Mike and I are both wiped out from the week (and the cold especially). So we're doing two items from Democracy Now! and that's it for tonight. We're trying to do them in a different manner and I have no idea if we'll succeed at that or not. But please visit Mikey Likes It! because I'm sure he'll have more luck than I do.
Libby Testifies "Superiors" Ordered Leak of Classified Information (Democracy Now!):
New evidence has emerged linking Vice President Dick Cheney to the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. Investigative journalist Murray Waas has revealed testimony from Lewis "Scooter" Libby -- Cheney's indicted former chief of staff -- before a federal grand jury. Libby testified he had been "authorized" by Cheney and other White House "superiors" to disclose classified information to journalists to defend the Bush administration’s use of prewar intelligence in making the case to invade Iraq. Larry Johnson, a former intelligence official and colleague of Plame's said: "This was not some rogue operation, but was directed at the highest levels, and specifically by Dick Cheney. Libby was definitely a man with a mission, but a man who was given a mission."
Scoots. Is he learning to walk? Is he trying out new strategies to see what will play best?
"Anything I did, I did on Cheney's orders" sounds like one more "strong executive branch" argument to me. I know we're supposed to be excited at the prospect that Scooter will roll over on Cheney but we're talking about a case that's not being heard tomorrow. So what does this really mean if anything?
Ex-CIA Mideast Officer Accuses Bush Admin. Of "Cherry-Picking" Iraq Intel (Democracy Now!):
Meanwhile, the CIA's former national intelligence officer for the Middle East has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence to justify the Iraq invasion. In a new article in Foreign Affairs, Paul Pillar writes: "It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions. Intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made…and the intelligence community's own work was politicized."
What if, this is the new thing, Mike's doing it for the first topic, I'm doing it for this one . . .
What if all the CIA analysts who'd been ignored and shunted aside by the administration held a collective press conference where they came forward with everything they knew? I'm sure Porter Goss would try to retaliate but, if they stuck together, it would be harder to do it to everyone.
It takes more than one whistleblower and, as the case of Sibel Edmunds demonstrates, it takes the press being willing to run with the story. They weren't interested in Sibel's story. Why was that? While beating their chests and rubbing their eyes regarding 9/11, they've never reallly been interested in any story that went beyond what you saw in the footage that was aired on TV.
If 30 or 50 analysts decided to hold a joint press conference, would the media cover it?
Is there a magic number? Does it take a hundred if there is?
C.I. noted last night that between Sunday evening and today, 13 more American military fatalities have occurred in Iraq. 13 sounds like a big number to me but I haven't seen the media discussing this issue.
No peace quote tonight. Instead . . .
"Laugh Note" (Betty, Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man):
Performing the dual roles of confessor and confessee, his own Linda Tripp and Monica Lewinsky, my husband Thomas Friedman found a new way to embarrass himself this week with "No More Mr. Tough Guy."
thomas friedman is a great man
like maria said paz
mikey likes it
democracy now
the common ills
