Bush Knew About Leak of CIA Operative's Name

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4629.shtml

Witnesses told a federal grand jury President George W. Bush knew about, and took no action to stop, the release of a covert CIA operative's name to a journalist in an attempt to discredit her husband, a critic of administration policy in Iraq.

Their damning testimony has prompted Bush to contact an outside lawyer for legal advice because evidence increasingly points to his involvement in the leak of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to syndicated columnist Robert Novak.

The move suggests the president anticipates being questioned by prosecutors. Sources say grand jury witnesses have implicated the President and his top advisor, Karl Rove.

White House spokesmen, however, dismiss the hiring of outside counsel as a routine precaution.

more

[TrueAmerican]

1. Impeach him NOW!

And throw him in jail! If true!

[TahitiNut]

19. Yup. If this ain't a "high crime" then I don't know what is.

I have no reasonable doubt this testimony is completely true. The hallmark of this cabal has been to proclaim the total opposite of the values underlying their own behavior. They've been beyond outrageous, dwarfing any prior meaning of 'chutzpa,' or 'hypocrisy.' The vast gulf between what they've said and what they've done staggers the imagination to the degree that any sane person has trouble grappling with the immensity of the deceit.

I don't give a rat's ass whether he's impeached at this point. I want these people behind bars. The litany of crimes and total betrayal of trust is virtually endless.

[Just Me]

52. Yes. The whole cabal should be behind bars!!!

And I completely agree with your assessment that, "the immensity of the deceit" is staggering to any decent, sane human being.

The betrayal is a total outrage!!!

[Jack Rabbit]

95. What would his father say?

No wonder he doesn't ask his Dad for advice. He'd get taken to the woodshed.

[NashVegas]

36. Dammit, No!

I want an election so we can throw 'em out!

[havocmom]

100. Yes! Impeach and get Cheney? Impeach him and get Hastert?

And let Hastert fire up all the paper shredders? No no no!

Drag it all out for the duration of the campaign season, throw ALL the bums out, make them stand trial, punish them as other traitors would be punished.

When Nixon resigned, he was replaced by Ford, who was not elected to the VP job anyway, and Ford made sure that Nixon would not face prosecution.
We do not want ANY Republican in the oval office to pardon any of the junta.

Impeachment may feel good for a few days, but the results would be dismal. Better to hold an election, get a new Attorney General then go after the bastards with a bunch of people who actually serve in government for sense of duty to the nation and not so they can rob the Treasury for the corporations who give them and their family members lucrative jobs in the private sector.

Impeachment would let too much get covered up and/or pardoned. But Republicans on the Hill might wanna do it just to cut their losses and to distance themselves from the sinking ship. This coming right after the election in South Dakota has got to scare the shit out of every Republican out there right now.

[NashVegas]

131. And Another Reason

The last thing I want to see is my fellow Americans watch Big Brother take out the trash *for us.* We gotta do it ourselves, or nothing is going to change.

[sampsonblk]

134. And NO flucking legacy

I don't want my son to grow up thinking GW Bush was a great servant of God. I want it known and clear that this guy is a pseudo-christian crook and liar.

[loathesomeshrub]

165. I was just telling my husband the same thing! No prosecutions till after

the elections! No pardons from Chimpy for anyone!!!

[LiberalFighter]

152. I wonder if it would be better having elections like they do in England.

Have a call for an election within the next 4 weeks.

[papau]

55. Knew about plan to commit crime and did not stop it - These are lousy

criminals since the first rule is a nod and a wink at most - so the Pres can deny everything and you can not say for certain he knew of anything.

Time for a criminal DA --- Oh - that's right - we have one out of Chicago that Bush can not control - it is out of Ashcrofts cover-up hands - can't be buried like the 2000 election fraud.

[gatlingforme]

59. Hopefully impeachement will not be necessary. Patrick Fitzgerald

will do a great job to get to the bottom of this. Here in Illinois, Fitzgerald is in the process of prosecuting our wonderful ex-Governor (George Ryan) for racketeering and many other crimes. Fitzgerald is an excellent US Attorney and you will hear alot more about him.....

[Dhalgren]

74. I want the son of a bitch impeached!

If this evidence holds up, then the House must proceed with impeachment. If they don't then there is no longer even the pretence to rule of law! I want this little, nasty bastard to be impeached so that when he is a lame-duck he won't be able to do anything to fuck up this country and this world anymore than he has already! I want his putrid little pustule hamstrung until he is perp-walked out of the WH and into a plane headed for the Hague.

[NNN0LHI]

103. He can be impeached after he leaves office...if he runs in November...

...which I doubt he will do.

Don

[Name removed]

154. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Bake]

136. With the Pukes in control of the House,

there IS no pretense of the rule of law! Besides, at this point, we can VOTE him out quicker than the House and Senate can boot him out. And he can still be prosecuted afterwards.

Let's get him out of the OUR White House.

Bake

[cosmicone]

169. Can a president pardon himself preemptively?

A question for the constitutional and criminal lawyers out there.

[skip fox]

142. Reassuring!

Good words to hear.

I still think the leaker was Scooter Libby. Subsequently Cheney and Bush were probably informed. Freakin' Bush. Too pathetically stupid to tell staff to never tell him of potential illegal activities. Hell, he'll just run the administration like some Yale frat house.

[calimary]

106. Oh. My. God.

My eyeballs are about to pop out of their sockets.

I was SO eager to put that "bush knew" bumper sticker in the back window of my car. I'd wanted one since the 9/11 suspicions started to grow legs and smell fishier. But - to quote our darling contradicta - "NO one could have IMAGINED that" the "bush knew" would apply SO BROADLY, TO SO MUCH. SO MUCH MORE.

By the way, don't have the link, but at the bottom of the bumper sticker is printed: www.copvcia.com - the From the Wilderness website.

Oh, and by the way, WHILE I have your attention, thought it might be a good idea to throw this back on the table...

PLEASE NOTE MY SIG LINE – TO CALL YOUR REPS, TOLL FREE!!!

OR, TRY (877) – 762 – 8762. It’ll get you there, too! (Thank you, DUer redqueen!)


Please note, here, The World's Greatest Lists of Media Contacts – updated May 5, 2004– in the following thread:

LINK:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1533796#


IF THEY THINK WE DON’T CARE, THEY WON’T, EITHER!

[jamesinca]

133. Ain't going to happen

Impeachment comes out of the House of Representatives. DeLay and his boys will take care of this issue for George.

[Beatrix]

140. Yes

but he can still be charged. If he is it will be VERY hard for even Delay to refuse impeachment. Too many will be demanding it. This will be especially true if he goes ahead and pardons him self.

[Beatrix]

138. Unfortunately

Either he will pardon him self or the next person to replace him will pardon him. (take a look at the order of presidential succession at the moment... right wing scum after right wing scum) Fortunately you can't pardon an impeachment as per the constitution - so at least we have that going for us.

[skip fox]

143. Problem is . . . if it was Scooter Libby, then Cheney knew as well.

So . . . throw out the first two, and . . .

[oblivious]

2. Holy crap!

Isn't this treason?

[MarianJack]

5. According to Our Great Leader's Father...

...it is!

HMMMM, I wonder how long it will take for this to be Clinton's fault?

[bowens43]

22. I don't know about treason.....

but it is at very least a felony.

[banana republican]

99. Throw his butt in Jail

He can rule the world from there; if he gets phone priviledges.

[Beatrix]

141. Could never convict

due to witness requirements in the constitution.

[rooboy]

3. Hmmm.... apparently you're either GOOD or you're EVIL...

which one are you, George?

[leesa]

61. And you're either for us or against us....sounds like he's against us

That makes him...A TERRORIST!! Like we didn't know.

[saracat]

4. Get that rat bastard Now!

This needs to be major news. Contact ALL media and ask them to run this story. And call talk radio. We can't let this die. This could finish him. This is Zero hour!

[leftchick]

26. apparently you did not know there is BIGGER "News"....

There will be a "bombshell" in the Lacy/Scott Peterson case today!
Sickening isn't it?

[calimary]

107. I second that! See post 106 for contact info link...

And DON'T forget that Handy-Dandy TOLL FREE NUMBER TO THE CAPITOL HILL SWITCHBOARD... (see my sig line)

[molly]

6. Why aren't we surprised?

every time he does one of his stunts, I visualize him mimicking Carla Faye Tucker begging for her life. This man is a leader - I don't think so!

[Judi Lynn]

23. Glad you mentioned that moment.

It told me all I'd ever need to know about this guy. Dishonest, small, vicious, petty, vindictive, nasty, rude, and stupid.

[Joanne98]

40. You forgot callous and sadistic.

[calimary]

109. ...and arrogant and WILLFULLY ignorant.

I could go on...

...and on...

...and on...

[Eloriel]

147. Psychopathic n/t

[cal04]

7. The idiots go after who told Chalabi

but not who outed our OWN, no brainer.
He knew, he knows everything that goes on
It's time for the Dems to get a full fledged investigation that they should have done a LONG time ago.

Federal investigators have begun administering polygraph examinations to civilian employees at the Pentagon to determine who may have disclosed highly classified intelligence to Ahmad Chalabi, the Iraqi who authorities suspect turned the information over to Iran, government officials said Wednesday.

[calimary]

157. Well, simple question: does Tenet drink?

The leak to Chalabi came from somebody high up - who was reportedly drunk at the time.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Not only did he know

he has also covered it up by not coming forward right from the start.

If this is true and Bu$h knew and did nothing to prevent it, and then did nothing afterwords to let the truth be known, than he is as guilty as the person he thinks he's protecting. Once again, Bu$h puts the interests of himself and his cronies ahead of the interests of the United States of America, the country that he took a solemn oath to defend and protect.

[calimary]

111. Wouldn't that constitute Obstruction of Justice?

That charge certainly nailed a lot of the Watergaters.

...TOLL FREE NUMBER...CAPITOL HILL SWITCHBOARD...1 (800) 839 - 5276...TOLL FREE!

[MaineDem]

9. What is "Capitol Hill Blue"?

I'm not familiar with it. Is it legit?

This is damning evdence, if true. I have no reason to doubt it but I worry that it's coming out when the Prez is going to Europe and emphasis will be on that trip and not the domestic news.

But, I agree, this is ENORMOUS news! We cannot let it get buried!

[Don Claybrook]

11. Capitol Hill Blue

It's my understanding that it's on the Washington insiders' "must-read" list of publications. So far as I know, they've always been on the up-and-up.

[MaineDem]

16. Thanks

That's exactly what I was hoping to hear.

Now this has to make the mainstream news and Bush is (should be) toast.

[salin]

57. It is a libertarian leaning ezine that lots of 'insiders'

speak to (off the record). Sometimes it picks up the buzz of the day and is more speculative than factual - but it quickly clears that up (with follow up articles, I have seen them disclose later when they realized they had been misled.) Due to the insider dishing, they often - but not always - have a good jump on developing stories.

[Misunderestimator]

88. I heard basically the same thing on CNN this morning...

pretty mainstream.

[TahitiNut]

41. CHB is a marginal e-zine.

It's been around (web-only) for about 10 years and is owned and operated by Doug Thompson, a former "journalist." It seems to be a non-partisan muckraking site. (It published stuff on the Clinton adminstration that was used as grist in the Repugnant mill.) That said, most of what it publishes turns out to be largely true even if presented with unsubstatiated trappings. Last year, Thompson had to retract an article that claimed Bush knew about the Niger/yellowcake scam since it turned out (accourding to Thompson) that a person ("Terrence J. Wilkerson") Thompson supposedly knew for 20 years was a fraud, one who claimed to be a CIA employee.

[Justice]

10. Bush Will Come Out and Say, I Didn't Know Rove That Well

he only came to meet with me a few times..... ala Chalabi and Ken Lay.

Seriously, he knew about it, and did nothing to stop it --he knew about the PLAN to out Plame and did nothing to stop the plan - can you say accomplice BEFORE the fact?

[Jacobin]

31. "Only saw Rove once in a rope line"

Might have met with him once with a group of officials.

Not sure what he looks like.

Think's he's Clinton's good friend.

:eyes:

[Jackpine Radical]

60. Wait a minnit--Rove, Rove...

Didn't he support Al Gore in my first election? Gave Gore a lot of money, I seem to recall.

[PurityOfEssence]

118. That's TOO funny

Yes, that Ann Richards moment was one of the best, wasn't it? I love the fact that avoided commenting on the later revelations that Richards had gotten $20K from Lay, but he had gotten $143,500. Junior also said that he hadn't known Kenny-Boy before '94, when there's pretty strong evidence that he called an Argentine Senator in '88 to lobby/bribe for an Enron pipeline to Chile.

Thanks for the yuk.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

137. More importantly, can you say CONSPIRACY?

If this isn't a conspiracy, nothing is...

[sampsonblk]

146. Its not Bush's fault at all

Someone gave him faulty advisors, friends, intelligence and speaking skills. We must find out who did this to our Great President Sent by God! LOL

[Kahuna]

12. This would be so lovely if true. (She said, sounding like kate Hepburn)

:7 All we need is for this story to make it to the mainstream media. Doesn't matter whether it goes anywhere. It draws a nice correlation between bushco and Nixon. Buh bye, Duhbya. :puke:

[kcwayne]

13. Cheney is coughing Bush up

The investigation has been pointing at Cheney as the source of the leak. I guess Cheney decided he better sacrifice Bush to preserve his (Cheney's) presidency.

[skip fox]

144. No, if it came thru Cheney's office (Scooter Libby)

Then Cheney knows as well, at least after the fact. So . . . two go down.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. You know what really scares me?

I sincerely believe that these kind of dirty tricks are normal for the business world.

[emulatorloo]

25. Yes, but this isn't business

This is the Presidency and it is a violation of national security. This is putting you and me in danger because they wanted "revenge" on Joe Wilson.

[The Backlash Cometh]

42. Oh, I certainly support Bush getting hit with the book...

...but, how much of this goes on everyday that will never see its day in court?

[TahitiNut]

43. Trust me, they are.

[Joanne98]

44. Ya. The Enron tapes let you hear first had what they are.

[KansDem]

98. You've nailed it!!!

I thought the same thing. Bush as his ilk ARE running the United States like a corporation. But that (in my opinion) runs counter to running a country to do the PEOPLE's business.

How many times in the past decade or so have we heard (mostly GOP) candidates make the statement that "if elected, they'll run the government like a business," whether it's local, state, or national? This was usually in response to perceived mishandling of funds (like running deficits). But how many of us realized that "running government like a business" meant doing these kinds of dirty tricks?

When His Royal Flatulence and Cheney announced their candidacy in '98, we were supposed to believe that two oil CEOs would be good for the country. I believe we're now seeing that to be ever so false, even though many of us KNEW something like this would happen. We simply CANNOT put business executives in charge of doing the people's business! Maintaining the public trust is simply NOT within the intellectual capabilities of corporate types.

Perhaps this sleazy tactic used by Bush will forever put an end to the "run government like a business" mantra of the Neocons.

[DemBones DemBones]

108. Your analysis is on the money and

I agree that it's something many of us have known all along -- knowing that two oil CEOs running the country was a bad idea, that "running the country like a business" was a bad idea since it has to be understood that those who advocate it NEVER mean "like a completely honest and ethically-run business."

[Bandit]

116. Business and "dirty tricks" are not synonymous

I run a small business and dirty tricks are not any part of it what so ever. Painting with a mighty wide brush there.

[section321]

120. Exactly....

Bush is our first MBA president, and hopefully our last. Running a business is completely different then running a country.

America is not a corporation.

In a corporation, the workers don't have a vote. In America we have the right to vote (even if the counting doesn't work out)

In a corporation, you have the ability to leave if you don't like how things are going. America is my country and I'll be damned if I'm leaving my country to be screwed up by some elitist, wannabe cowboy. (If you don't believe GWB is an elitist, watch the trailer for Farenheit 9/11.. "we have here the haves, and the have mores. Some call you elite, I call you my base"

In a corporation, the goal is to make a profit. In America, the goal is life liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In summary, I don't want my country run like a business. I want my country run like a country.

[The Backlash Cometh]

125. Wow. Well said.

Kick

[PurityOfEssence]

122. Which fuels one of my principal arguments when dealing with conservatives

I use very different approaches with conservatives, and in this instance I ask: who would you rather have running the country, business or government? That's your only choice. The two together (fascism) is uncontrollable, and business alone is absolutely opaque and functioning for its own good, not yours. That leaves us with government, so sloppy and slow that it may be, it's the only way.

[jobendorfer]

151. an excellent argument

I often use it myself -- with an additional point. If some
government service or function is privatized, that service
or function is carried out by an entity that responds to and
works for the interests of its stockholders. At least when
a government agency performs the function or service, there
is some congressional oversight, and in some small way, the
agency is responsive to our votes. Therefore, in my mind,
supporting privatization essentially equals supporting disem-
powerment of the people.

J.

[The Backlash Cometh]

155. Kudos to both of you.

*

[Bozvotros]

15. I expect to see him take the fifth

As Karen and Karl try to wrestle it away from him right before his bigtime resignation speech. Prime time!!

[DemBones DemBones]

113. He'll plead executive privilege first, don't you think? nt

[PurityOfEssence]

124. Nah, at least a liter

Pass the pretzels.

[Walt Starr]

17. This is a serious revelation

This means that the president of the United States conspired with members of his administration to commit treason.

Worse than Watergate indeed!

[Justice]

18. Very Serious, If True

I agree, far worse than Watergate.

[are_we_united_yet]

39. Yes

I must agree. This is pretty bad. I wonder if Cheney will be implicated?

[Catfight]

121. Bush committing treason is of no surprise to me. Puppets

are easily persuaded in either direction..good or evil. He reminds me of Keating in the "Fountainhead," by Ayn Rand. He's easily built up only to be destroyed for sport. A man with little talent is easily disillusioned to believe he has a purpose of greater things. He's just an below average egomaniac with little-man-syndrome. I don't feel one ounce of pity for his Napoleon complex. I'd like to see him executed in his own home state of Texas for his crimes some day against this once great country. A pity so many died by this flunky's hands. And he didn't even win the popular vote, it's disgusting, the whole 4 years of this puppet.

[calimary]

123. Obstruction of justice - if he knew and did nothing about it.

BTW - I've taken my own advice, and called that TOLL FREE Capitol Hill Switchboard number. I've actually talked to people in several offices by now. Some of them had not yet heard about this, and pulled the Capitol Hill Blue website up as I was describing it. Maxine Waters' office asked me to fax the story (which I'd already printed out for myself) which I did. I've asked several of the staffers I've spoken with - if this did indeed sound like obstruction of justice, and they all said yes. Then, I usually follow that up with "...can we impeach him NOW?" invariably there's a most receptive reaction to that.

[grytpype]

20. Wow!

"Witnesses" plural!

Bush is so f*cking DONE!

[Ganja Ninja]

21. He's a co-conspirator.

That makes him a felon too. It wouldn't surprise me if he was the source of the Chalabi leak too. Start the impeachment now before he leaks any more intelligence info.

[calimary]

119. Hope he's not an UNindicted co-conspirator. Couldn't he be the source

of the Chalabi leak? I have no idea, but wasn't there some quote or some statement that said Chalabi got this while talking to some insider who was drunk at the time? Fits the description for our boy georgie...

[grytpype]

24. They keep demolishing my low expectations.

About the Plame Affair, I said the whole time, if they didn't give Bush plausible deniability about the whole thing, they are way stupider than I thought.

And here we are. Bush knew about it and did nothing to stop it, Rove approved it (according to the article).

They're going to have to build a new prison to hold all the criminals in the Bush Misadministration.

[DaveSZ]

28. wow

Can someone post the quote of George HW BUsh calling the Plame outing "treason?"

[UpInArms]

34. this one:

"We need more human intelligence. That means we need more protection for the methods we use to gather intelligence and more protection for our sources, particularly our human sources, people that are risking their lives for their country. Even though I'm a tranquil guy now at this stage of my life, I have nothing but contempt and anger for those who betray the trust by exposing the name of our sources. They are, in my view, the most insidious, of traitors." - George H.W. Bush, April 16, 1999, Dedication Speech, George Bush Center for Intelligence

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/03/10/02_spies.html

[Oilwellian]

86. The irony....

is just too delish. :D

[Dover]

96. Yes we need to empty the jails so we can fill them up with WHITE COLLAR

criminals who have taken more from this country than any two bit thief or drug user could even imagine.

And the white collar prisons can also hold the pedophile clergymen as well.

[Alerter_]

104. sounds good to me, release all the pot smokers

and fill up the prisons with Kenny Boy and Rumsfeld and Feith and the like. They can make Tshirts for 10 cents an hour, so they can buy ciggys at the prison store.

[DemBones DemBones]

117. Excellent idea and

I appreciate your saying "pedophile clergymen" because it is a problem across denominations of Christians and includes Jewish clergy as well, and presumably Muslims and others, too, plus lay leaders among the Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, and others which have no hierarchical clerical structure.

Even better, let's imprison all convicted pedophiles and others convicted of so-called "sex crimes", no matter who they are or what their occupation.

When you get right down to it, those guilty of white-collar crimes and those guilty of sex crimes are really guilty of abusing the power they hold over other human beings and that's the crime we should focus on.

Following that premise, we would also give far longer sentences to those found guilty of abusing prisoners they were paid to guard than the sentences so far assigned to the abusive guards of Abu Ghraib.

[PurityOfEssence]

127. Well put; absolutely!

Abuse of power and trust crimes are far worse than personal substance abuse or crimes of petty property theft. Although we can't hold society together without prosecuting general larceny and shoplifting, the far more odious (and insidious) crimes are the ones by people in power; not only do they do more damage to the victim, they undermine our trust in social systems, and thus erode the very mortar of society. Without this trust, we are left with no stake in the common enterprise, and all become self-serving cynics or compliant slaves.

I do like the emphasis you put on "clergy", since I feel that much of the hammering on the Catholics has been stealth anti-papacy of the fundie protestants, and this is obviously a pan-religious problem. Take it from a fairly anti-religion agnostic, I greatly prize people like you who keep things in perspective and keep the channels of communication open.

[Algomas]

153. Here is a great idea...

Place the pedophiles in charge of Guantanamo and then sentence Bushco. to life there. Wired and hooded of course and at the total mercy of the Holy butt weasles.

[Eloriel]

156. Oh, they'll just manufacture plausible deniability after the fact

It's never too late for those liars. You think you'll see any of them admit the truth?

"I don't recall" is only ONE of the possibilities. But not a single one of them is beyond lying through their teeth even when the truth is sitting right across from them.

[LeftHander]

27. George "No Action" Bush

Seems that there is a pattern here....

Took no action to pursue terror threats summer 2001....
Took no action when planes slammed into WTC...
Took no action to stop neocons from raping social programs...
Took no action to stop Cheney's chicanery...
Took no action to stop Plame leak...

Maybe they will create a "No Action" figure of *

[Kool Kitty]

150. Wow, that's good!!

A "No Action" figure of Bush. Really, that is too funny. And sadly, too true. Love it.:yourock:

[Ganja Ninja]

29. Freeper reactions range from confusion to disbelief to denial to ...

pouting.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1146483/posts

:eyes:

[Jacobin]

33. By jove, its that damn "librul media" again!!!

Somebody go over there and tell them its the damn media reporting this crap in a time of war. Trying to besmirch the name of Wittle Winston, the "war prezdint".

[Justice]

35. Read That Last Post

Funny. Still in complete denial - sounds like Hannity himself.

I particularly like the "8 years of 'legitimate' abuse of power" (now, what does that mean - how does one abuse power legitimately?)


"I don't get it. Wilson is rabidly anti-Bush. This makes everything he does very suspect to begin with. He claimed to have "investigated" the yellowcake report in Africa when he actually did no such thing, according to the Africans themselves. He said his wife's identity was leaked when half of social Washington already knew exactly who she was.

Why the investigation? Where's the scandal? I am amazed after 8 years of legitimate abuse of power, obstruction of justice and scandals, that the press is consumed with (1) Panties on Iraqi heads as "torture", and (2) The non-Leak of an Overt Covert Agent."

[are_we_united_yet]

45. Can you say

lost cause?

[Paradise]

54. good point!

is it possible 'they' realize that * is illegitimately abusing power.
now wouldn't that be somethin', if 'they' did.

[Kahuna]

46. Good post from freepland....

To: All
Why do I have the sickening feeling that this might be the thing that gives us President Kerry?



:bounce:

[Jacobin]

30. No "high crimes and misdemeanors" here. Merely treason.

Move along.

/sarcasm

Jeeze at least he didn't get a blow job!!!

[robbedvoter]

32. Time to wear my "BUSH KNEW" button again

911, Plame, Chalabi - it's a conversation piece now!

[shtinkycat]

37. I just wrote to CNN, LA Times, NY Times and local rag

Everybody - forward this story along. If true, this could FINALLY bring down the worst president in US history.

[Stuckinthebush]

66. Good idea, shtinkycat!

We need to let the media know that they should jump on this and start using the "impeachment" word.

High crime...high crime...high crime....

Now that the media are starting to wake up, perhaps they will jump on this.

[Domitan]

38. Let this be Bush's damnation

Time to smoke them out for good!

[dusty64]

47. All of the mounting evidence

of scandals, corruption, and crimes (including war crimes) would be enought to topple if not imprison (or worse) anyone else, yet this cabal keeps skating away with just lowered approval ratings. WTF is going on here. We can't just blame this on a corporate media (although they bare a great deal it), the opposition had better start getting louder and meaner. This is NOT a consensual blowjob we are talking about there is lots of evidence of TREASON and WAR CRIMES not to mention LIES, LIES, LIES! I don't want them just thrown out of office anymore, I want to make that chimp POS eat those words "I don't testify" as he is marched off to a REAL prison (not a country club one like rethugs usually go to).

[Claire Beth]

48. Bush knew all along! n/t

[arwalden]

49. So When Clinton Hired A Lawyer... Repubs Said It Was "Evidence Of Guilt"

concerning his involvement with the Whitewater land deal and scandal.

Yet... when Bush* hires a lawyer it's "routine precaution". ("White House spokesmen, however, dismiss the hiring of outside counsel as a routine precaution.")


I smell a hypocrite! Can you smell it too?

-- Allen

[Jacobin]

148. Even better

Limpballs said the same thing. Said you "only hire Roy Black" if you are "guilty", referring to a Kennedy family legal problem.

Who does Limpballs hire when he's busted for hillbilly heroin? Roy Black. :bounce:

[gristy]

50. The last paragraph in the article says it all.

Sources within the investigation say evidence points to Rove approving release of the leak. They add that their investigation suggests the President knew about Rove's actions but took no action to stop release of Plame's name.

Time to...

Abandon Ship!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

51. I don't think he did know. I think they keep him in the dark purposely

because they know if he didn't know he can't be prosecuted. Plus why bother little Georgey ?He's not actually running the show. Now I bet CHENEY knew!

[Athame]

87. I think you're on to something

Maybe the witnesses were not referring to *shrub when they said the President knew...:evilgrin:

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

97. Plausible deniability my friend. That was Reagan's middle name. n/t

[Mandate My Ass]

53. and he *LIED* about it when asked

Let's not forget the freeps favorite retort when you
remind them a blowjob is not a crime. But this is a
crime, a REALLY big one.

I can't believe I still have the ability to be shocked by
their crimes, arrogance and deceit.

And yet here I sit with my jaw on the floor. Holy crap.

This cannot stand.

[slinkerwink]

56. he needs to be arrested for TREASON

[FreakinDJ]

58. Accessory after the fact

When are these bumbs going to jail

[quispquake]

62. And it's hitting the majors now...

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/home/main100.shtml

Excellent!!!

Should be a fun day!

[tlcandie]

69. Didn't find in this link anything that the Hill is reporting about?

:shrug:

[DS1]

63. Looks like we'll have to subpoena a sitting pResident. ALONE

this time you f*ck!

[snippy]

64. Responsible felons would have protected their boss by withholding

information about their specific criminal activity, but Bush is such a corrupt and vindictive little shit that he probably had fun being in on the action. I have long thought that Card and Rove were in charge of the Plame leak, but always assumed that they would shield Bush from actual knowledge of the criminal conspiracy and activity. I also think the Plame leak was just one part of a larger criminal conspiracy involving the Bush Invasion of Iraq.

Here is a post from October of last year:

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=&conten...

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.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=142863#142952

[berry]

114. This is an EXCELLENT point.

Maybe it needs its own thread in GD?

I knew about WHIG, and in general never trusted a word coming out of the WH, but this needs to be focused on because it is proof that the lies were *systemic*. This was a group with a disinformation *agenda*. (And I think using public money to propagandize the US public is illegal. Not that there aren't other crimes involved as well.)

[LizW]

115. Excellent post

Thanks for bringing up WHIG again. We can't forget that this whole thing was conceived and actively marketed by political operatives working from the Situation Room of the White House. WHIG is responsible for selling the American public all the major lies about Iraq. This is a conspiracy.

The answer to your question #3, I think, is that this was done for the purpose of allowing Bushco's corporate donors and cronies to bleed the U.S. Treasury dry through war profiteering. The answer, as always, is that is is about the money.

[Stuckinthebush]

65. This is IMPEACHABLE!!

We impeached Clinton for lying about an extramarital affair under oath. That was so minor compared to this.

Are we the only ones who see this clearly?

[TNOE]

67. Question

May have been asked and answered and I missed it - but given the seriousness of the offense - can't Novak be forced to reveal who told him?

[Snellius]

68. Who leaked secret federal grand jury testimony to Bush?

This brings up the issue of the secrecy of federal grand jury testimony. Obviously, someone illegally tipped off Bush what was said at the hearing, opening up another can of worms. This was what Starr was doing during the Lewinsky case. Then Starr justified his leaks by trying to defend the office of special prosecutor, but in this case there is no possible justification for violating the secrecy rule. Is it illegal to even participate in a discussion about such information knowing it is illegally obtained? Maybe George and Martha will share a cell.

[Stuckinthebush]

70. Ouch! Good point.

Is it OK to let a potential target of investigation know that he/she will be investigated based on grand jury testimony?

[Snellius]

73. What's worse. It's a leak to a suspect under investigation

There is no way this can be justified. Bush is a potential defendant in the case. And if it was leaked to Bush, it was leaked to Rove and all the other usual suspects as well.

[MaineDem]

71. I'm not a lawyer but...

I don't think there's any rule that witnesses can't relate what they've said. I believe the grand jury members are prohibited from disclosing what they've heard.

[Hepburn]

78. Justice Department's Special prosecutor....

....is Patrick Fitzgerald out of Chicago - I think. From what I have read about him, he is a straight shooter. I would doubt if he leaked anything. Ashcroft recused himself in the matter and as I understand it, Deputy Attorney General James Comey appointed Fitzgerald. Both these guys are employees and not political appointees. IMO: Once this can of worms got away from the control of BushCo - that is ALL she wrote!!

IMO: Fitzgerald has balls and Bush is GOING DOWN!!!!!!!!!!

[ProfessorGAC]

92. They Appointed The Wrong Republican For This

Fitzgerald is a rare Illinois Republican. He has ethics! He will not roll over and will do his best, without regard to political game playing.

When they appointed Pat, they thought they were getting a loyal soldier. Instead they got a legal warrior determined to get to the bottom of it.

Ooops.
The Professor

[grasswire]

72. it's time to pressure moderate Republicans...

...to take this WH down. If you have a GOP senator or congressman, you MUST contact him/her and put the pressure on to remove Bush/Cheney from office. For the good of the GOP, of course.

Only Republicans can force him out at this point. We don't have the votes in Congress to make it happen.

Make that contact now, today, this morning.

[quispquake]

77. I just wrote Olympia Snowe...

She's a moderate Republican, and often breaks ranks...I sent her an impassioned email with a link to the story.

pp23

[Malva Zebrina]

79. I think I will call her office and save all of that paper

I must have been sent a half ton of her form letters.

I wish we had a Democrat who could upseat her. She has outstayed her welcome. I am not pleased with either of them.

[calimary]

129. 1 (800) 839 - 5276 - TOLL FREE TO CAPITOL HILL.

Don't JUST send an email. PHONE THEM!

Then go to www.congress.org - the directories will provide you with the FAX numbers of all these people. Send them something tangible, not electronic, that they can hold in their hand, pass around the office for others to look at, and make copies of.

[Malva Zebrina]

75. at the very least, we should have been hearing what Bush had done

immediately after hearing of this type of treason coming from his administration. Now, we want to know what he did and if he did nothing, why did he do nothing. No one was fired--and it seems it was , like almost everything this crew does, tried to be hushed up or kept secret--Bush will deny he knew about the meetings--but he cannot deny he did nothing about it -- or he can say he demanded to know from whence came the leak to Novak and no one fessed up but you know that is not feasible--it would simply have taken a few phone calls to Novak or to the others who were contacted--so I think he is really in a position to be impeached--

He should be questioned about why he did nothing and perhaps that is why he hired a personal attorney. He does not want to answer that question.

[yellowcanine]

76. Holy Shit! This is a nuclear bomb. If there is any truth to this, Bush

is toast and won't even get the nomination and/or the Republican Party will implode.

[dryan]

80. Plame affair

This woman's career in the CIA is essentially over since she can't do any more work in operations. She can only serve in the administration or analysis departments of the CIA. Also, for arguments sake, what could have happened if her photo had been printed. She would have been a target. Read Wilson's book Politics of Truth.

[Stuckinthebush]

84. Not only that...

But she was a very significant asset on none other than the War on Terror!

So the Bushies outed an anti-terrorism expert for the sophomoric excuse to get back at her husband who had embarrassed the president.

I think they are now drinking gallons of embarrassment instead of the shot glass full that Wilson gave them.

Idiots.

[Nevernose]

82. You seriously underestimate the GOP, my friend

We could have video of GW impaling babies on spikes in the rose garden and at least 25% of the electorate would still vote for him.

[MallRat]

81. FINALLY! A scandal that goes TO THE TOP!

DING!

When do impeachment proceedings begin?

-MR

[Cocoa]

83. not a reliable source on this

they already published one bogus "smoking gun" regarding this story.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2966

[Stuckinthebush]

85. I thought that Capitol Hill Blue was reliable

:shrug:

[librechik]

89. not especially, and they have a RW slant n/t

[Stuckinthebush]

90. If they have a right wing slant, then this story must be much bigger!

:D

I can dream....

[Dover]

91. BUSH KNEW! BUSH KNEW! BUSH KNEW! BUSH KNEW!

I think that's all the headline we need....that should cover it all.

[leftofthedial]

93. o c'mon, it's just treason

it's not like he lied about a blow job or anything

[ElsewheresDaughter]

94. TREASON! send him to cell with hansen! NOW

[peekaloo]

101. and Tenet resigns the night that it's revealed Boo$h has hired

outside counsel.

How sturdy is their house of cards now?

[bushisanidiot]

102. Hang Him High!! He committed a treasonable offense!!

george w. bush is an enemy to the united states of america

[Catherine Vincent]

105. Instead of this topic being breaking news. the Tenet resignation is.

Hmmm.....

[denverbill]

110. Holy Shiite.

I don't know how reliable Capital Hill Blue is, but if a witness actually testified to a Grand Jury about Shrub knowing, he is toast.

Damn, blowing a covert operatives cover for crass political gain is unspeakable.

[AndyTiedye]

139. Not Just ANY Covert Operative

She was running the CIA's operation to look for illicit WMDs.
That operation has persumably had to restart from scratch, making all
new contacts at a time when our popularity abroad is at an all-time low.

This particular betrayal makes it far more likely that terrorists will
be able to :nuke: us.

If Bush* is planning to MIHOP such a thing as an "October Surprise",
he would have had to destroy Plame's organization first, as it would
likely interfere with such plans.

[Jose Diablo]

161. Yes indeed

Bush* himself took out one of America's defense against a terrorist nuclear attack.

Plame's network of operators was monitoring clandestine nuclear trade. I wonder if any in her network were killed?

If one of our cities is attacked, we can thank Bush*.

[proud patriot]

112. We are the Patriots , Take that you freeper scumbags

Bush must be prosecuted to highest extent of the law .

Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR
Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR
Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR
Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR
Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR
Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR Bush is a TRAITOR

[kodi]

126. in the US one is innocent 'til proven guilty, ops, forgot the patriot act!

impeach, convict, remove from office, then try for treason, convict, sentence to life imprisonment at levenworth.

its the only legal way to show the world that america holds its leaders to the high moral ground that the ten commandments beckon us to, its a christian nation afer all and the Lord our God does not look lightly upon a leader of a nation betraying its people.

amen, and god bless america!

<gee its fun once and while to write like a freeper, devoid of internal consistenies and making things up as one goes along!>

[WilliamPitt]

128. CapitolHillBlue.com = CRAP SOURCE

Remember when they reported that Bush quote which turned out to be a total fraud?

Caution here.

[TahitiNut]

132. Yes, but there's more there than meets the eye.

Doug Thompson wrote a retraction in CHB stating that he'd been duped by someone he'd known for 20 years and who identified himself as James R. Wilkinson. It implied that there was no such person in intelligence. Yet we got the following from WaPo ...

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.

Was WaPo also duped? I'm not at all sure we have accurate information on this one.

[JetJaguar]

170. Terrance J.

Wilkinson

Conned big time
By DOUG THOMPSON
Jul 9, 2003, 18:05

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_2529.shtml

Damn, I hate it when I've been had and I've been had big time.
In 1982, while I was working for Congressman Manuel Lujan of New Mexico, a man came up to a me during a gathering in Albuquerque and introduced himself as Terrance J. Wilkinson. He said he was a security consultant and gave me a business card with his name and just a Los Angeles phone number.


http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_2529.shtml



U.S. Central Command spokesman = Jim Wilkinson

[MGKrebs]

130. First of all, who's giving Rove classified info?

Does he have clearance?

And second of all, if they didn't have to spend so much time thinking about Clinton's penis, this would never have happened.

[TEXASYANKEE]

135. Media says ... Yawn.

If nobody cares that Bush told Prince Bandar about the invasion of Iraq BEFORE he told Powell, why should they care about this? So what if he leaked Plame's name (or knew about it)? So what if he told secrets to Chalabi? At least he didn't, Gawd forbid, have a blow job in the Oval Office. Now *that's* an impeachable offense!
<sarcasm off>

[Must_B_Free]

167. noone cares that the Neocons demanded that Clinton invade Iraq in 1998

but they want to pretend that this was somehow a new idea the were led to believe by faulty intelligence...

[skip fox]

145. In this story WHO leaked is extremely important

because it would indicate if W. knew or not. If Rove or someone in the VP's office like Scooter Libby leaked the name, then surely W. would have been informed by the guilty party. If it was Scooter, then Cheney would know as well. So . . . two obstruction cases!

See the following link for the argument that it was Scooter:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1712820

[calimary]

163. You just made me realize something: This investigation has gone on

for months, right? And at that one little impromptu press gathering where bush said he wanted to get to the bottom of it, and wanted everybody to cooperate, but didn't know if we'd EVER find out who the leaker was, right? And all this time has passed and still nothing outta him? I think that is a good indicator that he DOES know. More than he would like others around him to put two and two together and conclude. It can thus be surmised that evidently it's somebody bush himself knows, knows well, and/or feels protective about or friendly toward. All this delay suggests that he's in no hurry to see this outing happen, because it involves somebody who's important or significant to him, and he wants to keep him/her/them out of trouble. Also fits his pattern of not getting rid of anybody (unless they start telling uncomfortable truths, like Paul O'Neill and the money guys who blew the whistle about the budget and the Medicare scam). If it wasn't some crony of his, I suspect his behavior might be different. PLUS, I recall being struck by his demeanor when he made those remarks. He was very casual and smirky, which suggested strongly to me that something was pretty fishy there.

[David Zephyr]

149. Impeach This Criminal President Now! We Must Demand It.

What are our fine Democratic Party Senators and Congresspersons doing for crying out loud?!

What are they afraid of? What more do they need?!

A War that has drained the U.S. economy, cost the very lives of our children and/or their limbs...all "cooked up" -- as Ted Kennedy said --- with lies and lies and lies.

THERE WERE NO WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION.

BUSH AND CHENEY ORDERED THE TORTURE OF IRAQI PRISONERS.

BUSH AND CHENEY HAVE DESTROYED THE MANUFACTURING BASE OF THE U.S.

HOW MUCH SHIT HAS TO STACK UP BEFORE ONE PROMINENT DEMOCRAT STANDS UP IN THE WELL OF THE SENATE AND CALLS FOR THE IMPEACHMENT OF THIS PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT?

[0007]

158. ....keep de eye on de ball folks

[damnraddem]

159. Dubya didn't think he could be impeached:

he thought 'high crimes and misdemeanors' referred to using illegal drugs on the job.

[kerrycrat2k4]

160. This administration is nothing short of criminal

These fascist nazis must be impeached NOW!

[galaca1]

162. How does Bush get away with this?

[candy331]

166. I said when Ari Fleischer(sp) got out of there last year it

was to be in front of the storm that he knew was coming. I'm sure he knows way way much much too.

[skip fox]

164. Best source on story:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x54603

Now parked in DU's Editorials for the weekend.

[MarinCoUSA]

168. There's a cancer on your presidency

Yea! It's beginning to feel a lot like 1972!

[pfitz59]

171. The entire crew worked for C.R.E.E.P. in '72!

History repeats itself! Impeach them all!