Knowing what we know now, what could it have meant?

[Sydnie]

Just what could Libby's little message to Miller have meant? Before Abramoff and Scanlon, we assumed that his message was just about the Plame case. Could it have even more far reaching meaning than we gave it before? Let's revisit it, shall we?

"You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover -- Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work -- and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers. With admiration, Scooter Libby."

Could there be something deeper hiding in that message about the aspens?

[spindrifter]

1. Who went to the Aspen

conferences besides Judy and Sco*ter? Maybe that is the clue to who is talking to Fitzg. The whole thing is a clusterf*ck, as we know, but we also know that there have been "clusters" of people interviewed. That's my guess.

[Sydnie]

2. I was wondering if there was some Colorado connection

with Abramoff that this might have given us a clue to. It could be the Aspen Conference. who else attends that regularly? What else might have been happening around that time to give her a clue of a time frame rather than an event?

There is something there, we just haven't broken the code yet.

[Moochy]

3. dkos Goldstone's diary AND TPM Cafe link

Dkos has a big diary on this that I'd bookmarked a while back.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/1/132251/998

I agree with the posters that say the aspens reference is more about her being part of the neocon plan.

It might be a double entendre, in that he might have referred to the Aspens conference, as well as being a reference to her being part of the same organism, like aspen groves.

TPM Cafe has a good link on this too!
http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/10/16/5146/3414

cheers!

[Sydnie]

5. that DKos link is intense!

going to check the other one out now. Thanks!

I was thinking that maybe it was initials ... A (Abramoff) S (Scanlon) ... could it be?

[stillcool]

4. it sure does sound more eerie...

I'm not sure where all those who have already pled guilty are from. But, if he were referencing Aspens just as trees and not Colorado....Cunningham is from Calif., Wilkes and MZM...I'll have to go google.

[carolinalady]

6. Did a google search-

aspen lead to aspen strategy group (miller, cheney, rice, et. al) of the famous libby letter

aspen strategy group led to Zoellick- former director of this group who Bush named a US Trade Rep and has repeatedly had meetings with Abramoff.
don't know if this is connected or not.

I am still inclined to believe that he was referring to the actual members of the aspen strategy group who let it be known to him that he was going down which is why he freed Miller to testify.

[Sydnie]

7. hummmm Zoellick worked for James Baker

During President George H.W. Bush's Administration, Mr. Zoellick served with Secretary of State James A. Baker, III, as Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs, as well as Counselor to the Department (Under Secretary rank). Mr. Zoellick's responsibilities included political, economic, and security topics in all regions of the world. He served as the senior U.S. official in the "Two-plus-Four" negotiations for German unification and worked closely with Secretary Baker on the policies pertaining to the end of the Cold War. Mr. Zoellick was the lead State Department official in the negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Uruguay Round, and the launch of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation group. He played a key role in the Central American peace processes. Mr. Zoellick was also appointed the President's personal representative, or Sherpa, for the G-7 Economic Summits in 1991 and 1992. In August 1992, Mr. Zoellick was appointed White House Deputy Chief of Staff and Assistant to the President.

<snip>


After leaving government service in 1993, Mr. Zoellick was appointed an Executive Vice President at Fannie Mae, the largest housing finance investor in the United States, where he managed the company's affordable housing business; legal, regulatory, government relations activities; and international financial services. He also served as the John M. Olin Professor of National Security at the U.S. Naval Academy, Research Scholar at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, and Senior International Advisor to Goldman Sachs.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/zoellick-bio.html

Intersting indeed. Fannie Mae had some problems last year, didn't they?

edited to add -

On January 7, 2005, President George W. Bush nominated Zoellick to be Deputy Secretary of State. <11> Zoellick assumed the office on February 22, 2005.

<snip>

Two years earlier, Zoellick was one of the signatories (along with Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Elliott Abrams, Zalmay Khalilzad, John R. Bolton, Richard Armitage, William Kristol, and others) of a Jan. 26, 1998 letter to President Bill Clinton drafted by the Project for a New American Century calling for "removing Saddam's regime from power."<13>

<snip>

Robert Zoellick also serves or has served as a board member on a number of private and public organizations: Alliance Capital, Said Holdings, and the Precursor Group; a member of the advisory boards of Enron and Viventures, a venture fund; as a Director of the Aspen Institute's Strategy Group, Council on Foreign Relations, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and the World Wildlife Advisory Council; and a member of Secretary William Sebastian Cohen's Defense Policy Board.<1><2> He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zoellick

He is PNAC all the way!

[savemefromdumbya]

8. Nuclear facility in Colorado?

[Sydnie]

9. Vin Weber - Another PNACer and another Aspen Institute guy

http://www.aspeninstitute.org/site/c.huLWJeMRKpH/b.612841/k.E701/Vin_Weber.htm

Vin Weber is a partner with Clark & Weinstock, a strategic consulting and public policy firm in Washington, DC. He is a former US Congressman, serving Minnesota's Second Congressional District from 1980 to 1992. Mr. Weber is a co-founder of Empower America and a fellow at the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota, where he is a codirector of the Policy Forum. Mr. Weber serves on the Board of Directors of several private sector and non-profit organizations, including ITT Educational Services, Department 56, the German Marshall Fund, National Public Radio, Council on Foreign Relations, and Chairman of the National Endowment for Democracy.

Perhaps it is a connection to the PNACers?

So far we have Zoellick and Weber. Both have signed the PNAC letter and have ties to the Aspen Institute.

Could it mean that heavey hitters from the original PNACers are bailing on blivet**?