Ex-Diplomat's Surprise Volley on Iraq Drove W.H. Into Political Warfare Mo

[kskiska]

WASHINGTON, July 22 - President Bush was celebrating his 57th birthday at the White House on July 6, 2003, a muggy midsummer Sunday. He had played golf with old friends at Andrews Air Force Base on Saturday, followed by an early birthday party arranged by his wife. The weekend marked a rare lull in the presidential schedule, a welcome break before a grueling trip to Africa that would start on Monday.

But a former diplomat named Joseph C. Wilson IV had just delivered an unwelcome present. In an Op-Ed article for The New York Times, an interview with The Washington Post and an appearance on "Meet the Press" on NBC, Mr. Wilson accused the administration of twisting the facts about Iraqi weapons and leading the nation to war on false pretenses.

In the growing chorus of criticism of the run-up to war, Mr. Wilson's one-man media onslaught stood out as a sort of eyewitness account. He had been dispatched to Niger by the C.I.A. to see whether Iraq was buying uranium there for nuclear weapons. He claimed to have debunked the story in March 2002, only to have it reappear in January 2003, in the president's State of the Union address.

(snip)

Ten weeks had passed since Mr. Bush's speech aboard an aircraft carrier, before a banner declaring "Mission Accomplished." And the president was being criticized by Democrats as taunting Iraqi insurgents a few days earlier by using the phrase "Bring 'em on." Behind the scenes, the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council were skirmishing over who would take the blame for inaccurate intelligence.

more…
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/24/politics/politicsspecial1/24leak.html

[havocmom]

1. They declared war on truth and tellers of truth, laying waste to many

of the mechanisms which help maintain security for the nation and world. They did it all for their political lies and war profiteering. Tens of thousands have died. Perhaps millions more before the damage is fixed.

Damn them. Damn them all to hell.

[countmyvote4real]

2. I ditto that and everybody that voted for their agenda.

If there was even a glimpse of an "Oops, I goofed" moment, I might be more tolerant. But there's none. Damn them ALL to hell.

[Maeve]

3. Truth....the final frontier

:eyes:

[goforit]

4. NYT is on a war path promoting Bush?....LOL!!!...No one will buy paper

LOL!!!

So who are they reporting to....
their own F*cking staff!

[rodeodance]

5. fair article. Glad to see the NYTimes is keeping the story alive.

.....By several accounts, some government officials initially did not take the case seriously, not bothering to retain lawyers before they were interviewed by F.B.I. agents. One person close to Mr. Powell said he did not have a lawyer when he testified to the grand jury investigating the leak and does not have one now.

The blasé attitude might have been encouraged in part by official statements from Scott McClellan, Mr. Fleischer's replacement as White House press secretary, that Mr. Rove and other officials had played no role in leaking Ms. Wilson's identity.

But the atmosphere surrounding the inquiry has changed. Revelations in recent weeks that Mr. Rove discussed the Wilsons with at least two reporters have called into question the earlier White House denials. And the jailing on July 6 of Judith Miller, a Times reporter, for refusing to reveal confidential sources to the grand jury, has suggested high stakes for the investigation.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

10. Herr Busch and Cheney retained lawyers almost immediately...

...that is a major signal of malfeasance, IMHO.

[rodeodance]

6. Grand headline too for the NYTimes.

[dansolo]

7. "rare lull"??

Isn't this the same president who has spent a record amount of time on vacation?

[Straight Shooter]

9. I noticed that, too. Almost as funny as "grueling" trip.

To be fair, though, his schedule is hectic. Just think about all those bike rides, eating pretzels, rubbing bald heads, having Condi sing him lullabyes ...

[WhiteTara]

11. and it all has to be done fairly early

in the day, so that he can watch monday night football and be in bed by 9
IMPEACH BUSH AND SEND HIM TO THE HAGUE

[kath]

15. That line jumped right out at me, too. "a rare lull in the presidential

schedule". WTF?!?!? Shorter "workdays" and more days on vacation than any other pRes. What a lazy sumbitch.

NYT, why don't you take Chimpy's #%@! out of your mouth and start doing some real reporting????

[Straight Shooter]

8. Aha! A double flip-flop in regards to Saddam, uranium, Wilson and Plame

Somersault flip-flop number 1, switching from WMD to a WMD program:

As Mr. Bush appeared with one African leader after another, reporters repeatedly tried to slip in questions on Iraq. On Wednesday, July 9, in South Africa, he was asked if he regretted the uranium reference in the January speech.

"Look," the (boy king) replied, "I am confident that Saddam Hussein had a weapons of mass destruction program."

And, of course, somersault flip-flop number 2, switching from "I will fire anybody involved in the leak," to, "I will fire anyone found guilty of a crime." (I'm paraphrasing in this instance.)

This is a good article, but it's very kid gloves in its approach to bush. When, oh, when are they going to knock him up the head with a 2-by-4 approach of "tell it like it is"?

[amber dog democrat]

16. Things have just started to unravel

When the run-down begins, events will snowball. There are going to be political consequences and with the Chimp in a box its already having an impact.

I love this current situation: Either he did not know what Libby and Rove were up to, or their degree of perjury, or he did. Maybe jailing JM and stonewalling the press is galvanizing reporters to press where there is vulnerability.

I have a very minisucule degree of sympathy for Nixon, and none for this Chimp and his junta. I am savoring this current situation.

[AlCzervik]

12. Well the truth is Bullshit's terrorist in Bushworld.

"We're right and you're all wrong and we'll do what we wanna do----Gosh!!!!"

[Pryderi]

13. Why does Fitzgerald say that a crime "may have been committed"?

Someone, somewhere broke a law.

[alfredo]

14. Excellent article.

Kick