Karl Rove oversaw (oversees?) the White House Office of Political Affairs where the calls were made to. And several Bush 2004 campaign staffers, including Kenny Mehlman and Coddy Johnson were in the Political Affairs office at the time.

WOW. that was some nice piece of work.

Re: You last entry. Fitz’s 4 term expired. He is now a holder terminable at will. Let them dare try it though!

**ATTN. FDL’RS** Cooperative Research has been a fantastic open source repository of research into 9/11, Iraq and Katrina. Unfortunately they are out of money and need your help. Donations are tax-deductible (yay!). Go to the link above to help if you can, even $10 bucks will help keep them online. Be sure to browse the research at their site while we still can…

But you just need to talk with Republicans in red districts to know it’s all about the “welfare state” and the sacrifices they make for people who don’t want to work.

Ironically (for them), it is the blue states that wind up supporting red districts through federal taxes!

Let those boony-towns decay, let their crazed leaders howl in the night (how’s that for drama), and let the metropolitan areas on the east and west coasts thrive.

In 100 years the hicks, in their empty and unpainted districts with dusty and potholed roads, the hill people will still be fighting for creationism and blaming someone else for their stupidity.

This is just a draft and no claim to highest and best sourcing, or even reliable sourcing, yet at least, but here is the time line I get for the Niger to Libby disclosures, to lawsuit info.

1. Fall of 2001, soon after 9/11the C.I.A. received an intelligence report from Italy’s Military Intelligence and Security Service, or sismi, about a public visit that Wissam al-Zahawie, then the Iraqi Ambassador to the Vatican, had made to Niger and three other African nations two and a half years earlier, in February, 1999. While nothing was made of this at the time (1999), as the story goes, SISSMI takes another look after 9/11 and suggests Zahawie was really there to buy yellow cake. The VP sees this info, which had not documentary support, and brings it up in his daily CIA briefing – briefer chcks it out, tells VP there are no details. VP’s Press Sec. Cathie Martin say at this point, . “End of story,†Martin added. “That’s all we know. However, a CIA source tells Hersh that Cheney asked the agency to review the matter once againhttp://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

2. November 14, 2001 as the Taliban were being routed in Afghanistan, Richard Perle, a Pentagon consultant with long-standing ties to Wolfowitz, Feith, and Chalabi, articulated what would become the Bush Administration’s most compelling argument for going to war with Iraq: the possibility that, with enough time, Saddam Hussein would be capable of attacking the United States with a nuclear weapon. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

3. December, 2001, INR major review of Iraq’s progress on WMDs, finding no progress, completed and provided to Colin Powell. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact (nonsequitor but article also details Bolton managing to get direct access to electronic surveillance data)

4. Early 2002 and January 30, 2002 SISMI intel begins to play a role in decision making and 1-30 CIA report C.I.A. published an unclassified report to Congress that stated, “Baghdad may be attempting to acquire materials that could aid in reconstituting its nuclear-weapons program.†A week later, Colin Powell told the House International Relations Committee, “With respect to the nuclear program, there is no doubt that the Iraqis are pursuing it.†http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

5. Late February, 2002 CIA sends Wilson to “discreetly check it out†and is told that CIA has received a copy of a memorandum of agreement. http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

6. eight/nine days later Wilson comes back, makes report, says he assumes the VP got it. VP’s Press Sec, Cathie Martin, says, “The Vice-President doesn’t know Joe Wilson and did not know about his trip until he read about it in the press.†The first press accounts appeared fifteen months after Wilson’s trip.
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

7. Leaving out all the reports and memos re: whether Pres had already made up his mind by about March 2002 to go to war in Iraq, but lots of things floating around about that time and later, some maybe earlier (eg, recent report about Cheney requests for Iraq briefings right after 2000 vote count) .

8. August 7, 2002 Vice-President Cheney, speaking in California, said of Saddam Hussein, “What we know now, from various sources, is that he . . . continues to pursue a nuclear weapon.â€
[]August 26th, [2002] Cheney suggested that Saddam had a nuclear capability that could directly threaten “anyone he chooses, in his own region or beyond.†He added that the Iraqis were continuing “to pursue the nuclear program they began so many years ago.â€
[]September 8th, [2002]he told a television interviewer, “We do know, with absolute certainty, that he is using his procurement system to acquire the equipment he needs in order to enrich uranium to build a nuclear weapon.â€
http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

9. September 8, 2002 Rice, the National Security Adviser, says in an interview, “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud†http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

10. September 14, 2002 the President makes his radio address and says, “Saddam Hussein has the scientists and infrastructure for a nuclear-weapons program, and has illicitly sought to purchase the equipment needed to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon.†http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact [All this time, 2002 elections and the force resolution are coming up. ]

11. September, 2002, Members of Congress (Durbin and Graham in particular) request an NIE before Iraq vote;, Bush was not going to get one before sending troops to invade. (NSA = National Security Archives for this timeline)

12. September 24, 2002, Tony Blair comes out with dramatic allegations about Iraq trying to purchase uranium based largely on the SISMI information. (According to a parliamentary inquiry, stronger language in the report is toned down after the CIA cautions its British counterpart and references to SISMI as the sourcing are dropped, even though they form the primary basis of the British report.

13 Oct. 1, 2002.Classified version completed

14. October 4, 2002, Tenet releases an unclassified paper Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction programs (White Paper) Per the later Senate investigation report, the White Paper was missing many of the caveats in the key judgments and was also missing some of the references to alternative views .

15. October 5, 2002 memo from CIA to Bush’s speechwriter, Michael Gerson and deputy National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, objecting to reference in proposed Cincinnati speech for Bush about Hussein trying to obtain yellowcake;
October 6, 2002 second CIA memo, this one to Rice and Hadley, more specifically referring to “weakness†in the evidence; and
Right before the speech call from Tenet to Hadley requesting the reference come out – it did not appear in the speech. http://www.downingstreetmemo.c…..chive.html

16. October 7, 2002 President Bush said, “Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof—the smoking gun—that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.â€http://www.newyorker.com/fact/…..027fa_fact

17. October 13, 2002 Wilson writes an op piece for San Jose Mercury News, critical of the run up to war and http://www.politicsoftruth.com…..addam.html

18. Oct. 16, 2002 Iraq force authorization (passed Oct 5??) is memorialized http://www.c-span.org/resources/pdf/hjres114.pdf

19. January ___, 2003 National Intelligence Council issues memo that the Niger story is baseless and should be laid to rest. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00916.html

20. January 28, 2003 President’s SOTUS, with 16 words, “”the British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” That sentence came in the homestretch of saying that Iraq was ”assembling the world’s most dangerous weapons.” The sentence was part of building the case that ”the gravest danger facing America and the world is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons.”

21. February 6, 2003 Colin Powell addresses UN with “proof†http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/…..ranscript/ and doesn’t mention the Niger issue.

22. March 13, 2003 al-Baradei and IAEA say Niger docs obvious fakes and some resulting uproar. http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/03/…..index.html
But the discovery raises questions such as why the apparent forgeries were given to inspectors and why U.S. and British intelligence agents did not recognize that they were not authentic … A U.S. intelligence official said that the documents were passed on to the International Atomic Energy Agency within days of being received with the comment, ” ‘We don’t know the provenance of this information, but here it is.’ ” If a mistake was made, a U.S. official suggested, it was more likely due to incompetence not malice. “That’s a convenient explanation, but it doesn’t satisfy me,” [Ray] Close [a former CIA official] said. “Incompetence I have not seen in those agencies. I’ve seen plenty of malice, but I’ve never seen incompetence.”

23. Sometime in March Wilson claims there is a meeting of Cheney staff and/or others at which investigating Wilson was planned. Cheney denies. http://www.usatoday.com/news/w…..leak_x.htm

24. June 3, 2003 and effective July 11, 2003 Tenet announces his resignation. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..4Jun3.html

25. June, 2003 British parliamentary inquiry debunks Blair’s claim that, even though the Niger docs were forgeries, he and Bush had “other, secret evidence†they could not disclose. This leaves the WH edgy and fingerpointy. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00916.html

26. Sometime in June, 2003 President decides to “declassify†“parts†of the NIE, (resurrecting the “parts is parts†chicken nugget battles) (no, WaPo didn’t mention the nuggets, but a scoops a scoop, and parts are parts). He directs that Cheney “get it out†http://wireservice.wired.com/w…..Id=1508945 but with no other details. OR the maybe the same, maybe alternative version, http://tinyurl.com/pnjqv Bush did not authorize anyone to release the information to reporters. Apparently what he “declassified†(in the parts sense), were the Key Judgments from the NIE, which had been, in a “take out the qualifications†sense in Tenet’s white paper, plus a couple of paragraphs that were not Key Judgments but alluded to the yellowcake and aluminum tubes claims made by the VP, P, NSAdv. http://www.fas.org/irp/cia/product/iraq-wmd.html, IMO, the typed up reports of what was released do not do justice to the pdf of what was released and how it looked. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/N…..gments.pdf
since that is what was ultimately released on July 18, 2003.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040800916.html IMO, the typed up reports of what was released do not do justice to the pdf of what was released and how it looked. http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/N…..gments.pdf At this point, no allegations or references that the President authorized the leaking of Plame’s identity.

27. Sometime at the end of June/beginning of July?? Cheney tells Libby to make revelations of portions of the NIE ; Libby balks, Cheney tells Libby that the President has authorized the release of the information, Libby speaks with Addington (but does not include him in the “three people who knewâ€) and Addington tells him that the authorization from the President is tantamount to a declassification. All from Libby’s GJ testimony, per the Special Prosecutor’s Memorandum and does not mention any authorization by anyone to mention Plame’s identity.

28. June 23, 2003, Judy Miller and Libby meet, an incident that slips their minds (perhaps as the story takes form that the OVP and WH interest in Wilson only came about after his July op ed?) and she took notes. Subject??? [Possibly some references from this period of time to restrictions on Miller’s writing for the NYT vis a vis WMD and Iraq – but I have no cite/info so ??? Also not clear if Libby knows]

29. June 26/27??, 2003 Libby and Woodward (working on book) meet and Libby mentions info apparently from the NIE. http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..00916.html (Woodward also met with someone who mentioned Plame prior to the July 8 meeting between Libby and Miller, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10…../newsweek/ and Woodward also finds Libby’s handwriting neat and organized and should probably be called upon to help transliterate, don’t you think?) From the Newsweek article, we learn that both Woodward and Novak are convinced the Plame leaks will end up being “nothing.†Woodward also admits knowing Novaks source when it comes out that he had the discussions/meetings he had at the WH)(and we also know that Novak is “absolutely sure†the President knows who did the Plame leaking).

30. Beginning sometime on or before the beginning of July, 2003 Hadley and others are lobbying the WH to declassify parts of the NIE and are not advised, at least not through 7-8-03, that the President has already done that or started the process. http://tinyurl.com/pnjqv

31. July 6, 2003 Wilson’s “What I Did Not Find In Africa†piece.

32. July 8, 2003 Libby meets with Miller, discusses NIE sections referring to a sheet he has brought with him [who prepared and what was on it and does Spec Prosec have it?] and specifies that he understood he was to tell her that the vigorous pursuit of yellowcake was one of the Key Judgments of the NIE (it was not and, by this point, had been pretty much disproven in any event unless there was additional “secret†evidence, which there was not and had been shot down in the parliamentary inquiry report released in June). Other than the parenthetical – Libby’s GJ testimony as referred to in Spec. Prosec. Memorandum.

33. July 8, 2003 Air Force One trip to So. Africa with Card, Fleischer, Powell, the Memo naming Plame, and Rice.
34. Sometime in July, 2003 Tenet takes responsibility for the 16 words. http://www.rotten.com/library/…..rge-tenet/

35. July 13, 2003 Novak article outing Plame’s covert CIA identity.

36. July 18, 2003, the Key Judgements, plus additional paragraphs, were released to reporters. Full NIE has never been released.

37. July 23, 2003 Hadley takes blame for 16 words. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3088597.stm

38. September, 2003 meeting with Powell, where statement is made about “everyone knowing†(unclear context).

39. Septeber 26, 2003, CIA directs DOJ to initiate investigation.

40. September 29, 2003, (8:30 PM) Gonzales notified by DOJ (at request of CIA) an investigation has been opened, preserve all materials. Gonzales tells only Card at first, then 12 hours later staff.

41. October 3, 2003 Comey appointed http://www.whitehouse.gov/news…..003-7.html

42. December 23, 2003 Daschle sends letter to Ashcroft asking for a special prosecutor.

43. December 26, 2003 Post reports investigation gaining momentum

45. December 30, 2003 Fitzgerald appointed.

46. January 2, 2004 reports that FBI is having WH staffers sign releases for reporters of confidentiality they may have given their sources.

47 February 6, 2004 Fitzgerald receives letter clarifying scope.

48. November 10, 2004 Bush announces Gonzales for AG.

49. April 20, 2005 Comey announces resignation

50.October 28, 2005, Libby Indicted

51. October, 2005 Fitzgerald’s appointment as US Atty in ND IL is/was up. Renominated/reappointed????

Phone-jamming. Old school bullshit, like McCain’s black baby and drug-addled wife. Criminals are the ones who get caught. Black, noisome “winning isn’t everything it’s the only thing” cancer on the Republic.

I’m so sick and tired of it. It’s the worst traits of the “me generation” writ large; a grotesque, blasphemous cult of wish fullfilment.

They must decrease, and we must increase.