Got Dick (Cheney)?

According to the New York Times I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Jr., Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of  staff, first learned about the C.I.A. officer at the heart of the leak investigation in a conversation with Mr. Cheney weeks before her identity became public in 2003. While there is nothing illegal about this discussion it would seem to directly contradict other Public statements by the Vice President:

MR. RUSSERT: Now, Ambassador Joe Wilson, a year before that, was sent over by the CIA because you raised the question about uranium from Africa. He says he came back from Niger and said that, in fact, he could not find any documentation that, in fact, Niger had sent uranium to Iraq or engaged in that activity and reported it back to the proper channels. Were you briefed on his findings in February, March of 2002?

VICE PRES. CHENEY: No. I don’t know Joe Wilson. I’ve never met Joe Wilson. A question had arisen. I’d heard a report that the Iraqis had been trying to acquire uranium in Africa, Niger in particular. I get a daily brief on my own each day before I meet with the president to go through the intel. And I ask lots of question. One of the questions I asked at that particular time about this, I said, “What do we know about this?” They take the question. He came back within a day or two and said, “This is all we know. There’s a lot we don’t know,” end of statement. And Joe Wilson—I don’t who sent Joe Wilson. He never submitted a report that I ever saw when he came back.

I guess the intriguing thing, Tim, on the whole thing, this question of whether or not the Iraqis were trying to acquire uranium in Africa. In the British report, this week, the Committee of the British Parliament, which just spent 90 days investigating all of this, revalidated their British claim that Saddam was, in fact, trying to acquire uranium in Africa. What was in the State of the Union speech and what was in the original British White papers. So there may be difference of opinion there. I don’t know what the truth is on the ground with respect to that, but I guess—like I say, I don’t know Mr. Wilson. I probably shouldn’t judge him. I have no idea who hired him and it never came...

MR. RUSSERT: The CIA did.

VICE PRES. CHENEY: Who in the CIA, I don’t know.

NBC's Meet the Press September 14th 2003

Comments

[Jodi]

Nice recall, Alain. Thanks. It really does seem like the house of cards is falling down, the shit is hitting the fan, the fascade is crumbling. It's like the Roberts nomination only bought the WH a little bit of time, interest has returned to the investigation. So, the Rove scandal gets worse and now Cheney is likely to go down.

It's interesting, though, I don't feel any thrill or excitement. Not even a smug 'I told you so.' In part, it may because the Democrats have nothing to do offer. Even worse, it may be because even the horrifying ideological formation held together by the Bush administration wasn't nothing, it was something, a bad something, but something. And, being against is much easier than being for.

So, a difference from Watergate (which I followed avidly as a kid), is that with all the energy from the anti-war movement, the student movement, the women's movement, Stonewall, and black power, there seemed, even in the economic malaise, at least some kind of alternative. There were sources of excitement and energy so it didn't seem like a vacuum.

Or maybe I'm just tired of 2 weeks of rain.

[Alain]

Jodi I generally agree with you. There is a vacuum as to an alternative. Even if Cheney himself would have to resign I do not sense there is any opposition ready to take the reins and move in another direction. And that is very disheartening.

From the same web site, http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/006827.php there is an interesting post on an Italian news report that indicates that the current National Security advisor had meetings with Italian intelligence back in 2002 to coordinate the effort to produce "evidence" that Hussein was trying obtain nuclear weapons. If this turns out to be true, I cannot imagine that the media in the United States can ignore the story. (But I have been wrong before)

And if there is "concrete proof" that people at the highest levels of government had fabricated evidence to justify the war, how can the administration avoid accountability? In the past it would have been impossible but today I am not so sure.

[Matt]

http://maxspeak.org/mt/archives/001715.html

Jodi, fantastic posts this week, by the way. I for one am sorry to be so out of it lately. Day job, etc; but thanks you two for holding down the fort. Only marginally related, all this talk of the need for paradigm shift in Evening News, white male anchor-ship, etc...just infuriates me. It so stubbornly misses the point...as if the choices were always between Walter Whitebread and Bono MTV, as if the real problem wasn't the suck-up nosejob hacks for the administration line posing as "journalists" in the first place. What we need is simple: more intelligent news anchors and investigative reporting. With balls, as Steven Cobert says. (His interviews are great, aren't they? And Stewart's are getting better too. And they're winning hearts and minds in the MSM, no doubt. Slowwlee.) But the corporate paradigm forbids it, this genuine intelligence, being so spoiled by Reagan-Bush-Clinton corporate welfare as they are. Still, there do seem to be some new openings and signs of hope, for irony and balls yet...'trends in network television comedy' with political implications perhaps on the horizon. Obviously, the dems need to win the House in '06 first.

That said: if this blog starts linking to TPM on a regular basis...well, I may have to resign too. As a matter of anti-liberal pride or rather hubris, generally.

[Alain]

Matt, please do not resign! I only use TPM because they are a great source of information. I certainly do not endorse their views. They have a series of posts and links on the Italian Intelligence connection to the forged Niger documents - really insightful and troubling.

And thanks for the link. Great quote for Mr. Cheney. It is clear that the special prosecutor is looking at Dick's role very closely in pre-war intelligence fabrication, what he knew and when he knew it. I think what is interesting about the Plame affair is that it is the tip of iceberg - that the evidence may beoming too much for even the msm to ignore.

[Matt]

Don't worry, Alain; I have a lifetime appointment.

[Carl]

http://www.cronyjobs.com/

[Alain]

Thanks Carl for the link. I think I saw a list somewhere of two dozen folks who had some affiliation to Bush or his family. What wonderful times we live in! A new Gilded Age.

[Michel]

Matt -
Please resign immediately. Your significant talents are urgently needed at http://www.cpusa.org/ - drop them your resume.

All I'm saying is - Give War a chance!