All the President's men :

President Bush said that if anyone on his staff committed a crime in the CIA-leak case, that person will "no longer work in my administration." At the same time, Bush yet again side stepped a question on the role of his top political adviser, Karl Rove, in the matter.
"We have a serious ongoing investigation here and it's being played out in the press," Bush said at the July, 2005 East Room news conference.

((((Follow Up)))))

Bush failed to mention That he had "Declassified" Plame

President Bush signed an executive order in 2003 authorizing Cheney to declassify certain intelligence documents. The order was signed on March 23, four days after the start of the Iraq War and two weeks after Wilson first appeared on the administration's radar.

Instead

giving the impression That he didn't know "anything about it ,

September 2003, Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan promised : Any staffer proven to have leaked CIA officer Valerie Plame's identity "would no longer be in this administration,"

(Can a President Let "Himself go ? )

(((Resume)))



The Following Top officials leaked
"On" CIA officer Valerie Plame
whose job as a covert agent was classified
as an official government secret.

Vice President Cheney


Cheney's notes, (See Photo Above ) which were introduced into evidence during Libby's perjury and obstruction-of-justice trial, call into question the truthfulness of President Bush's vehement denials about his prior knowledge of the attacks against Wilson. The revelation that Bush may have known all along that there was an effort by members of his office to discredit the former ambassador begs the question: Was the president also aware that senior members of his administration compromised Valerie Plame's undercover role with the CIA?

When Libby reminded his boss the vice president that he learned about Plame from him, Cheney tilted his head quizzically and said, "From me?"


David Addington former counsel to the vice president, was named Cheney's chief of staff - a position Libby had held before resigning.

* Addington revealed during his testimony that in June 2003 there were internal discussions - involving President Bush and Vice President Cheney - about declassifying for specific reporters a portion of the highly classified October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate as a way to counter Wilson's criticisms against the administration.


Karl Rove
Bush's top political mastermind
told reporters Robert Novak and Matt Cooper about Plame.


Ari Fleischer
Bush's former spokesman got immunity before admitting he told reporters John Dickerson and David Gregory about Plame. Reporter Walter Pincus said Fleischer told him about her, too.

(sought immunity from prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald because he was worried he might have committed treason, and was in jeopardy of the death penalty : ... )


Cathie Martin

Deputy Communications Secretary for the Bush White House and worked for Vice President Cheney during the period in question .

Her testimony makes it clear that by July 7, 2003–a week before the publication of Bob Novak’s article made “Valerie Plame” a household name–the Office of the Vice President was obsessed with press accounts of an ambassador’s trip to Niger and that the vice president and Libby were intimately and repeatedly involved in trying to manage the spin on the story.


Richard Armitage
The former deputy secretary of state "
told reporterRobert Novak about Plame.

Dan Bartlett : Presidential counselor discused Plame

Robert Grenier
The top CIA official overseeing Iraq operations got nervous over Libby's
pestering and later "felt guilty" about telling

Bill Harlow
The CIA spokesman told Cheney, Martin.


Marc Grossman
The No. 3 at the State Department:

Libby was pressing Grossman for official information on Wilson and receiving information on Wilson and his wife (which was classified),

Craig Schmall
Cheney's CIA daily briefer Schmall briefed Libby and Cheney about Mrs. Wilson,



Contains Eliments Of:

All these President's men
leaked CIA agent's name

BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU
Originally published on February 20, 2007

Cheney's Handwritten Notes Implicate Bush in Plame Affair
By Jason Leopold and Marc Ash
A t r u t h o u t Report Wednesday 31 January 2007

t r u t h o u t .Org Executive Director Marc Ash and Jason Leopold , Jason Leopold is a former Los Angeles bureau chief for Dow Jones Newswire. He has written over 2,000 stories on the California energy crisis and received the Dow Jones Journalist of the Year Award in 2001

Money and contracts at Mideast arms fair

50 countries vie'd for Money and contracts at a Mideast arms fair
The Middle East's biggest arms fair, IDEX-2007, opened in the United Arab Emirates with hundreds of manufacturers displaying state-of-the-art weaponry to oil-rich monarchies
The eighth bi-annual International Defence Exhibition,first held in 1993, was opened by UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan who indicated, There determined to "reinforce There defence capacity, through the acquisition of the most sophisticated equipment in the military industry worldwide," A total of 862 exhibitors from 50 countries, including The United States, France, Britain, China, Italy, Turkey, Russia and South Korea, are showcasing their latest products for deep-pocketed Gulf countries.
The "pro-Western" Gulf Arab states are seeking to reinforce their armed forces and security systems amid heightened instability in neighbouring Iraq and the international community's nuclear standoff with Iran.
(((Follow Up))) The Gulf Arab states, have chosen NOT to send troops into Iraq ? Why wont they "help" stabilize Iraq ? Evidence might suggest There in fact doing the Opposite? (((dont mind me)))
The organisers of the five-day exhibition, who are expecting some 40,000 visitors, boasted that previous editions of the show had "largely influenced armament decisions by countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia."
(((show me the Money)))
After earning more than 400 billion dollars in oil revenues in 2006 , the six Gulf Arab states have record budget surpluses and money to spend.Between them Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE control some 45 percent of world oil reserves.
In 2006, they concluded armament deals worth 35 billion dollars, said Mustafa Alani, a security expert at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre (GRC).
British suppliers won some 13 billion dollars of these contracts, United States firms 11 billion French manufacturers 10 billion, Alani told AFP.
Between 2000 and 2005, accummulated armament spending by the six countries totalled 233 billion dollars, representing 70 percent of armament expenditure in the Arab world and four percent worldwide, a survey published by the GRC in January found.

Last summer, the Pentagon notified Congress of possible arms sales to Saudi Arabia -- the biggest spender of the six -- totalling well over nine billion dollars. The mooted deals included M1 Abrams tanks, light armoured vehicles, Black Hawk helicopters and upgrades for AH-64 attack helicopters.

Despite their huge spending on defence, the six Gulf Arab states will ultimately remain dependent for their protection on the Western countries that consume their oil, Alani said.

(((( mental note))))

Despite their huge spending on defence, the six Gulf Arab states will ultimately remain dependent for their protection on the Western countries that consume their oil, Alani said.


(((( Interesting ))))

contains eliments of: Biggest Mideast arms fair opens in UAE by Taieb Mahjoub Agence France Presse

Obsessing over Anna Nicole

Obsessing over Anna Nicole

Have they buried Anna Nicole Smith yet?Are you kidding? Ms. Smith may be dead , but there’s too much fun still to be reaped from her story to let it die just yet. This is world-class entertainment: Larry King, “Today,” CNN, The New York Times.Even the judge in the televised hearing over what to do with Ms. Smith’s remains is milking his 15 minutes.”When we were kids we were taught not to laugh at people who were obviously mentally or emotionally disturbed. With Ms. Smith, who was deeply and unmistakably disturbed, we put her on television and laughed and laughed. Would she say something stupid, or spill out of her dress, or pass out in public from booze or drugs? How hysterically funny!Then her son died. Then she died, leaving an orphaned infant daughter. Instead of turning away , we homed in . Whatever entertainment value Ms. Smith had when she was alive increased exponentially when she was kind enough to die for us. Now she’s on the tube around the clock.The story, as they say, has legs.There are other stories out there, but they aren’t nearly as much fun. The Times reported Last week, for example, that Al Qaeda is getting its act together in Pakistan and is setting up training camps in an area that, apparently, we don’t dare trespass in.According to the article, “American officials said there was mounting evidence that Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, had been steadily building an operations hub in the mountainous Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan.”The article went on to say, ominously, “The United States has also identified several new Qaeda compounds in North Waziristan, including one that officials said might be training operatives for strikes against targets beyond Afghanistan.”

((((((Follow Up )))))).....When "we" said we'll find them "anywhere"

well smoke em "out of there holes" dead or alive ???

um.... seems they've "Stopped" hiding. Perhaps now we can hold Them Accountable for the lives they Stole!!! (continue) I imagine that there are a fair number of television viewers and newspaper readers who have trouble distinguishing the relative importance of celebrity stories, like the death of Anna Nicole Smith, from other matters in the news, ((((((Follow Up )))))).....The Media seems to have trouble distinguishing the relative importance of celebrity stories, like the death of Anna Nicole Smith, from other matters in the news as well, many times the American Public that "doesn't ACTively seek out NEWS" they wont "get" It . Think about sitting and "watching" Fox "news" from 6 to 10 pm .. not unusual ? Now Think about watcing "McNeil Leher Report" for 4 straight hours ???

we haven't Been getting NEWS for some time! I was amazed that while the Congress debates the Detainie Bill , News Agency's chose to focus on a pedifile's return from the Orient ? possible assasination attempt on Cheney we heard how Al gores light bill was high last month?? (((Continue)))

It’s been obvious for the longest time that the line between news and entertainment has vanished. News is entertainment. And the death of Anna Nicole Smith is more entertaining — for the time being, at least — than the war in Iraq or the plodding machinations of bin Laden and Zawahri. The nation may be at war, and Al Qaeda may be gearing up for a rematch. But that’s no fun, not when the thrill-a-minute watch over Anna Nicole’s remains is still the hottest thing on TV.It was Neil Postman who warned in 1985 that we were amusing ourselves to death. I’m not sure anyone knew how literally to take him.More than 20 years later, the masses(MEDIA) have nearly succeeded in drawing the curtains on anything that’s not entertaining. No one can figure out what to do about Iraq or Al Qaeda. A great American cultural center like New Orleans was all but washed away, and no one knows how to put it back together. The ice caps are melting and Al Gore is traveling the land like the town crier, raising the alarm about global warming.But none of that has really gotten the public’s attention. None of it is amusing enough. As a nation of spectators, we seem content to sit with a pizza and a brew in front of the high-def flat-screen TV, obsessing over Anna Nicole et al., and giving no thought to the possibility that the calamitous events unfolding in the world may someday reach our doorsteps .

Contains Eliments of: Thats Entertainment;Who needs news?

Written by: Bob Herbet of The NY Times Article apeared 2/23/07 nytimes.com/2005/07/18/opinion/18herbert.html

Terror: Before And After Iraq

Terror: Before And After Iraq


One measure of the impact of the Iraq War is the precipitous drop in public support for the United States in Muslim countries. Jordan, a key U.S. ally, saw popular approval for the United States drop from 25 percent in 2002 to 1 percent in 2003. In Lebanon during the same period, favorable views of the United States dropped from 30 percent to 15 percent, and in the world’s largest Muslim country, Indonesia, favorable views plummeted from 61 percent to 15 percent. Disliking the United States does not make you a terrorist, but clearly the pool of Muslims who dislike the United States has grown by hundreds of millions since the Iraq War began. The United States’ plummeting popularity does not suggest active popular support for jihadist terrorists but it does imply some sympathy with their anti-American posture, which means a significant swath of the Muslim population cannot be relied on as an effective party in counter-terrorism/insurgency measures. And so, popular contempt for U.S. policy has become a force multiplier for Islamist militants. The Iraq War has also encouraged Muslim youth around the world to join jihadist groups, not necessarily directly tied to Al Qaeda but often motivated by a similar ideology. The Iraq War allowed Al Qaeda, which was on the ropes in 2002 after the United States had captured or killed two-thirds of its leadership, to reinvent itself as a broader movement because Al Qaeda’s central message--that the United States is at war with Islam--was judged by significant numbers of Muslims to have been corroborated by the war in Iraq. And compounding this, the wide dissemination of the exploits of jihadist groups in Iraq following the invasion energized potential and actual jihadists across the world.

How exactly has The Iraq Effect played out in different parts of the world? The effect has not been uniform. Europe, the Arab world, and Afghanistan all saw major rises in jihadist terrorism in the period after the invasion of Iraq, while Pakistan and India and the Chechnya/Russia front saw only smaller increases in jihadist terrorism. And in Southeast Asia, attacks and killings by jihadist groups fell by over 60 percent in the period after the Iraq War. The strength or weakness of The Iraq Effect on jihadist terrorism in a particular country seems to be influenced by four factors: (1) if the country itself has troops in Iraq; (2) geographical proximity to Iraq; (3) the degree of identification with Iraq’s Arabs felt in the country; and (4) the level of exchanges of ideas or personnel with Iraqi jihadist groups. This may explain why jihadist groups in Europe, Arab countries, and Afghanistan were more affected by the Iraq War than groups in other regions. Europe, unlike Kashmir, Chechnya, and Southeast Asia for example, contains several countries that are part of the coalition in Iraq. It is relatively geographically close to the Arab world and has a large Arab-Muslim diaspora from which jihadists have recruited.

European intelligence services are deeply concerned about the effect of the Iraq War. For example, Dame Eliza Mannigham-Buller, the head of Britain’s MI5, stated on November 10, 2006, "In Iraq, attacks are regularly videoed and the footage is downloaded onto the Internet [and] chillingly we see the results here. Young teenagers are being groomed to be suicide bombers. We are aware of numerous plots to kill people and damage our economy...30 that we know of. [The] threat is serious, is growing, and, I believe, will be with us for a generation." Startlingly, a recent poll found that a quarter of British Muslims believe that the July 7, 2005, London bombings were justifiable because of British foreign policy, bearing out Dame Eliza’s concern about a new generation of radicals in the United Kingdom.

While Islamist militants in Europe are mobilized by a series of grievances such as Palestine, Afghanistan, the Kashmir conflict, and Chechnya, no issue has resonated more in radical circles and on Islamist websites than the war in Iraq. This can be seen in the skyrocketing rate of jihadist terrorist attacks around the Arab world outside of Iraq. There have been 37 attacks in Arab countries outside of Iraq since the invasion, while there were only three in the period between 9/11 and March 2003. The rate of attacks in Arab countries jumped by 445 percent since the Iraq invasion, while the rate of killings rose by 783 percent. The November 9, 2005 bombings of three American hotels in Amman, Jordan, that killed 60, an operation directed by Abu Musab al Zarqawi’s Al Qaeda in Iraq network, was the most direct manifestation of The Iraq Effect in the Arab world. Saudi Arabia, in particular, has seen an upsurge in jihadist terrorism since the U.S. invasion of Iraq. There were no jihadist terrorist attacks between 9/11 and the Iraq War but 12 in the period since. The reason for the surge in terrorism was a decision taken by Al Qaeda’s Saudi branch in the spring of 2003 to launch a wave of attacks (primarily at Western targets) to undermine the Saudi royal family. These attacks were initiated on May 12, 2003 with the bombing of Western compounds in Riyadh, killing 34, including 10 Americans. While Saudi authorities believe that planning and training for the operation predated the war in Iraq, the timing of the attack, just weeks after the U.S invasion is striking.

The fact that the Iraq War radicalized some young Saudis is underlined by studies showing that more Saudis have conducted suicide operations in Iraq than any other nationality. For instance, Mohammed Hafez, a visiting professor at the University of Missouri in Kansas City, in a study of the 101 identified suicide attackers in Iraq from March 2003 to February 2006, found that more than 40 percent were Saudi. This jihadist energy was not just transferred over the Saudi border into Iraq. It also contributed to attacks in the Kingdom. The group that beheaded the American contractor Paul Johnson in Riyadh in June 2004 called itself the "Al Fallujah brigade of Al Qaeda" and claimed that it had carried out the killing in part to avenge the actions of "disbelievers" in Iraq. In January 2004 Al Qaeda’s Saudi affiliate launched Al Battar, an online training magazine specifically directed at young Saudis interested in fighting their regime. The achievements of jihadists in Iraq figured prominently in its pages. Indeed, a contributor to the first issue of Al Battar argued that the Iraq War had made jihad "a commandment" for Saudi Arabians "[because] the Islamic nation is today in acute conflict with the Crusaders."

The Iraq War had a strong impact in other Arab countries too. Daily images aired by Al Jazeera and other channels of suffering Iraqis enraged the Arab street and strengthened the hands of radicals everywhere. In Egypt, the Iraq War has contributed to a recent wave of attacks by small, self-generated groups. A Sinai-based jihadist group carried out coordinated bombing attacks on Red Sea resorts popular with Western tourists at Taba in October 2004, at Sharm el-Sheikh in July 2005, and at Dahab in April 2006, killing a total of more than 120.

One of the cell’s members, Younis Elian Abu Jarir, a taxi driver whose job was to ferry the group around, stated in a confession offered as evidence in court that "they convinced me of the need for holy war against the Jews, Americans, Italians, and other nationalities that participated in the occupation of Iraq." Osama Rushdi, a former spokesman of the Egyptian terrorist group Gamma Islamiyya now living in London, told us that while attacks in the Sinai were partly directed at the Egyptian regime, they appeared to be primarily anti-Western in motivation: "The Iraq War contributed to the negative feelings of the Sinai group. Before the Iraq War, most Egyptians did not have a negative feeling towards American policy. Now almost all are opposed to American policy."


Pt "2" of "5"reports compiled by Robert Dreyfuss and Dave Gilson Illustrations by Peter Hoey Maps by Karen Minot Origionally appeared on http://www.motherjones.com/