"A Secretive Cabal Running American Foreign Policy is Undermining American

[Pirate Smile]

Democracy"

From Steve Clemons on The Washington Note

"Lawrence Wilkerson: "A Secretive Cabal Running American Foreign Policy is Undermining American Democracy"

Listen. . .I'm at a conference on Israeli-Palestinian issues now and am writing this as I sit in the audience -- but today I hosted one of the single most important meetings I have put together with former State Department Chief of Staff Lawrence Wilkerson.

We are rushing -- and spending some serious bucks -- to get the transcript ready by tomorrow, but the video link is up now.

Watch it -- It blows the roof off of the White House.

More on this important session later. To reiterate, transcript will be up tomorrow afternoon.

-- Steve Clemons

http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/001018.html

I'm downloading it but haven't watched it yet.

[highplainsdem]

1. Newsweek just put up a web-exclusive column referring to that:

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9756244/site/newsweek


Crossing the Cabal

WEB-EXCLUSIVE COMMENTARY
By Richard Wolffe and Holly Bailey
Newsweek
Updated: 6:28 p.m. ET Oct. 19, 2005


<snip>

That’s fine if Fitzgerald narrowly defines his work to mean the naming of the CIA officer in question. But there’s every sign—at least from the range of witnesses he’s called to the grand jury—that this is a far broader investigation. That suggests it’s not just a matter of law, it’s a matter of motive. One of the most perplexing pieces of the Plame puzzle is the question of why? Why did certain officials feel so passionately about former ambassador Joe Wilson’s comments about uranium in Niger that they would seek to discredit him by targeting his wife?

The answer to that may come from the only real source of dissent inside the administration in this period: Colin Powell’s State Department. It was Powell’s intelligence office that wrote the critical (and classified) memo that detailed why Wilson was sent to Niger and the minor role of his wife in that mission. That report was circulating on Air Force One in the days after Wilson’s op-ed appeared in The New York Times.

For Powell and his staff, the searing experience of the run-up to war and its chaotic aftermath was not about conflict in Baghdad, but conflict in Washington. It was intense, personal and emotional. Their enemy: the vice president’s office and the Pentagon. It was clear at the time how dismal relations were between the State and Defense departments. After all, the Pentagon trashed State’s planning for the postwar period and they openly feuded in their assessments of whether to trust Iraqi exiles or not.

But now, thanks to Powell’s former chief of staff, it’s clear that the problems weren’t just between two warring departments. Larry Wilkerson claims there was “a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney, and the Defense secretary of the United States, Donald Rumsfeld, that made decisions that the bureaucracy didn’t know were being made.” Chief among those decisions: to go to war in Iraq. “You have a president who isn’t versed in international affairs and not too much interested in them either,” Wilkerson told an audience at the New America Foundation on Wednesday. “So it’s not too difficult to make decisions in this Oval Office cabal, and decisions often that are the opposite of what you thought were made in the formal process.”

<snip>

[Pirate Smile]

9. I hadn't seen that yet. Thanks.

"But now, thanks to Powell's former chief of staff, it's clear that the problems weren't just between two warring departments. Larry Wilkerson claims there was "a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Dick Cheney, and the Defense secretary of the United States, Donald Rumsfeld, that made decisions that the bureaucracy didn't know were being made." Chief among those decisions: to go to war in Iraq. "You have a president who isn't versed in international affairs and not too much interested in them either," Wilkerson told an audience at the New America Foundation on Wednesday. "So it's not too difficult to make decisions in this Oval Office cabal, and decisions often that are the opposite of what you thought were made in the formal process."

Wilkerson argues that the reason leaders need to be open and honest with their own bureaucracy is because in times of war you need all the help, advice and teamwork you can lay your hands on. Dissent should be welcomed because the dissenters then form part of your team. He also argues that the entire national-security process needs to be overhauled to stop the kind of secrecy and concentration of power that led to the decision to invade Iraq.

But his observations are also directly relevant to the Plame affair. Joe Wilson's mistake was that he crossed the so-called cabal by saying the administration knew there was nothing to the Niger story even before President George W. Bush cited it in his State of the Union Message in early 2003. Just like Powell's dissent in the run-up to war, the response inside the administration was personally critical and had a chilling effect on internal debate.

Whether or not you agree with the war, and whether or not Fitzgerald indicts anyone, it's worth remembering why Joe Wilson was at all important to the White House and the vice president's office in particular. As the president said in his 2003 State of the Union address, "Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a president can make." The Plame game gets to the heart of how that decision was made-and whether anyone could offer an alternative view and survive with their reputation intact."

[LittleClarkie]

20. But remember everyone, it's still the Democrats fault

Damn them for voting for this war. :sarcasm:

[Lilyhoney]

2. Thank you for the link. nt

[highplainsdem]

3. Kick! And thanks for that link, Pirate Smile!

[Pirate Smile]

4. The transcript is up now - here it is:

"Transcript: Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
By Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson
Published: October 20 2005 00:17 | Last updated: October 20 2005 00:17

The following is a transcript of talk given by Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January.


Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson: The 1947 National Security Act. In other words, he thought it was a piece of legislation that was passed by the Congress of the United States, the peoples’ representative and he damn well ought to follow it.

And did so probably to an extent that few Presidents, if any, have since.

I want to thank Steve and the American Foundation for giving me this opportunity and thank some of my friends for turning out. I see an assistant secretary over here. I think he's left that post now, who used to spend some time in my office.

And I see others around the room. I see some journalists in here who have been trying religiously to get me over the last 3 or 4 months. You finally got me, at least on this topic.
...
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/c925a686-40f4-11da-b3f9-00000e2511c8.html

[nomatrix]

15. Sorry, but this one stops me cold

"Practical experience, sitting at the right hand of a very powerful Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and watching probably one of the finest Presidents we’ve ever had, that’s how I feel about George H. W. Bush, exercise one of the greatest adeptnesses at foreign policy I’ve ever seen."

[SpiralHawk]

5. K & R

people need to read this.

[PassingFair]

6. Assuage my ignorance.....

What is K & R?

[highplainsdem]

7. Kicked and recommended/nominated.

[PassingFair]

8. T/Y n/t

[understandinglife]

10. Very important. Hope it makes it to the DU homepage.

Peace.

[Beam Me Up]

13. I'll second that: THIS BELONGS ON THE DU HOMEPAGE:

This is about BRINGING THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH BACK IN BALANCE with the other branches of the US government by force of law.

[Marie26]

11. Thanks for the link

That's one of the first times I've heard such a brutal assessment of Cheney's "cabal" in the mainstream media. It really feels like things have reached the breaking point. I wonder why Wilkonson waited until now to come forward? Is it somehow "safe" to say these things now that indictments are pending?

[flyarm]

12. wow ..great info , thanks so much!!

i will spread this to all my internet groups..and get this all over the country!!

wow i can't wait till these buggers pay for their murder and treason...i am so sick of this ..i can no longer take it..but have no choice but to get the truth to we the people...i hate these bastards!

i want them all in orange suits and shackles ..i want them all...and i know i have alot of company ...soon ,i feel it soon!!

i have to have it soon for my lost co-workers of 9/11 and for their families and for my lost neighbors..from 9/11..i want these bastards to pay...

fly

[flyarm]

14. wow do not miss listening to this audio..its incredible!!

i am in love with this man..i just wish he had gotten a stage before the election...this is so valuable..i have sent to all the powers that be in the dnc in my area..this must be sent to all dnc people all over the country..all the local dnc people ..i have also sent to sec people..and dec people in my area ..and since i live in 2 states i have also sent to dnc people in my second state!!
and people working on corzines campaign...this needs to be gotten to everyone!

thank you!!

fly

[nadinbrzezinski]

16. great audio

thanks

[Neil Lisst]

17. Watergate WAS a third rate burlglary compared to this ...

I believe this is going to topple some big players.

I'm really not kidding in my comic where I am talking about Cheney being replaced by Bush. It looks as if the Bush camp is circling the wagons and that means the buck stops at Cheney.

Cheney is the plausible stopper, his resignation to save Bush, who then appoints another.

------------------------------------------
Neil Lisst ;) has learned there is a short list of possible VP applicants Bush could go with, in case Cheney has to go. http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Watergate is a pikers run compared to this

the Constitutional crisis we are about to embark is truly the Rubicon River... if we cross it, kiss the American Republic good bye... we are truly at the edge of the rubicon river

[cynatnite]

19. Hijacking Catastrophe is a good one to watch...

It's all about the neocons and their agenda. This relates to what this guy said.

I watched it a couple of hours ago.

scroll down and you'll find it.

http://mysite.verizon.net/res7dhyg/id3.html

Their website:

http://www.hijackingcatastrophe.org/

[DemReadingDU]

21. Recommended

[DemonFighterLives]

22. Kick I'll have to get back to this

:kick:

[mod mom]

23. Over 2 hours long but worth the watch. Ends with the significance of the

detainee situation. In retrospect, WE WILL BE ASHAMED! "This is not us" the President, VP, SS, AG involvement have given a carte blanche on the pervasive attitude that this is different circumstances and anything goes. We will have to "grow a new military" due to this policy.

Secret Cabal is courting disaster with foreign policy in Iraq, Iran, North Korea and elsewhere.

TRASHES RICE-job of the NSA is to be a balancer-bringing all relevant opinions, INCLUDING DISSENT to the president. Rice was a major problem because of her failure to be anything but a yes man.

Highly suggest reading George Packers (? book)