pretzel president

http://summapolitico.blogspot .com

Words fail. As last week ended, the Vice President, we learned (in papers filed in federal court by Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald in the Plame-Niger-Uranium, sixteen-fateful-words, disagree-with-us-and-we'll-whack-you case), told his chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby, that the President "specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the NIE" -- in other words that George had authorized Scooter to leak parts of a highly-classified CIA National Intelligence Estimate to New York Times reporter Judith Miller in order to discredit former ambassador Joseph Wilson and, in effect, out his CIA agent wife Valerie Plame. The President is well known for having stated, in relation to this increasingly bizarre and twisted case: "I don't know of anyone in my administration who has leaked. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action" and for having taken the sternest positions on the very subject of leaking. (" Leaks of classified information are bad things. We've got too much leaking in Washington. I want to know who the leakers are.")
These are, of course, statements open to interpretation. How much, after all, do any of us really know ourselves? How much, many have asked, does this President really know himself. How much harder it will certainly be for him to know himself now that he has become the contortionist-in-chief, the human Pretzeldent. Given where they are, how could one of his hands be responsible for knowing what the other hand actually did. Perhaps the explanation for all this is simple enough: As our commander-in-chief in time of "war" (as defined and declared by him) and our all-powerful "unitary executive" (as defined and declared by a coterie of lawyers around the Vice President's office), he simply claimed the right to declassify not just top-secret documents, but himself whenever he wanted. After all, being President means, as George demonstrated only recently, never having to say you're sorry, even when you flip-flop on a significant issue. ...

Final Jeopardy

Asking the Right Question About the President's Involvement in the CIA Leak Affair


By Elizabeth de la Vega
The latest in a parade of horrors emanating from the Bush administration appeared Thursday in the form of a revelation buried in papers filed in federal court by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in his investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Cheney's former chief of staff, now under indictment on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, told the Grand Jury Fitzgerald convened that President Bush had -- via Vice President Cheney -- authorized him to disclose selected information from a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) to New York Times reporter Judith Miller, which he did during a private breakfast meeting at the St. Regis Hotel on July 8, 2003.



http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?emx=x&pid=76008

Doesn't the news that ex-reporter Judith Miller was "Scooter" Libby's [and perhaps the entire administration's] preferred of disseminator of misinformation require some further assessment by the Time's of the reports she filed prior to her being prohibited from covering Iraq intelligence???


'Forgers' of key Iraq war contract named
Michael Smith
TWO employees of the Niger embassy in Rome and a certain Denis Dutton* of New Zealand were responsible for the forgery of a notorious set of documents used to help justify the Iraq war, an official investigation has allegedly found.
According to Nato sources, the investigation has evidence that Niger's consul and its ambassador's personal assistant faked a contract to show Saddam Hussein had bought uranium ore from the impoverished west African country....

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-2125630,00.html

When chided for a sharp or acerbic remark, Pat Moynihan used to invoke an old aphorism: This animal is vicious; when he's attacked, he bites back. Moynihan would cite the French verse, which made the point seem more elegant (cet animal est très méchant; quand on l'attaque, il se défend). We quote it in English, so the Bush administration will not be deterred from acting on its wisdom.
Libby Prosecutor
Outlines Effort
At High Levels
Fitzgerald Aims to Show
An Organized Plan Led
To Leak of CIA Agent's Name
By ANNE MARIE SQUEO
April 8, 2006; Page A6
WASHINGTON -- The special prosecutor trying the case against former vice presidential chief of staff I. Lewis Libby will try to show that the leaking of a CIA agent's name grew out of a highly organized administration effort that commanded high-level attention, a court filing this week shows.

http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114443407090120247-e9XMcD7TTAyKnsZ5CRdxjcZIA_E_20060507.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

President Bush, 2003: 'Leaks of Classified Information Are a Bad Thing'
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0407-01.htm


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US Rep Louise Slaughter Tries to Get Colleagues to Post Corruption Report Online
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0407-11.htm
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Three Years On, Congressional Debate Over Iraq Policy?
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0406-01.htm
Argentina and Uruguay Shun US Military Academy, School of the Americas
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0406-05.htm



Peru's 2006 Presidential Elections:
Still too close to call, but Humala should at least make it through round one and into the winner's box
http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2006/COHA%20Report/COHA_Report_06.05_Peru_Elections_Humala.html

Lula No Long Ball Hitter When it Comes to Land Reform
http://www.coha.org/NEW_PRESS_RELEASES/New_Press_Releases_2006/06.23_MST_Lula.html
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Idea of Bush as leaker-in-chief is "breathtaking," says Dem http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040 600333.html
Washington Post Reports that President Bush authorized a leak to the media to discredit Joseph Wilson set off an intense political debate Thursday, reports R. Jeffrey Smith. He writes: "Bush has been a major critic of leaks of classified information, and his aides have repeatedly said they want to 'get to the bottom' of who leaked the name of Wilson's wife, covert CIA operative Valerie Plame, to the media." Rep. Jane Harman says: "If the disclosure is true, it's breathtaking. The president is revealed as the leaker-in-chief."

What a Tangled Web of Lies the White House Weaves. It's Like a Spider Web They are Trapped in by Their Own Mendacity.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/cia_leak
"President Bush vowed to fire anyone caught blabbing classified information to the media, but he himself was the leaker-in-chief, a former top White House aide testified."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_report/story/406719p-344359c.html
Libby Sings
by John Prados, TomPaine.com
Trying to cover for his misuse of intelligence, the president ordered Lewis Libby to disclose classified information to the press.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/07/libby_sings.php
Experts: Alleged Bush leak legal, unusual
By The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune
WASHINGTON — Legal experts said President Bush had the unquestionable authority to approve the disclosure of secret CIA information to reporters but added the leak was highly unusual and amounted to using sensitive intelligence data for political gain
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WASHINGTON -
President Bush has hit new lows in public opinion for his handling of
Iraq and the war on terror and for his overall job performance. Polling also shows the Republican Party surrendering its advantage on national security.



The AP-Ipsos survey is loaded with grim election-year news for a party struggling to stay in power. Nearly 70 percent of Americans believe the nation is headed in the wrong direction — the largest percentage during the Bush presidency and up 13 points from a year ago.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/troubled_republicans;_ylt=Aq15dj8xknBnz.LLP4espg2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ --

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002916275_leaklaw07.html

Decision by Bush to OK leak of secret info probably not illegal (LAT) http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-legal7apr07,1,191 9280.story?coll=la-news-a_section

The House Intelligence Committee report on the FY 2007 Intelligence Authorization Act is available here: http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2006_rpt/hrpt109-411.html
Director of Central Intelligence Agency Porter J. Goss invoked the state secrets privilege last month to block litigation filed against the CIA and another U.S. Government agency. The likely effect is to terminate the case, for reasons that DCIA Goss said cannot be explained on the public record. "After deliberation and personal consideration, I have determined that the bases for my assertion of the state secrets privilege cannot be filed on the public court record, or in any sealed filing accessible to the plaintiffs or their attorneys, without revealing the very information that I seek to protect," Director Goss stated in an unclassified March 16 Declaration. http://www.fas.org/sgp/jud/doess-goss.pdf

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New Questions Raised About White House Role in Leaking Classified Iraq Intelligence
Thursday, April 06, 2006 -- In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Waxman asks for a full accounting of the President's and Vice President's actions in authorizing leaks of classified intelligence about Iraq, while at the same time concealing the President's knowledge of serious doubts about Iraq's pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Letter to the President
CRS Memo

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The resignation of Tom DeLay and the crisis of the US two-party system http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/apr2006/dela-a07.shtml


http://www.democrats.reform.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1039