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  • July 2003         flowchart
  • Go to Plamegate / Rosen Weissman for the latest timeline entries
  • From April 2006 report: New York Sun  "Bush Said to Have Cleared Early Release of Iraq Intelligence to Times ...I. Lewis Libby, testified to a grand jury that he gave information from a closely-guarded "National Intelligence Estimate" on Iraq to a New York Times reporter in 2003 with the specific permission of President Bush,  ...  the new disclosure could be awkward for the president because it places him, for the first time, directly in a chain of events that led to a meeting where prosecutors contend the identity of a CIA employee, Valerie Plame, was provided to a reporter ...and file
  • Feb 2007 AP and copy Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer leaked the identity of a CIA operative to Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus during a 2003 phone call, Pincus testified Monday as the first defense witness in the CIA leak trial.  Pincus was one of the first reporters to learn the identity of Valerie Plame, the wife of former ambassador and prominent Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson. Pincus said he learned her identity July 12, 2003 but did not immediately write about it. Plame was outed by syndicated columnist Robert Novak two days later.  and copy
  • Media Matters 2007, "At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie [Plame] Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community." 
  • Libby indictment ..... Count 1: Obstruction of Justice (18 U.S.C. Section 1503) Counts 2-3: False Statements (18 U.S.C. Section 1001(a)(2))  Counts 4-5: Perjury (18 U.S.C. Section 1623)  indictment
  • Jul 2003  At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community.  indictment
  • Jul 6, 2003, Sunday  former Ambassador Joe Wilson article "What I Didn't Find in Iraq", (New York Times) a ppears in New York Times, suggesting that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate Saddam Hussein threat.  This ignited Congressional Democrats.
  • Wilson interviewed for a Washington Post story on '16 words'. and appeared on Meet the Press.  Accused Bush of twisting the facts about Iraq weapons and leading U.S. to war on false pretenses. NewYorkTimes
  • Scoop, on Viveca Novak / Luskin conversation....desperate attempt to stop Rove indictment, info.  December 2005 article  and Scoop  "MalcontentX: The PlameGate Affair is A Smokescreen" great 'connecting the dots' piece: Iraq War, Bush corruption... 9/11
  • Jul 6, 2003 The July 6 "Op Ed" Article by Wilson  indictment
  • 15. On July 6, 2003, the New York Times published an Op-Ed article by Wilson entitled "What I Didn't Find in Africa." Also on July 6, 2003, the Washington Post published an article about Wilson's 2002 trip to Niger, which article was based in part upon an interview of Wilson. Also on July 6, Wilson appeared as a guest on the television interview show "Meet the Press." In his Op-Ed article and interviews in print and on television, Wilson asserted, among other things, that he had taken a trip to Niger at the request of the CIA in February 2002 to investigate allegations that Iraq had sought or obtained uranium yellowcake from Niger, and that he doubted Iraq had obtained uranium from Niger recently, for a number of reasons. Wilson stated that he believed, based on his understanding of government procedures, that the Office of the Vice President was advised of the results of his trip. indictment
  • Jul 6, 2003. Sunday    Deputy Sec of State Armitage called INR director Carl Ford asking about Wilson Niger claims, wanted info forwarded to Colin Powell.  
  • Rove doesn't remember whether he told Novak or vice versa about Plame?   Also strange meeting last few blocks on way to 'Crossfire' taping where Novak spills all the beans to Wilson friend.  Wilson and friend documented exchange. Wilson and CNN news division head Eason Jordan exchange words about Novak's conversation with Wilson friend. American Prospect
  • Jul 7, 2003  16. On or about July 7, 2003, LIBBY had lunch with the then White House Press Secretary and advised the Press Secretary that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and noted that such information was not widely known.
  • Jul 7, 2003  On or about July 7, 2003, LIBBY advised the White House Press Secretary that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;  indictment
  • Jul 7, 2003, Monday  Whitehouse retracts SOTU Niger claims.  Bush trip to Africa, with Powell and INR memo.  Is this how Plame's id circulated? Calls her Valerie Wilson.   Memo clearly states Plame id sensitivity.  Did Bush see the memo?  Ari Fleischer has testified on this and Novak tried to contact him.  Air Force One phone logs eventually subpoenaed for the week of the Africa tour.     TOP   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
  • Jul 7, 2003 Monday  June 10 INR memo found and copied for Powell and transmitted via Whitehouse operation center......could then have been passed freely around on Air Force One?
  • Jul 7, 2003 Monday  Robert Novak calls Whitehouse, asked for Ari Fleischer.
  • In or about June or July 2003, and in no case later than on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;
  • Jul 8, 2003   On or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY advised reporter Judith Miller of his belief that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; and  indictment
  • Miller and Rove will testify multiple times (in October 2005) because of surprise revelations of 'missing' notes and emails that would invigorate Fitzgerald's investigation.  NewsWeek and New York Times Nov 2005, file
  • Jul 8, 2003   On or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY had a discussion with the Counsel to the Office of the Vice President concerning the paperwork that would exist if a person who was sent on an overseas trip by the CIA had a spouse who worked at the CIA;  indictment
  • Jul 8, 2003 Tuesday Rove and Novak spoke about Plame on July 8, 2003. ( NY Times said a "a person who has been briefed on the matter" described the conversation) the conversation turned to Plame as a CIA agent and Wilson Africa trip details, and said to Novak: "I heard that, too".   (remember there were two 'administration officials")  The conversation was initiated by Novak.  Novak wrote the article that outed Plame July 14th.  Novak referred to Wilson's wife by her maiden name.  SFGate, Time, NYTimes  American Prospect
  • Jul 8, 2003  17. On or about the morning of July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. When the conversation turned to the subject of Joseph Wilson, LIBBY asked that the information LIBBY provided on the topic of Wilson be attributed to a "former Hill staffer" rather than to a "senior administration official," as had been the understanding with respect to other information that LIBBY provided to Miller during this meeting. LIBBY thereafter discussed with Miller Wilson's trip and criticized the CIA reporting concerning Wilson's trip. During this discussion, LIBBY advised Miller of his belief that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA.  indictment

  • Jul 8, 2003   18. Also on or about July 8, 2003, LIBBY met with the Counsel to the Vice President in an anteroom outside the Vice President's Office. During their brief conversation, LIBBY asked the Counsel to the Vice President, in sum and substance, what paperwork there would be at the CIA if an employee's spouse undertook an overseas trip.  indictment

  • 19. Not earlier than June 2003, but on or before July 8, 2003, the Assistant to the Vice President for Public Affairs learned from another government official that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA, and advised LIBBY of this information.  indictment

  • Jul 8, 2003 Tuesday Miller has meeting with Libby. 2 What did she tell them, and why didn't she write a story.  Newsday and Huffington Post  (They discussed Wilson, but this won't be disclosed until Oct 8, 2005) see Franklingate.com

  • Miller and Libby discuss Plame.  Miller says she has not received a 'specific' (from Libby's lips?) enough waiver to testify.  Cooper says he was given 'specific' waiver.  Has Miller asked for one?   Salon
  • Libby and Miller are close friends...he visited her in jail and wrote a possibly coded message to her in the form of a poem.  Salon.com Washington Post
  • Miller and Rove will testify multiple times (in October 2005) because of surprise revelations of 'missing' notes and emails that would invigorate Fitzgerald's investigation.  NewsWeek and New York Times Nov 2005, file
  • Jul 8, 2003 Tuesday Rice receives NSC briefing book for Sunday talk shows and may have contained INR (Plame) memo.   If this work is copied please TOPreference SCF, NewsFollowUp.com
  • New York Magazine, and Arianna Huffington search on Miller ties. and Talkleft  Miller spoke to Libby on July 8, 2003. 
  • Jul 8, 2003  c. LIBBY did not discuss Wilson's wife with New York Times reporter Judith Miller during a meeting with Miller on or about July 8, 2003. ci  indictment
  • Jul 8, 2003 Tuesday Novak / Rove conversation turns to Plame, identifying her by name.  Novak claims he knows Wilson sent by Plame.  Rove responds: "Oh, you know about it" or according to Rove: "I heard that, too." see dKosopedia for more on this, search Eason Jordan.  Washington Post
  • Rove provided confirmation to Novak of Plames id.  Salon
  • Jul 9, 2003 Wednesday two top Whitehouse officials disclosed Plame's CIA identity to at least six Washington journalists as reported in a Sept 28, 2003 Washington Post article.  Bush was in Africa...and fending off questions about '16 words', citing CIA ok.  dKosopedia
  • Jul 9, 2003 Wednesday Senate Intelligence Committee (Republican leadership) report (smear).  Republicans say Hussein was after uranium citing EU intelligence.  Plame did "specifically recommend" Wilson for trip to Niger in a CPD memo.  Claim that Wilson never saw that docs that were determined to be forged.  Claim Wilson "misspoke" about forged docs.  Claim that CIA did not pass on to Whitehouse its own doubts about yellow cake claims.  Smearing CIA and Wilson campaign?  Whitehouse / Republicans silent on effects of outing on intelligence community..dKosopedia
  • Crisispapers In the summer of 2005, Judges looking at Fitzgerald's evidence of a crime are shown eight pages of evidence that convinces them to compel Miller and Cooper to testify or go to jail, based on national security matters.  
  • Jul 10, 2003 Thursday Novak tells Wilson that a CIA source informed him on Plame.  Wilson outraged, gets apology from Novak.  Wilson tells Novak Plame has nothing to do with yellowcake.  Washington Post
  • Republicans will eventually try to spin the leak as an effort by Rove to correct belief that Tenet or Cheney sent Wilson to Africa....but rather it was Wilson's wife (by outing Plame?..dumb as Clintons "is is" spin..)
  • Go to U. S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Phase II, final report, searchable text file and pdf. "Sadly, the Bush Administration led the nation into war under false pretenses."
  • Jul 10, 2003  20. On or about July 10, 2003, LIBBY spoke to NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert to complain about press coverage of LIBBY by an MSNBC reporter. LIBBY did not discuss Wilson's wife with Russert. indictment
  • Jul 10, 2003   32. It was part of the corrupt endeavor that during his grand jury testimony, defendant LIBBY made the following materially false and intentionally misleading statements and representations, in substance, under oath:  a. When LIBBY spoke with Tim Russert of NBC News, on or about July 10, 2003:    (grand jury testimony)  a. When LIBBY spoke with Tim Russert of NBC News, on or about July 10, 2003:   Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, and told LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and    ii. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was surprised to hear that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA;  indictment
  • Jul 10, 2003   33. It was further part of the corrupt endeavor that at the time defendant LIBBY made each of the above-described materially false and intentionally misleading statements and representations to the grand jury, LIBBY was aware that they were false, in that:  a. When LIBBY spoke with Tim Russert of NBC News on or about July 10, 2003:   i. Russert did not ask LIBBY if LIBBY knew that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did he tell LIBBY that all the reporters knew it; and   ii. At the time of this conversation, LIBBY was well aware that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; in fact, LIBBY had participated in multiple prior conversations concerning this topic, including on the following occasions:  indictment
  • Jul 11, 2003Friday Rice claims '16 words' conformed to NIE, and DCIA cleared SOTU.  Rice said she learned about forged documents from a TV show, and that the Whitehouse did not know about Wilson's Niger trip.  Seemed to want to push idea of Whitehouse ignorance on Wilson trip.  
  • Jul 11, 2003  21. On or about July 10 or July 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke to a senior official in the White House ("Official A") who advised LIBBY of a conversation Official A had earlier that week with columnist Robert Novak in which Wilson's wife was discussed as a CIA employee involved in Wilson's trip. LIBBY was advised by Official A that Novak would be writing a story about Wilson's wife.  indictment
  • Jul 11, 2003  a. During a conversation with Tim Russert of NBC News on July 10 or 11, 2003, Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY was aware that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. LIBBY responded to Russert that he did not know that, and Russert replied that all the reporters knew it. LIBBY was surprised by this statement because, while speaking with Russert, LIBBY did not recall that he previously had learned about Wilson's wife's employment from the Vice President. ci  indictment
  • Rove told Cooper about Plame Salon
  • Jul 11, 2003. Friday  Cooper email to Michael Duffy (bureau chief) "Spoke to Rove on double super secret background for about two mins before he went on vacation"...."please don't source this to rove or even WH (Whitehouse).... dKosopedia
  • Cooper e-mail: Rove gave him (Cooper) a "big warning" that Wilson's claims might not be entirely accurate and that it wasn't the director of the CIA or Cheney who sent Wilson to Nigeria.  Rove (witness account) apparently told Cooper that it was "Wilson's wife, who apparently works at the agency on WMD issues who authorized the trip," according to a story in Newsweek's July 18 issue.  Washington Post
  • Cooper said Rove ended the call by saying: 'I've already said too much'.  Cooper was not sure what that meant.  Fitzgerald very inquisitive about how Rove learned her name.  and Cooper said they never talked about welfare reform. dKosopedia
  • Tenet takes blame for not cutting Niger claim from SOTU speech citing pressure from NSC, within days Hadley confesses also.  Hadley, Rove, Libby all members of Whitehouse Iraq Group, WHIG (cooking Iraq war intelligence) see Franklingate.com on WHIG.
  • Jul 11, Friday 2003.  Rove emails Hadley NSA, that he spoke with Cooper, said he didn't take Cooper's bait (Cooper asked if Bush hurt by Wilson) on  Niger questions.  Rove tried to smear Wilson's stories.  Fitzgerald does not know about this email. 
  • The email to Hadley was not disclosed until October of 2005, which will further jeopardize Rove's position.
  • Later that afternoon Tenet says decision to send Wilson was made by CIA alone. Matthew Cooper, " What I told the Grand Jury, ” Time.  Washington Post
  • Feb. 2007 MSNBC   "Vice President Cheney's press officer, Cathie Martin, approached his chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on Air Force Two on July 12, 2003, to ask how she should respond to journalists' questions about Joseph C. Wilson IV. Libby looked over one of the reporters' questions and told Martin: "Well, let me go talk to the boss and I'll be back." and copy
  • Feb, 2007, Washington Post  "Libby subsequently called a reporter, read him the statement, and said -- according to the reporter -- he had "heard" that Wilson's investigation was instigated by his wife, an employee at the CIA, later identified as Valerie Plame. The reporter, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, was one of five people with whom Libby discussed Plame's CIA status during those critical weeks that summer. and copy
  • Washington Post, Journalism on Trial, Russert, Libby, lies.... and copy  and CNN Russert Testimony and copy
  • Jul 12, 2003  22. On or about July 12, 2003, LIBBY flew with the Vice President and others to and from Norfolk, Virginia, on Air Force Two. On his return trip, LIBBY discussed with other officials aboard the plane what LIBBY should say in response to certain pending media inquiries, including questions from Time reporter Matthew Cooper.  indictment
  • Jul 12, 2003  23. On or about July 12, 2003, in the afternoon, LIBBY spoke by telephone to Cooper, who asked whether LIBBY had heard that Wilson's wife was involved in sending Wilson on the trip to Niger. LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without elaboration or qualification, that he had heard this information too.  indictment
  • Jul 12, 2003  24. On or about July 12, 2003, in the late afternoon, LIBBY spoke by telephone with Judith Miller of the New York Times and discussed Wilson's wife, and that she worked at the CIA.  indictment
  • .
  • Jul 12, 2003  b. LIBBY did not advise Matthew Cooper, on or about July 12, 2003, that LIBBY had heard other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise him that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true; rather, LIBBY confirmed to Cooper, without qualification, that LIBBY had heard that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA; and    indictment
  • Jul 12, 2003  c. LIBBY did not advise Judith Miller, on or about July 12, 2003, that LIBBY had heard other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, nor did LIBBY advise her that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true;  indictment
  • Jul 12, 2003.  Pincus (Washington Post), gets 'clue' from Whitehouse that they had not paid enough attention to Wilson's trip, 'because it was setup...by his wife'.  Pincus never wrote about this but testified and was deposed on it.  Story source: Karl Rove  Independent Media TV
  • Jul 12, 2003  b. During a conversation with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on or about July 12, 2003, LIBBY told Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but that LIBBY did not know if this was true; and  ci  indictment
  • Jul 12, 2003  b. LIBBY advised Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on or about July 12, 2003, that he had heard that other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, and further advised him that LIBBY did not know whether this assertion was true; and  (grand jury testimony)  indictment
  • Jul 12, 2003  c. LIBBY advised Judith Miller of the New York Times on or about July 12, 2003 that he had heard that other reporters were saying that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA but LIBBY did not know whether that assertion was true.  indictment
  • Pincus spoke to government officials about Plame two days before Novak's article report.” (" Probe Focuses on Month Before Leak, ” Washington Post
  • Pincus: 2005   Washington Post:  "....Pincus, who spoke with Fitzgerald early in the case after his source said he could, has never revealed who told him that Wilson's wife helped arrange the trip to Niger. Pincus has said the source was not Libby, and has described the person as a "White House official" who called him. The source came forward to the prosecutor and released Pincus to discuss their conversation with Fitzgerald but not with the public."
  • Harlow  warned Novak not to write a story with Plame's name in it. and see David Corn.com
  • Judith Miller, Scooter Libby conversation? July 8? Reported by Kurtz,
  • Jul 12, 2003.  Cooper told Libby that he'd been informed by other reporters that Wilson's wife was a CIA employee.  Libby said he'd already heard that too from reporters.  Washington Post 10/16.  
  • Walter Pincus, Washington Post, wrote in the summer edition of Nieman Reports that one of the  Whitehouse officials talked to him two days before Novak's column appeared. Guardian
  • Jul 12, 2003.  Third meeting of Miller and Libby.  Plame's identity still not disclosed in the press, but was discussed in all three meetings.  Ledger-Enquirer
  • Jul 14th, 2003. Ari Fleischer leaves WH job. Told grand jury he was not Novak's source, but played central role in retracting SOTU  Received message that Novak called on July 7, but didn't return the call.  He told grand jury he didn't see the INR  Neither did Dan Bartlett.   NYTimes 
  • Rocky Mountain News WMD Bush deception timeline
  • Jul 14th, 2003. Novak column written  see below  Mission to Niger.  Wilson called Novak about clarification of Novak's source:  (CIA or Whitehouse?), Novak replied "I misspoke the first time we talked."
  • Rove wants the belief out that he was the  'second source' for Novak's July 14th article and the 'first source' for Cooper's July 17th.  He says he also can't  remember who the reporter was that first told him of Plame's id, but learned her actual name from Novak.  Cover?  What did Rove tell Bush?   Washington Post 7/15
  • Timothy Phelps....conversations with Wilson Wilson, Politics 348) . 
  • Rep. Henry Waxman, 11 Security Breaches in Plame Case hearing: "National Security Consequences of Disclosing the Identity of a Covert Intelligence Agent," was chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).
  • Dailykos, Rove Not Guilty? Cheney stickin' it to the CIA
  • Novak has said that the use of the word 'operative' was a journalistic miscue. but prosecutors are skeptical of this.
  • It is also significant that Novak used the name Valerie Plame, where the INR memo used the name Valerie Wilson
  • Jul 16th, 2003. New York Times.  reported that: State Dept interested in INR (memo circulated on Bush Africa trip, with Plame info).  Are readers of the memo being truthful.  At least, Powell saw it.  Grand jury: did the State Dept give Plame's id info to the WH even before July 6?  Did it eventually get to Novak?
  • Jul 16th, 2003. (" A White House Smear ,” The Nation, July 2003)
  • How much did Ari Fleischer know about the INR? Fleishcer was with Bush on the Africa trip.  No comment from Fleischer.  
  • Ted Olson, Bush Solicitor General, served as defense attorney for Jonathan Pollard. Pollard was convicted of spying for Israel. 
  • Remember Sen. Paul Wellstone, martyr.   Investigate AMDOCS, war criminals
  • Jul 17th, 2003. Time publishes online “ A War on Wilson? ” by Cooper, Massimo Calabresi and John Dickerson , Time names Mrs. Wilson. Cooper quotes, “government officials” as saying “that Wilson 's wife, Valerie Plame, is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of WMD.  .  Times article does mention that Plame was involved in decision to send Wilson to Niger.  So who told Time about Plame?
  • David Corn of  The Nation tell Wilson leak was a crime.  The Nation
  • Rove told CNN: "I didn't know her name"....carefully chosen words indeed. MSNBC Newsweek see Michael Isikoff, Mark Hosenball articles
  • Jul 20, 2003. Andrea Mitchell (NBC) told by Whitehouse to push Wilson smear not the '16 words'.
  • Jul 21, 2003. Wilson interview with Andrea Mitchell, distorted by NBC? Wilson was refused a copy.  Mitchell saved a copy.  Chris Mathews tells Wilson that Karl Rove considered Plame 'fair game'.  Is this a pattern: consider Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, Gen Zinni, Gen. Shinseki
  • Jul 21, 2003 "Judith Miller filed a story about (David) Kelly on July 21, 2003: 'New York Times. 'Scientist Was the 'Bane of Proliferators'. The article painted a sympathetic portrait of Kelly and hinted that he believed Saddam did indeed maintain a WMD program despite the fact that no evidence of it had yet been found".  "In an email to..Miller.., sent just before he left his home for the last time, he referred to "many dark actors playing games".  
  • Jul 22, 2003. Stephen Hadley offers to resign on '16 words' but Bush refuses.  Newsday reports Plame was undercover until Novak outed her. 
  • Jul 24, 2003. CIA says crime report forthcoming.  Ashcroft letter
  • Jul 30, 2003. CIA files a "crime report" to DOJ, leak was a crime.  Rice also given refusal upon her resignation offer. and crime report to John Conyers,  Letter to John Conyers ).
  • August......................................................
  • Aug 2003 The last meeting of Libby and Miller was in Aspen Colorado. (New York Times file)....Libby poem in a letter to Miller in jail: "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." from Salon.com  coded message???
  • Fitzgerald will ask Miller about this poem in Miller's final grand jury appearance.
  • flowchartflowchart
  • Go to Plamegate / Rosen Weissman for the latest timeline entries
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  • Sept............................................................
  • "He (Cheney) went on TV in September 2003 saying he didn’t know Wilson or who had sent him to Niger"  Arab News This will be later shown to be a lie, even by the mainstream press.
  • Sept 14, 2003: Cheney "There was a relationship between Iraq and Al Qaeda that stretched back through most of the decade of the '90s."  New York Times says no links Village Voice
  • Sept 14, 2003 Cheney: "With respect to 9-11, of course, we've had the story that's been public out there. The Czechs alleged that Mohammed Atta, the lead attacker, met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack . . . " But California congressman Henry Waxman has noted that this meeting probably didn't happen and that Cheney knew it. Waxman's report said: "Czech intelligence officials were skeptical about the report; U.S. intelligence had contradictory evidence, such as records indicating Atta was in Virginia at the time of the meeting; and the CIA and FBI had concluded the meeting probably didn't occur.''  Village Voice
  • Sep 26, 2003  25. On or about September 26, 2003, the Department of Justice authorized the Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") to commence a criminal investigation into the possible unauthorized disclosure of classified information regarding the disclosure of Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA to various reporters in the spring of 2003.  indictment
  • AP Feb, 2007  "Trial exposes White House crisis machine ...  In the fall of 2003, President Bush's press secretary was categorically denying that either Karl Rove or I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was involved in exposing the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA employee married to a critic of the war in Iraq. "Why are you making these statements?" Addington asked White House communications director Dan Bartlett. "Your boss is the one who wanted" them, Bartlett replied, referring to Cheney. With that, "I shut up," Addington recalled recently for jurors in Libby's CIA leak trial, which begins its fourth week on Monday with Libby's lawyers calling their first witnesses. So far, the testimony of Addington and other administration aides, along with documents and Libby's audiotaped grand jury testimony, have provided a rare glimpse of how the Bush White House scrambled to respond to a political crisis as it intersected a criminal investigation. At the intersection was Cheney, along with Rove and Libby, who were working in the summer of 2003 to rebut claims by Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, that Bush had misled the nation about prewar intelligence on Iraq. " and copy
  • Sept 28, 2003  not reported until Sept 28, 2003 ... Washington Post article: ..two top White House officials disclosed Plame's CIA identity to at least six Washington journalists
  • Sept 29, 2003 New York Times Douglas Jehl, reported that a study by the Defense Intelligence Agency found that Chalabi intelligence "was of little or no value".  William Bowles
  • Sept 29 2003: At a press briefing McClellan said: "The president knows that Karl Rove wasn't involved."  Reporter: "How does he know that" "McClellan: "I've made it very clear that it was a ridiculous question in the firs place.....and I've talked to Karl Rove...."
  • Sept 29 2003: Attorney General Alberto Gonzales notified Andrew Card  of DOJ Plame leak investigation at 8:00 PM, but waited 12 hours (next day) to tell anyone else in Whitehouse to preserve relevant documents.  On Sept 29th he was White House counsel and Ashcroft was AG.  
  • Sept 29 2003: National Review Online  Sept 29, 2003, Clifford May, FDD claiming to know of Plame's ID long before Novak's article link  
  • Who did Card talk to that night.  All very smelly.
  • Shredding party connections: In Sept 2005 Gonzales will name (Ted Ullyot), D. Kyle DOJ Sampson as chief of staff and Raul Yanes as counselor. ..and (Ted Ullyot), KerrySharesOurValues  Franklingate.com
    All three are lawyers in the White House counsel's office.  ... Ullyot and Yanes were the coordinators of the White House's response to the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity.  Gonzales and Ashcroft will recuse, but will these three also? DOJ Franklingate.com
  • DOJ adds Defense and State Dept to focus list.  They want phone logs, emails..etc. Ashcroft said revealing an agent's id puts them in physical jeopardy.  Washington Post 10/3
  • Rep. Thomas M. Davis II (R-Va.) met with Wilson for 45 min.
  • Bush joked about the leaks during a session with African news organizations.  
  • WH surrendered thousands of emails, call logs and calendars.  Logs show several WH officials talked to Novak shortly before his  July 14th outing of Plame.  Notes include criticisms of Wilson as Kerry supporter, advisor.  Prosecutors have asked WH officials to sign waivers to overcome reporter obstacles to revealing sources.
  • Pincus wrote an October story similar to Novak's but did not mention Plame's name.
  • Oct 1, 2003 Another Novak column written....said he called the two officials who were the source of his first column.  The first source (unknown) Novak described as 'no partisan gunslinger.'  The second source said, 'Oh, you know about it too." and see column.
  • MSNBC 2007 "The vice president personally penned an October 2003 note in which he wrote, “Not going to protect one staffer and sacrifice the other.” The note, read aloud in court by Wells (Libby trial, Jan 2007), implied that Libby was the one being sacrificed in an effort to clear Rove of any role in leaking the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, wife of Iraq war critic Joe Wilson. “Wow, for all the talk about this being a White House that prides itself on loyalty and discipline, you’re not seeing much of it,” the lawyer said.
  • Oct 3, 2003: Cheney: "If we had had that information and ignored it, if we'd been told, as we were, by the intelligence community that he was capable of producing a nuclear weapon within a year if he could acquire fissile material and ignored it . . . we would have been derelict in our duties and responsibilities."  In fact, the U.N. had reported on September 8, 2003, that Iraq was not capable of pursuing a nuclear weapons program after 1991 and that there was no sign of active weaponization activities in Iraq. Village Voice
  • Oct 6, 2003 Bush was asked by a reporter if the leak was a retaliation.  Bush: "I don't know who leaked...find out the truth."
  • Oct 6, 2003 NewsMax  Rep. King: Prosecute Leakgate Accuser for CIA Secrecy Violation,  A leading New York congressman is calling for an investigation into whether Leakgate accuser Joseph Wilson violated CIA secrecy when he blew the lid off his role in a February 2002 mission to determine whether Iraq had sought uranium from Niger. ...  For the last week Wilson has been demanding an investigation into the Bush administration's role in revealing his wife's job as a secret CIA operative, a move that he contends was an act of retaliation for his decision to go public about the Niger mission in a July op-ed piece for the New York Times.  ... But Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said Sunday that it's Wilson who needs to be investigated - and even prosecuted if he violated CIA secrecy. ... "I assume that if he went into this job for the CIA, he had to sign an oath of secrecy - a confidentiality [agreement]," King told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg. "And if he did, then he violated it and he should be prosecuted." ... "He conducted a so-called secret mission for the CIA," King complained. "[However] he's talking about it all over national and international television - undermining the president of the United States. ... Why wasn't this guy called in before a grand jury?"  ... King says that if the CIA didn't require Wilson to sign a confidentiality agreement, then the agency should explain why not - along with why it picked the talkative Wilson for the sensitive mission in the first place.  ... "Why did they pick the guy who was anti-Bush, anti-war with Iraq, to go over and conduct a really half-assed investigation of Niger?" the House Homeland Security Committee member told Malzberg.  ...  To get Steve Malzberg's exclusive NewsMax.com column e-mailed directly to you, go to www.newsmax.com/malzberg
  • Oct 7, 2003: Scott McClellan and Bush said Rove, Libby, Abrams "Those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands".  Bush may have been aware also and said the source of the leak may never be found.  Independent Media TV
  • Did Rove and Libby keep Bush in the dark about their conversations with reporters about Plame.  Or did Bush know about this?
  • AP News October 8, 2005 headline: "Rove Denied to Bush He Engaged in Leak" article copy
  • Oct 7, 2003: Rove told FBI he first spoke about Plame after Novak's column.  A lie? see Cooper  Bush said the same day, he doubted the DOJ would ever find out who the leaker was.  Lautenberg questioned the Bush statement Oct 10, 2003.  
  • Bush only threatened to withhold docs under executive privilege, upon deadline to turn over docs, emails and phone logs to DOJ.  And was now laying groundwork for defense.  McClellan started conversation about difference between unauthorized disclosure and 'setting the facts straight'.  Independent Media TV
  • also see Jason Leopold.com
  • Oct 8, 2003: WP  reports on Bush doubts about finding leaker.  Bush said he is eager to find leaker,  5 pm deadline to surrender docs...etc.  filtered by WH, Oct 17 final surrender date with intermediate deadlines in between.
  • Washington Post article mentions TWO top WH officials.  One of these officials (only one identifed) told the Post's Mike Allen and Dana Priest: "Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge,"
  • Current issue of Newsweek reported: Rove said Plame "fair game" ...in discussion with Chris Mathews, MSNBC Hardball.  Some are speculating the WH officials didn't know Plame's real id. Washington Post 9/8
  • Oct 10, 2003: McClellan said at a briefing that Rove, Libby and Abrams "assured me they were not involved in this."
  • Investigators are studying WH reaction to Wilson's first public attack on Bush's case about Iraq.  Washington Post 2/10
  • Oct 17, 2003: final deadline for Whitehouse to turn over docs.
  • Oct 2003: Wall Street Journal article on memo from Bureau of Intelligence and Research.  
  • Nov 20, 2003: John J. Kokal, an official of the State Dept's Bureau of Intelligence and Research Near East and South division (INR/NESA) was found dead at the bottom of a window well at the State Dept's headquaters.  Fox News briefly mentioned it.  Truthseeker
  • Nov 26, 2003  26. As part of the criminal investigation, LIBBY was interviewed by Special Agents of the FBI on or about October 14 and November 26, 2003, each time in the presence of his counsel. During these interviews, LIBBY stated to FBI Special Agents that:   indictment
  • a. During a conversation with Tim Russert of NBC News on July 10 or 11, 2003, Russert asked LIBBY if LIBBY was aware that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. LIBBY responded to Russert that he did not know that, and Russert replied that all the reporters knew it. LIBBY was surprised by this statement because, while speaking with Russert, LIBBY did not recall that he previously had learned about Wilson's wife's employment from the Vice President.   indictment
  • b. During a conversation with Matthew Cooper of Time magazine on or about July 12, 2003, LIBBY told Cooper that reporters were telling the administration that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, but that LIBBY did not know if this was true; and
  • c. LIBBY did not discuss Wilson's wife with New York Times reporter Judith Miller during a meeting with Miller on or about July 8, 2003.  indictment
  • Dec, 2003 Ashcroft Plamegate briefings stopped.  Politics of Truth
  • OSP disbanded Fall of 2003 Daily Kos
  • Dec 2003 Fitzgerald (U.S. Attorney, Chicago) appointed.
  • One of his (Fitzgerald) first acts was to make every White House suspect sign a document waiving their claim to confidentiality, and then he went after the press. Guardian  
  • Conservative reaction: Maariv International "The Franklingate espionage scandal is beginning to look like a surfeit of hype forced into bed with a paucity of fact"    
  • Search terms: Robert Luskin (Karl Rove's attorney), precious-metals dealer client convicted of money laundering for Colombian drug cartels paid Luskin $505,000 in gold bars later seized by feds.  Luskin: "I was completely obtuse on the optics of the situation".
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  • Go to Plamegate / Rosen Weissman for the latest timeline entries
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New York Times, Manning Memo, Iraq Memo
By DON VAN NATTA Jr. Published: March 27, 2006 LONDON — In the weeks before the United States-led invasion of Iraq, as the United States and Britain pressed for a second United Nations resolution condemning Iraq, President Bush's public ultimatum to Saddam Hussein was blunt: Disarm or face war.

Doug Mills/The New York Times Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain and President Bush arriving for a White House news conference on Jan. 31, 2003, after a meeting about Iraq that would be summarized in a memorandum by an adviser to Mr. Blair.

Forum: The Transition in Iraq But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times.

"Our diplomatic strategy had to be arranged around the military planning," David Manning, Mr. Blair's chief foreign policy adviser at the time, wrote in the memo that summarized the discussion between Mr. Bush, Mr. Blair and six of their top aides.

"The start date for the military campaign was now penciled in for 10 March," Mr. Manning wrote, paraphrasing the president. "This was when the bombing would begin."

The timetable came at an important diplomatic moment. Five days after the Bush-Blair meeting, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell was scheduled to appear before the United Nations to present the American evidence that Iraq posed a threat to world security by hiding unconventional weapons.

Although the United States and Britain aggressively sought a second United Nations resolution against Iraq — which they failed to obtain — the president said repeatedly that he did not believe he needed it for an invasion.

Stamped "extremely sensitive," the five-page memorandum, which was circulated among a handful of Mr. Blair's most senior aides, had not been made public. Several highlights were first published in January in the book "Lawless World," which was written by a British lawyer and international law professor, Philippe Sands. In early February, Channel 4 in London first broadcast several excerpts from the memo.

Since then, The New York Times has reviewed the five-page memo in its entirety. While the president's sentiments about invading Iraq were known at the time, the previously unreported material offers an unfiltered view of two leaders on the brink of war, yet supremely confident.

The memo indicates the two leaders envisioned a quick victory and a transition to a new Iraqi government that would be complicated, but manageable. Mr. Bush predicted that it was "unlikely there would be internecine warfare between the different religious and ethnic groups." Mr. Blair agreed with that assessment.

The memo also shows that the president and the prime minister acknowledged that no unconventional weapons had been found inside Iraq. Faced with the possibility of not finding any before the planned invasion, Mr. Bush talked about several ways to provoke a confrontation, including a proposal to paint a United States surveillance plane in the colors of the United Nations in hopes of drawing fire, or assassinating Mr. Hussein.

Those proposals were first reported last month in the British press, but the memo does not make clear whether they reflected Mr. Bush's extemporaneous suggestions, or were elements of the government's plan.

Two senior British officials confirmed the authenticity of the memo, but declined to talk further about it, citing Britain's Official Secrets Act, which made it illegal to divulge classified information. But one of them said, "In all of this discussion during the run-up to the Iraq war, it is obvious that viewing a snapshot at a certain point in time gives only a partial view of the decision-making process."

On Sunday, Frederick Jones, the spokesman for the National Security Council, said the president's public comments were consistent with his private remarks made to Mr. Blair. "While the use of force was a last option, we recognized that it might be necessary and were planning accordingly," Mr. Jones said.

"The public record at the time, including numerous statements by the President, makes clear that the administration was continuing to pursue a diplomatic solution into 2003," he said. "Saddam Hussein was given every opportunity to comply, but he chose continued defiance, even after being given one final opportunity to comply or face serious consequences. Our public and private comments are fully consistent."

The January 2003 memo is the latest in a series of secret memos produced by top aides to Mr. Blair that summarize private discussions between the president and the prime minister. Another group of British memos, including the so-called Downing Street memo written in July 2002, showed that some senior British officials had been concerned that the United States was determined to invade Iraq, and that the "intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy" by the Bush administration to fit its desire to go to war.

The latest memo is striking in its characterization of frank, almost casual, conversation by Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair about the most serious subjects. At one point, the leaders swapped ideas for a postwar Iraqi government. "As for the future government of Iraq, people would find it very odd if we handed it over to another dictator," the prime minister is quoted as saying.

Forum: The Transition in Iraq "Bush agreed," Mr. Manning wrote. This exchange, like most of the quotations in this article, have not been previously reported.

Mr. Bush was accompanied at the meeting by Condoleezza Rice, who was then the national security adviser; Dan Fried, a senior aide to Ms. Rice; and Andrew H. Card Jr., the White House chief of staff. Along with Mr. Manning, Mr. Blair was joined by two other senior aides: Jonathan Powell, his chief of staff, and Matthew Rycroft, a foreign policy aide and the author of the Downing Street memo.

By late January 2003, United Nations inspectors had spent six weeks in Iraq hunting for weapons under the auspices of Security Council Resolution 1441, which authorized "serious consequences" if Iraq voluntarily failed to disarm. Led by Hans Blix, the inspectors had reported little cooperation from Mr. Hussein, and no success finding any unconventional weapons.

At their meeting, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair candidly expressed their doubts that chemical, biological or nuclear weapons would be found in Iraq in the coming weeks, the memo said. The president spoke as if an invasion was unavoidable. The two leaders discussed a timetable for the war, details of the military campaign and plans for the aftermath of the war.

Discussing Provocation

Without much elaboration, the memo also says the president raised three possible ways of provoking a confrontation. Since they were first reported last month, neither the White House nor the British government has discussed them.

"The U.S. was thinking of flying U2 reconnaissance aircraft with fighter cover over Iraq, painted in U.N. colours," the memo says, attributing the idea to Mr. Bush. "If Saddam fired on them, he would be in breach."

It also described the president as saying, "The U.S. might be able to bring out a defector who could give a public presentation about Saddam's W.M.D," referring to weapons of mass destruction.

A brief clause in the memo refers to a third possibility, mentioned by Mr. Bush, a proposal to assassinate Saddam Hussein. The memo does not indicate how Mr. Blair responded to the idea.

Mr. Sands first reported the proposals in his book, although he did not use any direct quotations from the memo. He is a professor of international law at University College of London and the founding member of the Matrix law office in London, where the prime minister's wife, Cherie Blair, is a partner.

Mr. Jones, the National Security Council spokesman, declined to discuss the proposals, saying, "We are not going to get into discussing private discussions of the two leaders."

At several points during the meeting between Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair, there was palpable tension over finding a legitimate legal trigger for going to war that would be acceptable to other nations, the memo said. The prime minister was quoted as saying it was essential for both countries to lobby for a second United Nations resolution against Iraq, because it would serve as "an insurance policy against the unexpected."

The memo said Mr. Blair told Mr. Bush, "If anything went wrong with the military campaign, or if Saddam increased the stakes by burning the oil wells, killing children or fomenting internal divisions within Iraq, a second resolution would give us international cover, especially with the Arabs."

Running Out of Time

Mr. Bush agreed that the two countries should attempt to get a second resolution, but he added that time was running out. "The U.S. would put its full weight behind efforts to get another resolution and would twist arms and even threaten," Mr. Bush was paraphrased in the memo as saying.

The document added, "But he had to say that if we ultimately failed, military action would follow anyway."

The leaders agreed that three weeks remained to obtain a second United Nations Security Council resolution before military commanders would need to begin preparing for an invasion.

Summarizing statements by the president, the memo says: "The air campaign would probably last four days, during which some 1,500 targets would be hit. Great care would be taken to avoid hitting innocent civilians. Bush thought the impact of the air onslaught would ensure the early collapse of Saddam's regime. Given this military timetable, we needed to go for a second resolution as soon as possible. This probably meant after Blix's next report to the Security Council in mid-February."

Mr. Blair was described as responding that both countries would make clear that a second resolution amounted to "Saddam's final opportunity." The memo described Mr. Blair as saying: "We had been very patient. Now we should be saying that the crisis must be resolved in weeks, not months."

Forum: The Transition in Iraq It reported: "Bush agreed. He commented that he was not itching to go to war, but we could not allow Saddam to go on playing with us. At some point, probably when we had passed the second resolutions — assuming we did — we should warn Saddam that he had a week to leave. We should notify the media too. We would then have a clear field if Saddam refused to go."

Mr. Bush devoted much of the meeting to outlining the military strategy. The president, the memo says, said the planned air campaign "would destroy Saddam's command and control quickly." It also said that he expected Iraq's army to "fold very quickly." He also is reported as telling the prime minister that the Republican Guard would be "decimated by the bombing."

Despite his optimism, Mr. Bush said he was aware that "there were uncertainties and risks," the memo says, and it goes on, "As far as destroying the oil wells were concerned, the U.S. was well equipped to repair them quickly, although this would be easier in the south of Iraq than in the north."

The two men briefly discussed plans for a post-Hussein Iraqi government. "The prime minister asked about aftermath planning," the memo says. "Condi Rice said that a great deal of work was now in hand.

Referring to the Defense Department, it said: "A planning cell in D.O.D. was looking at all aspects and would deploy to Iraq to direct operations as soon as the military action was over. Bush said that a great deal of detailed planning had been done on supplying the Iraqi people with food and medicine."

Planning for After the War

The leaders then looked beyond the war, imagining the transition from Mr. Hussein's rule to a new government. Immediately after the war, a military occupation would be put in place for an unknown period of time, the president was described as saying. He spoke of the "dilemma of managing the transition to the civil administration," the memo says.

The document concludes with Mr. Manning still holding out a last-minute hope of inspectors finding weapons in Iraq, or even Mr. Hussein voluntarily leaving Iraq. But Mr. Manning wrote that he was concerned this could not be accomplished by Mr. Bush's timeline for war.

"This makes the timing very tight," he wrote. "We therefore need to stay closely alongside Blix, do all we can to help the inspectors make a significant find, and work hard on the other members of the Security Council to accept the noncooperation case so that we can secure the minimum nine votes when we need them, probably the end of February."

At a White House news conference following the closed-door session, Mr. Bush and Mr. Blair said "the crisis" had to be resolved in a timely manner. "Saddam Hussein is not disarming," the president told reporters. "He is a danger to the world. He must disarm. And that's why I have constantly said — and the prime minister has constantly said — this issue will come to a head in a matter of weeks, not months."

Despite intense lobbying by the United States and Britain, a second United Nations resolution was not obtained. The American-led military coalition invaded Iraq on March 19, 2003, nine days after the target date set by the president on that late January day at the White House.

 

2002 In 2002, after an inquiry to the CIA by the Vice President concerning certain intelligence reporting, the CIA decided on its own initiative to send Wilson to the country of Niger to investigate allegations involving Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium yellowcake....indictment  2002 At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community. indictment  How are the AIPAC - Franklin Rosen Weissman and Plame/Wilson cases connected? Larry Franklin worked for Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith (Office of Special Plans, OSP ('cooking' Iraq intelligence center) ( White House Iraq Group, WHIG) who worked with Ahmed Chalabi who worked with Judith Miller who attempted to protect a leak source (Libby, Cheney) in Whitehouse about Plamegate. Nation,  2002 "....Bush is a born-again Evangelical Christian — 'Stand for Israel' is looking to become the Christian counterpart to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobby." Forward2002 NewsMax: article: "A copy of the Able Danger chart that identified lead 9/11 hijacker Mohamed Atta as a terrorist operating inside the U.S. a year before the 9/11 attacks is clearly visible in a video of a 2002 speech by delivered by Rep. Curt Weldon to the Heritage Foundation" and see Franklingate.com  2002 Antiwar on DEA, art students, Israeli spies, and see Franklingate Amdocs page  2002 WHIG THE WHITE HOUSE IRAQ GROUP "But someone within the Administration had to coordinate these concerted propaganda campaigns. (Iraq War justification) That was the bailiwick and job-assignment of the WHIG, chaired by Bush's Chief of Staff Andrew Card, the regular members of which were Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser; communications strategists Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin and James R. Wilkinson; legislative liaison Nicholas E. Calio; and policy advisers led by Rice and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, along with "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's Chief of Staff. In other words, WHIG included the key decision makers (Rove, Rice, Card, Cheney-via Libby), and the key propaganda specialists (Hughes, Matalin, et al.)." Public Domain Progress  2002 William Luti, Center for Security Policy Iraq war plans at Franklingate.com and Dual Loyalties, Chalabi, Wolfowitz, Luti newsfollowup.com  2002 Judith Miller shared Pulitzer Prize in 2002 for stories about al Quaeda, Times correspondent in Cairo, covered UN WMD inspection program. The ombudsman of the New York Times will call for a review of Miller in October 2005.  Jan 1, 2002 At all relevant times from January 1, 2002 through July 2003, Valerie Wilson was employed by the CIA, and her employment status was classified. Prior to July 14, 2003, Valerie Wilson's affiliation with the CIA was not common knowledge outside the intelligence community. indictment  Jan 16 2002 NewsMax (conservative) 'Spying on America. "Justice Department holding nearly 100 Israeli citizens with direct ties to foreign military, criminal and intelligence services....The spy ring reportedly includes employees of two Israeli-owned companies that currently perform almost all the official wiretaps for U.S. local, state and federal law enforment." (Amdocs and Verint, Comerverse Infosys) see Franklingate on Amdocs  Jan. 29: Bush 1st SOTU following 9/11, Bush identifies Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as the "axis of evil," clearly targeting those three countries for "regime change."   Feb, 2002 Libby will tell TIME that Cheney heard about Niger yellowcake in Feb 2002. Cheney was keenly interested and a meeting of experts was convened including Wilson and his wife. Aids say Cheney unaware of Wilson's trip. NYTimes  Feb 12, 2002 Wilsons trip grew out of a request by Cheney for more info on DIA report. Plame wrote memo about her husbands credentials. She told Wilson he had been selected and introduced him to the meeting on Feb 19, 2002. Bush administration officials tell a different story....say Plame (who worked on WMD issues) suggested Wilson for the trip. Washington Post  Feb 19, 2002 CIA meeting on whether Wilson should go to Niger NYTimes  Feb, 2002 Libby will tell TIME that Cheney heard about Niger yellowcake in Feb 2002. Cheney was keenly interested and a meeting of experts was convened including Wilson and his wife. Aids say Cheney unaware of Wilson's trip. The Raw Story  La Repubblica series. This is a very rough translation ...Talking Points Memo Niger yellowcake, Italy  Mar 5, 2002 CIA interviewed Wilson upon returning from Niger. The Raw Story Cheney knew Niger yellowcake documents were a fraud, and ZMag 2005  Mar 5, 2002 CIA interviewed Wilson upon returning from Niger. NYTimes  Mar 8, 2002 at Franklingate.com Foxnews Israeli spies and screenprint also: Foxnews Cameron story no longer available screen print  March 9, 2002 After trip to Africa, Wilson tells CIA yellowcake allegations are "bogus" and the agency sends a March 9 memo to the White House with Wilson's findings. The Raw Story  Mar 9, 2002 After trip to Africa, Wilson tells CIA yellowcake allegations are "bogus" and the agency sends a March 9 memo to the White House with Wilson's findings. Time  Los Angeles Times article written Aug 25, 2005 summarizing events leading up Wilson's Niger trip  Mar 12 2002 New York Times article: David Satterfield, deputy chief of the United States Mission in Bhagdad, is USGO-2 (US Government Official in Franklin Rosen Weissman Pentagon mole indictment) Miller worked with Chalabi who worked with Feith in WHIG....etc.  CIA maintains that Wilson was chosen by officials in the Directorate of Operations counterproliferation division (CPD) (Valerie Plame worked in CPD) Washington Post The Raw Story  Mar 16, 2002 Former GSA Official charged with making false statements, obstructing federal investigation. Links between recently arrested David Safavian DOJ, John Bolton, Jack Abramoff...more Bloomberg copy and DOJ (CRM 05-490. reference to May 16, 2002 - January 10, 2004) John Bolton and Judith Miller worked together on Iraq War intelligence propaganda.  Mar 24, 2002 "Vice President Cheney, .... is widely credited with having launched the administration's nuclear drumbeat to war in Iraq via a series of speeches he gave, beginning in August 2002." and "March 24, 2002" Salon, Downing Street Memo  2002 Jack Abramoff connections to the Whitehouse. search terms: David Safavian - head of the Office of Management and Budget - will be arrested in Sept 2005 for lying to investigators about relationship with Abramoff. Also, Safavian worked with Abramoff at Preston Gates Ellis Rouvelas & Meeds and was a partner of Grover Norquist (Bush strategist). and ..Safavian traveled to Scotland in 2002 with Abramoff, Rep. Robert Ney (Ohio), and Ralph Reed (2004 election campaign) also Washington Post: Safavian registered as a foreign agent for two African regimes Abramoff will be arrested in 2005 for fraud. Tom Delay and Jack Abramoff...close ties. Other names and connections: Ney's (Ohio) chief of staff, Neil Volz worked with Abramoff at Greenberg Traurig LLP (Miami). and Forward  DEA Report, 'Suspicious activities involving Israeli art students at DEA facilities' at Franklingate.com  pdf copy from Antiwar, see Franklingate Amdocs page  Foxnews Israeli spies and screenprint at Franklingate.com   June 11, 2002 Zionist Organization of America, Mission dinner... to make themselves heard. Addresses by Alan Keyes, Michael Ledeen(AEI) and Rafi Barak (Franklin Rosen Weissman indictment FO-1), also speeches by Aaron Miller (Senior State Dept official), Douglas Feith and David Schenker, Assistant Secretary of Defense.  July 23, 2002 actual meeting minutes transcribed during the British PM's meeting. Show Bush intent on Iraq invasion. many other documents. Downing Street Memo and Daily Kos Kwiatkowski   Aug 2002 Creation of the Whitehouse Iraq Group. Three known members coordinated response to Wilson's 2003 op-ed piece. Downing Street Memo and True Blue Liberal  OSP, headed by Shulsky, by now had separate spaces within NESA Daily Kos Kwiatkowski   "Vice President Cheney, .... is widely credited with having launched the administration's nuclear drumbeat to war in Iraq via a series of speeches he gave, beginning in August 2002." and "March 24, 2002" Salon, Downing Street Memo  Aug 2, 2002 Cheney: "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt that he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us." But on October 2, 2003, David Kay, the Bush administration's weapons inspector, said, "Iraq did not have a large, ongoing, centrally controlled [chemical weapons] program after 1991..." Village Voice  Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington presents the 13 most corrupt members of Congress: Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) -- Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-CA)-- Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL)-- Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)-- Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)-- Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH)-- Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)-- Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)-- Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC)-- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)-- Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)-- Senator Bill Frist (R-TN)-- Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT)   Sep 2002 Salon.com "it would be a story by Judith Miller and Michael Gordon.....New York Times... September 2002. ...... titled "Threats and Responses: The Iraqis; US Says Hussein Intensifies Quest for A-Bomb Parts." Miller and Gordon wrote that an intercepted shipment of aluminum tubes, to be used as centrifuges, was evidence Hussein was building a uranium gas separator to develop nuclear material. The story quoted national security advisor Condoleezza Rice invoking the image of "mushroom clouds over America." The story had an enormous impact, one amplified when Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Vice President Dick Cheney all did appearances on the Sunday morning talk shows, ..... No single story did more to advance the political cause of the neoconservatives driving the Bush administration to invade Iraq." Salon.com  Sept. 8, 2002, Miller wrote a story for the Times quoting anonymous officials who said aluminum tubes found in Iraq were to be used as centrifuges. Her report turned out to be wrong. AfterDowningStreet  Sept 9, 2002 Nicolo Pollari (head of Italy's military secret service, the SISMI intelligence agency) met at the White House on Sept. 9, 2002, with then-deputy national security advisor Stephen J. Hadley. The Niger claims surfaced shortly thereafter see Niger forged documents page This will not be disclosed in the main stream press until late October 2005 LA Times  Hadley denies he got Niger forged docs (Nov 2005): "Focus has centered on Hadley because of his September 9, 2002, meeting with Italy's intelligence chief, Nicolo Pollari. Exactly one month later, on October 9, 2002, an Italian journalist provided the U.S. Embassy in Rome with copies of documents about the alleged Iraq-Niger uranium sale, according to a U.S. congressional investigation. Copies of the documents were then sent to State Department headquarters and the CIA, the congressional report said." Reuters, file  Sept 9, 2002 "The Bush administration has always insisted it did not know the uranium documents sent it from Italian intelligence were forgeries. But La Repubblica, the Italian newspaper, last Tuesday (Nov 28, 205) revealed that the documents came from Nicolo Pollari, head of that nation's military intelligence service. The paper said Pollari met secretly on September 9, 2002, with Hadley, at the time the deputy security adviser. A month later, forged papers were cabled to Washington from the U.S. embassy in Rome. Village Voice and see Niger forged docs page  October 10, 2002 House and Senate resolutions authorizing force against Iraq site British intelligence report claiming Iraq sought uranium from Africa. Time  October 2002 Scoop In memory of Sen. Paul Wellstone, Democratic politicians are twice as likely to die in airplane crashes  Nov, 2002 More Miller war hyping.... Dissident Voice and Abrams  Dec, 2002 More Miller war hyping.... Dissident Voice and Abrams  Dec, 2002 Michael Ledeen and Morris Amitay cofound Coalition for Democracy in Iran, promote regime change, also Frank Gaffeny, Jack Kemp, Joshua Muravchik, Danielle Pletka, James Woolsey.  Anti-war's "John Bolton's Yellowcake", McGovern.    Henry Waxman Letter and NY SUN John R. Bolton, Wikipedia, yellowcake  2003    DOJ JUDITH MILLER, PETITIONER v.UNITED STATES OF AMERICA MATTHEW COOPER AND TIME INC., PETITIONERS v. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA  2003 DavidCorn.com "Daily News article that reports that Rove informed Bush in 2003 that he was involved in the Plame/CIA leak, Schumer fired off a letter to Bush.."  2003 ABC News 2003 report: Niger / Yellowcake docs Bushed referred to in 2003 State of the Union address just now being investigated and found full of flaws. see Niger forged docs page    Jan 2003 There will be little press coverage of Colin Powell's admission that his pre-war address to UN was a "painful" and lasting "blot" on his career. Village Voice, Oct 17, 2005  Bush wanted to go target other countries beyond Iraq, including Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Pakistan and Iran Guardian  Rep. Henry Waxman, 11 Security Breaches in Plame Case hearing: "National Security Consequences of Disclosing the Identity of a Covert Intelligence Agent," was chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.).  In October of 2005, Miller will reveal :”During the Iraq war, the Pentagon had given me clearance to see secret information as part of my assignment "embedded" with a special military unit hunting for unconventional weapons.” Village Voice ....Is this a conflict of interest? see Daalder (Fellow at Brookings)...Will Fitzgerald be able to turn Miller into a witness against others if he can prove that she revealed classified information with Libby. Village VoiceLawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, accused (in October 2005) Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld of collusion to isolate his boss from foreign policy making". UPI 2005  Rosen, Cooperative Research, neocon run-up to war.  In Oct 2005: New York Times article: White House, CIA Play Blame Game "In the end, Tenet said the CIA should never have let President Bush in his State of the Union address repeat a British report that Iraq was seeking uranium from Africa. U.S. intelligence analysts could not corroborate it. ..... Hadley, apologized as well, saying he had received two memos from the CIA and a phone call from Tenet several months before the president's address raising objections to the assertion" New York Times  Mar 2003 Sen. Jay Rockefeller asks for probe into forged yellowcake docs that showed up in U.S. Embassy in Rome, 2002. APFN names Rocco Martino, see Financial Times. and Talking Points Memo    Sulzberger, New York Times, neocons, war hype, and the distractions covering their tracks Nile Media, Ahmed Amr.  Mar 2003 Bush Invasion of Iraq see Franklingate.com forged yellow cake documents info....and relevance to 2003 Bush State of the Union Speech, leading up to Iraq invasion.  Mar 2003 Miller WMD, 'Weapons of Miller's Descriptions' Miller, WMD deception, The Bulletin at Franklingate.com  Dailykos, Rove Not Guilty? Cheney stickin' it to the CIA  Rice NYTimes article blasts UN report on Iraq's effort to get uranium abroad.....and then Bush's SOTU Jan 28. But Powell dropped Iraq-uranium connection in speech to UN. Two weeks before the war starts, ElBaradei confirms the forged docs facts. Rosebud? Cheney  Jan 23, 2003 More Miller war mongering: New York Times article: wrote that Ihsan Saeed al-Haideri claimed that chemical and biological weapons labs were hidden beneath hospitals and inside palaces. see Wikipedia Richard Perle.... Dissident Voice,.AJR  War promoting hirelings of Likud, compiled by Jeffrey Blankfort.  And see Judith Miller's connections to AIPAC and the Israel / Bush invasion of Iraq.   Antiwar on Naor Gilon   Apr 21, 2003 New York Times, Judith Miller, "Illicit Arms Kept Till Eve of War, an Iraqi Scientist Is /Said to Assert" More Miller war-hyping?  Bolton didn't testify before leak grand jury or was interviewed about it, but was interviewed about a State Dept probe into pre-war intelligence. see FOI Missouri.edu    Bolton was major source of national security info to Miller.   Search net: Bolton, yellowcake, Niger and see Anti-war's John Bolton's Yellowcake  Apr 30, 2003: JINSA sponsors a conference featuring Ledeen, he declares, "It is time to focus on Iran, the mother of modern terrorism.... The time for diplomacy is at an end; it is time for a free Iran, free Syria, and free Lebanon."   American Free Press, Spy Ring Busted, on FO-3 (Gilon), daughter, Sometimes, Franklin and FO-3 met at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club beside the Pentagon and, as a rule, their discussions centered on Iran, its nuclear policy and the strategies being adopted by various U.S. government agencies to deal with Iran.  Apr 23, 2003 According to the grand jury, after one such meeting on May 23, 2003, Franklin returned to his desk in the DOD and drafted a memo to his superiors “incorporating suggestions being made by FO-3  American Free PressDailykos, Rove Not Guilty? Cheney stickin' it to the CIA  Arab Times on Miller / Libby conversations in June 2003 about Wilson were not disclosed until Oct 6, 2005  May 2003 Fitzgerald looking into Cheney's role in Plame leak Information Clearinghouse  May 6, 2003 3. On May 6, 2003, the New York Times published a column by Nicholas Kristof which disputed the accuracy of the "sixteen words" in the State of the Union address. The column reported that, following a request from the Vice President's office for an investigation of allegations that Iraq sought to buy uranium from Niger, an unnamed former ambassador was sent on a trip to Niger in 2002 to investigate the allegations. According to the column, the ambassador reported back to the CIA and State Department in early 2002 that the allegations were unequivocally wrong and based on forged documents. indictment  May 29, 2003 4. On or about May 29, 2003, in the White House, LIBBY asked an Under Secretary of State ("Under Secretary") for information concerning the unnamed ambassador's travel to Niger to investigate claims about Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium yellowcake. The Under Secretary thereafter directed the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research to prepare a report concerning the ambassador and his trip. The Under Secretary provided LIBBY with interim oral reports in late May and early June 2003, and advised LIBBY that Wilson was the former ambassador who took the trip. indictment  May 2003 Fitzgerald looking into Cheney's role in Plame leak Information  Clearinghouse  June 2003 In or about early June 2003, LIBBY learned from the Vice President that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA in the Counterproliferation Division; indictment  Jun 2003 In October 2005 it will be reported that Fitzgerald questioned these Cheney staffers: "Fitzgerald has questioned Cheney's communications adviser Catherine Martin and former spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise and ex-White House aide Jim Wilkinson about the vice president's knowledge of the anti-Wilson campaign and his dealings on it with Libby." Bloomberg  June 3, 2003 conversation at the Pentagon Officers Athletic Club, between Larry Franklin and Naor Gilon about Judith Miller included a reference to Valerie Plame. Portland Indymedia  June 8, 2003 Condoleeza Rice, NSA, attempts to refute story on Meet the Press. She made "in the bowels of the agency" remark and said Niger claims were true.    How are the AIPAC and Plame/Wilson cases connected? Larry Franklin worked for Paul Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith (Office of Special Plans ('cooking' Iraq intelligence center) who worked with Ahmed Chalabi who worked with Judith Miller (now in jail), who is protecting a leak source in Whitehouse about Plamegate. Nation,  5. On or about June 9, 2003, a number of classified documents from the CIA were faxed to the Office of the Vice President to the personal attention of LIBBY and another person in the Office of the Vice President. The faxed documents, which were marked as classified, discussed, among other things, Wilson and his trip to Niger, but did not mention Wilson by name. After receiving these documents, LIBBY and one or more other persons in the Office of the Vice President handwrote the names "Wilson" and "Joe Wilson" on the documents. indictment  Jun 10, 2003 A classified State Dept (INR, Bureau of Intelligence and Research) memo created for Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs, Mark Grossman contained Plame's id.   Miller, Libby conversations in June 2003 will not be disclosed until October of 2005, Yahoo  Jun 11, 2003 6. On or about June 11 or 12, 2003, the Under Secretary of State orally advised LIBBY in the White House that, in sum and substance, Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and that State Department personnel were saying that Wilson's wife was involved in the planning of his trip. indictment  Jun 11, 2003 7. On or about June 11, 2003, LIBBY spoke with a senior officer of the CIA to ask about the origin and circumstances of Wilson's trip, and was advised by the CIA officer that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA and was believed to be responsible for sending Wilson on the trip. indictment  Jun 11, 2003 On or about June 11, 2003, LIBBY was informed by a senior CIA officer that Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA and that the idea of sending him to Niger originated with her;   On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was informed by the Under Secretary of State that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA; indictment  Jun 12, 2003 "On June 12, 2003, the day of the conversation between Mr. Cheney and Mr. Libby, The Washington Post published a front-page article reporting that the C.I.A. had sent a retired American diplomat to Niger in February 2002 to investigate claims that Iraq had been seeking to buy uranium there. The article did not name the diplomat, who turned out to be Mr. Wilson, but it reported that his mission had not corroborated a claim about Iraq's pursuit of nuclear material that the White House had subsequently used in Mr. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address"  (New York Times Oct 25, 2005 article)  Jun 12, 2003 8. Prior to June 12, 2003, Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus contacted the Office of the Vice President in connection with a story he was writing about Wilson's trip. LIBBY participated in discussions in the Office of the Vice President concerning how to respond to Pincus. indictment  Jun 12, 2003 9. On or about June 12, 2003, LIBBY was advised by the Vice President of the United States that Wilson's wife worked at the Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Division. LIBBY understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA. indictment  Jun 12, 2003 10. On June 12, 2003, the Washington Post published an article by reporter Walter Pincus about Wilson's trip to Niger, which described Wilson as a retired ambassador but not by name, and reported that the CIA had sent him to Niger after an aide to the Vice President raised questions about purported Iraqi efforts to acquire uranium. Pincus's article questioned the accuracy of the "sixteen words," and stated that the retired ambassador had reported to the CIA that the uranium purchase story was false. indictment  Jun 14, 2003 11. On or about June 14, 2003, LIBBY met with a CIA briefer. During their conversation he expressed displeasure that CIA officials were making comments to reporters critical of the Vice President's office, and discussed with the briefer, among other things, "Joe Wilson" and his wife "Valerie Wilson," in the context of Wilson's trip to Niger. indictment  It won't be disclosed until October of 2005 that Cheney and Libby spoke of Plame on June 12, 2003 Reuters. This can only help Fitzgerald's onspiracy investigation...it contradicts Libby's earlier testimony..  Jun 14, 2003 On or about June 14, 2003, LIBBY discussed "Joe Wilson" and "Valerie Wilson" with his CIA briefer, in the context of Wilson's trip to Niger; indictment Who is 'CIA briefer'? Jun 19, 2003 12. On or about June 19, 2003, an article appeared in The New Republic magazine online entitled "The First Casualty: The Selling of the Iraq War." Among other things, the article questioned the "sixteen words" and stated that following a request for information from the Vice President, the CIA had asked an unnamed ambassador to travel to Niger to investigate allegations that Iraq had sought uranium from Niger. The article included a quotation attributed to the unnamed ambassador alleging that administration officials "knew the Niger story was a flat-out lie." The article also was critical of how the administration, including the Office of the Vice President, portrayed intelligence concerning Iraqi capabilities with regard to weapons of mass destruction, and accused the administration of suppressing dissent from the intelligence agencies on this topic. The New Republic: "The First Casualty: The Selling of the Iraq War" 13. Shortly after publication of the article in The New Republic, LIBBY spoke by telephone with his then Principal Deputy and discussed the article. That official asked LIBBY whether information about Wilson's trip could be shared with the press to rebut the allegations that the Vice President had sent Wilson. LIBBY responded that there would be complications at the CIA in disclosing that information publicly, and that he could not discuss the matter on a non-secure telephone line. indictment  The New Republic: "The First Casualty: The Selling of the Iraq War"  Jun 23, 2003 On or about June 23, 2003, LIBBY informed reporter Judith Miller that Wilson's wife might work at a bureau of the CIA; indictment  Jun 23, 2003 In October of 2005, Fitzgerald will learn from 'found' notes (informs Miller of chance of more jail time?) of Libby Miller conversations about Plame that were not previously disclosed. NYTimes copy and SF Chronicle These notes will help Fitzgerald show the Bush administration officials were discussing Wilson weeks before Wilson's op-ed article in the New York Times appeared. Libby and Rove never mentioned any conversations about Wilson before July. This all may lead to perjury and obstruction of justice charges against them.  Jun 23, 2003 14. On or about June 23, 2003, LIBBY met with New York Times reporter Judith Miller. During this meeting LIBBY was critical of the CIA, and disparaged what he termed "selective leaking" by the CIA concerning intelligence matters. In discussing the CIA's handling of 
 

Ari Fleischer Dan Bartlett ok Novak column Mission to Niger Novak misspoke the first time we talked. Rove couldn't remember Rove second source July 14th article. What did Rove tell Bush? Henry Waxman, security breaches in Plame case with Sen. Byron Dorgon (D-N.D.) Cheney's stickin it to the CIA. Novak word operative was journalistic miscue, skeptical. used Valerie Plame and Valerie Wilson Timothy Phelps New York Times INR State Department memo circulated on Bush Africa trip Time A war on Wilson by Cooper Massimo Calabresi and John Dickerson. Quote government officials Wilson's wife is a CIA official who monitors the proliferation of WMD involved in decision to send Wilson to Niger. David Corn of the Nation tells Wilson that leak is a crime. Rove said "I didn't know her name" Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball articles. Andrea Mitchel interview distorted by NBC, to push Wilson smear. Chris Mathews tells Wilson that Karl Rove considered Plame 'fair game'. Consider Paul O'Neill, Richard Clarke, Gen. Zinni, Gen Shinseki. Stephen Hadley offers to resign on '16 words' Bush refuses resignation. Newsday reports Plame was undercover until Novak outed her. CIA files crime report to DOJ. Bush refuses Rice resignation. Letter to John Conyers. Two top Whitehouse officials disclosed CIA identity. to at least six Washington journalists. New York Times Douglas Jehl, study by the Defense Intelligence Agency Chalabi intelligence was of little or no value. William Bowles. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez notified Andrew CArd of DOJ leak investigation at 8:00 PM, but waited 12 hours (next day) preserve documents. Shredding party? Gonzalez was Whitehouse Council, Ashcroft was attorney general. National Review, Clifford May. Phone logs, emails and Rep. Thomas M. Davis II. Bush joked about leaks with African news session. Whitehouse surrendered thousands of emails, call logs, and calendars. Notes say Wilson was Kerry supporter, advisor. Oficials to sign waivers to overcome reporter obstacles to revealing sources. Pincus Novak said 'no partisan gunslinger' comment and "you know about it too". Was leak retaliation. Bush said 'find out the truth'. Scott McClellan quote "those individuals assured me they were not involved in this. And that's where it stands" Bush: leaker may never be found'. Bush threatened to withhold docs under executive privilege. McClellan spoke about difference between unauthorized disclosure and 'setting the facts straight'. Independent Media TV, Jason Leopold. Mike Allen and Dana Priest: "Clearly, it was meant purely and simply for revenge". Rove Newsweek 'far game' Chris Mathews, MSNBC. Hardball. Investigators are studying Whitehouse reaction to Wilson's first public attack on Bush's case about Iraq. Final deadline. Wall Street Journal article about Bureau of Intelligence Research. John J. Kokal, Near East and South Asia division found dead. Ashcroft briefings stopped. Fitzgerald appointed. Simone Ledeen, daughter of Michael Ledeen goes to Bahgdad, CPA, Coalition Provisional Authority, also brat pack, yellowcake. James Comey is godfather. Aides sign waivers to journalistic privilege. Staff meet informally about immunity. Mary matalin testifies. Pelosi Daschele, Lieberman, Rockefeller ask for GAO investigation of covert status. Jim Loebe knew. Cathie Martin (Cheney aid) interviewed, near combat atmosphere. Grand Jury subpoenas Air Force One phone logs. What was whitehouse PR strategy? Bush outside attorney James Sharp & Associates, Ken Starr removed attorney-client privilege for government lawyers in Clinton smear campaign. Glen Kessler discuss conversations. Bush interviewed by Fitzgerald, Sharp present. Kerry dumps Sandy Berger and Wilson from campaign. Federal Judge Thomas F. Hogan hold Time magazine report Mathew Cooper in contempt of cout and orders him jailed for refusing to reveal source of Plame leak. appeal goes to Supreme Court. politics of truth, joe wilson. Judith miller receives subpoena. powell testified. cooper testified about libby conversations. bush and dan rather flap on military service in the news. bar lowered to committed a crime. LA times doyle mcmanus "if rove is source #2, who is source #1. roy kriger CIA agent fired because he spoke of informant saying iraq' uranium enrichment program dead. Conyers and Slaughter call for investigation of Jeff Gannon, James D. Guckert, as GOP fake journalist plant at whitehouse briefings. free republic. Federal Judge rober sweet ruled miller not required to reveal. in 2001 ARAMCO Cheney CEO signed $140 million contract. Boston Globe. Brewster Jennings & Associates, BinLaden group, Khalid bin Mahfouz, BCCI connections. Vincent Cannistraro said forged niger yellowcake docs were made up in the U.S. mentioned Michael ledeen. see downing street memo. downingstreetmemo.com. Supreme court refuses miller cooper appeal. search jailhouse crock and miller as fake martyr, obstructing justice for personal gain. Did rove break same law as martha stewart? perjury. see Sen Lautenberg calendar. Miller is in Alexandria Detention Center. Sen. Pat Roberts, Chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee, will conduct hearings. What is the Federal Tort Claim Act FTCA. Who is Karen Johnson? ask Karl Rove and Business Council, Infrastructure Solutions. George Tennet, John McMclaughlin, Bill Harlow and the stranger who approached Novak. Why did whitehouse shift blame to the CIA for '16 words' in SOTU, State of the Union address speech. Bolton neglected to tell congress about niger yellowcake. Wilson's op-ed piece published. Oliver North and John Poindexter convictions overturned. Novak challenges Harlow warning. Scooter Libby and Judith Miller convesations hot. see columbia jouranlism review and vanity fair, wayne madsen report on asher karni nuclear arms smuggler and district judge ricardo urbina on nuclear triggers. ashcroft recused himself. what is hollinger international, daved radler, lord conrad a. black, richart burt boy-toy. What does miller have to do with tip-off of holy land foundation, global relief foundation and benevolence international foundation.  AIPAC officials: Howard Kohr, Richard Fishman, Renee Rothstein, Raphael Danziger.  New Yorker, Seymour Hersch story on Bush plans to launch nuclear attack on Iran summer of 2005.  Cheney warns of Israeli preemptive strike on Iran.  Rosen's lawyer: Abbe Lowell.  Perle (Defense Policy Board)gives speech at AIPAC conference, calls for american military action against iran.  Iran has Shihab III intermediate range missile.  Franklin pleads innocent, Judje T.S. Ellis III.  rove said he was discouraging a reporter from writing a false story based on a false premise.  Frontpage mag interiviews Kenneth Timmerman.  Naor Gilon of Israeli embassy involved.  Jack Abramoff indicted and Texans for a Republican Majority.  John N. Nassikas III, spy nest exposed. and A.Q. Kahn.  David Kelly is confidant of Judith Miller and Pederson and Olivia Bosch at Royal Institute of international affairs.  Judge Ricardo Urbina and what did Thomas Dine confirm.  Patrick Dorton is AIPAC spokesperson.  Harold Rhode is source of plame leak and Jerry Hauer and cofer black.  lawmakers urged to support Iran Freedom and Support act and one of unnamed reporters is Glenn Kessler by David Ignatius.  USGO-1 is Kenneth Pollack and Bob Dole is baffled.  Iran 5 years away from nuclear weapons.  Miller and Zacarias Moussaoui together?  Michael Ledeen is Rove's brain.  Ted Olson was Pollard's defense attorney. July 14th, 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20th 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 August September October November December 2003 2004 2001

That gathering involved some of the most powerful names in the Jewish lobby in America, starting with Edgar Bronfman, the chairman of the World Jewish Congress. Others included: Charles Bronfman, Edgar's brother and a top executive of the family's flagship Seagrams Corp.; Leslie Wexler of Limited, Inc.; Charles Schusterman, chairman of Samson Investment Co. of Tulsa, Oklahoma; Harvey "Bud" Meyerhoff, a fabulously wealthy and powerful Baltimore real estate magnate; Laurence Tisch, chairman of Loews Corp.; Max Fisher, the Detroit oil magnate and Republican Party powerhouse; bagel magnate Max Lender; and Leonard Abramson, the founder of U.S. Healthcare

presents the 13 most corrupt members of Congress: Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO) -- Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-CA)-- Rep. Tom Feeney(R-FL)-- Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA)-- Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)-- Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH)-- Rep. Richard Pombo (R-CA)-- Rep. Rick Renzi (R-AZ)-- Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC)-- Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA)-- Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA)-- Senator Bill Frist (R-TN)-- Senator Conrad Burns (R-MT) 

Aug 31, 05 Twenty Things We Know, Independent TV USGO-1 Identified Middle East analyst: Kenneth Pollack, National Security Council, Clinton administration. Sept 3, 05 Bob Dole (baffled by Miller incarceration) visited Miller in jail, NYTimes copy. Smokescreen on passing federal shield laws that would allow reporters to protect their souces. Sept 5, 05 Rocky Mountain News, "Weapons of Mass Delusion" Sept 6, 05 U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III set this Sept 6 trial date for Larry Franklin, Sept 6, 05 IISS International Institute for Strategic Studies, 'Strategic Dossier', entitled Iran's Strategic Weapons Programmes - A Net Assessment. Iran 5 years away from a nuclear weapon. Why go to the stake to defend a spin doctor planting bile? Guardian Unlimited todo: Antiwar, In These Times, Is Iran Next? Counterpunch Zvi Bar'el, Chalabi, Feith and Israel, Theater of the Absurd Sept 8, 05 Yahoo News Plamegate will rise up in a few weeks. Is she bargaining?....what about possible criminal contempt charges? Huffington Post Sept 10, 05 The Alexandria facility where Miller is, also housed Zacarias Moussaoui..(just one floor above Miller's cell) The gas station tapes of the attack on the Pentagon on 9/11 are 'classified' because of his trial. They would reveal the real truth about what aircraft slammed into the Pentagon that day. see NewsFollowUp.com/flight77 missile? National Press Club, honors Judith Miller see Franklingate links page see Pakistan Daily Times on Iran latest news...and Michael Ledeen, Rove's brain, AEI, prominent proponent of a violent regime change in Iran. Ledeen has close ties to all Plamegate players. and see Ledeen's ties to the Niger forged docs that led to Iraq War. It's all one story. Lies of Ommision Progress Sept 11, 05 Peace Page, 9/11 poem by Kristy we should share the shame search terms: Texas Secretary of State, Roger Williams, Bush campaign, Karl Rove, Elizabeth Reyes. Sept 12, 05 Iran Mania News One week to U.N. meetings on Iran. Cooperative Research, neocon run-up to war, timeline see Ted Olson links to Jonathan Pollard, Pentagon, Perle, Lehman, Feith.... Ted Olson's wife 'died' on Flight 77, 9/11? Sept 14, 05 New 'Amdocs' page, information on Israeli owned telephone billing co. and connections to 9/11, AIPAC, neocons, Iraq war, Iran war mongering. Against Bombing old timeline, not updated, but some interesting links, stories DNC Democratic National Committee, Plamegate Rovegate, Treasongate, Leakgate page Crosswalk, conservative publication, Democrats keep focus on Plamegate Sept 15, 05 Bush / Rice failing in Iran war mongering efforts. India, China and Russia nix U.S. and EU effort to get a majority of IAEA board to refer Iran to UN Security Council for sanctions. India says the plan will backfire. search:Ahmadinejad. NYT copy David Fiderer on the "Abort the Plame Investigation Act" or H.R. 581. Feb 05. Bob Dole and the Republicans smokescreen tactics are difficult to see ...will they work? Framing the issue around source id privilege keeps the buzz off what Miller is hiding...just what they want. also see CSM Holt wants docs, Fitzgerald says will harm investigation see SpinWatch on indictment Sept 16, 05 Asia Times review of Bush whitewash book..by Craig Whitney. DOJ won't turn over docs to Congress and While You Were atching Katrina House Republicans derail probes of Plame affair Village Voice Sept 17, 05 Some Miller elite visitors: Bob Dole, John Bolton, Tom Brokaw, Gonzalo Marroquin, Sept 18, 05 Washington Report on Middle East Affairs old but relevant story, Israeli spies in America. Amdocs, Report of Israeli Eavesdropping on White House Telephones Gets Varying Media Treatment Sept 19, 05 This article climbing in the search engines: Frontpage Mag calls Plamegate non-event, "endless spider-web of lies by Joe Wilson", "The media has gone out of its way to question the credibility of Karl Rove", "non-leak of Plame's non-secret identity',....and on...and on. and NFU-Franklingate research on Amdocs, 9/11, art students, Israeli spies Sept 20, 05 Yahoo article: What Show Did You Watch During the War Daddy? Iraq War, lost and now a civil war....north to south, oil. Sept 21, 05 Jurist article: David Radler, former President and COO of Hollinger International and former publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times, will plead guilty to fraud charges. Robert Novak is Sun-Times columnist. Aljazeera "Is it possible that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is assisting Israel in betraying American spy networks in Iran in return for the Iranians to offer the release of captured Israeli spies?" AEI search on Jonathan Pollard results in "Web of Conspiracies" book by Michael Rubin. search Kwiatkowski, OSP, Mondale. Sept 23, 05 Register: More on Amdocs corporate espionage. And The Age Police question Amdocs exec...at least 19 arrested for infiltrating competitors computers. World Net Daily, Stephen Hadley mentioned, prior knowledge of 911 information on Atta in Rep. Weldon (Republican) Book "Countdown to Terror" Shaffer stopped from testifying about Able Danger data mining. Gonzales will name D. Kyle Sampson as chief of staff (DOJ) and in related article KerrySharesOurValues on D. Kyle Sampson, Raul Yanes ..and (Ted Ullyot) All three have been lawyers in the White House counsel's office under Gonzales. ... Ullyot (Ullyot stepped down) and Yanes were the coordinators of the White House's response to the investigation into the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity. Gonzales and Ashcroft will recuse, but will these three also? Sampson, Ullyot and Yanes have represented tobacco companies. search Kirkland & Ellis or (Tobacco.org), Kenneth Starr. tobacco thread articles / timeline Iraqwar.org on Israeli spying and Lowell Sun Online The invasion of Iraq was the “greatest strategic disaster in United States history,” a retired Army general said yesterday, strengthening an effort in Congress to force an American withdrawal beginning next year. Retired Army Lt. Gen. William Odom, a Vietnam veteran, said the invasion of Iraq alienated America's Middle East allies, making it harder to prosecute a war against terrorists Imam Intikab Habib's....was swept out of his FDNY appointment....Over the weekend, the message was pounded in by the New York and other media that those who question the Official Conspiracy Theory.... 911Truth.org Sept 25, 05 search internet: Kurzberg Shmuel Ellner Marmari Amdocs for supporting evidence on Amdocs links to 9/11 WTC or search amdocs fema israel or amdocs foxnews and Amdocs page Sept 26, 05 New Franklingate / DOJ selected press releases page Sept 27, 05 Shalom Center, article from 2004: "Neo-Cons, AIPAC, Israel, & Alleged Spying " Oct 28, 05 The federal grand jury delving into the matter expires Oct. 28. .. prosecutors could pursue a criminal contempt of court charge against Miller. Sept 28, 05 Conk Websearch, Encyclopedia entry on AIPAC, supporters, critics and quotations. Fatma Nevin Vargun, is a Kurdish women's rights activist. Libby poem in a letter to Miller in jail: "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." from Salon.com Sept 29, 05 Foxnews "U.K.: Military Action against Iran, 'Inconceivable'. and "On Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution putting Iran on the verge of referral to the U.N. Security Council unless Tehran eases suspicions about its nuclear activities" "(Fitzgerald) was ready to extend her imprisonment for up to 18 months. ...on September 29, she walked out of prison ready to talk, having secured a personal waiver of confidentiality from her own source, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff." Guardian Sept 30, 05 Miller testified before the grand jury about two conversations with Libby in July 2003 Red Nova "Quality of Iran's Nuclear Fuel Sheds Doubt on Weapons Capabilities" Daily Star "Britain rules out military action against Iran over nuclear program Tehran to vote on scaling back cooperation with IAEA Forward Steven Rosen (AIPAC) seeking dismissal on the grounds that the U.S. government has refused to disclose key evidence. Franklin will plead guilty, Harretz ....Miller released, will testify, and Red Nova coverage Oct 1, 05 Miller testified,...Fitzgerald agreed to limit his questioning to Libby contacts regarding Plame. Miller was his final witness...the interview lasted 4 hours. Libby's attorney Joseph Tate puzzled at a second request for a release...it had been a year since they believe they gave her a waiver. Oct 2, 05 Net search terms: Judith Miller, Stephen Hadley, Able Danger, missing chart Oct 3, 05 Weldon's Able Danger hearings will backfire on GOP "...both Miller and Libby collaborated for months on manufacturing the bogus WMD hoax.." Ahmed Amr, Palestine Chronicle (copy), and Nile Media Oct 4, 05 Miller still trying to limit issue to her conversations with Libby? NY Times copy Oct 5, 05 Libby Lawyer says Miller in jail on her own accord, was given waiver a year ago Washington Post see changes to Franklingate AIPAC page World Peace Herald: Able Danger report expected soon. Oct 6, 05 San Francisco Chronicle, Jon Carrol, "Everyone pretty much knows that the Judith Miller story doesn't add up, except for her employers at the New York Times" Indictments Any time? Editor & Publisher Oct 7, 05 Live Journal "U.S. Preparing for a Strike on Iran.....Scott Ritter, the former UN weapons inspector to Iraq .......warned in apocalyptic terms in London"

 

McClellan WH briefing excerpt
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan The James S. Brady Briefing Room 12:47 P.M. EDT MR. McCLELLAN: I do want to make one brief statement. The House right now is voting on the conference committee report on the legislation that would ban the brutal practice of partial-birth abortion. This is will be an important step toward building a culture of life in America. And we look forward to the House passage and urge the Senate to move quickly on this important piece of legislation, as well. Q Scott, has the White House received any subpoenas for documents in the leaks case? MR. McCLELLAN: No. Q Are you aware of any individuals who have received any? And will you tell us if the White House is subpoenaed or if individuals are? MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, that question came up earlier. I expect that we will discuss that matter with the career Justice Department officials who are looking into this. And if they are okay with me notifying you of that information, I will certainly do so. My intention is to share with you the information you need to do your job, as long as that's consistent with preserving the integrity of the investigation. Q I was just going to say there is a precedent for revealing this. We had this in a previous administration, and it has come up. Is that being taken into consideration as you look at this? MR. McCLELLAN: Yes, that's why I said, what we want to do is discuss that matter with the Department of Justice. And if they are okay with us notifying you of that information, then we will do so. Q I gather you're asking about subpoenas for things, information, or records -- I'm asking if that applies, as well -- have any White House officials been nterviewed yet by the FBI? MR. McCLELLAN: Not to my knowledge. But again, the Justice Department officials may decide they want to talk to people individually. So I wouldn't necessarily know. And I should say not to the White House's knowledge, when I say that, when I'm saying me, not to the White House's knowledge. Q So would that mean that there's -- MR. McCLELLAN: At this point, we've received -- Q No senior staff has been interviewed then? MR. McCLELLAN: Not to our knowledge. Q How about the CIA? MR. McCLELLAN: I'm sorry? Q Are you aware of anybody at the -- MR. McCLELLAN: You'd have to ask the CIA that question, or the Justice Department that question. Q Can I ask a follow-on point I just wanted to -- why does the White House feel that it's appropriate to coordinate an attack on Joseph Wilson in coordination with the RNC and Republicans in Congress, to attack him on his partisanship and his record as a partisan? Why does the White House feel that that's appropriate and relevant here? MR. McCLELLAN: What we are focused on is getting to the bottom of this investigation. That's what the President wants to happen. He wants the -- he wants the Justice Department to get to the bottom of this, the sooner the better. So our focus is on this investigation and getting to the bottom of it. That's what we are doing. Obviously, there are -- that's what the subject of this investigation is about, and that's why it's important to -- Q Right, but my question still hasn't been answered. I mean, you're not denying that there are challenges and attacks on Joseph Wilson's character because he's a partisan, and the partisan nature that the White House believes is irrelevant here -- I'm asking you, why that's relevant in all of this and why the White House feels it's appropriate when there's an investigation going on to coordinate such attacks with the Republican National Committee and with Republicans on the Hill -- MR. McCLELLAN: David, I have said from this podium that it is not my place to question someone's motives. That is something that is part of your reporting that you do in your profession. So that's -- Q But it is the place of others who are working at the White House. MR. McCLELLAN: I have made it very clear on that matter that it is just simply not my position to get into questioning someone's motives. Q Right, but you're speaking for the White House, and the White House is coordinating with Republicans on the Hill and with its arm, which is the political arm, which is the RNC, to go after this guy. So why is that appropriate? Why is it relevant? MR. McCLELLAN: Again, the President wants everybody to focus on getting to the bottom of this investigation, and that's what we are doing. We are working -- Q Well, why won't you answer this question? MR. McCLELLAN: -- to cooperate with the Department of Justice. And I have answered that -- I answered that question yesterday. Q Scott, between the time period of mid-July when this story first broke, and late September when it became much more public, what, if anything, did White House officials -- the President, National Security Advisor, Chief of Staff, others, general for the Counsel's Office -- do to address the leak problem that emerged in July? MR. McCLELLAN: I'll tell you what we were doing in that period. We were focusing on the priorities of the American people. We were focusing on moving forward on the legislation to strengthen and improve Medicare for America's seniors. We were focused on strengthening the economy that's growing faster now, but we want more action done. We were focusing on the energy legislation and focusing on addressing some of the problems there. That's where our focus was. Now, there was -- there were articles which happen all too often in this town, of allegations that were made -- unsubstantiated allegations citing, I believe, senior administration officials, not even specifically White House at that point. And we didn't have -- we had no information beyond these unsubstantiated allegations in media reports to suggest there was any White House involvement in the matter you are raising. But the process that is in place for that is for the CIA to look at those issues, and, if they feel a need to, to report information to the Department of Justice. They did that. Q I did not mean to suggest that the President and his staff had no other focus or no other responsibilities; obviously, tremendous responsibilities. But this was one thing that had happened which the CIA's General Counsel has now determined a crime that hurt national security. Did the CIA -- Director Tenet or anyone else -- during the time period, mid-July, late September, communicate to the President or his staff that this was very serious, that it looked like it was heading towards a criminal investigation, that they wanted some cooperation from the White House? MR. McCLELLAN: No, I'm not aware of any such conversation. Q Senator Schumer is calling on John Ashcroft to recuse himself from this case, Scott. Do you see any need for the General to do that? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, I think that the Department of Justice will make decisions of that nature. They -- the Department of Justice has publicly stated that all legal options are on the table. That's where it stands. But I would remind you that the career Justice Department officials are the ones who are leading this investigation. These are individuals with vast experience and are in the best position to get to the bottom of this. The Justice Department wants to get to the bottom of this. The President wants to get to the bottom of this. The American people want us to get to the bottom of this. So that's a shared goal, and that's a -- that's what we are -- that's why we are working cooperatively with the Department of Justice to get to the bottom of this. And, as I said, the sooner the better. And if anyone, anyone inside or outside the administration has information that is relevant to this investigation, they should report that information to the Department of Justice so we can get to the bottom of this. Q How does the President feel about so many of his friends possibly profiteering business-wise from his invasion of Iraq? MR. McCLELLAN: Who are you suggesting? Q Groups, Allbaugh for one is forming a group for -- MR. McCLELLAN: I think those individuals can address those matters. If they -- you're talking about former administration officials? I think that those individuals, you have to ask those questions. I don't have any specific information about what individuals are seeking to do outside of the administration. Q But they seem to be using their name and part of this -- former part of this administration to make inroads into business in Iraq. MR. McCLELLAN: You're asking me about people outside the administration. Q Yes, I am. MR. McCLELLAN: You need to talk to the people outside the administration. I don't have specific information on what they're doing. Q I asked the President's opinion on that. MR. McCLELLAN: Opinion on people outside the administration seeking business in Iraq. Q His cronies, his friends, yes. MR. McCLELLAN: I don't have any specific information about what these individuals are doing. If you do, you can ask those individuals about it. Q You've been reading the papers, haven't you? MR. McCLELLAN: These are people outside the administration that do not work in the administration? Q Scott, Steve mentioned Senator Schumer, but it's not just him. Senator Specter, a fellow Republican, also said today that he believes that Ashcroft should recuse himself in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest because of his relationships with Karl Rove. What do you think of that? Is that something that you think might make sense, considering the fact that you do want this to stay at the Justice Department in the hands of career officials? MR. McCLELLAN: I think that's a matter for the Department of Justice to decide. Q But in terms of the perception of this, when you have Republicans now saying that perhaps John Ashcroft should recuse himself in order to let the career -- MR. McCLELLAN: We talked about this yesterday, the President spoke about it the other day. The President believes that the career Justice Department officials at the Department of Justice, the ones who have a vast amount of experience in these issues, are in the best position to get to the bottom of this. And that's exactly what he wants those officials to do. And that's exactly what those officials want to do. Q But what Senator Specter is saying is that they report to John Ashcroft, who might have a conflict because of his past work with Karl Rove. MR. McCLELLAN: And the Department of Justice has said that all legal options are on the table. They will make those decisions. Q Scott, on Tuesday when you shared with us the second memo by Judge Gonzales to the staff, it named three reporters. And it said pursuant to the Justice Department request, please preserve records of contacts with these three reporters. Was Judge Gonzales singling out those three reporters, or did the Justice Department single them out? MR. McCLELLAN: No. Actually, if you look back at the letter, the language in that letter that we shared publicly with you was verbatim from the Justice Department. That was the request that they sent us the other day. Q So there was -- that was the entire text -- MR. McCLELLAN: And those names were -- those names were verbatim from the text of that letter. Q Scott, in addition to the controversy surrounding Ambassador Wilson's wife, we've seen open, public dissension in the State Department; the EPA Inspector General has made claims that the White House doctored air quality reports, and Senator Clinton is using this to hold up the nomination of Governor Leavitt for the EPA post. Still, others leave the administration, write an op-ed criticizing the administration, and then join a Democratic presidential nominee's campaign. My question is: Is the President or anyone else in this administration concerned that the Clinton holdovers are undermining the administration? MR. McCLELLAN: In a certain department? Q Yes, in these various departments. MR. McCLELLAN: I think that the President has assembled a team that is working together to implement his priorities. We have a strong team that is in place that is trying to implement what the President's focus is. Q But time and time again you'll see one holdover from various departments criticizing the administration and -- MR. McCLELLAN: People have the right to express their views. Q Scott, in the midst of this "leakgate" situation, has the White House unofficially or officially told the Press Office or senior administration officials how they should deal with the press in reference to sourcing information, giving us information on any new situation -- not just this, but anything? Has anything changed in reference to this in how the White House relates with us? MR. McCLELLAN: Has anything changed in reference -- Q How the White House deals with the press, in giving information, ever since this "leakgate" situation has happened? MR. McCLELLAN: I don't know what you're referring to specifically. Q I'm referring to, like, we will be able to email you, or some other White House staffers, talk to them on the phone. Has anything been put in place, in motion, to kind of curtail -- has the White House maybe tapped -- MR. McCLELLAN: Try to curtail? Q Has the White House maybe tapped phone lines, looking through emails -- no, I mean, I'm not trying to be funny with this, I'm being very serious. Is there some kind of thing to prevent this kind of "leakgate" from happening again? MR. McCLELLAN: I appreciate what you're saying. At this point, what we have done is sent the letter -- sent the text of the letter from the Department of Justice to White House staff. We have shared that letter, the text of that letter with you, as well, because we released that memo for you. Q But has anything changed in the way White House officials are dealing with the press to prevent -- MR. McCLELLAN: No. To prevent? Q To prevent this kind of situation, Justice Department probe -- into giving confidential information that could ultimately result in someone's -- affect someone's life. MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you're suggesting that that happened in the White House. Q I am not suggesting that happened -- MR. McCLELLAN: Well, by that question -- Q -- but there is a probe that is going on because there are allegations. MR. McCLELLAN: What we're trying to do is get to the bottom of this investigation, and work cooperatively with the Justice Department to do that. But, no other -- we have sent the memo out with the text of the letter in it to White House employees to make sure that they understand that it is the request of the Department of Justice that they preserve and maintain all information that could be related to their request. And the President has directed the White House to cooperate fully. And that's what we expect staff members to do. That's what we've done. Q On the reconstruction aid to Iraq, it looks like Senate Republicans now are saying that they'd like to see some of it in the form of loans, rather than grants. I'm wondering if the White House is still 100 percent committed to doing this is in grants? Or would you be willing to listen to a loan package? MR. McCLELLAN: We went through a little bit of this yesterday. Our position remains the same. This is an $87-billion package. And we view it as one package. It is a wartime supplemental that will help us prevail in the central front in the war on terrorism, which is Iraq now, and it is in the form of grants. The people of Iraq have been saddled with a debt from a brutal regime that went through 30 years of neglect and was more interested in building palaces than building the infrastructure for the Iraqi people. Q So does that mean you're opposed to what Senate Republicans are proposing? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we put forward a wartime supplemental and we are urging Congress to pass that wartime supplemental as it is. Q But then again, I'm still not clear, does that mean you oppose what the Senate Republicans -- MR. McCLELLAN: It means we support what we've put forward and that we want that package passed as it is. That's what it means. And we're working with Congress to get that done; the sooner, the better. Q Scott, I'd like to take another crack, if I may, at Steve's question. You keep using the phrase "career Justice Department investigators leading the investigation." But really what Senator Schumer is concerned about is the fact that the Attorney General, a political appointee, in some cases has to sign off on subpoenas. And is the White House concerned that there just may be an appearance here that there's foot-dragging. We're this far into it, we haven't heard any subpoenas have been served or investigators have come on. Is there just any concern on the part of the White House that because the Attorney General is a political appointee and he does have a hands-on role in this, is Senator Schumer right to say that the best thing for the White House would be to call for a recusal? MR. McCLELLAN: Again, I've addressed this question. The Justice Department has addressed that question. In response to that very question you're bringing up, the Justice Department said that all legal options remain on the table. But I think it's important to keep in mind that the criminal division that is investigating this matter at the Department of Justice is headed by career Justice Department officials who have a lot of experience in these matters. And that's why they're in the best position to get to the bottom of this. And it's important to keep in mind that the Justice Department wants to get to the bottom of this, too. If someone in the administration, anywhere in the administration, leaked classified information, we want to know who it is. The President has always made it clear that the leaking of classified information is a very serious matter. And I think the Justice Department shares the White House's concern about the leaking of classified information. So we're working toward the same goal here. And we're working cooperatively with them to get to the bottom of this matter. Q Can I follow up, Scott? Just quickly? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we've -- I mean, we've been through this before. Q Can I just -- just very quickly. You talk about the fact that all legal options are on the table. But this isn't a question of legal options, this is a question of a potential conflict of interest, a perception of that, with John Ashcroft. And that is why the two senators are calling for him to recuse himself. MR. McCLELLAN: And those are decisions for the Department of Justice to make. Q What's the President's view of the comment that got Rush Limbaugh in trouble? MR. McCLELLAN: I think that Rush Limbaugh addressed the matter. Q You know, Scott, when you click onto the White House website and you enter the word, "bigotry," the President has addressed this issue 136 times. Why would not -- why wouldn't you, on his behalf, want to address it in this instance, where someone has associated the selection of athletes on the basis of their race for certain positions on the field? MR. McCLELLAN: I did answer the question, and I think that he addressed the matter -- I think that Rush Limbaugh addressed the matter. Q Is it because Limbaugh is a political ally and often someone who supports administration causes and so forth that you don't want to address this yourself? MR. McCLELLAN: You've asked the question, and I've responded to it. Q Thank you. Two -- first on Korea, any comments on their statement that they are developing atomic weapons? MR. McCLELLAN: Well, we've seen them make those statements previously -- don't have anything to confirm what they're saying. But what needs to happen is North Korea needs to recognize that all that they are doing with these kinds of threats and bluster is isolating themselves. The international community has made it clear that escalation by North Korea will only lead to further isolation. I think many countries -- the United States at the forefront -- have expressed concern about the reprocessing of spent-fuel rods. There is no legitimate use for plutonium harvested during this procedure. And it's a clear indication -- it would be a clear indication that they are intent on enlarging their nuclear arsenal, despite the call from the international community for North Korea to change its behavior. North Korea -- we've been talking about these issues in the six-party talks. And North Korea has received the message from all these nations that they need to end the nuclear weapons program in a verifiable and irreversible way, once and for all. Q And on Korea, on the extension of the security fence in Korea -- I'm sorry, Israel -- are you concerned about that? Have you communicated -- MR. McCLELLAN: The President has expressed his concern about the fence. We've been talking with the Israelis about that matter and we are continuing to discuss it with the Israelis. Q That was my question, but I have another one. Scott, there are indications the economy is improving. But many major U.S. companies, such as Levi Strauss are still fleeing the country to take advantage of cheap labor overseas. This is putting hundreds, if not thousands of Americans out of work. What is the President doing to stop this loss of American jobs? MR. McCLELLAN: The President is acting to get our economy growing stronger, and he wants to -- he's emphasized the importance of acting on additional fronts, in addition to what we've already done. If we strengthen our economy and make sure that we have a level playing field in trade matters, those are important steps that we can take to improve the economic situation here at home. It's already -- the economy is moving in the right direction, but there's more to do. That's where his focus is. Q Scott, just a quick follow-up on that. A number of news organizations in recent days have got polls showing that the American public is increasingly disapproving of the way he's handling the economy. I understand that you say the economy is improving, that there's still more to do. But I'm wondering, how concerned is he about this perception that he's not up to the task? MR. McCLELLAN: I think, one, I reject the way you phrased that. I reject that premise. But the President -- the American people want a President who leads and acts. This President is acting to strengthen our economy. That is -- one of his highest priorities is to get the economy growing even faster. That's why we took the action that we did. The President -- we inherited a recession; the President acted to get us out of the recession. It was a very shallow one because of the actions that we took. We obviously went through a difficult period where -- the September 11th attacks, the corporate scandals, the march to war that the President refers to. But the President is not satisfied because there are people who are still looking for work who cannot find a job. That's why he's urging action on additional fronts, as well. That includes expanding trade; that includes reforming -- lawsuit reform; that includes making the tax cuts permanent so people can have certainty for their planning purposes; that includes passing a comprehensive energy plan. So there are a number of other things we can do to strengthen our economy even more.

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