Do these developments bolster the theory that Libby is expecting a pardon? His position appears near hopeless now, especially considering how the latest testimony makes his faulty memory defense highly implausible.
Even if Libby is expecting a pardon, the WH is taking a big hit too. The reasoning in allowing Libby's case to go to trial is obscure at this point.

Steve a question, Can the Wilsons go after Ari in their civil suit?

Jimmy Breslin once wrote a book called The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. As this incompetent crew couldn't even think straight about what comes AFTER invading Iraq, why should we be surprised that they couldn't think straight & clearly about the consequences of letting Libby go to trial? Gerald Ford proved he was no Chevy Chase when he pardoned Nixon BEFORE the trial. Can't wait for Rove, Bartlett and co-Prez Cheney. "Did you, sir, direct Mr Libby to leak this information to your office's standard news media contacts," asks senior defense attorney of Mr. Cheney. And what will he say?

cheney is the one who ought to be taking the heat for all this.. instead, just like the iraq war he eager to start, someone else is going to battle getting shot, while he profits from it all. he is one sick person and it must be disturbing to most that he is the vice president of the usa...talk about bringing dishonour to oneself and gov't.

Text of the indictment here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/28_10_05_indictment.pdf

I'm thinking this means someone lied to the prosecutors...

My take on the whole Libby thing at this is point is that he is and has always been a completely stand-up, straight-shooting, totally honest man capable of dedicating himself to someone he is convinced is doing what is right for this world, i.e. Dick Cheney. So when Cheney tells Scooter to basically be dishonest, to make up whatever story he needs to make up, Scooter is in way over his head. Thus Fitzgerald and his crew (and now we observers) are incredulous at how un-sophisticated Scooter's story appears to be. The man is not a good liar. And it sure looks like the POTUS isn't above letting Scooter take the fall for the whole affair.

He faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1.25m if he is convicted on all counts.

The final results of who takes the fall are still not in.

There could still be a grand conspiracy the object of which is to kick the can down the road far enough to keep both cheney and bush out of the direct line of fire for the remainder of the term, at which point all bets are off, and all get pardons by the decider. After all, they were all motivated by love for their country, and fighting terra.

Let's face it. There was collusion in the WH at very high levels. The wheels are coming off the cart. To believe otherwise is utterly naive.

Gosh, I'm shocked, shocked that Libby's been established as a liar. Huh.

If Libby's not pardoned, I'll eat my hat. The big one.

Over 600,000 dead bodies and counting, all slaughtered by lies. If that doesn't bring this Administration down, the Plame affair sure as hell ain't going to do the job.

Uh oh, duty demands that I post another "Lying Sack Of Shit Alert".......

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/IA25Ak04.html

......US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns, who said in Dubai this week that "there is no doubt that Iran is actively pursuing nuclear weapons"........

What are the chances Libby can still be offered a deal? If Fitz has his balls in a vice can Libby be persuaded to help Fitz climb higher the ladder of perp importance? I have to believe the White House would be keen to know were such a deal possible or in the works. Is Libby (or his attorneys) free to divulge trial matters to anyone he pleases if they aren't or haven't yet been raised in the courtroom? Is he in contact with the White House now? Maybe a lawyer in the audience could comment on what's possible, allowed or advisable as far as Libby's conduct and communications outside the courtroom.

Libby does not need a deal. (he may or may not have copped one if he could have -- that part of the picture, and any coordination/dealing with higher ups, we will probably not know soon or ever). He is under oath to tell the truth in court, and he can't escape the consequences. He has done his part, wittingly or unwittingly, by being the identified defendant -- the one to whom the shit flowed downhill. The firewall between Libby and cheney is thus far inviolable . . . because cheney created the stucture to insure that.

A this point they are all pointing at each other. This may result in stalemate or, for a grand jury investigating further, provide the additional information needed to bring further charges.

Libby can only testify to that which he has knowledge. He does not know all the pieces. That is for further prosecution to determine.

This is where the can gets kicked down the road further; stonewalling and buying time to see if further indictments are sought.

poa, the media campaign to get iran has been heating up for quite a while now. wonder if anyone is too dense to see it for what it is? earlier today bush was warning iran yet again... it gets a bit much to take the crap from these politicians and the MEDIA who are hell bent on another war... but then, those war profiteers are begging for more from this group of slimeballs and they haven't been let down.

I am bad about keeping track of timing...but I think the "informational warfare" on Iran started in earnest right after Bush turned down the Baker Plan. Since then the pundits have been in full blare again and the Israelis have been circling the globe on their all aboard the holocaust train.

"In Davos, Switzerland, the meeting of the World Economic Forum, a conference where economic globalism issues are discussed, opened January 24 with a discussion of Bush's planned attack on Iran. The Secretary General of the League of Arab States and bankers and businessmen from such US allies as Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates all warned of the coming attack and its catastrophic consequences for the Middle East and the world.

Writing for Global Research, General Leonid Ivashov, vice president of the Academy on Geopolitical Affairs and former Joint Chief of Staff of the Russian Armies, forecasted an American nuclear attack on Iran by the end of April. General Ivashov presented the neoconservative reasoning that is the basis for the attack and concluded that the world's protests cannot stop the US attack on Iran.

There will be shock and indignation, General Ivashov concludes, but the US will get away with it. He writes:

"Within weeks from now, we will see the informational warfare machine start working. The public opinion is already under pressure. There will be a growing anti-Iranian militaristic hysteria, new information leaks, disinformation, etc.... The probability of a US aggression against Iran is extremely high. It does remain unclear, though, whether the US Congress is going to authorize the war. It may take a provocation to eliminate this obstacle (an attack on Israel or the US targets including military bases). The scale of the provocation may be comparable to the 9/11 attack in NY. Then the Congress will certainly say 'Yes' to the US president."

The danger of Bush's anti-Iran fatwa by Juan Cole:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/01/30/iran_ashura/

Thanks prETty one.
Tom

What are these for?

JERUSALEM (AFX) - Israel intends to buy thousands of advanced "smart" bombs from the United States which the Jewish state first used during the Lebanon war, the Jerusalem Post reported today.

According to the English-language Jerusalem Post, the Israeli army will purchase 100 mln usd worth of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) -- low-cost kits produced by Boeing that turn free-fall bombs into guided "smart" munitions.

During last summer's month-long war in Lebanon, Israel received an emergency aerial shipment of the munitions from the United States, which raised an international uproar after one of the cargo planes landed in an airport in Scotland, against safety and security regulations. newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/cmr

carroll,

israel has nothing at all to do with the subject of this thread.

I make my own subjects...and while you are complaining and studying my subjects I will make more subjects for you to study and trail behind.

Libby is small potatoes...this is revealing only what we already knew about the sleeze in the WH.
I want to see Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith and the whole traitor gang walking the plank for the Iraq lies.

Hey, Tommy, Here's some of the footage.

Peace Rally Washington D.C. 01/27/07 video here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZIu4CXq9Bk

The danger of Bush's anti-Iran fatwa by Juan Cole:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2007/01/30/iran_ashura/

Posted by ET at January 29, 2007 10:50 PM
>>>>>>>>>

Is Bush crazy enough to provoke an incident tomorrow? Will there be a false flag operation...?...tomorrow is the perfect opportunity to kick off a bigger war.

Is Bush crazy enough to provoke an incident tomorrow? Will there be a false flag operation...?...tomorrow is the perfect opportunity to kick off a bigger war.

Posted by: Carroll at January 29, 2007 11:58 PM
>>>>>>>

Carroll, this thing is beyond the Bush puppet. The evil forces that control this idiot are chomping at the bit for a major war---the "complex", defense contractors, war profiteers, Christian evangelicals (Robertson/Falwell) & supremacists (think Erik Prince), big oil, the "Lobby", and so many other agendas that are riding on each other's coattails. Idiot-child doesn't have a clue and America has lost its moral conscience.

If Bush and Cheney perpetrate this crime, the Congress should initiate immediate impeachment proceedings and should simultaneously pass legislation terminating funding for the war. The important thing now is for the American people to register their opposition to this war before it happens. Call your senators and your representative and let them know you don't want it to happen, and you want impeachment if it does. And add your name to the petition against war. More info:

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/ufpj/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=447

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3240

http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff12232006.html

If Bush and Cheney perpetrate this crime, the Congress should initiate immediate impeachment proceedings and should simultaneously pass legislation terminating funding for the war. The important thing now is for the American people to register their opposition to this war before it happens. Call your senators and your representative and let them know you don't want it to happen, and you want impeachment if it does. And add your name to the petition against war.

Petition:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3240

Posted by Easy E at January 30, 2007 12:16 AM
>>>>>>>>>>

You're right.

Posted by ET at January 30, 2007 12:28 AM
>>>>>>>>>>>

Too late for impeachment...this calls for Buffy and the vampire slayers....you get the squeaky one the oval office and I'll get the big albino one in the basement.

Ref: in the NYT, an article by Robert Pear.
"Bush Directive Increases Sway on Regulation"

This new signing statement that assigns another layer of executive political power seems to be a new by-pass of Congress and an extension of Executive control.
After the firing of federal judges and their replacement by Bush devotees this looks like another step in blood-letting.
Congress had better wake up. Events do not take place one after the other so these white-haired "gentlemen" can have hearings that last for weeks, but simultaneously and are falling on us like a gladiator's net.
Congressmen and women are letting the elections and our lives slip through their fingers, cowards that they are!

(ET pouts at Carroll) You *always* get the big albinos.

BTW, Carroll, this email just in from my answer man, in response to your question upthread:

The Joint Direct Attack Munition is actually a kit of fins and guidance electronics that attach to existing bombs, giving them an accuracy of somewhere between 10 and 30 meters.

Apparently, one reporter who was supposedly in Uganda when Ari says he was spilling the beans in 2003 sez that Ari may have perjured hisself. That reporter is Dickerson, who was working with Matt Cooper at that time--Dickerson was in the courtroom today when they apparently pasted his photo up for the jury to see! (He claims to have been downright chagrined to learn that he knew more than he though he knew before he knew it!) See Dickerson's article in Slate about Monday's testimony here...

http://www.slate.com/id/2158157/entry/2158492/

My take is that if someone higher up needed to be protected, and/or Ari was trying to protect someone else or himself, like someone else who might fall under suspicion of possible treason, this might make some sense. However, it still doesn't add up that Libby would perjure himself. What it more seems like, at least lower down in the heirarchy that folks haven't quite got their stories straight.

Dickerson's article also brings better into focus the issue of how, if there is/was a coverup, that the conspirators might have indeed been looking to have Libby take the fall. But the question is, who are the conspirators? Libby's lawyer has intimated that it might be the NRRC in cahoots with the White House gang, reputedly to save Rove to win the 2004 election. In any case, this case is getting weirder, not clearer as the testimony rolls forward.

In thinking about this, perhaps Fitzgerald is letting the testimony fall where it may. Is it possible that Fitz wasn't able to convince the previous grand juries to indict some co-conspirators, even though there was other evidence of perjury? That's the only thing that makes sense to me...in any case, you can bet that the VP is in a tizzy after today...because it is not clear who is going to say what from here on out.

Also, if it turns out that someone can impugn Ari's testimony...like a reporter, say, that would mean that Libby's lawyer can try for sympathy with the jury...

I'm guessing that Dickerson can bolster Libby's case if called to testify...but where does that lead? Is it just running in circles and Libby is part of the conspiracy? Or does it somehow get Libby out of the legal woodshed?

If Scooter leaked, it was because Dick said to do so. If Dick said leak it... did he decide ( ie: the decider's job ) OR did THE DECIDER decide to leak the name??

li'l OT, but:
Anthony Shadid in the WashPost ("With Iran Ascendant, U.S. Is Seen at Fault"), Steven Weisman in the NYTs ("Europe Resists U.S. Push to Curb Iran Ties"), and Michael Slackman ("U.S. Ally and Foe Are Trying to Avert War in Lebanon")--

--it's evident that Iran is too valuable an ally, or too skilled at diplomacy, to be isolated and throttled by sanctions--a good thing.

After the U.S. shut down Syrian-Israeli peace talks on Lebanon, Iran & Saudi Arabia are working together to that end (Slackman).

Never mind hoping Putin & Hu Jintao will do Bush's work for him by putting the screws to Iran--he can't even get the Europeans to do his dirty work for him (Weisman). Considering Russia's role, er, M.O. in supplying oil to Europe, just who's offsetting whom gets interesting.

Shadid reports that Iran isn't the aggressor--or even growing in strength: it's merely filling the vaccuum of a weakening US. As Josh at TPM put it, "if the US government were in the pay of Iranian agents they would have been hard-pressed to find a series of actions and policies better crafted to increase Iranian prestige and power in the region and decrease ours."

With nuclear powers to the East and West, and offshore in US carrier groups, and with two other neighbors in total chaos, it's no surprise Iran is terrified and rightly doing everything it can to preserve its national security. That's no more than the US would do in the same position.

The cost to America of putting the squeeze on Iran--even short of war--will be astronomical. The U.S. track record shows it'd likely have the opposite effect.

On the other hand, there's everything to be gained by choosing a constructive U.S.-Iranian partnership. The Iran-as-Threat notion is bankrupt and exhausted. Strategic partnership w/Iran in manipulating-controlling oil to Europe, Russia, China seems like a natural. Unless, that's the problem b/c Iran's not interested.

This stuff is so basic, even the Best & the Brightest can grasp the concept:

From Shadid's article:
>>"You want me to give you my opinion? Honestly?" asked Hajj Hassan Sbeiti, a 44-year-old merchant, his face breaking into a wry smile. "If you say hello to me, you probably like me. If you say hello to me and ask what I need, you're a friend. If you say hello to me, ask what I need and put money in my hand, then you're going to be my brother."<<

Of course, if you refuse to say hello--or even participate in talks--inflict needs and needless suffering, and don't stop at siphoning oil and undermining sovereignty & self-sufficiency, but go further by building walls and sending in covert squads and Tomahawk missiles--well, it's no wonder the U.S. is losing the political and military battles.

I am praying that the testimony in some way implicates Cheney sufficiently clearly that impeachment bills would be introduced.

>Did the Decider decide...?

Yes, that would have no doubt lost the 2004 election had that come out. Too bad it didn't in 2004. Let us see what this trial brings. I mean, one can only hope these days...

I'd heard that Ari thought he could get the death penalty because he knew about the Plame leak... and that's the only reason he offered to testify. For some reason, I find that humorous.

In regards to Carroll's post about the munitions deal with Israel. The total absence of accountability is once again illustrated here. This fresh munitions deal comes simultaneously with the revelations that Israel's use of cluster munitions in Lebanon violated the terms through which those cluster munitions were sold to Israel. Of course, Israel will just skate any consequences of those violations, effectively removing any incentive they may have to adhere to ANY agreements. Witness their non-adherence to numerous UN resolutions. Witness the settlement building that is going on AS WE SPEAK, in direct conflict to their recent promises to cease such settlement building. And here we are, shipping them yet more weaponry despite their wanton disregard to the terms of prior arms sales.

In all truth, the crimes surrounding the Plame affair PALE in comparison to the larger crimes being ignored by our congress.

Carroll writes: "I make my own subjects...and while you are complaining and studying my subjects I will make more subjects for you to study and trail behind."

She also makes her own reality...like our man in the WH.

Libby will not fall on a sword for Cheney. He'll save his ass (literally) and roll over on the big pig. Cheney will then get pardoned. The whole thing will crumble and disappear about the end of next year, when it'll be too late to impeach, but in time to sacrifice a few Republican legislators. Chinese-style "interesting times."

The MPs and winnis,

You don't have real concern about the the various issues that are being raised here. She just gave us new info she got. She didn't claim that it has to do with the thead's topic. Why does that bother you???? Because you come here ONLY to deny or spin any negative stuff about your beloved Israel! We don't see you else where.

The occasional Bush bashing on your part is so fake and an attempt to portray yourself as part of the team here. ... I know you love him to death as he is killing this country to save yours!

so, get off Carroll, will ya!

oh my. carroll's fans are so... literate.

I see the Winnipeger is starting in again with his laughably hypocritical horseshit. Shown to be a liar by me, shown to be an idiot by Den, and shown to be a petty obnoxious ass by his own comments, he doesn't seem to know when to quit. Can we just go back to ignoring him, please?

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hasbara

MP:
She also makes her own reality...like our man in the WH.

Posted by MP at January 30, 2007 10:17 AM

Which was the point of her paraphrasing the famed line from the anonymous neocon Bush admin official.

Right?

After all, what's saucy for the goose is saucy for the gander.

poa:

i know you are but what am i?

LOL

you're so predictable.

flame away, per usual. i'm yawning.