On our Independence Day weekend, we are confronted with more fact that the
Bush White House is up to some not so legitimate games. Please bear with me
throughout the length of this posting, as I am going to start to assemble pieces
of the puzzle for all my readers. I will be quoting numerous articles throughout
and, as always, will be posting the appropriate links to them.
May 1, 2005 – The Publishing of the Downing Street Memo in London Times
This was the start that really put the blogosphere in high speed. The memo
was published in the London Times, and ignored by the United States mainstream
media for five weeks following. As matter of fact in recent articles regarding
the media’s ignoring of this pertinent document, they are starting to admit that
they dropped the ball.
The Downing Street Memo is an official British Document, or more so minutes,
where the head of British Intelligence, MI6, detailed a meeting in Washington
that took place in the spring of 2002. The most notorious paragraph of this
document involving the pending war in Iraq is as follows:
C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift
in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove
Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and
WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The
NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing
material on the Iraqi regime’s record. There was little discussion in
Washington of the aftermath after military action.
This document peaked interests in the internet community, and of some
American politicians. I started this blog in order to help spread the word. I
figured if one more person who was not informed of the facts became enlightened,
then the countless hours I have spent working on this are well worth it.
If you are not familiar with the Downing Street Memo by now then I would
suggest reading the original article
here
and also visit
Afterdowningstreet.org
June 16, 2005 – House Democrats Hold a Hearing
After being shunned by the administration when requesting answers about the
Downing Street Memo, numerous democratic members of the House of Representatives,
led by Rep. John Conyers of Michigan conducted a hearing in the capital. This
hearing had numerous attempts by the opposing party to interrupt it. They were
put in a basement room, about the size of a walk in closet, and interrupted by
an unprecedented twelve votes in the two hour span of the hearing. This did not
stop the determination of the members of the hearing to start finding out the
truth about why we went into Iraq.
Testimony was given by four witnesses, including Joe Wilson, the former Iraq
Ambassador whose wife was a C.I.A. operative. Mr. Wilson was sent to Africa to
prove the 16 words that became famous during the 2003 State of the
Union
Address; “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africaâ€ÂÂ. Joe Wilson went to Africa
and came back and reported that the story was unfounded. This upset the
administration and right after his conflicting report was given, the identity of
his wife was given to Time Magazine and CNN reporter Robert Novak.
The testimony given at the hearing by Joe Wilson was met with criticism by
some in the press. Most notably was an editorial that
Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank had the day following the hearing, in
which he said:
Joseph C. Wilson IV, a former ambassador whose wife was ousted as a CIA
operative, barely mentioned the memo in his opening statement
This was untrue and sparked a controversy, along with a campaign of emails
and written letters to be sent to the Washington Post asking for a retraction.
Unfortunately, The Washington Post has declined this request. Luckily this
negative press of the hearing was outweighed enormously by positive press.
July 2, 2005 – Release of the Informant That Gave Valerie Plame’s Identity
Today, Newsweek
has reported that in testimony given in a trial to ascertain who leaked the
identity of Valerie Plame, emails reveal that it was none other than
Presidential right hand man and chief of staff Karl Rove.
Now for a long time the two stories didn’t make much connection to most. How
could the Downing Street Memo and the tragic death of a CIA operative be tied
together? This is where it starts to get interesting.
In a report by
CNN on March 6 of this year, it discussed records that the federal grand
jury was subpoenaing in order to retrieve who leaked Valerie’s identity. The
article mentions the following:
Many of the documents subpoenaed Friday relate to the White House Iraq
Group, a little-known task force dedicated to dealing with Iraq. Newsweek
reported that the group was created in August 2002 and charged with developing
a strategy for publicizing the White House’s assertion that Saddam Hussein
posed a threat to the United States.
This in fact ties the two together. Also testimony of former CIA analysis Ray
McGovern, during the June 16 hearing helps to tie it together. Mr. McGovern made
reference to Vice President Dick Cheney, and how he made numerous trips to CIA
headquarters in order to oversee the intelligence gathering regarding Iraq. Mr.
McGovern stated that in his 27 years of service to the CIA, a vice President
never got involved hands on in this kind of effort. In fact, it should not even
be allowed as it helps provide a form of checks and balances regarding the harsh
decision of going to war – that’s if we don’t want to go to war!
What it all means
So now we got the tie giving more credit to the Downing Street memo. We also
find out that the very man who labeled liberals as traitors, is in fact a
traitor himself. Now I would like to give you some quotes that came out of the
White House shortly after Valerie Plame’s death.
From the
Newsweek article published today, they reflect on some of the White Houses
previous activities involving this, most notably:
In early October 2003, NEWSWEEK reported that immediately after Novak’s
column appeared in July, Rove called MSNBC “Hardball” host Chris Matthews and
told him that Wilson’s wife was “fair game.” But White House spokesman Scott
McClellan told reporters at the time that any suggestion that Rove had played
a role in outing Plame was “totally ridiculous.” On Oct. 10, McClellan was
asked directly if Rove and two other White House aides had ever discussed
Valerie Plame with any reporters. McClellan said he had spoken with all three,
and “those individuals assured me they were not involved in this.”
From a White House Press Conference held on September 16, 2003 (answers given
by press secretary Scott McClellan)
Q: On the Robert Novak-Joseph Wilson situation, Novak reported earlier this
year quoting “anonymous government sources” telling him that Wilson’s wife was
a CIA operative. Now, this is apparently a federal offense, to burn the cover
[of] a CIA operative. Wilson now believes that the person who did this was
Karl Rove. He’s quoted from a speech last month as saying, “At the end of the
day, it’s of keen interest to me to see whether or not we can get Karl Rove
frog-marched out of the White House in handcuffs.” Did Karl Rove tell thatâ€â€ÂA: I haven’t heard that. That’s just totally ridiculous. But we’ve already
addressed this issue. If I could find out who anonymous people were, I would.
I just said, it’s totally ridiculous.Q: But did Karl Rove do it?
A: I said, it’s totally ridiculous.
The speculation has been there that Karl Rove was the one who gave up
Valerie’s identity, and now the truth seems to be in that it in fact was. The
problem is that this doesn’t stop at Karl Rove. Valeria Plame was a NOC for the
C.I.A. That is their most undercover and protected agent. The law states that
the only people who know the true identity of a NOC are the President, the vice
President, and certain high ranking officials in the NSA and CIA. Due to their
highly covert operations, their identity is guarded as being highly classified.
In other words, Karl Rove had no reason or legality to know her identity. This
means someone else did have to leak it to him. The next question will be who.
This war in Iraq has gone on for over three years, and there is no end in
sight. President Bush has been under enormous pressure from Congress and also by
declining approval ratings to set a time table yet he
says:
It doesn’t make any sense to have a timetable. You know, if you give a
timetable, you’re  you’re conceding too much to the enemy
This is perhaps on of the greatest hypocrisies in our time as in 1999 when
President Clinton had launched an offensive in Kosovo to end a major genocide,
the President made the following
quote:
Victory means exit strategy, and it’s important for the president to
explain to us what the exit strategy is
This was followed a few weeks later by this
quote:
I think it’s also important for the president to lay out a timetable as to
how long they will be involved and when they will be withdrawn
The big difference is their was a mass genocide being committed in Kosovo at
the time that President Clinton decided to join NATO in attacking them. Iraq was
not committing genocide, nor where they planning to attack us, nor where they
involved in 9/11 when we went into attack them. President Bush was quick to
question President Clinton’s actions in a short war that resulted in very few
U.S. Casualties. To date more than 1700 U.S. soldiers have died in President
Bush’s war that stands no merit.
This war has gone on to long, and America still does not know the true
reasoning behind the war. President Bush’s speech this week only lowered his
approval rating once again, and American’s are starting to demand the truth.
President Bush promised to return accountability to the White House, yet has
been held accountable for nothing.
In the last few weeks we have had three large scandals surface involving the
Republican party. First was the alleged illegal affairs of Republican Lobbyist
Micahel Abrahamof. Next we heard about the shady dealing of Represenative Duke
Cunningham and military contracter MZM, which I wrote about early today. Now we
are hearing that our President’s right-hand man has possibly committed a gross
act of treason and threatened our national security even more. To make matters
worse, this was done to help promote a war that was waged upon lies.
If the Republican party wants to save face in the eyes of the citizens of
this nation, it is time for them to remove the bad seeds. The people involved in
illegal activites need to be removed. It is in the best interest of our Congress
to start formal hearings into everything involving this administration. That
means Dick Cheney’s ties to Halliburton and their fraudulent overcharging of the
tax payers for services in Iraq, the “fixing†of intelligence in order to gain
support for a war that was not needed, and the ousting of a CIA operative by a
member of this administration.
Accountabilty must be held now, and Americans will not rest until it is. If
this means a time has come to start waging protests and civil unrest, then so be
it, but we demand answers. The proof lies in public opinion polls and the
emergence of more damamging witnesses and evidence into these affairs.
Our country is sitting on a most pivotal time in it’s very short history. We
are looked down upon by the rest of the world, and starting to be perceived as a
dangerous empire emerging from the west. We need to restore our once great
reputation as a leader of democracy, repair our government, and join the rest of
the world in healing it. If we do not then we will be in this war for decades to
come and the costs will end up costing us our country!!!