ROVEGATE-BOLTONGATE & WMD propaganda

[bloom]

This puts it together nicely:

"July 16, 2005 -- ROVEGATE-BOLTONGATE LINK?  -- Amid the scandal over who leaked the name of Joseph Wilson's CIA covert operations wife to Karl Rove and other White House officials, there is renewed focus on a June 10, 2003 State Department memo that recapped Ambassador Joseph Wilson's trip to Niger to check on deceitful "intelligence" on that nation's uranium export controls. The State Department memo was written by the State Department based on the notes of a State analyst who attended a multi-agency intelligence meeting in early 2002 to investigate alleged Iraqi uranium purchases in Africa, including Niger. The memo reportedly contained the name of Wilson's wife. In a significant development, The New York Times is reporting today that the memo was written by Marc Grossman, the Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs and a copy of it was requested by Secretary of State Colin Powell before he left for Africa with President Bush on the evening of July 6, 2003. Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage called Carl W. Ford, Jr., the Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research at his home on July 6 (a Sunday) and requsted a copy of the memo. The fact that State's Intelligence and Research Bureau (INR) and Grossman were involved in the discussions about Niger and uranium are important in light of the revelations that UN ambassador nominee John Bolton, who was then Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security. Grossman, Armitage, Powell, and Ford were all reportedly subjects of Bolton's request for National Security Agency (NSA) intercepts of communications. Bolton, who had declared war on INR, was working closely with Vice President Cheney's staff, including Chief of Staff Scooter Libby; Karl Rove; UN ambassador John Negroponte; the National Security Council; and the Pentagon neocon cell to hype and fix intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq. The Associated Press is also reporting today that on July 11, 2003, Rove sent an email to Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley discussing  Rove's previous phone call to Time's Matt Cooper about Wilson and his wife. Rove, Hadley  Libby, then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Press Secretary Ari Fleischer were all members of the White House Iraq Group, set up to craft propaganda justifying the war.

The discrediting of the "intelligence" about yellowcake uranium exports by Niger to Iraq was a reeling blow to Bolton's war justification activities as State's counter-proliferation chief. If special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is able to link Bolton's illegal use of NSA intercepts against opponents of the Iraq war to the White House Iraq Group and the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's name to Karl Rove and others, Rovegate will take on truly Watergate proportions, with illegal wiretaps being added to the mix of possible violations of national security, perjury, criminal conspiracy, and obstruction of justice."

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

[wli]

1. plenty more where it came from

These are far from the only tie-ins.

[Just Me]

2. I certainly do hope Fitzgerald is all over this conspiracy to defraud,...

,...the entire nation into an unlawful war. That criminal conspiracy falls squarely within "high crimes and misdemeanors".

[rumpel]

4. Yes, ultimate high crimes and misdemeanors

[rumpel]

3. That was exactly the question I had the other day. Fitz should subpeona

documents containing the names Bolton requested, which were denied by the WH to be forwarded to the Committee in his confirmation matter.

Grossman, Armitage, Powell and Ford. Why did he not request Wilson and Plame? It would be too obvious and can be traced back?

And why would he want to eavesdrop on his in fact superiors?

[fishingriver]

5. Rove's War on Whistleblowers

If the new patriot act were passed as it is proposed by the GOP, it would grant government access to even more personal information than the current law. Whether Rove is accidentally guilty of treason or not, his access to and abuse of classified information demonstrates clearly what critics fear most in the patriot act -- that government could use these powers for purposes completely unrelated to national security.

In this case we have a person with access to the most sensitive information who used it for political manipulation, revenge and character assassination. He did this because Joe Wilson told the truth about the administration misrepresenting their reasons for war.

I can't imagine why we would create more opportunities for abuse with such a clear example of what it could lead to.

If Rove isn’t convicted and keeps his job, it will mean the president has placed personal relationships over national security. If Rove manages to keep his security clearance because Republicans in Congress refuse to make Rove accountable, then the partisan majority will have effectively cleared the way for Rove and other political operatives to use classified information as a weapon.

I have no doubts that the daily leak of information about the investigation is being provided by Roves minions. He wants to frame the way the media plays the revelations of his involvement. I.E. - Rove "didn’t give her name" was leaked to obscure the fact that he informed Matt Cooper that she was "CIA and Joe Wilson’s wife". The media has played along with this tactic, no doubt for the privilege of getting these tidbits and e-mails in their hands before the competition or final report. This further demonstrates Rove’s willingness to abuse not only classified information about our agents, but details of an independent investigation into his own crimes.

If Rove and the leakers in the White House are not held accountable for this breach in national security, whistle blowers will become victims of tactics no different than those used during Hitler's reign in Germany, or Joseph Stalin's KGB in the old USSR.


http://vote4change.net

[bloom]

6. whistle blowers and truth tellers become victims

and people like Bolton who make victims out of whistle blowers and truth tellers are promoted.

:grr:

[rumpel]

7. earlier ocelot posted the opinion of the judge in Miller case

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1932591

whatever they are after IS of serious national security concern and "serious breach of public trust".

I conclude, as I began, with the tensions at work in this
case. Here, two reporters and a news magazine, informants to
the public, seek to keep a grand jury uninformed. Representing
two equally fundamental principles—rule of law and free
speech—the special counsel and the reporters both aim to
facilitate fully informed and accurate decision-making by those
they serve: the grand jury and the electorate. To this court falls
the task of balancing the two sides’ concerns.

(emphasis electorate)

snip

Were the leak at issue in this case less harmful to national
security or more vital to public debate, or had the special
counsel failed to demonstrate the grand jury’s need for the
reporters’ evidence, I might have supported the motion to quash.
Because identifying appellants’ sources instead appears essential
to remedying a serious breach of public trust, I join in affirming
the district court’s orders compelling their testimony.