Bush and Cheney
Directed Wilson-Plame Hit Squad
April 18th 2006
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Commentary |
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Now that we've spent millions of tax dollars on the CIA leak
investigation, here’s a new bit of information that adds a whole new
twist to the saga.
According to a recent article by ace investigative reporter, Jason
Leopold, Dick Cheney met with Bush in early June 2003, and told him that
CIA agent Valerie Plame was the wife of Iraq war critic Joe Wilson and
that she was responsible for sending Joe on a fact-finding mission to
check out reports about Iraq's attempt to purchase uranium from Africa.
And the chat wasn't limited to Bush and Cheney. “Other White House
officials who also attended the meeting with Cheney and President Bush,”
Jason reports, “included former White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card,
then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, her former deputy
Stephen Hadley, and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove.”
Furthermore, Jason says, during the second half of June 2003, Rove,
Card, and other officials from Cheney's office kept Bush apprised on the
progress of the campaign to discredit Wilson, in emails and internal
White House memos, no less, some of which were only recently turned over
to the special prosecutor's office, Jason says.
No wonder Libby is so ticked off. Cheney and Bush got the ball rolling
and the whole gang was involved in the planning and execution of the
plot, yet Scooters the one on the outside looking in and facing a
possible 30-year prison term.
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So, the big question is, how many members of the Wilson-Plame-assassination-squad
have been interviewed by the FBI, how many have testified under oath
before the grand jury, and most importantly for Bush and Cheney, how
many have been able to stick to the same story.
Jason says that 36 administration officials have been interviewed which
means 36 people would have to stay on message and repeat the same
talking points. This would take a miracle.
Also, according to Jason’s sources, during Bush's interview with the
special prosecutor, he did not fess up to the fact that he was aware of
the campaign to discredit Wilson and said he did not know who had leaked
Valerie’s name to the media.
On June 24, 2004, Bush was interviewed for about 70 minutes. The only
other member of the Bush team in the room during the meeting was Jim
Sharp, the private lawyer that Bush hired, according to White House
press secretary, Scott McClellan.
"The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter,"
McClellan told reporters at the time. "No one wants to get to the bottom
of this matter more than the president of the United States," he said.
I like that line, "no one wants to get to the bottom of this matter"
more than Bush.
Yea sure. In a book released around the same time as Bush's interview,
Joe Wilson, pointed the finger at Scooter Libby as the leaker, and the
White House not only adamantly denied the claim, it accused Wilson of
trying to bolster John Kerry's campaign.
If its any consolation to Fitzgerald, the President's memory was no
better on September 30, 2003, a year before his interview, when talking
to reporters at the University of Chicago. Bush never once mentioned the
little group-think sessions in the White House to them either.
Instead, he just kept repeating the same talking points until he sounded
like a drunk three sheets to the wind. But then who knows, maybe he was.
In reading Bush's statements, its important to understand that the sole
issue raised by reporters was the question of who leaked Valerie's
identify to the media, nothing about classified documents or anything
else. So every comment refers to that issue only.
When a reporter asked, “Do you think that the Justice Department can
conduct an impartial investigation, considering the political
ramifications of the CIA leak, and why wouldn't a special counsel be
better?”
Bush completely skirted the question, and swung into his well-rehearsed
talking points.
"Let me just say something about leaks in Washington," he said. "There
are too many leaks of classified information in Washington," he told
reporters.
"There's leaks at the executive branch," he said, "there's leaks in the
legislative branch."
"There's just too many leaks," Bush stated. "And if there is a leak out
of my administration," he said, "I want to know who it is."
But apparently here lies the catch-all legal loop-hole phrase. "And if
the person has violated law,” Bush said, “the person will be taken care
of.”
"I have told our administration, people in my administration to be fully
cooperative," he assured reporters.
In light of Jason‘s findings above, this particular comment has me
concerned that maybe Dick Cheney, Andy Card, Condi Rice, Stephen Hadley,
and Karl Rove are all deaf.
"I want to know the truth," the President proclaimed.
I found this statement extremely comical, coming from a pathological
liar who cheated his way into the White House to begin with and then
rigged the next election to get a second term. That said, Bush put on
an Oscar-winning performance for the reporters in Chicago when he was
practically begging for anyone with information about the CIA leak to
come forward.
"If anybody has got any information inside our administration or outside
our administration," he said, "it would be helpful if they came forward
with the information so we can find out whether or not these allegations
are true and get on about the business."
When a reporter started to ask whether he had talked to Karl Rove and
whether he had confidence in Karl....
The President cut him off and went right back to the talking points.
"Listen,” he stuttered, “I know of nobody -- I don't know of anybody in
my administration who leaked classified information."
"If somebody did leak classified information," he continued, "I'd like
to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action."
"And this investigation is a good thing," he lied through his teeth and
said.
“And again I repeat,” he said, like a broken record, “you know,
Washington is a town where there's all kinds of allegations.”
“You've heard much of the allegations,” the President said. "And if
people have got solid information," Bush pleaded again, "please come
forward with it."
"And that would be people inside the information who are the so-called
anonymous sources," he stuttered on, "or people outside the information
-- outside the administration.”
The guy almost sounds sincere when he says he wants to wrap the
situation up quickly.
"And we can clarify this thing very quickly," Bush said, "if people who
have got solid evidence would come forward and speak out."
"And I would hope they would," he added. "And then we'll get to the
bottom of this and move on," he said. He obviously was up all night
rehearsing because he went right back to the mantra a third time about
how, "leaks of classified information are a bad thing."
How there's "too much leaking in Washington,” and on and on like a
drunken slob. "I've spoken out consistently against them," he said,
"and I want to know who the leakers are." I think Jason Leopold should
go talk to Bush. The poor guy's been begging for somebody to come
forward with this information for 3 years.
By Evelyn Pringle
Evelyn Pringle is a columnist for Independent Media TV and an
investigative journalist focused on exposing corruption in government.
Contact Evelyn
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Keywords and misspellings: politics poletics
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