Archives for October 2005

So sayeth the Washington Note:

An uber-insider source has just reported the following to TWN (since confirmed by another independent source):

1. 1-5 indictments are being issued. The source feels that it will be towards the higher end.
2. The targets of indictment have already received their letters.

3. The indictments will be sealed indictments and “filed” tomorrow.

4. A press conference is being scheduled for Thursday.

The shoe is dropping.

Interesting. Should be a wild one tomorrow, any way this turns out. Make your predictions in the comments.

The only thing I predict for sure is Libby is involved and the 1982 Intelligence Act won’t even come into play. I also predict that despite all the idiotic rumblings in certain quarters about treason, there will be no charges of treason handed down. Or anything even remotely close.

Jeff has more.

Indictments Coming?Post + Comments (132)

This should be a non-starter:

The Bush administration has proposed exempting employees of the Central Intelligence Agency from a legislative measure endorsed earlier this month by 90 members of the Senate that would bar cruel and degrading treatment of any prisoners in U.S. custody.

The proposal, which two sources said Vice President Cheney handed last Thursday to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the company of CIA Director Porter J. Goss, states that the measure barring inhumane treatment shall not apply to counterterrorism operations conducted abroad or to operations conducted by “an element of the United States government” other than the Defense Department.

Although most detainees in U.S. custody in the war on terrorism are held by the U.S. military, the CIA is said by former intelligence officials and others to be holding several dozen detainees of particular intelligence interest at locations overseas — including senior al Qaeda figures Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaida.

Cheney’s proposal is drafted in such a way that the exemption from the rule barring ill treatment could require a presidential finding that “such operations are vital to the protection of the United States or its citizens from terrorist attack.” But the precise applicability of this section is not clear, and none of those involved in last week’s discussions would discuss it openly yesterday.

Because when governing, you just can’t have enough ‘fuzzy’ guidelines about inconsequential things like, say, TORTURE.

*** Update ***

I should probably point out that the one of the many reasons this is so clear-cut for me is that we do not want to be on record stating that it is A-Ok for the CIA to be engaging in this sort of behavior because I don’t want to hear Pervez Musharraf state the following:

“Of course my military does not torture. I abhor torture and those methods, and I would not allow them to engage in such activities. Now the ISI, on the other hand…”

Or any number of leaders/dictators who are far worse than Musharraf, who has turned out to be much more of an ally than I would have expected.

The Cheney ProposalPost + Comments (62)

Lots of left-wing heroes in the news today. First, Joseph Wilson:

To his backers, Joseph C. Wilson IV is a brave whistle-blower wronged by the Bush administration. To his critics, he is a partisan who spouts unreliable information.

But nobody disputes this: Possessed of a flamboyant style and a love for the camera lens, Wilson helped propel the unmasking of his wife’s identity as a CIA operative into a sprawling, two-year legal probe that climaxes this week with the possible indictment of key White House officials. He also turned an arcane matter involving the Intelligence Identities Protection Act into a proxy fight over the administration’s credibility and its case for war in Iraq.

Also beyond dispute is the fact that the little-known diplomat took maximum advantage of his 15 minutes of fame. Wilson has been a fixture on the network and cable news circuit for two years — from “Meet the Press” to “Imus in the Morning” to “The Daily Show.” He traveled west and lunched with the likes of Norman Lear and Warren Beatty.

He published a book, “The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife’s CIA Identity.” He persuaded his wife, Valerie Plame, to appear with him in a January 2004 Vanity Fair photo spread, in which the two appeared in his Jaguar convertible.

Now, amid speculation that prosecutors could bring charges against White House officials this week, Republicans preparing a defense of the administration are reviving the debate about Wilson’s credibility and integrity.

In other news, Mother Sheehan is looking for her 16th minute of fame:

In a week in which the media decided that Judy Miller’s dark-days-of-journalism story is really about Dick Cheney and the Bush administration’s decision to go to war, we also hover around the milestone of 2,000 dead in Iraq.

As the New York Daily News said yesterday, the event will surely trigger the predictable play: A media horde will descend on the hometown of the 2,000th. Pundits and experts will get their 15 seconds. They’ll be “the Cindy Sheehan comeback, the Maureen Dowd column and perhaps an impromptu statement from the First Lady.”

Cindy Sheehan. Could there be a more ineffective anti-war voice?

As soon as the casualty number tops 2,000, the grieving mother says she’s going to tie herself to a White House fence and refuse to leave until President Bush agrees to bring home the troops. “I’m kinda addicted to getting arrested,” she says.

What about Michael Moore? George Soros? Sean Penn? Babs? What happened to the old guard?

Consider this an open flame war thread. And make sure you check out the comments in that second link (Arkin on Sheehan)- it makes the comments section here look downright respectable.

*** Update ***

In other news, George Galloway remains a lying sack of shit, and since perjury is now considered a bad thing again (unless you are Kay Bailey Hutchinson), this should raise some eyebrows on the left:

George Galloway today challenged US senators to charge him with perjury over claims that he solicited money from Saddam Hussein’s oil-for-food programme and lied about it under oath.

The US Senate committee investigating the Respect MP’s alleged involvement in the saga claims to have discovered £85,000 (150,000 dollars) in Iraqi oil money in his estranged wife’s bank account.

And its chairman, Republican Senator Norm Coleman, says this means Mr Galloway lied under oath when giving evidence to the Senate Permanent Sub-committee on Investigations on May 17 this year, when he offered a passionate defence against similar claims.

Vile human being.

Left Wing HeroesPost + Comments (119)

This is the story I am sure (I have not had time to check) everyone is blogging about today:

I. Lewis Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003, lawyers involved in the case said Monday.

Notes of the previously undisclosed conversation between Mr. Libby and Mr. Cheney on June 12, 2003, appear to differ from Mr. Libby’s testimony to a federal grand jury that he initially learned about the C.I.A. officer, Valerie Wilson, from journalists, the lawyers said…

Mr. Libby’s notes indicate that Mr. Cheney had gotten his information about Ms. Wilson from George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, in response to questions from the vice president about Mr. Wilson. But they contain no suggestion that either Mr. Cheney or Mr. Libby knew at the time of Ms. Wilson’s undercover status or that her identity was classified. Disclosing a covert agent’s identity can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent’s undercover status.

While I am sure Armando and Arianna had to take a cold shower because this seems to involve Cheney, I don’t think it means little more than the fact that Scooter Libby is in deep trouble. As VP, Cheney is pretty much allowed to discuss these things with George Tenet and Scooter Libby- I think they have the requisite security clearance. What Libby and Rove did with that info is another thing, however, and Libby appears to have lied tothe Grand Jury- if all the previous reports are accurate about his testimony regarding this issue.

As always, I will hand it over to ‘Right wing running dog’ Tom Maguire.

Cheney and Libby, Sittin’ In a TreePost + Comments (18)