"My money is on Mary. She is not a liar." By Larry Johnson

[rodeodance]

http://www.tpmcafe.com/node/tags
> Between Conscience and Unconscionable
> April 24, 2006 By Larry Johnson
>
> Now that Newsweek has slowed the Mary McCarthy lynch mob with its story that Mary emphatically denies she was the source of the leak, it is worth considering whether there are good leaks or nothing but bad leaks. Watching the right wing whackos on this issue is particularly fascinating and entertaining. When it comes to exposing the identity of Valerie Wilson, a case officer who worked most of her career as a non-official cover officer, Bush loyalists do more back flips and rely on more contortionist mental jumps than the Soviet national gymnastic's team in its hey day to justify her exposure. They will say anything to excuse inexcusable behavior. Come to think of it, they are acting like their fearless leader, George W. Bush.
>
> The body of evidence that George Bush lied about the rationale for going to war is increasing at almost the same rate as the price of gasoline. The October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate offered a mixed judgment on whether Iraq was rebuilding its nuclear capability. The CIA and DIA supported the notion and the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research and the Department of Energy said no.
>
> The one part of the estimate that the entire intelligence community did agree on was that Iraq was not trying to buy uranium from Niger or West. Within the last month we have learned that the CIA's National Intelligence Officer for Africa specifically briefed the President that the claim was "baseless" and that the top CIA spy in charge of operations in Europe, Tyler Drumheller, not only dismissed the uranium claim but also recruited a source from Saddam's inner circle who said that Saddam was no longer reconstituting his nation's WMD program.
>
> Of course, Bush ignored these hard facts and invaded Iraq on a false pretense. He seeks refuge in blaming the CIA, but now we have multiple witnesses blowing the whistle on that whopper.
>
> So, what about Mary?
>

[Ecumenist]

1. I am beginning to believe that they may have bitten off

far more than they were prepared to chew. The folks that work for CIA and other intelligence agencies are pretty pissed off at this bunch for outing Plame, doubtlessly causing the exposure and killings of agents all over the planet. I would look for a HUGE backlash against this sociopaths.

[rodeodance]

2. "Under George Bush, America is being asked to tolerate Gulag Politics".

.....The firing of Mary McCarthy and her trial in the media is a travesty. Particularly when George Bush continues to harbor leakers who put selfish political motives above the welfare of this nation. It remains to be seen if Mary McCarthy had anything to do with the leak of secret prisons. There is no doubt, however, that Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, Stephen Hadley, Dick Cheney, and George Bush directly participated in a campaign to leak misleading intelligence information to the American people. Patrick Fitzgerald's court filings make that point abundantly clear. Under George Bush, America is being asked to tolerate Gulag Politics. That is something I find intolerable and unconscionable.

[rodeodance]

3. I would think that the regular career workers would mighty sick and tired

of hearing about the 'bad intell"

[ShortnFiery]

4. There was a huge pseudo purge (early retirements/resignations)

of Career CIA Officers soon after the arrival of that Partisan Republican hack, Porter Goss. Damn the Democrats in the Senate that confirmed this hideous man who is absolutely trashing the CIA.

They have replaced, in a large way, professional officers and analysts with toadies touting a right wing agendas. Presently they are recruiting ass ki**ing subordinates with little to any "potential" at all other than the political ideology that matches the Neo-Con superiors. That's exactly what they wish to do ... this will make DOD assets and the FBI more powerful. :grr:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

5. But the topdog sociopath is Porter Goss. He drinks the koolaid each day

[Norquist Nemesis]

14. Koolaid runs through his veins

That's why Bush chose him.

[Virginia Dare]

16. I agree...

They trashed that woman's career and retirement for reasons that don't seem too clear at this point. By the way, they've done the same to some career military people for very murky reasons.

I think this is further proof that there is indeed a war going on between the career CIA people and the Administration.

I know who my money's on.

[hootinholler]

6. There's something about Mary

The only fact we know is she was fired after failing a polygraph.

Then the rumors started flying. Distraction from Fitz? Red meat for the base? Why?

-Hoot

[jumpoffdaplanet]

15. Not a fact, she denies failing the polygraph

It's all bullshit to cover bush's ass.

[hootinholler]

18. I thought she denied being the leaker, not failing the poly...

I'll have to go back now and review, thanks for correction!

-Hoot

[Jai4WKC08]

19. It was reported on Keith Olbermann last nite

That she flunked a portion of the polygraph, but she claims it was NOT the part where they asked her about being the leak. She has also claimed to have never leaked classified information, altho she admits to speaking to reporters (or maybe just a reporter... I don't remember) without prior approval. This is technically a violation of CIA policy, but not something that has ever been prosecuted (and probably cannot be, which is why she was fired but has not been charged, I would guess).

You can probably find a transcript at msnbc.com, if it has been posted yet.

As for the rest of the topic... yep, the rank and file CIA types are pissed as hell. They were unhappy before, at once again being blamed for faulty intelligence when it was really the policy makers ignoring the intelligence they were given and scraping up the intelligence they wanted. Then the Valerie Plame bullshit. Then Porter Goss comes along with his purges of the "disloyal" (to Bush and the GOP). That last one cuts several ways -- it punishes loyal (to America) people unfairly, it erodes the integrity of the institution, and it destroys the capability of the agency to do its job for a long time in the future. People who have spent a very long time working their hardest to make the CIA better are rightly angered, even outraged, to see all their efforts go down the tubes.

Which is pretty much the way many in the military and, from what I hear the State Department, feel as well.

[hootinholler]

20. So, she was fired after failing a polygraph.

That's not that uncommon in the SBI-Poly world. The one fact we know.

-Hoot

[Jai4WKC08]

21. Exactly right

You can bust a poly for just about anything. It's one reason why they're not admissable in a prosecution.

I think BushCo/Goss/etc were just after her for daring to be a "librul," found out about her speaking to reporters (probably by her own admission), and canned her in retribution. Right before her retirement too. Duke Cunningham is guilty of treason imo, and he will draw congressional retirement.

I've been sort of watching this on some of the right wing blogs and they were all reporting that she was a assigned for a time to CSIS (that evil, internationalist organization that George Soros has helped fund, and has Wes Clark, Brent Scowcroft, Tony Zinni, and an assortment of other "traitors" :sarcasm: on the board of directors). Same accusation, repeated in almost the same words, over and over... sounded like GOP-issued talking points to me.

[DoYouEverWonder]

22. One week before she was scheduled to retire

Normally she would have quietly left the agency and kept her retirement. Instead, BushCo decided to use her for political gain. Just like they did when they decided to out Valerie Plame and Brewster Jennings.

[TacticalPeek]

7. K&R

:kick:

[Neil Lisst]

8. She gave retirement notice months ago and was one week from retiring

They picked her because (1) she gave to Kerry in 04, and (2) she had unauthorized communications with media reps.

This was a straight up political "assassination" of her by the Bushies to send a message to all those career officers.

[quiet.american]

12. That's the real crime against democracy.

Since when did donating to any political candidate become a crime in this country? Bush et al. should be relentlessly called on the carpet for suggesting that donating to Kerry's campaign is a crime against the country.

[IndianaGreen]

9. George Will was screaming about the law breaking of CIA leakers

while this is the same George Will that stands mute when it comes to the law breaking of the Bush regime.

Conservatism is a fraud just like Christian fundamentalism!

[EVDebs]

11. Ooopie. George Tenet was attributed in one of the Priest stories...

Does Will wanna go there ?

[EVDebs]

10. The real leaks came not from her and Priest but broke earlier

Stephen Grey, and the wrongfully imprisoned German/Kuwaiti who was talking up a storm by then, let the 'cat out of the bag' so to speak.

Also note that even George Tenet was speaking about this by the time Dana Priest wrote about the secret prisons.

March '05 60 Minutes story, Nov '05 Priest's story appears. Plenty of talking going on by then. What gives here ? Another 'cover up' at CIA to cover up prior cover ups ?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2245137&mesg_id=2245400

[Burried News]

13. Great job by Ray McGovern on the NewHour last night.

Cool - calm - collected.

[SaintLouisBlues]

17. Rove's defense

"Bush loyalists do more back flips and rely on more contortionist mental jumps than the Soviet national gymnastic's team in its hey day to justify her exposure"

Reminds me of this classic from last fall:

(from allhatnocattle.net)

Rove's defense: author unknown

Karl didn't do anything wrong.

And even if he did, Valerie Plame wasn't a spy.

And even if she was, she wasn't undercover.

And even if she was, Wilson told everyone

And even if he didn't, everyone knew who she was anyway.

And even if they didn't, she had not done anything secret on the last 5 years.

And even if she did, outing her wasn't a crime

And even if it was, outing her did not ruin a 20 year CIA operation and their front company Brewster & Jennings

And even if it did, outing her did not endanger her and her family

And even if it did, outing her did not endanger otherCIA agents who worked for her

And even if it did, they deserved it because her CIA group was out to get Bush

And even if they weren't, Wilson lied.

And even if he didn't, it was trap concocted by Wilson's buddy Clinton and his wife Hillary to get at Bush

And even if it wasn't, Wilson was a partisan Democrat.

And even if he wasn't, his report wasn't important to anyone outside the Wilson household.

And even if it was, it was full of mistakes and grammar errors.

And even if it wasn't, everyone leaks intel like that in Congress.

And even if they don't, David Corn outed her first

And even if he didn't Novak never said her name

And even if he did he was never warned by the CIA not to do it

And even if he was Rove never said her name

And even if he did there is no proof

And even if there's proof, Rove only was only trying to prevent a mistake

And even if there was no mistake to prevent, Rove heard it from another reporter

And even if he didn't, he didn't know it was his job to prevent the leak

And even if he did, it's not like he signed a document saying he would never do it

And even if he did, it's not like Rove's boss promised to fire anyone involved

And even if he did, it's not like Bush signed a document saying he had to take corrective action

And even if he did, there is no proof someone from the WH blabbed

And even if there is proof, Judy Miller is not going to talk

And even if Judy talks, she was never working on a story about Wilson

And even if she was, there are no notes and the NYT denies it

And even if there are notes, Rove never mentioned any of this to anyone in the WH

And even if he did, no one will ever find the e-mail

And even if they find it, Rove had just forgotten about it

And even if he didn't forget, he lied to Bush and GW is innocent

And even if he isn't Democrats and Clinton are 'out to get Rove and Bush with lies and innuendo

And even if they are telling the truth... Hey look over there: See Miers? Letter from Al Qaeda? Avian Flu? Subway terror Alert

Valerie who? This is old news...