Today on Meet the Press, exactly one week after Condoleeza Rice's whirlwind talkshow appearances and in a far less animated performance than what was shown on 60 Minutes, former CIA Director George Tenet sat down with Tim Russert and proceeded to explain just how many times he completely screwed the pooch prior to the Iraq War and how he failed to tell the President of his concerns about  our invasion of that country.

I didn't do it, Tim.  I, I did not, I did not oppose this, and to, to, to dress me up as a hero at this--I wasn't a hero here, and, and that's the record.

Well, ain't that the truth.

Wait, let me re-phrase that.

NO SHIT SHERLOCK!

But apparently now that Tenet has had a chance to calm down and refresh his meds - he actually managed to put forth a pretty good case that he honestly did the best job he could.

Almost.

That's what Henry Waxman wants to know.  He's already subpoened her, while she remains "dis-inclined" to honor that subpeona claiming that it is a "seperation of powers" issue - but since new revelations have surfaced that a state department analyst clearly identified the Niger documents as "probably a hoax" and "clearly a forgery" three months before the President's 2003 State of the Union address Rice and the State Dept have apparently blocked his access to Congressional Investigators - that view seems spurious.

It's one thing to dubiously claim that Executive Priviledge extends not simply to communications directly with the President, as has been the historical precedent, and that they now extend all the way to communications between the CIA and NSC, it's quite another to willinging obstruct a lawful Congressional Investigation by refusing to grant them access to witnesses.

It seems the Diva of Dissembling is at it yet again.

That was strongly implied in an interview of Italian journalist/author Carlo Bonini author of Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror done by Bill Moyers last night.  

Because of the power of ‘the Internets’ I’ve read just about everything I could on the Niger forgery caper, but I can’t recall reading that Berlusconi directly gave the information to Bush. I’m attaching key points of the transcript for those interested.  

Transcript below:

Congressman Henry Waxman has this idea that Congress should be able to investigate how we ended up getting into the mess in Iraq. One of the issues he is concerned about is how did the phony claim about Iraq obtaining uranium from Niger end up in the 2003 State of the Union speech. In early 2003 the documents that claim was based on were known to be false.

However the State Department isn't cooperating. At least the State Department at the political appointee level isn't cooperating. Further down in the ranks it seems that there is a person willing to give congress more details on the "uranium from Niger claim". Congressman Waxman wants that information.

In the age of scanners, photoshop and digital recreation plotters, this is unacceptable (Note the seal of the Republic of Niger, crudely drawn by a 5th grader):

As per request, here are my thoughts about this document, before our feature presentation:
Why was such an amateurish seal produced?
Because they have a track record of hiring the most incompetent people possible.

They aren't that stupid are they?
Survey says: YES!

Has anyone asked this question before?
Not really, I think everyone is to embarrassed.

Was detection of the fakery intended?
How could it not be? Look at the seal! Do you see?!??

I'm not too surprised about this story, but I am very, very surprised about the SOURCH of the story.
The headline of the Raw Story piece. "Ex-CIA analyst: Forged 'yellowcake' memo 'leads right back to' Cheney" is damning enough. But when you look at the body of the story, you find out that Ray McGovern, the former CIA analyst quoted in the story, made his statements on Tucker Carlson's MSNBC show.
Tucker Carlson isn't exactly the most liberal of MSNBC's hosts. As I remember, he was once a conservative advocate (along with Robert Novak) on CNN's old "Crossfire" show, not exactly making him a likely candidate to break a story so damning to the Bush-Cheney regime.
More below.

Today the Secretary of State made a whirlwind tour appearing both on Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer and This Week with George Stephanapolous to address the multi-headed shit storm that's coming her way from the never-ending 16 Words Controversy, George Tenet's New Book, her failure to respond to 9-11 warnings and apparent "inclination" to ignore a Congressional Subpoena.

Yeah, Life Sure can be a Bitch when you're a Gangsta! eh , Condi?

Detailed debunking of her blather over the flip...

(Crossposted at the Truth 2 Power Project)

by L C Johnson (bio/blog)

Like the Titanic the Bush Administration is foundering.  The latest rat heading overboard is former CIA chief George Tenet, who abandons for good the Bush Administration's Ship of Fools and enters the water as another former administration official prepared to come clean on how the Bushies tried and generally succeeded in cooking the intelligence.   Oh yeah.  He's selling a book.

You probably cannot tell but I am outraged by this Johnny-come-lately jerk off who will assuage his guilt by dishing the dirt on what the Bush Administration really knew as he rakes in book royalties.  My friend, Brent Budowsky, also is not a happy camper.

Tenet will start spilling his guts Sunday night on Sixty Minutes, which kicks off his publicity tour to hawk his book.  But we don't have to wait till Sunday because David Ignatius offered an early preview last Sunday during an interview with Chris Matthews.  

Today was to be the day that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform chaired by Rep. Henry Waxman. The Committee granted Rice a one-week extension for her to appear voluntarily before the committee or it will consider issuing Rice a subpoena to appear.

Waxman and the committee are insisting Rice appear before them because their questions have not been answered by the letters the State Department keeps sending them. The series of response to inquiry letters were written by Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Legislative Affairs, Jeffrey Bergner. I analyze his most recent letter of March 17, 2007 below the fold.

But, first Waxman's letter explains to Rice:

The reason your testimony remains essential is because Mr. Bergner's letter does not answer the Committee's questions about your personal knowledge of, your personal role in, and your personal statements about the claim that had sought to import uranium from Niger.

Today Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent yet another letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concerning George W. Bush's claims about Iraq trying to buy uranium from Niger.

On March 12, 2007, I wrote to you on behalf of the Committee to request answers to multiple letters that I had sent to you over the past four years. I requested a response by March 23, 2007, but I received no reply by that date. As a result, on March 30, 2007, I sent a letter notifying you that the Committee will be holding a hearing on April 18, 2007, and I requested that you make yourself available to provide testimony and respond to questions about the issues raised in the March 12 letter.

Chairman Waxman's letters must keep getting lost in the mail. Surely, Secretary Rice is not evading oversight scrutiny regarding the Niger forgeries that the Bush Administration used to help lead the United States into war. Unfortunately for Rice, Jeffrey Bergner, the assistant secretary for legislative affairs answered Waxman recent letter.

Finally, some mainstream media attention paid to the real story behind the "Office of Special Plans". Peter Spiegel, LA Times staff writer, has put out a great background piece on Feith, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld and the push for war in Iraq. The noose is tightening, people.

More, below.

The Washington Post has a big piece up on the bogus Niger uranium claims made by the Bush admin.  It ain't pretty:

Dozens of interviews with current and former intelligence officials and policymakers in the United States, Britain, France and Italy show that the Bush administration disregarded key information available to them at the time showing that that the Iraq-Niger claim was highly questionable.

In February 2002, the CIA received the verbatim text of one of the documents, filled with errors easily identifiable through a simple Internet search, the interviews show. Many low- and mid-level intelligence officials were already skeptical that Iraq was in pursuit of nuclear weapons.

Read the whole thing though.  I guess this explains why they were willing to out a CIA agent to keep the truth from coming out.  

Sometimes, even on April 1st, the real world is just a lot funnier than humorous snarks. Believe it or not, there is actually a group of Condistas that are working to encourage Miss Condoleezza Rice to run for president in 2008. Really! You just cannot make up stuff this weird. Listen to their their "Draft Dr. Rice" radio spot (mp3) that was broadcast in Texas and Tennessee.

Hot News for Condistas can be found at www.4condi.com:

• Condi's Middle East Tour Sabotaged by House Democrats
• Condi adds another terrorist to her "list"
• Condi: Is She the Next Teflon President?

The Condistas write:

Thank God, Condi, our current Secretary of State, continues to concentrate on achieving victory in Iraq.  Her vision of "victory" is not one of US dominance, or imperialism, but an ideological victory that could potentially lead to the rise of a Middle Eastern democracy... Unfortunately, Condi's efforts are being thwarted.

While I have been eagerly awaiting Henry Waxman's next move since apparently Condoleezza Rice has missed her March 23, 2007 deadline to come clean about the White House's false intelligence concerning Niger uranium being sold to Iraq, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has not been idle.

Today, Waxman sent a letter to CIA directory General Michael Hayden asking him to provide "copies of CPB repots officer's memorandum and any other records containing information concerning Ms. Wilson's role in Ambassador Wilson's February 2002 trip to Niger." But that's not all — "I also request copies of all other documents relating to any efforts to correct inaccurant information included in the Senate Report regarding Ambassador Wilson's mission to Niger."

Bang! Waxman is calling out the 2004 rubberstamping Republican-controlled Senate and their talking points-filled report.

Henry Waxman is taking off the gloves. Once again, Henry Waxman is trying to get Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to answer to questions he has been asking about George W. Bush's claim that Iraq sought uranium from Niger. Questions, Waxman has been trying to get Rice to answer since 2003. Today, as Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Waxman sent this letter to Rice:

Since 2003, I have written 16 letters to you, either in your capacity as National Security Advisor or Secretary of State. According to Committee records, you have satisfactorily responded to only five of those 16 letters. Those five were co-signed by Republicans. Under the Bush Administration, several agencies followed a policy of not responding to minority party requests. Although I do not agree with this policy, I presume that you were also following it when you decided not to respond to my requests for information.

I am now renewing my requests as the chairman of the chief oversight committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Shorter version: Waxman to Rice — stop ignoring me.

First, this administration used forged documents about Niger Yellowcake Iraq was trying to acquire from Niger in order to build the case for war with Iraq.  A blatant fabrication that Joe Wilson exposed and eventually led to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame.

Now this administration is using a new kind fabrication in order to build the case for war with Iran.  Forged Iranian anti-tank rocket propelled grenades.  You remember how obvious it was to everyone but the White House administration that the Niger documents were cheap forgeries?  They were so imcompetent that they even got the dates and names wrong on the documents.

Well, now they've screwed the pooch on forging the "Iranian" rocket grenades as well...

As the dawn of the 110th Congress approaches, the issue of Impeachment hangs in the air for many on the left and right. In many ways it remains a trap for which Democrats are more than a little unwilling to fall into, for if they do aggressively pursue Impeachment of President Bush and/or Vice President Cheney how could it be seen as anything but partisan payback for the last six years?

The way out of that trap is to make the evidence compelling and complete enough - and the case laid out in a stark enough manner - that the neccesity of impeachment to change the direction of this country, this war, and to hold the criminal misdeeds of the Administration to account will be plain for all those with their eyes open to see.

Thus I present part one in a multiple part series:

The Impeachment Case Against George W. Bush - Count 1 : Intelligence Fraud.   President George W. Bush and Vice President Richard Cheney did, with malice of forethought, perpetrate a fraud upon the American People and the World by deliberately suppressing the truth about Iraq's lack of WMD, and did then use those false pretenses to begin an illegal and unneccesary War of choice Aggression.

The first part in this series, covering Richard Perle, can be found here.

In the second installment of The Usual Suspects series, I will explore the role of Michael Ledeen, aka Kayser Soze, in American and international affairs.  Michael Ledeen has been called the driving philosophical force behind the neoconservative movement.  Amongst his more infamous quotes are

Change--above all violent change--is the essence of human history.
The only way to achieve peace is through total war.
The purpose of total war is to permanently force your will onto another people.

Meet Michael Ledeen