State Department Memo on Plame points to Bolton?

[choie]

From the Times today:

"...When Mr. Wilson's Op-Ed article appeared on July 6, 2003, a Sunday, Richard L. Armitage, then deputy secretary of state, called Carl W. Ford Jr., the assistant secretary for intelligence and research, at home, a former State Department official said. Mr. Armitage asked Mr. Ford to send a copy of the memorandum to Mr. Powell, who was preparing to leave for Africa with Mr. Bush, the former official said. Mr. Ford sent it to the White House for transmission to Mr. Powell. It is not clear who asked for the memorandum,..."

If I'm not mistaken, Carl Ford Jr was the guy who gave the damaging testimony at Bolton's hearing about Bolton's strong-armed tactics used against one of Ford's colleagues. Is it possible that Bolton asked for the memo described above - and that the classified information being sought by Dems in the Bolton confirmation hearings is the smoking gun?????

If this is true, this investigation could not only incriminate Rove, but also Bolton (not to mention Bush, Cheney,et al). They could all go down!!!!!!!! :nuke:

[kentuck]

1. Maybe there is a reason Mr Bush did not make a "recess" appointment?

Which would mean, Mr Bush is aware of all the slimy details already...

[choie]

2. Beauty!!!

[AuntiBush]

24. How could Bush not know. Let me repeat, how could he not know!

[FreedomAngel82]

28. Very interesting

I think this is why too. We haven't heard anything about Bolton in a while have we?

[Straight Shooter]

30. Somewhere on DU a thread indicating Bolton would "accept" recess appt.

I didn't check it out because I thought it was nuts for bush and bolton to consider going through with it at this time.

Looks like Mr. Mustache is in for quite a ride, himself.

[napi21]

3. All along, I've been saying there's a link between why the WH

won't release the requested info to Biden & Dodd. I still think Valerie's name was on that list that Bolton rquested, and that's why the WH has to keep it secret. If they let that out, it's going to show the actual source to the Plame outing was Bolton!

Won't it be funny is 2 Senators couldn't get that info, but the Special Prosecutor does!

[enough]

4. Good memory, choie

re: Carl Ford Jr

http://www.newsweek.co.uk/id/7492048/

snip>

Meanwhile, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice rejected testimony by a former State Department intelligence chief, Carl Ford Jr., that Bolton was a “serial abuser” of lower-level officials who challenged his analyses of other countries’ weapons programs.

“That is certainly not the John Bolton I know,” she said at a State Department news conference.

snip>

[choie]

6. Thanks!

I can't believe that the Times hasn't made this connection. I sure hope Biden and Dodd have!

[thefloyd]

5. daily kos has an outstanding

analysis regarding the whole affair. There could be lots of high level heads rolling

[Emit]

7. Yes, this is what Ford said...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46436-2005Apr12.html

Bolton's behavior "brings real question to my mind about his suitability for high office," said Carl W. Ford Jr. He told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is considering Bolton's nomination, that he is a loyal Republican, a staunch supporter of Bush and a "huge fan" of Vice President Cheney. "I'm as conservative as John Bolton is," Ford said. "But the fact is that the collateral damage and the personal hurt that he causes is not worth the price that had to be paid."

<<snip>>

Just for context, this article continues with:
In preparation for Bolton's confirmation hearings, the committee interviewed a handful of current and former intelligence officials about allegations that Bolton tried to pressure analysts to change their findings in support of his policy goals.

Over nearly seven hours of hearings on Monday, Bolton was pressed about two incidents involving a speech he gave in 2002 about Cuba. Bolton, who at the time held his current job of undersecretary of state for arms control, planned to announce that Cuba had a secret bioweapons program, although several intelligence officials considered the evidence ambiguous.

Christian Westermann, the chief bioweapons analyst at the State Department's bureau for intelligence and research, refused to approve the language and recommended changes. Yesterday, Ford, who ran the intelligence bureau at the time, said Bolton berated and intimidated Westermann and then tried to have him fired.

[leesa]

58. Do you suppose Ford is STILL a huge fan of Bush and Cheney?

He probably is, Republicans are so blind.

[The Night Owl]

8. I'm not sure I follow you...

Why would Bush want to nominate Bolton for any position if Bolton has the goods on who leaked Plame's identity? I mean, why take the risk?

[Tamarin]

9. Some people say (LOL) that Bush is rewarding Bolton

for his heavy-handed actions.

[Emit]

10. Hubris? n/t

[choie]

12. Great minds think alike!

[choie]

11. One word - Hubris

I think Bush truly doesn't believe he or any of his co-horts are accountable for anything they do. This has been proven true, as it has taken five years for this crime syndicate to have their feet held to the fire. Remember that the White House is refusing to release the possibly damning documentation requested by the Bolton confirmation committee. The appointment of Bolton could also be a reward for a "job well done". For that matter, Bolton could be threatening the administration, basically blackmailing them into keeping his appointment in play. Also, I'm sure they didn't think reporters would be held in contempt if they didn't cooperate with the investigation on the Plame outing.

[The Night Owl]

13. I can't imagine the Bushies were filled with much hubris...

I can't imagine the Bushies were filled with much hubris after an investigation into the leaking of Plame's identity was launched.

[choie]

15. No offense...

but you didn't just fall off the turnip truck, did you? ;)

[Emit]

16. Hubris is just that though...isn't it?

As I understand it, hubris is exaggerated pride, overconfidence and self importance, lacking humility with respect to knowledge, limitations, common sense, etc.

[Ready2Snap]

50. No, silly- It's pureed garbanzo beans with lemon juice, garlic and tahini

[Mandate My Ass]

14. Bolton not only had motive but he also had opportunity

When he was at the State Dept. Greg Thielman said Bolton insisted on getting raw intelligence, something that had never been done before for good reason. Raw intel includes, among other things, the actual names of covert agents rather than a pseudonym.

[sundancekid]

21. Bolton is probably J. Miller's source that ties them all to Iraq War lies

... therefore, bush would be doing what he usually does, he PROMOTES those that feed his agenda (think Rice, think Hadley, think Rove, think Tenet's Medal etc..), and besides, if Bolton was at UN he would become a hell of a spy source for bushco and beyond to neocons ... just IMHO

[oxbow]

23. Bush family awards loyalty

that's why they pick such unqualified people for all these positions. All their friends are immoral slimeballs, but very loyal to the Bushes. Bolton tows the line, so he's in. Everything else is secondary

[ProudDad]

43. You mean the Bush Crime Family

rewards loyalty...

[FreedomAngel82]

29. I think

that he's not trying anymore now that it's out. I think all this is connected and is why they weren't releasing the papers to Biden and the others who were requesting this information. We haven't heard anything of Bolton in a long time. Especially not sense all this has been going on. So I think if somehow Fitzgerald can get those documents it will show Bush was involved in everything. To think Bush wasn't involved is to underestimate him.

[eleny]

35. What if Bolton is connected to the leak

[calimary]

56. But this is what they frequently do...

If somebody's screwing up, or up to something, they tend to wind up promoted, or honored with some distinguished medal, or otherwise rewarded. It's only if they tell the truth or blow the whistle that they get punished. How better to lock in somebody's loyalty? It's a bigtime signal of approval and protection.

[jmcon007]

17. My theory on Bolton, for what it's worth......

During the vote count of the 2000 election in Florida a man burst through the door and yelled that the count had to stop. That man was John Bolton.
Later it was said that Cheney told him he could 'have anything he wanted' for what he did in Florida.
Well, he wanted Condi's job as National Security Advisor, but was told that the job was already Hadley's and he said he wanted Hadley's old job and Hadley said no.
Think about this. Can you just imagine Bush, Cheney, Condi and Hadley in a room and dying laughing about appointing him US ambassador and sending this asshole up there, especially in light of how they all hate the UN?
Makes a lot of sense to me, with this bunch anyway.

[choie]

18. Should we assume

that Biden and Dodd understand the possible link between the plame memo and Bolton or do we need to contact them to wake them up?

[bobbieinok]

19. never assume OUR representatives KNOW anything

I still remember the Fri before the 2000 selection when Bob Kerrey and Inouye held a press conference about W's non-record/AWOL in Vietnam.......they had JUST found out about this a week or so earlier......and Marty and the gang at salontabletalk had been discussing/investigating this since FEB!!!!!!!

election night at the local democratic party I talked to several dem activists and county officials........THEY HAD NEVER HEARD ABOUT THIS

rule of thumb: assume no one knows anything until they tell you otherwise

eg, how many dems and party officers know that there are questions about the validity of the 2004 results??????????????

[Disturbed]

20. When Maxine Waters was asked about..

PNAC she said that she had never heard of it. Bet she isn't the only one.

[A Brand New World]

22. Not sure about Biden & Dodd but I bet George Voinovich does which

is why he is so adament and teary about the prospect of Bolton being in the UN. As a Republican, I'm sure he knows alot about most of the shenanigans and may be finally reaching the limit of his endurance with those shenanigans.

[eleny]

38. His going into tears was one of the weirdest darn things

I mean - he votes to allow Bolton out of committee. But when he gets to the Senate floor, he breaks down. And the Republicans talk about him like he's a clown. Voinovich has stood up to the administration a time or two. But it's like this time he's Faust and he finally read the fine print.

[calimary]

57. Don't assume ANYTHING with these pathetic blockheads.

YES we need to contact them to wake them up. And we need to keep resetting their alarm clocks so the alarms keep going off every two minutes or so - to KEEP them awake. They're too accustomed by now to hitting the snooze button.

If they don't hear about this from people like us, and they don't KEEP hearing about it, they won't figure there's any need to look into it. Their pattern by now is to allow themselves to be bullied into taking bush's word for it, or giving bush the benefit of the doubt. They had no backbone at all until we started making a stink. And because this is "kinda new" to them, relatively speaking, they're a little shaky and have to be propped up. It's like expecting a baby to go take a walk with you when they're only starting to learn how to stand up by themselves. They need to be propped up.

Sigh ... we still have to nag these assholes like fishwives.

[Joanne98]

25. Judy Miller was also a UN Oil for food scandal hack!

Research support for this editorial was provided by the Investigative Fund of The Nation Institute. Alexa Danner provided research assistance.

The editorial page of the New York Times recently led with a justifiably outraged condemnation of George W. Bush's choice for United Nations ambassador--John Bolton, a famously outspoken anti-UN and antimultilateral ideologue. How ironic, then, that the Times's news editors had previously dispatched to the UN a reporter tight with the same Boltonite unilateralist clique--a reporter who has written about alleged wrongdoing at the UN in such an exaggerated way as to cast the organization and its leadership as almost beyond redemption.

When she began her work at the UN, Judith Miller was still under a cloud for her starring role in the Iraq Invasion Follies, in which she hyped Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction and Al Qaeda ties--claims that greatly buttressed the White House case for war but that ultimately proved unfounded . The Times, which has since published a series of mea culpas, placed Miller in a quasi quarantine, according to insiders at the paper. Yet she re-emerged, amazingly, still writing about Iraq--now from an oblique angle: the UN's alleged mismanagement of the Iraqi Oil for Food program.

In January 2004 the Iraqi daily Al-Mada listed 270 people suspected of profiting while enabling Saddam's government to evade oil sales restrictions. By April an independent UN inquiry was under way, headed by former Federal Reserve chair Paul Volcker. In May Miller was put on the story. Several Times sources say they believe Miller requested the assignment. Miller did not respond to interview requests, and Times executive editor Bill Keller declined to comment.


http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20050418&s=baker

[lala_rawraw]

26. You know, I am psychic it seems because I remember

just thinking this the other day, the other month, and frankly for quite some time... silly me, must be the tin foil panties;)

[FreedomAngel82]

31. Tin foil panties??

Where can I get some? ;)

[welshTerrier2]

27. Bolton's "recess appointment" goes buh-buh-buh-buh-bye-bye ...

prior to the Congressional recess, there were endless rumors floated that bush would use a recess appointment to make Bolton the US Ambassador to the UN ...

gee, i wonder why they decided not to do that ...

on edit: oops ... i see that Kentuck already highlighted this idea ... kudos to Kentuck ... they would have shoved Bolton down the Dems' throats if they didn't know he was up to his eyeballs in Plamegate ... i wonder if they'll withdraw his nomination at the opportune moment ?? maybe they'll talk about how they realize how many Dems objected to him and they want to show their bipartisan spirit ... yeah, right ...

[eleny]

37. I believe that if this whole Plame story sinks, he'll appoint Bolton

I think that they're as desperate to get into Iran as they were to go into Iraq. Some of this hinges on having Bolton go to the U.N. He can thrash around there making demands and mucking up the works. He can bore a hole into the U.N. that Cheney and his cabal can waltz through and march all the way to Iran. Just my gut feeling after the research of today.

[welshTerrier2]

39. Iran ...

Bolton has become a huge liability ...

i think many republicans, and some of the Democrats too, had been itching to attack Iran ... it's nothing short of madness ...

but now, perhaps (???) even if Bolton survives the Plame indictments, and it's not at all clear he will, i just can't imagine the Democrats, at least the majority of elected Democrats, going along with an attack on Iran ... and without at least substantial support from the Democrats, it seems like political suicide to move on to the next domino ... the American people are sick of the never-ending fighting ... frankly, it's not all that clear to me whether republicans would support another war right now ...

one thing's for sure, if the Democrats go along with another IWR, they can cross me off their good guy list ...

[eleny]

40. thanks

i think it will only happen if they manage to obfuscate the plame affair until eyes all over america glaze over. what worries me is bush's "in your face" personality. and he can create some major diversion with a roman candle scotus nomination. i fear that's his ace up sleeve to divert the nation's attention. how many fires can people monitor before bolton becomes the least? although, of course he's not any sort of "least" factor.

[welshTerrier2]

41. distractions ...

bush's "media marionettes" are already doing their little tapdances ...

but this time they are counting on being saved by political tricks and it won't work ... this time media distraction will not succeed ...

even if they are successful in diverting media attention, and i think too many journalists already smell blood and will not be deterred, and even if the American people get distracted by the latest Tom Cruise story or whatever, this time the WH has much more serious problems ...

why??

because this time they are being investigated by a professional prosecutor ... Fitzgerald is a bulldog who knows what he's doing ... even without public support, even without media support, and even without political support, the "facts will out" ...

and the facts could put an end to the neo-cons ... this is by far the most serious crisis they've faced ... ultimately, i expect the investigation will be joined by Congressional investigations ... there are many in the republican party who will not go along with the treasonous conduct we all know occurred ... and the press will smell the "ka-ching" of their cash registers as this grows to the scale of Watergate and beyond ...

the important thing for progressives right now is to keep the focus on the big picture ... bush and the neo-cons fabricated evidence ... we were the victims of a massive propaganda campaign ... in a democracy, the citizens are to be respected with the truth ... our institutions, for example government oversight committees and the press, failed to recognize that this propaganda campaign was being perpetrated on the American people ... bush did not "receive" bad intelligence; he "fabricated" bad intelligence ...

nothing in our country's history, not even Watergate, has tested the integrity of our government as this will ... have republicans become so partisan that they'll put their party ahead of honoring our laws? i don't believe they will ... will the corporate controlled press write the stories that will put an end to this corrupt administration? i think that some with courage will lead and others will follow ...

and if our institutions ultimately fail us and our citizens get distracted from clearly seeing the propaganda that was pushed upon them, and i like to believe neither of these will happen, then and only then will it be time to flush the country down the toilet ... i'm hopeful that justice will yet have its say ...

[eleny]

42. I read some about Fitzgerald today

He's the one who successfully prosecuted the case against the 1st World Trade Center bombers. And also the cases against those who bombed the African embassies. All during Clinton's administration, as you're aware. He certainly has the big picture in his head.

[Rebellious Republican]

32. Gee, did I call this one a couple of weeks ago..........

See my reply on this thread, post #12!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1527864

[proud patriot]

34. Wow , good call

:hi:

[Rebellious Republican]

44. Thanks PP N/T

:toast:

[eleny]

33. Bolton has to be in this up to his mustache

[proReality]

36. They could all go down!!!!!!!!

From your keyboard to the ears of the Gods!

[choie]

45. But why isni't this theory about Bolton today?

being discussed in he media a all today? Not a peep, as far as I can tell, about Bolton's possible connection to the Plame outing.

[Rebellious Republican]

46. Give it time, usually you see it here way before you see it there. N/T

[choie]

48. That's true

I emailed Joe Biden about the Bolton connection, and I plan on contacting Christopher Dodd and others tomorrow.

[Rebellious Republican]

49. You go girl, give'em hell! N/T

:applause:

[grasswire]

47. yes

I believe the classifed info on Bolton being sought IS precisely the smoking gun in the Plame matter.

Bolton apparently sought info on Plame/Wilson for the "workup" -- including intercepted communications.

I believe this is the key.

[Scout1071]

51. Link please?

Can't believe nobody has asked for a link before now!

[maddezmom]

53. link here

The memo was sent to Colin L. Powell, then the secretary of state, just before or as he traveled with President Bush and other senior officials to Africa starting on July 7, 2003, when the White House was scrambling to defend itself from a blast of criticism a few days earlier from the former diplomat, Joseph C. Wilson IV, current and former government officials said. Mr. Powell was seen walking around Air Force One during the trip with the memo in hand, said a person involved in the case who also requested anonymity because of the prosecutor's admonitions about talking about the investigation.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1631557&mesg_id=1631557

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1631557&mesg_id=1631557

[maddezmom]

52. Bolton wiretapped ElBaridei's office, too

http://sync.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x139897

[maddezmom]

54. Bolton changed procedures for handling intelligence in the Pentagon

Autumn 2003


Undersecretary of State for Arms Control John Bolton changes the procedures for handling intelligence in the Pentagon so that his office will receive more classified documents. “I found that there was lots of stuff that I wasn?t getting and that the INR analysts weren?t including,” Bolton later recalls in an interview with Seymour Hersh. “I didn?t want it filtered. I wanted to see everything—to be fully informed. If that puts someone?s nose out of joint, sorry about that.”
People and organizations involved: John R. Bolton


http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_timeline_of_the_2003_invasion_of_iraq&startpos=700#complete_timeline_of_the_2003_invasion_of_iraq_476

[mandomom]

59. Hey, Bolton,

how's the joint in your nose now?

[calimary]

55. Welcome to DU! What an intriguing point...

Does make you wonder what's in those documents the White House won't release about bolton - since he WAS trying to snoop around into people's dossiers...

Maybe he was supposed to be the E. Howard Hunt of this operation?

[choie]

60. I know that

it's probably a waste of time, but I did write Sen. Clinton, Schumer Feingold and Biden on the possible Bolton involvement in the Plame outing. You never know, they might grow a pair...

[choie]

61. I also emailed Randi Rhodes

who hasn't mentioned the theory yet. I just don't understand why nobody is getting the connection..I feel like I'm screaming into the wind!