BULLETIN!--Larry Johnson identifies office of leaker

[kstewart33]

On Buchanan and Press, Johnson said he knows the name of the guy who leaked Plame's name to Novak. He said that when the name is revealed, people will know that person's name and that the individual has been leaked with past scandals. He also said that the person was associated with the Vice President's office.

He is on B&P now--6:30 EST.

UPDATE--The guy is located in the Executive Office Building. Johnson says that there were two, possibly three leakers. Note that the EOB is not the West Wing.

[dd123]

1. "If I were investigating I would start w/Scooter Libby"

[radwriter0555]

15. Libby petitioned Clinton for the pardon of Marc Rich... so why

are they offering him up for slaughter?

To save rove's pudgy rash ridden ass.

[Scairp]

24. Info on Scooter Libby

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=I._Lewis_Libby

Says he is "Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff to (the) Vice President" and considered a protege of Wolfowitz.

Edited to add this link to a Slate article about yellowcake reference in the SOTUS. Says Libby could be the one who insisted the African uranium reference stay in the speech.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2085803/

[UpInArms]

26. more on Libby

at http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=16597

excerpt:

Cheney, of course, has a direct link to Bush (and all the heads of agencies), while his powerful chief of staff and national security adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, also enjoys exceptional access and influence. Indeed, the two men's frequent visits (as well as those of another DPB member, former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich) to CIA headquarters before the Iraq war have been cited by retired and anonymous intelligence officers as having actively intimidated analysts who disagreed with the more sensational assessments about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and ties to al-Qaeda produced by Feith's office.

[Scairp]

29. It stands to reason

The VP and Libby would have been most unhappy with the report Wilson gave after his trip and the article he wrote later spelling out the conclusions he had come to regarding the so-called Niger uranium and the Iraq connection. Saying there was none would have gone over like a lead balloon.

[berry]

64. I'd forgotten that Newt went to the CIA too--

What are the chances Newt is also mixed up in this leak business? Of course, he's not WH, but OSP in the Pentagon. Still... If he IS involved that could spread the net wider--to include all the DoD neo-cons.

Already, this is not only about the leak, but the foreign policy the leak was intended to protect. People are increasingly speaking out about the huge mistake the war on Iraq was (eg, Charlie Rose tonight was great--not because of Charlie, but his guests. Catch the rerun tomorrow at 12n et if you can.)

[scottxyz]

43. Wow! I love Wikis - and the Disinfopedia is a good one

Thanks for the link!

When is DU gonna get a wiki? It would be a great place to hammer out some position papers, and provide summaries of some of the bigger news events.

[DemBones DemBones]

50. OK, what does "wiki" stand for? I gather it's the way that

Disinfopedia works, but I don't entirely understand that.

[w13rd0]

2. Hmmm...

...Scooter Libby?

Maybe Mary Matalin? Speculation grows. But this is but one of two.

My guess is Karl Rove and Scooter Libby...but that's just a guess...

[tjdee]

3. Does Scooter Libby work out of Cheney's office?

Don't remember.

Did he say "the guy"?

I just thought, briefly, of Mary Matalin, but she was gone before all this.

[candy331]

8. Yep!

I knew they knew who it was, figured they had it all together. Spinning, spinning, the buc stops at the WH.

[UpInArms]

9. Libby is

Cheney's Chief of Staff and a major PNACer

[scottxyz]

44. Libby is Cheney's Chief of Staff

n/t

[Nottingham]

4. OMG!! OMG!! WHOAH!

Johnson is ticked off! :bounce:

[patrice]

5. This is just the sacrificial "lamb" a la Ollie North.

The buck will stop there, and discipline will be reinforced in party operatives.

[grasswire]

6. fbi should talk to libby first

that's what he said

[Memekiller]

68. What everyone keeps forgetting...

...is that six reporters know who the leakers are, and although they are required to keep their sources confidential, nothing says they can't point out a sacrificial lamb when they're offered up.

[keopeli]

7. Libby is Cheney's Chief of Staff

[Gin]

11. who is Larry Johnson?

gin

[alcuno]

12. Former CIA

He's often interviewed on TV. Said he started with Valerie Plame 20 years ago.

[Gin]

13. thanks..I saw him yesterday on The news Hour.

gin

[MountainLaurel]

14. Terror expert

Former CIA. Runs a consulting business now.

[alcuno]

10. What are Scooter's past scandals?

Anyone know?

[grasswire]

19. we don't know that libby is THE leaker

But here's some interesting info anyhoo.

Cheney's staff also waged a campaign to include the allegation in Secretary of State Colin Powell's speech to the United Nations in February in which he made the administration's case for war against Iraq.

Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, pressed Powell's speechwriters to include the Atta claim and other suspected links between Iraq and terrorism, according to senior and mid-level administration officials involved in crafting the speech.

When State Department and CIA officials complained about Libby's proposed language and suggested cutting large sections, Cheney's associates fought back.

"Every piece offered … they fought tooth and nail to keep it in," said one official involved in putting together the speech.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/sfl-acheney29sep29,0,3321943.story?coll=sfla-news-nationworld

[Loki]

20. Scooter was involved in the pardon scandal.

He represented Marc Rich - you know the rest. I always wondered if he wanted to undermine Clinton with that one.

[TEXASYANKEE]

16. Larry Johnson

He was on Lehrer last night and, oh boy, he is PISSED OFF! If the rest of the CIA shares even a fraction of his emotion, heads are going to roll.

[Nottingham]

17. The Whitehouse is scrambling for Sacrificial Lambs

anybody want to fall on the sword!

Has Rove's handprints all over it!

:bounce:

[diplomats]

25. I don't think Larry Johnson is doing Rove's bidding

Scooter Libby's name was mentioned earlier, too, as a potential leaker. This guy is not some low-level operative.

[jfxgillis]

39. Yeah it was mentioned earlier BY ME

And boy am I going to strut around here like a rooster in a henhouse if I turn out to be right. That was Saturday, I think.

I mean, I literally posted that name here three or four days before his name surfaced anywhere connected to this story.

[Guaranteed]

54. I've seen his name come up before this quite recently

Didn't take note of who mentioned him, though. Sorry I can't back ya up. ;)

[E_Zapata]

66. Link?

(just kidding you. Congrats on calling it)

[remfan]

18. Makes total sense to me

Cheney and Libby were hand in hand when they went to the CIA to cook up a little intelligence, and the entire Iraq invasion is a Cheney operation, bush is along for the ride. I strongly believe Rove was involved as well simply because nothing gets leaked out of the administration that he doesn't know about.

Petty and vindictive. More concerned with political revenge than anything else, and after all this they are STILL trying to smear Wilson. It boggles the fricking mind.

[Unknown Known]

21. Agree with your assessment. Cheney runs the show

Probably told Rove to "take care of this problem" (meaning Wilson).

Rove is the dirty trickster and decided to get to Wilson through his wife. But it was Cheney, Libby and the rest of the OSP that this info had to come from originally. Rove wouldn't know a CIA from an FBI.

[Emboldened Chimp]

23. CIA didn't like Cheney's visits

to CIA headquarters, where he pressured them to cook the books.

Sounds to me like they're throwing Dick overboard.

[Oreegone]

22. Everyone one of them is suspect

It isn't who is a big enough scumbag to do it, it is which scumbag(s) did.
Not a one of these bipeds has any ounce of integrity.

[goforit]

58. Yes just like a gang rape......They were all part of the crime!!!

A bunch of sick thugs!!!

[Snellius]

27. Matalin was the PR point person with the press

But they she could also be being set up as a fall guy. She's a decent person who perhaps grew disgusted with what she was involved in.

[snippy]

28. This was not a one man operation. Scooter Libby is part of WHIG.

The Wilson affair should be used to expose the entire broad and well coordinated campaign of lies by the Bush administration concerning the invasion of Iraq. The Wilson affair is only one small part of that campaign. The Wilson affair has legs because there is easily understood evidence of an easily understood crime. But I think that it is a mistake to be content to use it to bring one or two flunkies in the administration down. Whoever ultimately takes the fall for this either never will be indicted or will be pardoned and become republican folk heroes. Think Ollie North.

I think nearly every single fact and allegation about the entire Wilson affair indicates that it was an operation of the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG. The WHIG was formed by White House Chief of Staff Andy Card in August of 2002 to market and create support for the invasion of Iraq. It also was charged with framing the debate so that republicans would benefit politically from the invasion. WHIG's responsibilities included the creation and coordination of all of the lies to support the invasion, including the yellowcake and other nuclear weapons lies. Scooter Libby was a participant in the WHIG.

From an excellent article describing the WHIG:

The group met weekly in the Situation Room. Among the regular participants were Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser; communications strategists Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin and James R. Wilkinson; legislative liaison Nicholas E. Calio; and policy advisers led by Rice and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, along with I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.

The first days of September would bring some of the most important decisions of the prewar period: what to demand of the United Nations in the president's Sept. 12 address to the General Assembly, when to take the issue to Congress, and how to frame the conflict with Iraq in the midterm election campaign that began in earnest after Labor Day.

A "strategic communications" task force under the WHIG began to plan speeches and white papers. There were many themes in the coming weeks, but Iraq's nuclear menace was among the most prominent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A39500-2003Aug9

The WHIG not only chose what lies to use, it also chose when, where, and how the lies would be disseminated. And by whom.

The fact that at least two people in the administration were shopping the story indicates that a decision to disclose the information was made. It was not casually revealed during the course of conversation. It was an actual decision made by someone. The fact that at least two people in the administration were shopping the story also indicates delegation and coordination by someone.

If lies about Iraq's nuclear weapons program are involved, it is a WHIG operation. If a decision about a communication concerning any of the Iraq lies was made in the White House, WHIG was involved in the decision. If the job of making that communication was delegated to two or more people and coordinated, WHIG was involved in the delegation and coordination. That means the White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card and Turd Blossom Rove were involved.

I am hoping that the investigation of the disclosure of the information on Wilson's wife will lead to a broader investigation of what I think are the three most important questions about the invasion of Iraq (from the standpoint of revealing the criminal behavior of Bush and his minions):

1. Who made the decision to use a campaign of lies to market the invasion of Iraq? (Turd Blossom Rove? Whistle Ass? Cheney? Roger Ailes? Rush Limbaugh? Someone else?)

2. When was that decision made? (Before or after January, 2001? or September 11, 2001? or March, 2002 when Bush told three Senators in Rice's office: "Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out."? or September 2002 when Andrew Card said about trying to sell the American people on the invasion of Iraq: "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."?)

3. Why was that decision made? (Political reasons? Financial reasons? Personal reasons? Religious reasons? Other reasons?)

I think the answers to these questions would reveal a criminal conspiracy much broader than the decision to out Wilson's wife. That conspiracy involves more powerful people than Scooter Libby.

[Stephanie]

31. Great post!

You're absolutely right. I think this is the string that once pulled will unravel the whole criminal enterprise.

[snippy]

33. Thanks. I agree that this could "unravel the whole criminal enterprise."

The Wilson investigation provides the legal and political leverage to expose most of the administration as a criminal enterprise. But I am afraid that people will be satisfied with much less.

[remfan]

35. Bravo snippy!

Excellent post. :toast:

[frank frankly]

46. snippy, marvelous work

right on!

[Beetwasher]

47. Beautiful Job! I'd take it a bit further though!

I think you're right. I'd go a bit further. What may have started as a group supposedly dedicated to "strategizing" about the Iraq war, may have been somewhat of a cover for or evolved into the core of the dirty tricks team for the WH.

[snippy]

72. I was struck by two things when I first read about the WHIG.

The first was that it included what you refer to as the "core of the dirty tricks team for the WH." The second was that its purpose included using the invasion of Iraq for the political benefit of republicans. As I reread the article I was struck by the breadth, cohesiveness and professionalism of the creation and dissemination of all the lies.

[DemBones DemBones]

48. Excellent info on WHIG and analysis of situation.

Thanks, snippy. :yourock:

[Guaranteed]

56. Excellent. That post's a keeper.

Complicated stuff. Way to piece it together!

[goforit]

59. snippy, thanks for the total picture. With all the "little" things involve

it is hard to keep the whole thing in perspective.

You need to constantly remind all the DUrs as the plot will most certainly thicken.

We need to keep these thugs real busy!!!

We need to present problems from all sides.

[ErasureAcer]

30. grandmama Larry Johnson?

I didn't know he got into politics after playing for the Knicks.

Sorry, this post is stupid...hopefully it made someone laugh.

[snippy]

34. It made me laugh.

[screembloodymurder]

32. Hey if they get rid of Cheney,

it'll be a regime change. Seriously, this makes a lot of sense. Because of the war, Bush is facing a mutiny in his own party. He needs a scapegoat and Cheney has pissed off a lot of people, including the CIA. Cheney also heads the neo-cons responsible for a failed war policy. If Bush wants to protect his ass, he let's Cheney take the fall.

Now, Bush isn't smart enough to have planned this, but Rove is. Maybe, Novak's not as stupid as we think. Maybe, he was given the information and called his good buddy Karl. Maybe Karl, seizing the opportunity, encouraged Novak to use the story knowing that it could be used to oust the VP and deflect criticism from the Bush administration. Kaiser Soze' where are you.

[kysrsoze]

55. I'm right here.

[goforit]

60. I think people over-estimate Cheney....He he the dumbest a** of all!!!

My god the guy flunked out of Yale!!!

And all of this crap that he has pulled would have thrown
his ass in the slammer only if our Justice System were
running as usual prior to these bozos taking office.

[MetaTrope]

63. If the plan is to boot Cheney

and it's not a PNAC ploy, I wonder if Cheney would choose to pull an LBJ here...

According to Madeleine Brown: "On Thursday night, Nov. 21, 1963, the last evening prior to Camelot's demise, I attended a social at Clint Murchison's home. It was my understanding that the event was scheduled as a tribute honoring his long time friend, J. Edgar Hoover (whom Murchison had first met decades earlier through President William Howard Taft), and his companion, Clyde Tolson. Val Imm, the society editor for the now-defunct Dallas Times Herald, unwittingly documented one of the most significant gatherings in American history. The impressive guest list included John McCloy, Richard Nixon, George Brown, R. L. Thornton, H. L. Hunt and a host of others from the 8F group. The jovial party was just breaking up when Lyndon made an unscheduled visit. I was the most surprised by his appearance since Jesse had not mentioned anything about Lyndon's coming to Clint's. With Lyndon's hectic schedule, I never dreamed he could attend the big party. After all, he had arrived in Dallas on Tuesday to attend the Pepsi-Cola convention. Tension filled the room upon his arrival. The group immediately went behind closed doors. A short time later Lyndon, anxious and red-faced, re-appeared. I knew how secretly Lyndon operated. Therefore I said nothing... not even that I was happy to see him. Squeezing my hand so hard, it felt crushed from the pressure, he spoke with a grating whisper, a quiet growl, into my ear, not a love message, but one I'll always remember: 'After tomorrow those goddamn Kennedys will never embarrass me again - that's no threat - that's a promise.'"

[Zhade]

69. Good Christ - is this an accurate account?

If it is - chilling.

[crissy71]

36. Classic MWO - go see the pic they have & comment!!

www.mediawhoresonline.com

[Snellius]

37. How many outside Cheney's office would even know about her

How many people in the WH would even know that Plame was an undercover operative. Despite the Republican party line, this could not have been common knowledge. And even it it were, everyone could not have known the extent of her past work with the agency or present assignment. Moreover, the whole point of Novak's original article and the only possible objective of the leaker was to expose Wilson's wife as an undercover agent.

[MiniMoog]

49. Cheney and Scooter Knew Plame

True.

I haven't seen this info posted anywhere as yet, but Plame was in fact an *analyst* with the Non-Proliferation Center based in D.C. Scooter and Cheney regularly took meetings there and her work on WMD was well known. And, Scooter (working under the directive of Cheney) was the dog-with-a-bone guy trying to force the Uranium claims into Powell's UN address. Powell wouldn't do it, but they slipped it with Bush in the SOTU, even after Tenet formerly mandated to Condi and Hadley that they vet this. Remember the fall on sword scenario?

Johnson is being paraded on the shows now because he lends heavy-weight street cred to the CIA filings with DOJ.

Did Scooter and Cheney know Plame was/is CIA? Think about it. Did they know she was formerly un-official cover? Maybe. Maybe not. We can parse that a bit. But there was a deliberate attempt to smear not just Wilson and his wife, but the target: Wilson's negative reporting on the Niger uranium claims which everyone knew was based on forgies, which Tenet vetted from speeches, and which the Admin vaunted as a pretext for pre-emptive strike on Iraq.

My hunch is Wilson/Plame is window-dressing. The crime that is unfolding in real-time is the pretext for war. And we know Cheney has a rather personal interest in from a business POV.

Last note: I've been nagged by the allegation from Wilson on Rove's "his wife is fair game," comment. It just felt too...familiar. This makes it a bit more palatable and reasonable if they "knew" who she was, but arrogantly miscalculated "who" she really was. With that they may claim they didn't realize leaking this info would compromise national security. That, I believe, will be the next spin cuz those will be the charges.

MiniMoog

edit: headline

[Guaranteed]

57. Novak attempted that...

..."we didn't know she was undercover" spin, but he called her an "operative" in his column wherein he outed her.

[BuckeFushe]

38. My conspiracy theory

This is a PERFECT time for Cheney to resign, take blame, and for Bush to get someone with sex-appeal in before the election. Don't put anything past this bunch. Cheney has been out of step for weeks on the talk show circuit, and is saying things completely opposite of what the rest of the Minions from hell are quoting regarding Iraq and Saddam.

[underpants]

40. Not a bad plan

Dick can still run the show "out of office". Stick Condi in there or I dunno Santorum or Allen (Va.) and there you go.

Welcome to DU :hi: if'n I haven't before.

[BuckeFushe]

42. Thank you for your kind words

But I have been here a VERY long time. I was the original Roscoe NOBUSH, but the computer I used for Roscoe got trashed and I never recovered the password. I spend most of my (limited) free time trashing the cons on their sites, and return here for reinforcement and hope.


http://community.democrats.com/members/teapoe/

[mediaman007]

52. I don't think so...someone is going to jail.

Cheney won't resign over this. He will fight it all the way. He's way to arrogant to put himself in the crosshairs on this issue.

It hasn't dawned on this group yet, that someone is going to jail for a long time.

[fabius]

70. Well, there is the potential pardon...

but it would be political poison for Bush to do it. :evilgrin:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

41. Me, I'm waiting for * to come out and say

"Let's make something perfectly clear: I am not a crook!"

[goforit]

61. LOL!!!......Tooo Funny!!!

Lets hope he does.

[Zech Marquis]

45. uh-oh, Unca Dick's in some seriuos trouble!!!

We're talking about someone in Crashcart's personal staff behind thi leaking, and for all purposes HE is calling all the shots, * is merely the mouthpiece. OMFG!!! This is really going to explode, and I mean :nuke:

[Teaser]

51. So who has offices in the Executive Office Building?

Is that where Cheney's crew would be?

[Scairp]

53. Yes

I do believe that the retired CIA agent was saying that this leak came out of the VP's office. That's why he fingered Libby.

[goforit]

62. I would hope the DOJ would be all over HALIBURTON as well!!!

Cheney's company may hold some of his devious info too.

[VolcanoJen]

65. Kick!

:dem:

[Dover]

67. LINK here

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/jspecial100203.html

[Dover]

71. 1972 Law that makes exception to journalists' 1st Amendment

Important article from Julian Borger:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1053191,00.html

Mr Novak and the other journalists involved have refused to name their sources. Their lawyers are expected to claim protection from the law under the first amendment of the constitution guaranteeing freedom of speech.

But a 1972 supreme court ruling, Branzburg v Hayes, states "the first amendment does not relieve a newspaper reporter of the obligation that all citizens have to respond to a grand jury subpoena and answer questions relevant to a criminal investigation".