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President Bush Knew Plame Affair Would Come Back to Bite
Share / Recommend - Comment - Print - Wednesday, Oct 19 2005, 11:35AM
This article by New York Daily News DC Bureau Chief Thomas DeFrank reveals some startling news about President Bush's reaction to Karl Rove's 'clumsiness' in trying to discredit Joe Wilson.
Here is an excerpt from this interesting piece:
"Karl is fighting for his life," the official added, "but anything he did was done to help George W. Bush. The President knows that and appreciates that."Other sources confirmed, however, that Bush was initially furious with Rove in 2003 when his deputy chief of staff conceded he had talked to the press about the Plame leak.
Bush has always known that Rove often talks with reporters anonymously and he generally approved of such contacts, one source said.
But the President felt Rove and other members of the White House damage-control team did a clumsy job in their campaign to discredit Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, the ex-diplomat who criticized Bush's claim that Saddam Hussen tried to buy weapons-grade uranium in Niger.
A second well-placed source said some recently published reports implying Rove had deceived Bush about his involvement in the Wilson counterattack were incorrect and were leaked by White House aides trying to protect the President.
"Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way," the source said.
None of these sources offered additional specifics of what Bush and Rove discussed in conversations beginning shortly after the Justice Department informed the White House in September 2003 that a criminal investigation had been launched into the leak of CIA agent Plame's identity to columnist Robert Novak.
What seems clear is that Bush was disturbed by his staff's behavior and did nothing at that point. He told the nation he would fire any staff involved -- and then did nothing other than privately scold Karl Rove.
The other fascinating revelation is that the act of revealing Plame's identity does not seem to be part of Bush's irritation. It was getting caught, the "ham-handedness" of the effort. Bush seems not to have been angered by the revelation of Plame's covert CIA role.
We were at war. Bush's dad was the former Director of the CIA. And Bush only cared that his black-bag guys screwed up and got caught.
This ought to take another ten points of Bush's approval ratings.
-- Steve Clemons
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So, what the hell did Bush tell Fitz in June, 2004, when he was interviewed??? As I recall, he was not under oath. How might that matter in an obstruction of justice charge?
I think it is important to note, as you did, that Bush said he'd fire whoever was involved and he said that either at, right before, or right after the time that Rove admitted involvement.
But, when the truth was public about Rove, Bush repositioned himself to keep Rove on staff. He's really something, huh?
More importantly, who's leaking this to the News? This only solidifies yesterday's report that a high official is working with Fitzgerald and possibly leaking to the News, Post, and Times as well.
What I find most interesting about the "presidential counselor's" (and other unnamed sources') rumor is how much damage it inflicts on Bush.
If the rumor is true then Mr Bush has been in continuous violation of Executive Order 12958 since he learned of Rove's actions, for starters.
As noted, here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4130407
And here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=4148545
So, any attempt to "shield Bush" by making the kinds of statements being quoted by the NY Daily News (and being echoed throughout the blogosphere) are doing exactly NOT anything helpful for Bush, or for any other person whom they implicate in the "ham-handed and bush-league way" (great pun by the way). They effectively are saying that Bush has been in willful violation (at a minimum) of Executive Order 12958 since the exposure of Valerie Plame began and that those participating have violated their respective SF312s.
No way Bush's legal eagles (are ya reading this one Harry?) are going to be allowing anyone inside the tent to be planting these kinds of stories.
Whomever is planting these rumors is definitely not a friend of Bush or any of those being named.
Peace.
To me this could be like the palace coup of 1986 all over again, with the Republican "adults" shepherding out the key White House staffers and restoring some semblance of responsibility. As Josh pointed out on TPM, DeFrank has a close relationship with the Bush 41 crew, is it possible the leaks are coming from them - maybe Scowcroft, Baker, etc. as a way of taking control of the administration?
If things get real hot, Dubya will just preemptively pardon Rove, Libby et al the way his old man did after Lawrence Walsh indicted Weinberger and the other Iran-Contra traitors. There is an on-going pattern of criminality in the Bush family, if anyone bothers to look for it.
These reptiles will do anything to save their own skin. In Shakepearean tradition, someday the little rats will turn on the King Rat and the whole Bush empire will collapse into the smelly heap of dung that it is...
Bush can't, won't survive this. Any Republican who doesn't eventually sign on for impeachment will simply end up going down with Bush's ship.
Congrats on TPM making CNN the other day.
I got mine, go fuck yourself!
So should Fitzgerald issue a supoena to Thomas DeFrank to testify about this source? If Bush knew, and didn't tell Fitzgerald, isn't that obstruction of justice?
Calm down guys. Bu$h knowing about possibly treasonous activities is not as bad as blowjobs in the oval office. Get real.
So Steve, I hope you do a followup to your post about Presidential Deniability with this revelation as a factor.
Second Cheney aide cooperating in leak probe, those close to case say
"A second aide to Vice President Dick Cheney is cooperating with the special prosecutor's probe into the outing of covert CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson, those close to the investigation say.
Late Monday, several sources familiar with Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s probe said John Hannah, a key aide to Vice President Dick Cheney and one of the architects of the Iraq war, was cooperating with Fitzgerald after being told that he was identified by witnesses as a co-conspirator in the leak. Sources said Hannah was not given immunity, but was likely offered a “deal” in exchange for information that could result in indictments of key White House officials.
Now, those close to the investigation say that a second Cheney aide, David Wurmser, has agreed to provide the prosecution with evidence that the leak was a coordinated effort by Cheney’s office to discredit the agent's husband. Her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was one of the most vocal critics of the Iraq war.
Wurmser, Cheney’s Middle East advisor and an assistant to then-Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs John Bolton, likely cooperated because he faced criminal charges for his role in leaking Wilson's name on the orders of higher-ups, the sources said..."
http://tinyurl.com/839fu
Susan,
If this is true about Wurmser (and I don't necessarily believe everything I read on Raw Story), it's potentially very big news.
Wurmser has worked in several very interesting places. Not only was he a Middle East policy advisor to Cheney, and one of John Bolton's acolytes at the State Department, he also was one of the key people involved in the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group, which was the shop within Doug Feith's office at the Pentagon that was set up to try to cherrypick evidence from raw intelligence reporting to support links between al-Qaeda and Iraq.
He's also, for what it's worth, the person who drafted the well-known Clean Break paper as part of Richard Perle's study group at AEI back in 1996.
Wurmser is potentially in a position to tie a lot of the threads of the 'big picture' together.
Sullivan thinks this story shows Bush "distancing" himself from Rove, as though in preparation to jettison Rove and keep Bush looking good.
Nope.
This whole story is designed to make *Bush* look bad, and to show that he was in it up to the neck.
Wouldn't surprise me if it comes from Rove's own shop.
Here's the message: throw me overboard, and I'll tell the world just how much you were involved--in this, and a hundred other crimes.
the message is: give me a pardon or everyone will know about your lies
"Bush did not feel misled so much by Karl and others as believing that they handled it in a ham-handed and bush-league way," e
-------------------------------------------------
Interesting that they would use the term "Bush-League". As this president gives the term a WHOLE new meaning.
Wouldn't surprise me if it comes from Rove's own shop.
Here's the message: throw me overboard, and I'll tell the world just how much you were involved--in this, and a hundred other crimes. Posted by Tad Brennan
the message is: give me a pardon or everyone will know about your lies. Posted by max
My first thought exactly. Rove will go down fighting.
How's Poppy going to clean up this mess? Saving the Bush name (and the Bush Crime Syndicate) is the ONLY priority. Who gets thrown to the wolves, and who must be saved?
Pardons all around, just like Iran Contra?
Try to wall off the idiot son from Cheney et al, and let Cheney hang?
So many plots. So much treachery.
semper fubar "...So many plots. So much treachery."
and too few jail cells
I`m keepin all my appendages crossed that these rumors are even close to true
"I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends...that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them." - Adlai Stevenson (1952)
Gonna be an interesting weekend....
**This ought to take another ten points of Bush's approval ratings.**
Only if people know about it. Scanning CNN's front page, I don't see any mention of this or anything Plame. It's not getting enough media play, plus it's too arcane to grasp quickly.
We might see some movement when indictments are handed down, though.
If this is true, aren't his later statements that he didn't know who did it obstruction of justice?? He knew an investigation was going on.
Red Neck Repub -
What defies imagination is how wingnuts such as yourself continually compare the two prez's behaviors; like personal failings on Clinton's part are on the same order as the gutting of our Democracy by the Bushites. What gives? No capacity to discriminate the different order of implications involved? Someone help me, I'm at a loss as to how this keeps getting made.
"Other sources confirmed, however, that Bush was initially furious with Rove in 2003 when his deputy chief of staff conceded he had talked to the press about the Plame leak."
This is a very ambiguous statement. Talking to the press "about the Plame leak" is not the same as collaborating in the Plame leak.
I thought Red Neck was being tongue in cheek but maybe you are as well.
I am a Democrat and supported Clinton throughout Monicagate but no more. Like Kerry, Clinton is not only a Skull and Bones Bilderberger but travels with Bush, Sr. and is involved in the Mena major drug trafficking and the murders to cover it up. Read about the Clinton murders and how they benefited both the bushes and Clinton.
Read about Officer Teakey and the Oklahoma Bombing and Chandra Levy and her position as Intern for Prisons office and her relationship with Gary Conduit, bush's favorite democrat and what she found out about Oklahoma and the Manchurian candidate Timothy McVeigh got her killed.
The Monica scandal was much worse than the newspapers even hinted at. Clinton placed her as an Intern in the Pentagon because several flag officers were going to arrest Clinton for giving state secrets to China. Most of the officers ended up dead and some were shielded by the French Secret Service and the Air France plane that was shot down and the FBI never solved had all of the French top Intelligence Officers except the head of their CIA.
Read about the Promis software murders. Clinton made draconian cuts in healthcare and welfare. Clinton was no Democrat. Read about Ruby Ridge and the kidnapping of Elian Gonzales and Clinton's cynical comments when he let his mask drop after the horrifying events at WACO, "I'm sorry those people chose to kill their own children."
The only "Clinton" murders which did not also benefit the bushes were his girlfriends or women he wanted and their husbands or boyfriends.
Read about PNAC and Bilderberg and go to http://www.stopthelie.com
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