Ray McGovern – Bush War Drums for Iran – Cheney tossed Rove due to reluctance

[autorank]

This is must read material. He outlines the Iraqi intel in 2002 denying WMD and how that source was dismissed and the flacks in the media who push for an Iran war now.

A surprise – Rove opposed the attack and lost out to Cheney. “I t’s as though Dick Cheney is again writing the Post editorials.”

Bush's New War Drums for Iran
By Ray McGovern

August 21, 2007
Consortium.com

It is as though I’m back as an analyst at the CIA, trying to estimate the chances of an attack on Iran. The putative attacker, though, happens to be our own president.

It is precisely the work we analysts used to do. And, while it is still a bit jarring to be turning our analytical tools on the U.S. leadership, it is by no means entirely new. For, of necessity, we Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS) have been doing that for almost six years now—ever since 9/11, when “everything changed.”

Of necessity? Yes, because, with very few exceptions, American journalists lose their jobs if they expose things like fraudulent wars.

The craft of CIA analysis was designed to be an all-source operation, meaning that we analysts were responsible—and held accountable—for assimilating information from all sources and coming to judgments on what it all meant. We used information of all kinds, from the most sophisticated technical collection platforms to spies to open media.

Here I have to reveal a trade secret, which punctures the mystique of intelligence analysis. Generally speaking, 80 percent of the information one needs to form judgments on key intelligence targets or issues is available in open media.

[EVDebs]

1. Didn't anybody read James Fallow's Atlantic article on Will Iran Be Next ?

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200412/fallows

They've wargamed this and it's another fiasco.

[L. Coyote]

2. ROVE was fired for Hatch Act violations

Has Rove's Egg Hatched? The Firing of KARL ROVE or Why His Family Needs Him Now.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1591504

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6. That's excellent stuff. Why now do you think.

I don't really have a pet theory, I'm curious. Why now for Rove? And don't they
all have Hatch Act problems. It starts at GSA, which has never been addressed, and
expands out.

[bananas]

3. link

http://consortiumnews.com/2007/082107a.html

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4. Thanks it's up there now.

[Blackhatjack]

5. I agree with his assessment that Rove left for reasons other than Hatch Act violations...

Rove is one despicable human being, but one thing you can count on with him is to always act in his own best interests.

Leaving the White House had to be in 'his own best interests.' And what kind of interests would be better served with Rove outside the White House?

I think Rove is leaving ahead of a major wave about to engulf the WH.

It may be an impending attack on Iran --or he may have been forced out because of his own personal conduct. Either way he is gone, and so is the counterweight to Cheney and the Neo-cons plans.

[autorank]

7. Here's the most important part of the post - oops!

Remember the powerpoint slides found way back, supposedly belong to Rove. They showed how Iraq was going to make the Presidency and the Republican majorities in congress...just pound on that war theme.

Now it seems to be an addiction. They're in, failing, so what do they do...let's have another war. I'm trying to imagine what they can achieve and nothing comes up because it's so risky. The costs are enormous but the persevere.

Two explanations come to mind. First, they're behaving like typical addicts. They must have their stuff, in this case war, they can't do with out it. This isn't enough thought. The push on the addictive behavior comes from a fear that they must mask - jail.

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From the link above:

"Consider, for example, the daring recruitment in mid-2002 of Saddam Hussein’s foreign minister, Naji Sabri, who was “turned” into working for the CIA and quickly established his credibility. Sabri told us there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

My former colleagues, perhaps a bit naively, were quite sure this would come as a vast relief to President George W. Bush and his advisers. Instead, they were told that the White House had no further interest in reporting from Sabri; rather, that the issue was not really WMD, it was “regime change.”

(Don’t feel embarrassed if you did not know this; our corporate-owned, war-profiteering media has largely suppressed all this.)"


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That's easy enough to track down in the official records. What will the public say if that little gem is ever released. It's the smoking gun. So, they trick themselves into thinking they've got a war Jones and that blanks out the terror they have regarding being exposed plus any real attention to the matter since we'll be at war.

It's a loop of deranged self reinforcing protection. McGovern is so right on the press. What lackeys. If they cared a wit for selling newspapers or getting ratings, this would be covered non stop. NEVER WERE ANY!!! WHAT WMD? AMERICA BETRAYED!

[Cooley Hurd]

8. Would it be alarmist of me to express concern that, if we attack Iran, that we'll be in a proxy war

...with BOTH Russia AND China?:shrug:

[kimpossible]

9. OMFG if Rove was the voice of reason

Now that's a really scary thought.

[Bushwick Bill]

10. This needs a kick. n/t