Pakistani A-bomb store, dirty oil deals (which would scare 3/4 of the players in the Administration), etc.
Of course, for any of this to be true would require an amazing desire for power, a lack of true patriotism, plenty of cynicism, and a hard-on for anyone who gets in their way.
Nothing like looking akin to a bunch of traitors who allow nuclear proliferation among the jihadists to make Bush et al look VERY BAD to everyone in the country except for about three guys posting here.
By the way, these tin foil hats sound intriguing. The saran wrap hats aren’t cutting it.