‘War President’ Bush Stands By an American Traitor

Thanks, Victoria, for that morning wake-up call.

July 23--July 23--July 23--where will you be? What can you do?

From John Conyers (I love this man):

July 23rd House Parties
with
Ambassador Joe Wilson, Randi Rhodes
discussing
Downing Street, Rovegate, and the Ongoing Deception in Iraq

Dear Friend

July 23rd is the 3-year anniversary of the drafting of the Downing Street Minutes. I
am organizing a series of house parties on this date throughout the country in order
to broaden public understanding of how Karl Rove and the Bush Administration have
manipulated intelligence, deceived the American people, and misled our nation into
war.

http://updates3.email.dcnewsonline.com/c.asp?oXn5rgWfgZD345388Y8l6QQy9VS+jGECRYcp0teIqsKw

Given that we learned in the past few days that Karl Rove served as a source for
Robert Novak in his column outing Ms. Plame, it is becoming increasingly clear that
we need to learn not only what and why Rove told the press, but what the president
knew and when he knew it. If Rove is willing to spin this issue with the press, as
today's New York Times story appears to show, he ought to be willing to come clean
with the American people.

http://updates3.email.dcnewsonline.com/c.asp?JbIL/zDvSpbIBbok5ws8IgQy9VS+jGECRYcp0teIqsKw

Today, 91 of my Democratic colleagues joined me in a letter to the President ,
demanding that Rove either explain his role in the outing of Valerie Plame or that
he resign. I was also joined by 12 Democratic Members of the Judiciary Committee
asking Chairman Sensenbrenner for hearings on the growing scandal. I believe these
hearings will help illustrate how Rovegate is a part of the puzzle of the ongoing
Iraq War deception.

http://updates3.email.dcnewsonline.com/c.asp?r4s0ou2udwBD+4sPlZk2aQQy9VS+jGECRYcp0teIqsKw

Our country is slowing beginning to confront the truth about the about the Bush
Administration's deceitful rush to war in Iraq. This has only happened because of
people like you are determined to make a difference by getting personally involved.
Over 560,000 people to date have signed our Downing Street Minutes letter to the
president . Through this effort, and because of the June 16 th hearing I held in the
basement of the Capitol, the mainstream media has been forced to recognize that the
American public does care about how we ended up in Iraq.

http://updates3.email.dcnewsonline.com/c.asp?nY1pHtryCVb3VlkpsmEYYQQy9VS+jGECRYcp0teIqsKw

The house parties I have organized for next weekend provide a platform for people to
come together and express their strong opposition to the Bush Administration's
conduct of war. Please join us at a house party near you. If you can host a party,
click here to sign up. We will provide media kits and other materials to assist with
the event. If you would rather attend an event, click here.

http://updates3.email.dcnewsonline.com/c.asp?Brv6+QSNA8F+ty/ew70U6wQy9VS+jGECRYcp0teIqsKw}

http://updates3.email.dcnewsonline.com/c.asp?phri40u7/XbibfICiTtsQgQy9VS+jGECRYcp0teIqsKw}

I will be conducting a special conference call for house party hosts featuring
Ambassador Joe Wilson and Randi Rhodes as my special guests.

Additionally, I would to keep in touch with you through news updates and additional
action items. If you would like for me to keep you updated on events here in
Washington, sign up for my email updates .

Thank you again for your help and support.

Sincerely,

Congressman John Conyers, Jr.

1 week's sample, just a sample:
Rove and the Plame Name Blame Game:::

Rove's War
By Sidney Blumenthal
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071405K.shtml

Karl Rove's America
By Paul Krugman The New York Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505Y.shtml

Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement
By Rep. Waxman
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071505Q.shtml

Rove Unfit for Public Office
By Juan Cole
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071205D.shtml

Root of the Rove controversy is the war in Iraq
David Gregory, NBC/MSNBC
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8562589/

Rove Leak is Just Part of Larger Scandal
by Daniel Schorr
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views05/0715-02.htm

Will Traitor Rove Follow Father Figure Nixon's Fatal Footsteps?
By Harvey Wasserman
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0715-10.htm

It Appears That Karl Rove Is In Serious Trouble
by John Dean
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0715-01.htm

Report Shows Karl Rove May Have Lied to Federal Agents, a Federal Crime, During Oct 2003 Testimony Into CIA Agent Leak
By Jason Leopold
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0715-11.htm

Karl Rove: Real Issue is the Case for War
Editorial Published on Thursday, July 14, 2005 by the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0714-30.htm

The Outing of a Coward
Karl Rove could have come clean long ago. It's time for the West Wing to take the heat
by Margaret Carlson
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0714-28.htm

The Real Rove Scandal
By Robert Scheer
The Los Angeles Times
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071305F.shtml

Access To Evil
By Greg Palast, AlterNet. http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/23550/

Rove Scandal: Who's Lying Now?
David Corn http://www.thenation.com/blogs/capitalgames?bid=3&pid=6799
Rove E-Mailed Security Official About Talk
http://tinyurl.com/7c6le

Rove: Seeds Of Destruction From Seeds Of His Success
http://tinyurl.com/7eqol

Saving Karl Rove
Paul Waldman
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/20050714/saving_karl_rove.php

Bush and His 'Brain' Besieged
by Jim Lobe
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0714-03.htm

Sideshow
http://billmon.org/archives/002007.html

Enough to make your head spin
Truth flies out the window as GOP springs to the defense of Karl Rove
Molly Ivins
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=19350

Taking a Leak
So suddenly Plamegate -- which no one at the White House will talk about on the record, because it might get them indicted . . . http://billmon.org/archives/002013.html

No bar too low -

for Karl Rove

1st thing in the morning - I was riveted!

oops, sorry for the empty space above on my previous post.
Editor, please correct that, thanks.

Interesting Article...

Genesis of an American Gestapo
Mike Whitney

July 15, 2005

“Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.” Voltaire

“A dictatorship would be a heck-of a lot easier; as long as I’m dictator.” President George W. Bush

Tyranny has very few indispensable parts; a compliant media, that will regulate information to meet the goals of the state; a “rubber-stamp” Parliament that will endorse the policies of the supreme leader; a judiciary that will adjust the law to serve the requirements of the ruling body, a strong military to seize the wealth of weaker nations; and a security apparatus, that will eliminate any domestic threats to the system.

On June 29 President Bush took the great-leap forward in transforming the nation’s intelligence services by ordering a restructuring of the FBI and putting “a broad swath of the agency” under the direct control of the executive.

Bingo; Bush’s personal secret police; an American Gestapo.

The formation of the new agency was presented as part of 74 recommendations made by the 9-11 Commission on Intelligence. Every member of the so-called “independent” panel was hand-picked by the Bush team and their proposals reflect the narrow interests of American elites. Bush loyalists and Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) members Lawrence Silberman and Charles Robb, (both of whom were directly involved in the 9-11 whitewash) chaired the committee, and provided the rationale for the dramatic changes to the existing system. Astonishingly, Bush was able to unilaterally create the National Security Service without congressional approval as part of his sweeping powers under the new anti-terror legislation.

The freshly minted National Security Service, which has been dubbed the New SS, will operate under the authority of former ambassador to Iraq, John Negroponte, whose involvement in overseeing the terrorist activities of death squads in Nicaragua will provide him with the necessary experience for his new task. Negroponte, the new Intelligence czar, will report directly to the President, who in turn will carefully monitor the violations of civil liberties that will naturally evolve from unsupervised investigations.

---------------------------------------------snip-----------------------

Is there any doubt where all of this is heading?

The National Security Service, which is an autonomous, domestic spy-agency, signals a tectonic shift in the political landscape. The genesis of the Police State marks the end of American democracy; the final wooden stake to the heart of privacy, security and personal liberty. Bush’s meteoric rise to power has been accompanied by a breakdown of traditional safeguards at every juncture; leaving the system vulnerable to incalculable damage. The message to citizens is clear; all of the institutions upon which democratic societies depend (the executive, the Congress, the Judiciary, the media, the military, and law enforcement) have withered beneath the Bush onslaught and been reduced to rubble. The entire system has been corrupted from top to bottom. America is a gaunt, skeletal figure; rattling around in its cage, ready to be blown over by the first brisk wind. Democracy is dead.

Now, will someone please tell the American people?

Link to Full Article:

http://www.uruknet.info/?s1=1&p=13721&s2=16

Oh Henry!

Kissinger tooting the horns of war with Iran...Interviewed by Bernard Gwertzman, consulting editor of cfr.org, on July 14, 2005. (Council on Foreign Relations)

Kissinger: Don't Exclude Military Action Against Iran if Negotiations Fail

Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, in a wide-ranging discussion of foreign-policy issues, says he is disturbed at the possibility that Iran will develop nuclear weapons know-how if current negotiations to stem Tehran's nuclear program fail. In fact, he says, Iran's program is more worrisome than the crisis over North Korea's nuclear weapons.

He says that if Iran secures nuclear weapons, nonproliferation may cease to be a "meaningful policy, and then we live in a world of multiple nuclear centers. And then we'd have to ask ourselves what the world would look like if the [terrorist] bombs in London [on July 7] had been nuclear and 100,000 people had been killed." Asked if he favored military action against Iran if diplomacy failed, he says, "I'm not recommending it but, on the other hand, it is a grave step to tolerate a world of multiple nuclear weapons centers without restraint. I'm not recommending military action, but I'm recommending not excluding it."

For the full interview:

http://www.cfr.org/publication.php?id=8255

[ the entire Bu$hINC era is a never ending series of mistakes, lies and deceit, a culture of corruption.
This may be Bu$h's crowning "achievement":
a new alliance between IraQ and IraN ]

Iraq and Iran: Axis of Evil?

by Aaron Glantz

I have to wonder what George Bush must be thinking as Iraq’s elected Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari readies for his trip next week to Iran.
I wonder if he’s surprised that the two countries have recently inked a deal to have the Iranian government train the new Iraqi Army and to send grain to Iraq, whose children have been starving under thirteen years of tough U.N. sanctions followed by two years of American occupation. I wonder if Bush is surprised that Jaafari will be talking to Iran’s new fundamentalist President about linking the two country’s electric grids and constructing a new oil pipeline to the Iranian port of Abadan.

continue~
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0715-04.htm

Feith: Administration Overdid WMD Claims

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

July 15, 2005, 7:10 AM EDT

WASHINGTON -- The top policy adviser to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld says the Bush administration erred by building its public case for war against Saddam Hussein mainly on the claim that he possessed banned weapons.

The comment by Douglas J. Feith, in an interview with The Associated Press, is a rare admission of error about Iraq by a senior administration official. Feith, who is leaving after four years as the undersecretary of defense for policy, said he remains convinced that President Bush was correct in deciding that war against Iraq was necessary.

"I don't think there is any question that we as an administration, instead of giving proper emphasis to all major elements of the rationale for war, overemphasized the WMD aspect," he said, using the abbreviation for weapons of mass destruction.

The administration claimed the now-deposed Iraqi president possessed mass-killing chemical and biological weapons at the time of the March 2003 invasion and cited them most prominently as justification for attacking.

No such weapons have been found. In March, a bipartisan presidential commission said U.S. spy agencies were "dead wrong" in most of their prewar assessments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

One of the architects of the administration's strategy for the war on terror, Feith strongly defended the decision to invade Iraq.

-------------------snip--------------------------

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-feith-interview,0,7350908.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

Additional Information:

Feith official biography at http://www.defenselink.mil/bios/feith_bio.html

The Duelfer report on Iraq's WMD at http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/iraq_wmd_2004/

If You're in the Bay Area This Weekend and
Speaking of WMDs that do exist...

For some reason or other, a few dozen Nobel prize-winning scientists and other smarty-pantses are concerned that America and Russia still have enough nuclear weapons on hair-trigger alert to destroy civilization ("Nobel Laureates say 'Take Nuclear Warheads off Hair-Trigger Alert'"). One of these Big-Brains Who HATE AMERICA!!! (irony alert), Nobel Peace Showoff scientist Professor Sir Joseph Rotblat (aka "the man who walked away from the Manhattan Project") came up with the idea of raising money from the private sector to dismantle nuclear weapons. To this end, a long fundraising walk has been organized by the Global Nuclear Disarmament Fund. The opening event -- which includes a Japanese senator, Nobel prize winners, actor Steven Seagal, etc. -- begins Saturday morning in San Francisco: click here for program. The walk starts at noon, heads down the peninsula, and over the next month hits NV, AZ, & NM, ending at the Trinity nuke test site

More info on the walk:

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P2228

[recommended for your Sat. morning reading, from Americablog]

So much of the Rove story doesn't add up yet, but the NY Times piece about the State Department memo on Wilson and Plame does add a whole new dimension.
snip~
"The White House is leaking and leaking these days...trying to save Rove's butt. When you start piecing together the leaks, they make the case against Rove even stronger."

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/07/think-rove-ever-saw-state-dept-memo.html

It makes sense for Iran and Iraq to work together. They had a decades long war & we pumped up both sides, when it was to our advantage (weapons sales & so on). Good ole CIA.

We should never have gotten involved over there & so entrenched with oil.

It's also so hypocritical to preach about nukes when we continue to develop our own & to employ foreign policy that makes their use more likely.

Just read a long foreign article
(French: http://www.lefigaro.fr/magazine/20050715.MAG0007.html) on history of terrorism & recruitment in Europe started way back when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Our CIA was involved then too and we were using .. Bin Laden.

http://www.msnbc.com/news/190144.asp?cp1=1

So it's highly arrogant for that war criminal Kissinger, always involved in the background during the history leading up to where we are today, to advocate for any type of war in the Middle East. Going back to Vietnam, he has a considerable amount of blood on his hands personally.

Wilson's Iraq Assertions Hold Up Under Fire From Rove Backers

July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Two-year old assertions by former ambassador Joseph Wilson regarding Iraq and uranium, which lie at the heart of the controversy over who at the White House identified a covert U.S. operative, have held up in the face of attacks by supporters of presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Rove is a subject of a special prosecutor's investigation into how the name of the agent, who is Wilson's wife, was leaked to journalists. There has been no evidence made public that Rove identified the agent to reporters. Rove's allies are arguing that he was in fact trying to steer journalists away from taking too seriously Wilson's criticism of President George W. Bush's reasons for going to war in Iraq in 2003.

The agent, Valerie Plame, was publicly identified July 14, 2003, a week after Wilson wrote an article for the New York Times about an investigative trip he took in 2002 at the behest of the Central Intelligence Agency. Wilson wrote that the administration's claim that Saddam Hussein's regime tried to buy uranium in Africa for nuclear weapons was wrong.

The main points of Wilson's article have largely been substantiated by a Senate committee as well as U.S. and United Nations weapons inspectors. A day after Wilson's piece was published, the White House acknowledged that a claim Bush made in his January 2003 state of the union address that Iraq tried to buy ``significant quantities of uranium from Africa'' could not be verified and shouldn't have been included in the speech.

While the administration was justified at the time in being concerned that Hussein was trying to build nuclear weapons, ``on the specifics of this I think Joe Wilson was right,'' said Michael O'Hanlon, a scholar of foreign policy studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Criticism of Wilson

Republicans are attempting to defend Rove by discrediting Wilson, saying the former ambassador misled the public about why he was sent to Niger and what he found there.

Bush supporters such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich contend that Wilson lied in claiming that Vice President Dick Cheney dispatched him on the mission to Niger. That echoes a Republican National Committee talking-points memo sent to party officials.

Wilson never said that Cheney sent him, only that the vice president's office had questions about an intelligence report that referred to the sale of uranium yellowcake to Iraq from Niger. Wilson, in his New York Times article, said CIA officials were informed of Cheney's questions.

``The agency officials asked if I would travel to Niger to check out the story so they could provide a response to the vice president's office,'' Wilson wrote.

----------snip-------------------------

Full Article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a8dab8rni_Do&refer=us

Rove was correcting 'false' charges
By Joseph Curl
The Washington Times
Published July 14, 2005

WASHINGTON -- When senior Bush adviser Karl Rove uttered the now-famous words "Wilson's wife" to a Time magazine reporter, the intent was to correct errors being spread by former U.S. diplomat Joseph C. Wilson IV, not to unmask his CIA employee wife, Mr. Rove's attorney told The Washington Times yesterday.

"Karl's purpose in speaking with Time about this was to discourage them from circulating statements or allegations that were false and soon to be proven false," Robert Luskin said.

"Wilson had been saying publicly that the vice president was responsible for sending him" to Niger, Mr. Luskin said. "That was false."

Meanwhile, President Bush yesterday refused to comment on the reports that Mr. Rove mentioned "Wilson's wife," CIA employee Valerie Plame, to a reporter.

"We're in the midst of an ongoing investigation, and this is a serious investigation," Mr. Bush told reporters in a brief question-and-answer session in the White House Cabinet Room.

"I also will not prejudge the investigation based on media reports," Mr. Bush said. "I will be more than happy to comment further once the investigation is completed."

Also yesterday, Time reporter Matthew Cooper, whom Mr. Rove cleared 18 months ago of the promise of confidentiality, appeared before the Washington grand jury for 21/2 hours.

"I testified openly and honestly," he said outside the courthouse, without divulging details. "I have no idea whether a crime was committed or not. That's something the special counsel's going to have to determine."

Mr. Rove's attorney said his client talked to Mr. Cooper on July 11, 2003, to correct errors by Mr. Wilson.

Link to story above:

http://www.wpherald.com/storyview.php?StoryID=20050714-101618-3106r

Dems Call for Bill on Security Clearance
By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer

Thursday, July 14, 2005

(07-14) 13:25 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Senate Democrats moved forcefully into the controversy surrounding White House aide Karl Rove on Thursday, calling for legislation to deny security clearances to officials who disclose the identity of an undercover agent.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., sought to attach the proposal to a spending bill for the Department of Homeland Security, and aides said he hoped for a vote by day's end.

Reid, the Democratic leader, made his move as Republicans watched nervously to see whether the controversy over Rove's involvement in a news leak that exposed a CIA officer's identity would pose a credibility problem at the White House.

While the president passed up another chance Wednesday to directly voice confidence in his deputy chief of staff, his political team engineered a series of testimonials from members of Congress who praised Rove and condemned Democratic critics. And Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, told reporters the president has confidence in his longtime confidant.

"The extreme left is once again attempting to define the modern Democratic Party by rabid partisan attacks, character assassination and endless negativity," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., chairman of the GOP congressional campaign committee. The Republican National Committee, virtually a political arm of the White House, urged GOP lawmakers to go public.

Still, several top GOP officials — including some White House advisers — said the fight was becoming a distraction to Bush's agenda. The GOP officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of Bush's friendship with Rove, said the president may face a credibility problem because his spokesman said in September that anybody involved in the leak would be fired.

Did it again...

Link for story above:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/07/14/national/w093837D61.DTL

Senate Does Battle Over Rove's Role in Plame Leak
Dueling Republican, Democratic Amendments Fail

By Charles Babington
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 15, 2005; A04

In bitingly partisan exchanges yesterday, lawmakers plunged into the dispute over Karl Rove's hand in leaking a covert CIA operative's identity, as the Senate rejected a bid to strip the White House aide of his security clearance.

A day of dueling news conferences ended with a Senate debate that turned unusually personal. It began when Democratic leaders proposed an amendment, aimed at Rove, to deny access to classified information to any federal employee who discloses a covert CIA agent's identity.

Republican leaders retaliated with a measure designed to strip the security clearances of the chamber's top two Democrats. Even as he urged support for his amendment, Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) acknowledged the blatantly political tone of the debate. "This is a sad and a disappointing afternoon here in the United States Senate," he said.

Frist's amendment failed, 64 to 33, when 20 Republicans joined all present Democrats in voting against it. The Senate then rejected the Democrats' measure aimed at Rove, by a 53-to-44 vote along party lines. Both items were offered as amendments to a homeland security appropriations bill.

Rove, President Bush's deputy chief of staff, accompanied the president on a trip to Indianapolis -- both men walking together from the White House to the Marine One helicopter on the South Lawn. Bush usually walks alone to the helicopter, and their public stroll was widely perceived as a presidential show of support.

Through his attorney, Rove in recent days has acknowledged discussing CIA official Valerie Plame -- though not by name -- with a Time magazine reporter shortly before columnist Robert D. Novak named her in a July 2003 column, citing two senior administration officials as his sources. Plame's husband, former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, had written that the Bush administration manipulated intelligence about Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons material to justify the invasion there and the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

Democrats say the White House unmasked Plame in an effort to undermine Wilson's allegations. As part of its case for going to war in 2003, the administration cited evidence that Iraq may be trying to obtain uranium in Niger. Wilson said his own 2002 trip showed there was no evidence for such a claim. But administration officials told reporters that Wilson's Niger trip deserved little credibility, since he was dispatched at the recommendation of his wife at the CIA. A special counsel is investigating, and Rove is among several senior White House officials who have spoken to a grand jury.

-----------------------------snip---------------------

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/14/AR2005071401962_pf.html

Indy
That's all small potatoes compared to going into Iraq under false pretenses in front of the whole world. All the "talking points" in the world won't bring back the dead or decrease terrorism.
Frog March!

This sounds like a good idea:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/attackonlondon/story/0,16132,1529920,00.html
whereby moderate Muslim leaders issue a Fatwa against terrorist activity.

There are really good articles on terrorism coming out of Europe - history, context. They have alot invested in understanding and being proactive, given their geographical location & demographics. One of the London bombers was Jamaican - 9% of the British prison population is Muslim. That's where African-born and Jamaican-born Brits are, increasingly, converting ot Islam. The suburbs of London & Paris are full of poor people who don't fit in, young people ripe to listen to an extremist ideology. There is also a big danger, already being realized, of racist backlash against Muslims in general. & then the government can use fear to recruit for the military as well, using platitudes such as "freedom isn't free."

I think that the moderate mass of Muslims and especially their leaders are doing the right thing when they discourage terrorism. I also think that the root causes of poverty, unemployment and alienation have to be taken into account. I'm afraid that both Europe & the US will, instead, use the rightwing formula of "law and order" (crackdown on civil liberties) and pre-emptive traditional war - which will only make the situation worse.

AP Makes Key Addition to Rove Story on Wilson 'Clandestine' Quote

By Greg Mitchell

Published: July 15, 2005 5:40 PM ET

NEW YORK The Associated Press this afternoon made a key addition to its widely-circulated story earlier this day reporting on an unnamed legal source's description of parts of White House aide Karl Rove's grand jury testimony in the Plame case.

For much of the day, conservative news outlets, Web sites, and talk radio headlined one paragraph in the AP story: a report on a comment by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (husband of Valerie Plame) on CNN on Thursday, in which he allegedly said that ``my wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.''

But this afternoon, while not deleting that quote, AP added to the original story, by John Solomon, the following:

"In an interview Friday, Wilson said his comment was meant to reflect that his wife lost her ability to be a covert agent because of the leak, not that she had stopped working for the CIA beforehand.

"His wife's `'ability to do the job she's been doing for close to 20 years ceased from the minute Novak's article appeared; she ceased being a clandestine officer,' he said."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000980270

this is going to go beyond Rove...interesting reading this morning, complete with source links:

Did Fleischer testify that Bush knew of leak? Is that why Tenet quit?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/16/05433/8135

Good point about Plame. I am not working today - that doesn't mean that I am no longer a practitioner of my occupation. If someone revealed something that made me unable to work, it wouldn't matter if it were a Friday when I ws working or a Saturday when I'm not.

These propagandists are beyond the pale & they are getting desperate.

Posted by: DiAnne at July 16, 2005 10:40 AM

Yes DiAnne...small potatoes...but I am Irish and remember the famine in honor of my family...ha ha!

Elementary my Dear Watson...

Diversionary tactics 101:

Rove takes the fall...or not...Downing Street Memos takes a back seat to the cage rattling.

London is bombed by "terrorists"...Halliburton gets awarded a $5.1 billon contract on the same day.

Iran is "evil", yet GE (NBC Broadcasting) and Halliburton (Slippery Dick Cheney) have been building Iran's power infrastructure (hydro-electric and nuclear) for decades.

Just getting back to the thread topic and providing as much information as possible for edu-ma-ca-shun-al purposes. =]

LA Times editorial, on the mark:

Keep on talking, Mr. Rove
Ever since President Bush named him deputy chief of staff in February, Karl Rove has been staking out a higher political profile. But the current tempest over his possible involvement in the leaking of a CIA operative's identity was surely not part of his plan for strengthening the GOP.

Now President Bush, who is famously loyal to his subordinates, will have to decide whether his 2000 campaign pledge to restore honor and integrity to the Oval Office includes keeping on the likes of Rove.

snip~
Still, it's a telling moment when an administration retreats into a defense with something like: "There is no sign any law was broken." It's a far cry from insisting on the highest ethical standards. Whether Rove deserves to remain in the White House is a different question from whether he deserves to go to the jailhouse. Or it should be.

The White House cannot justify remaining silent by hiding behind the ongoing investigation. Bush's press secretary, Scott McClellan, who once called the notion of Rove being the leaker "totally ridiculous," has looked ridiculous himself in recent days while dodging questions about the matter. Bush must order Rove to come clean about what he said to reporters, and when he said it. Otherwise, Bush will soon look "totally ridiculous" too.

snip~
The questions that special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald is probably pursuing are these: Who gave Rove the information in the first place? Were there other White House officials who were gunning for Plame?

Bush owes it to the American people to order Rove to cough up some of the answers.

http://tinyurl.com/9fu42

'NY Times' Explores Question:
Did Miller Give Plame Name to Rove or Libby?

http://199.249.170.220/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000980335

Rove-related (site Kos was finding stuff on)

http://www.capitolhillblue.com/cgi-bin/artman/exec/view.cgi?archive=32&num=4629

AND THE BEAT GOES ON...................... AC

Indy
I'm an Irish potato famine refugee too.

Also, I read that elements of the Patriot Act were quietly reinstated.

Rove is a domestic story but with tragic international implications.

It's all connected. Rove & Iraq are one story.
I'm waiting for the Frog March.

There has been a bumper Peach crop in Texas this year...

Perhaps instead of throwing eggs or tomatoes at administration officials...peaches would be more appropriate...

IMPEACH THEM ALL!!!

Consider it a do-over...a takesy-backsy...the return of a defective product even...

The American People demand a FULL REFUND!!!

Keeping an Eye on Fitzgerald's Big Picture

"I think that those who are fixating on trying to figure out whether reporters told Rove or Rove told reporters about Plame's status are falling for the Republican talking points.

Whether Karl Rove was only a "confirming source" or learned about Plame from reporters is immaterial to Fitzgerald at this point. He's known what Karl Rove and other White House officials have said since 2003 when grand jury investigators interviewed them and through their grand jury testimony.

The fact that Fitzgerald told the Judge early this month that Judith Miller's testimony was essential to the successful conclusion of the investigation indicates that this investigation has moved far past the stage of who outed Valerie Plame and whether she was or was not a covert operative and on to whether White House officials and/or reporters lied in their initial interviews with grand jury investigators or during their grand jury testimony - and whether there was an attempted cover-up that would amount to a conspiracy to obstruct justice.

Fitzgerald has known Cooper's sources were Rove and Libby for ages. Judith Miller is the one in jail. Fitzgerald wouldn't be spending all this time and money to go after Novak or another reporter. Plus, it's obvious Novak has been cooperating all along.

On November 18, 2004, the AP reported that Fitzgerald told the Judge Matthew Cooper's second subpoena (after the first about Lewis Libby with which he complied) was necessary because he needed more information from Cooper "due to an "unanticipated shift" in the grand jury's investigation." (available on lexis.com)

The "shift" can only be away from the identity of who leaked Valerie Plame's identity into a broader investigation into perjury, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to commit both."

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011503.html

Received from Seattle Grassroots group:

Yes, we need to do this. They are turning this story into a story about the credibility of Wilson. Today’s Seattle Times article, from Bloomberg news service, says “Wilson vs Rove: African trip lies at heart of controversy.” The African trip is not the heart of the controversy. What is at heart is what you have said below, and that once again the administration sought revenge upon a person who exposed their lies, and sought revenge in a manner that broke the law, and endangered both national security and the lives of multiple CIA operatives, not just Plame.

Subject: frame the Rove debate

"The scandal reveals that President Bush launched the War in Iraq to win re-election, not to protect America. That is why his chief political adviser--the man whose job is to re-elect the President--risked breaking the law to eliminate the main obstacle to the war."

"George W. Bush took us to war so he would be re-elected, and he was willing to destroy anyone who stood in his way."

http://www.frameshopisopen.com/

Frameshop: Big Picture - Iraq War Was To Re-Elect Bush

As we head into the weekend, Republicans and Democrats have placed big bets on the frames they think will control the White House scandal for the next 48 hours. Here is where things stand, followed by some recommendations.

Corruption Junction, What's Your Function ...

http://www.houseofscandal.org/main.html
Take back The House from the culture of corruption

Indy

"Frog-march"

I can't be the only one who had to look up this evocative phrase. The dictionary wasn't terribly helpful:

frog-march vt [Informal, Chiefly Brit.] to grasp by the arms and force to walk along

So why "frog"? Word-wizard comes through:

Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang

FROGMARCH verb [mid-19th century and still in use] to carry someone face down, one person holding onto each limb; used on drunks or recalcitrant prisoners.

And:

Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang

FROG-MARCH verb [shift and alteration of “frog’s march” (not recorded in U.S.), as in 1871, 1873 quotations] Especially ‘police.’ to carry (a resisting person) face downward by the arms and legs; (hence now solely) to propel (a resisting person) forward, as by seizing his collar and the seat of his trousers or by pinioning his arms behind his back. [1871 in OED: “They did not give the defendant the frog’s march.”] 1873 ‘Slang Dictionary’ by Hotten: “Frog’s March,” the manner in which four or more policemen carry a drunken or turbulent man to the station-house. The victim is held face downwards, one constable being at each shoulder, while the others hold on above the knees. Often...another...officer... beats time...on the recalcitrant hero’s posteriors.] 1969 in OEDS: “He. . . took me by the collar and the seat of my pants and frogmarched me the length of the café.” 1992 Newsday (CNN-TV) (Dec. 9): “Tightly bound and frogmarched away.”

http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=frog+march&btnG=Search

Open and scroll down - one man, many frogs

With all the NeoCON corruption out there, the election fraud and corruption has gone under the radar. Here's an interesting post from Kos about a pay/play scheme with Diebold and Ohio Republicans.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/16/7256/29297

Sparrow
Yes - I'm going to post in the Forum on Diebold & Sequoia hearing in Olympia Washington. I have notes from someone who attended. It'll be under "Outstanding Achievements" under Pacific NW. Elizabeth from here & Marjorie G from Brooklyn are working on this almost all the time, on top of everything else.

More from Elizabeth, who is purposely going off topic, because it is really ON topic:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4679925.stm

Not only do plastic bags pollute, but like all plastic, they are made from oil. The invasion of Iraq is about oil. Our ability to use oil in a careless manner has come to an end.

I welcome anyone’s suggestions on how we can begin to become more careful and more conscious about the things we use on a daily basis, and what steps we can take to minimize waste of our vital resources (oil, gas, water).

http://www.bradblog.com/archives/00001602.htm
COMCAST KILLS EMAIL FROM 'AFTERDOWNINGSTREET' COALITION

State Dept., DOD, and Cheney Requested Joe Wilson's Investigation
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/071605Y.shtml

Dianne,
I saw your post in the forum. Sounds like the meeting went well. Though, I don't understand why BBV is only interested in Diebold.

Sparrow
I think she & Diebold had a settlement out of court. I don't understand it all either. If you ever want to get in touch with Elizabeth directly, let me know. She took the notes & also went to the Voter Reform conference in Nashville.

Victoria,

I remember reading that article last year. I saved it to my hard drive and have sent it to others. I feel more than "queasy" about Rove. I am scared. I have seen our country kidnapped by a sick cabal of multinational corporations whose only goal is to enrich its members. This group has Karl Rove to thank for empowering them to the Presidency of the United States. I am scared that we have let a sick mind help take over the country.

Tenet resigning at night was a red flag. It was not accidental and intended to draw the attention of world wide press and government officials. Tenets deputy resigned with him as well.

There are watchdogs in our government guarding against abuse of power. They serve the public trust and Constitution of the United States before other considerations. When High level officials resign at night it is setting off fireworks, to draw attention to illegalities and refusal to involve oneself further. It is calling out these watchdogs to investigate.

The last time a High level officer resigned at night was Elliot Richardson, Attourney General of the United States, just before Watergate broke. His resignation set off a Chain of events and investigations that brought down the Administration of President Richard Nixon. We should remember that it is usually the cover up, not the actual crime that claims Administrations.

For all the trash we see and read about, two civil servants saw enough and decided they would not participate any longer in the charade. Maybe they will be called to testify, maybe they already have. God bless them if they did.

There is a lot of anger, frustration and fear in our Nation, as there should be. Our leadership embarked upon a tragic course in human events, killing and torturing innocent people in foreign lands without cause. Afghanistan was a given to invade, that is where the Taliban and Al Queda was ingrained.

But Iraq? We have killed thousands upon thousands of innocent iraqi people, for oil and gas concerns. Evidence was fabricated, manufactured, created and assembled to present before the nation and the world. The world did not believe it, Americans did.

It is time to clean the White House. We need to drive the religious right out of office, the neocons out in the street, administration officials just plain out.

Vote them out now, prosecute them later.

Judy Miller story gets more & more interesting:

More About Judith Miller
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/7/3/17138/30618

and~
Dark Actors Playing Games
http://tinyurl.com/hgd7