Senate Defies Veto Threat

[T-Bor]

Look here is another...WOW



by
Larry C Johnson

The latest revelations from David Corn and Michael Isikoff confirm what I and my CIA colleagues (Jim Marcinkowski, Michael Grimaldi, and Brent Cavan) have said for the last three years -- Valerie Plame Wilson was an undercover security officer when her relationship with the CIA was exposed by Robert Novak. Prior to today's news, Raw Story and MSNBC reported that Val was working on Iran. Corn and Isikoff's scoop says it was Iraq and provide some pretty meaty details to back it up. This much is certain:

Valerie Plame was working undercover as a senior CIA operations officer.
Valerie Plame was working on issues related to Weapons of Mass Destruction in order to keep America safe.
Valerie Plame traveled overseas as part of her undercover work and was protected under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
Valerie Plame was betrayed by President Bush and his political appointees.
Anyone who claims Valerie and Joe are the cause of this are goddamn morons and beyond the reach of reason. Joe and Valerie Wilson did not write Robert Novak's op-ed. Bob Novak did and he knew better (the CIA asked him not to put out the information). Joe and Valerie Wilson were not sources for Bob Novak. That falls on the shoulders of Karl Rove and Richard Armitage (at least). Thinking Republicans should be horrified at this news. With their silence and acquiesence to the lies and calumny directed at Joe and Valerie, they are setting a troubling precedent.

Republicans are endorsing the exposure of a CIA operations officer. If Republicans can do it, then maybe, someday, Democrats in hot water may decide to engage in the same shameful behavior. That's an action that shouldn't be in anyone's playbook.

My colleagues and I have purposefully avoided asking Valerie about her job or position at the CIA. We still honored the principle of need to know. However, we did know that by virtue of our own experiences in working in undercover positions that the exposure of her identity not only compromised her ability to continue working, but it also endangered her family and the spies and assets she worked with overseas.

At the end of the day we are left with this basic fact--a loyal, honest CIA officer became a political football because her husband dared to speak the truth about a lie President George W. Bush told to the American people. Now that we have a clearer picture of what Valerie was doing for her country, the scale of her betrayal by the President and his advisors is enormous. Rove, Armitage, Libby, Cheney, and Bush did a bad, bad thing.

 

[red states rule]

The chronology of events does not back you up

 

[T-Bor]

Prove it...

 

[boedicca]

Asked and Answered Ad Nauseum.

If Plame was in a covert position, for which she herself has admited not understanding the legal definition, then her very public cocktail circuit participation outed her long before Armitage Did The Deed.

It is also rather inadvisable for SPIES to be on the cover of Vanity Fair if they wish to remain anonymous.

 

[jasendorf]

Asked and Answered Ad Nauseum.

If Plame was in a covert position, for which she herself has admited not understanding the legal definition, then her very public cocktail circuit participation outed her long before Armitage Did The Deed.

It is also rather inadvisable for SPIES to be on the cover of Vanity Fair if they wish to remain anonymous.

Just because someone is "out in the open" does not make them a useless spy. It may come as a surprise to you, but not all spies live in dingy apartments and wear ski masks to hide their identities at all times. I wouldn't doubt that there have been some very famous people who have spied for our country... the difference is that they didn't have Republican operatives outting them.

 

[boedicca]

She didn't even know if she was one. Wow - that must have been a Really Deep Undercover Covert Operation!

 

[jasendorf]

She didn't even know if she was one. Wow - that must have been a Really Deep Undercover Covert Operation!

Citation?

 

[boedicca]

Read the coverage of her recent Book PR Tour....errrrr Testimony before Congress. When asked about her covert status, she said she wasn't sure about the legal definition and that they should ask a lawyer (or something to that effect).

 

[jasendorf]

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/I_worked_as_covert_officer_for_0316.html

From the Story, 'I worked as a covert officer for the CIA,' Plame testifies

I'm grateful for this opportunity to set the record straight. I served the United States loyally and to the best of my ability as a covert operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency.

I worked on behalf of the national security of our country, on behalf of the people of the United States until my name and true affiliation were exposed in the national media on July 14, 2003, after a leak by administration officials. - Valerie Plame

Wow... see how easy it is to tell the truth while under oath? Why won't Karl Rove do the same?

 

[jasendorf]

Read the coverage of her recent Book PR Tour....errrrr Testimony before Congress. When asked about her covert status, she said she wasn't sure about the legal definition and that they should ask a lawyer (or something to that effect).

That's your "proof" that she wasn't covert? That's really the best you can do? I should have listened to Hannity last night... I'm sure that's what they're telling you to say today. Come clean. Where'd you get this idea to take this tactic? Don't lie to us and tell us you came up with it on your own... be truthful and brave and tell us who's giving you your lines.

 

[T-Bor]

Suppose that is true, what does it matter? She was a CIA spy.. Since the govt blew her cover she can never do that again. I mean cmon man. Trust your instincts. Do you really think the Govt did not do this on purpose to her? I mean I know George is your boy and I obviously dont like him. But to backup the govt during this and discredit what she did to make it seem OK to blow her cover is really just a joke.

The Govt keeps spinning the BS to you that she was just a hack. Since she was a hack we have the right to blow her cover and potentially put her life in danger. What kind of shit is that? Its just plain old dirty politics, the same type of political BS spin they put on opposing candidates running for president.

She didn't even know if she was one. Wow - that must have been a Really Deep Undercover Covert Operation!

 

[T-Bor]

So exactly how does that make it ok to tell the world that she works for the CIA. Please explain that.

Read the coverage of her recent Book PR Tour....errrrr Testimony before Congress. When asked about her covert status, she said she wasn't sure about the legal definition and that they should ask a lawyer (or something to that effect).

 

[Superlative]

Please provide one shred of evidence that Cheney appropriated money to Halliburton - and explain how he personally profits from Halliburton's future profitability when his pension is in a fixed annuity.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994408,00.html


Monday, Jun. 07, 2004 By TIMOTHY J. BURGER; ADAM ZAGORIN

Vice President Dick Cheney was a guest on NBC's Meet the Press last September when host Tim Russert brought up Halliburton.

Citing the company's role in rebuilding Iraq as well as Cheney's prior service as Halliburton's CEO, Russert asked, "Were you involved in any way in the awarding of those contracts?"

Cheney's reply: "Of course not, Tim ... And as Vice President, I have absolutely no influence of, involvement of, knowledge of in any way, shape or form of contracts led by the [Army] Corps of Engineers or anybody else in the Federal Government."

Cheney's relationship with Halliburton has been nothing but trouble since he left the company in 2000. Both he and the company say they have no ongoing connections.

But TIME has obtained an internal Pentagon e-mail sent by an Army Corps of Engineers official--whose name was blacked out by the Pentagon--that raises questions about Cheney's arm's-length policy toward his old employer.

Dated March 5, 2003, the email says "action" on a multibillion-dollar Halliburton contract was "coordinated" with Cheney's office.

The email says Douglas Feith, a high-ranking Pentagon hawk, got the "authority to execute RIO," or Restore Iraqi Oil, from his boss, who is Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. RIO is one of several large contracts the U.S. awarded to Halliburton last year.

The e-mail says Feith approved arrangements for the contract "contingent on informing WH [White House] tomorrow. We anticipate no issues since action has been coordinated w VP's [Vice President's] office."

Three days later, the Army Corps of Engineers gave Halliburton the contract, without seeking other bids.

TIME located the e-mail among documents provided by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group.
Cheney spokesman Kevin Kellems says the Vice President "has played no role whatsoever in government-contract decisions involving Halliburton"
since 2000.

A Pentagon spokesman says the e-mail means merely that "in anticipation of controversy over the award of a sole-source contract to Halliburton, we wanted to give the Vice President's staff a heads-up."

Cheney is linked to his old firm in at least one other way. His recently filed 2003 financial-disclosure form reveals that Halliburton last year invoked an insurance policy to indemnify Cheney for what could be steep legal bills "arising from his service" at the company.

Past and present Halliburton execs face an array of potentially costly litigation, including multibillion-dollar asbestos claims.

--By Timothy J. Burger and Adam Zagorin

 

[Superlative]

Halliburton had revenue of over $8 billion in contracts in Iraq in 2003 alone.

Vice President Cheney manages to be doing quite well from the deal. He owns $433,000 unexercised Halliburton stock options worth more than $10 million dollars.
As the Center for Public Integrity has documented, this kind of thing is not unusual. At least nine of the 30 members of the Defense Policy Board have ties to corporations that have won more than $76 billion in defense contracts in 2001 and 2002

In March 2003 the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers awarded a no-bid contract to extinguish oil well fires in Iraq to Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton . The contract was granted under a January Bush administration waiver that, according to the Washington Post, allowed "government agencies to handpick companies for Iraqi reconstruction projects."

Cheney, who served as CEO from 1995 to 2000, continues to receive as much as $1 million a year in deferred compensation as Halliburton executives enjoy a seat at the table during Administration discussions over how to handle post-war oil production in Iraq.

The Cheney- Halliburton story is the classic military-industrial revolving door tale. As Secretary of Defense under Bush I, Cheney paid Brown and Root services (now Kellogg Brown and Root) $3.9 million to report on how private companies could help the U.S. Army as Cheney cut hundreds of thousands of Army jobs. Then Brown and Root won a five-year contract to provide logistics for the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers all over the globe. In 1995, Cheney became CEO and Halliburton jumped from 73rd to 18th on the Pentagon's list of top contractors, benefiting from at least $3.8 billion in federal contracts and taxpayer-insured loans, according to the Center for Public Integrity.

 

[Superlative]

Halliburton's role in Iraq is much more than just chief cook and bottle washer for the troops. In fact, the success of the whole U.S. enterprise in Iraq depends in many ways on how well Halliburton does its job.

Work in Iraq is parceled out among a handful of companies, but Halliburton has by far the largest share--$17 billion from the U.S. and British governments, several times as much as its closest competitor

Halliburton pushed Iraq's oil production back to prewar levels of 2 million bbl. a day in December, three months ahead of schedule, and delivered 1.8 billion liters of fuel via 700 trucks on the road daily in Iraq and Kuwait.

Iraq contracts have added $5.7 billion to Halliburton's revenues since January 2003, accounting for almost all the company's growth at a time when it was struggling with $4 billion in asbestos claims

Brown & Root, which merged with Halliburton in 1962, has provided support services in every American war since World War II.

 

[Superlative]

Im sure its not enough for RSR, but until Cheney goes back to work for Halliburton, its all Coincidence. pppffffffffft to that.

 

[Superlative]

FRONTLINE

RUMSFELD's WAR.

"This report traces Donald Rumsfeld's career from his time as an adviser to President Nixon to his rise as the oft-seen and well-known face of the George W. Bush administration during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In interviews with key administration officials, military leaders, and reporters from The Washington Post, the documentary examines how a secretary of defense bent on reform became a secretary of war accused of ignoring the advice of his generals."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/pentagon/view/



Take the time and watch this, please just give it some attention. its quite interesting.

 

[Superlative]

Tax Havens: Under Cheney's tenure, the number of Halliburton subsidiaries in offshore tax havens increased from 9 to 44. Meanwhile, Halliburton went from paying $302 million in company taxes in 1998 to getting an $85 million tax refund in 1999.

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?list=type&type=15

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=6288

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994408,00.html

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,994406,00.html

http://rightweb.irc-online.org/profile/1072

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Cheney


There is so much more, but i just dont have the time to go through all of this just to have the people who should read it and learn it, simply ignore it.

 

[jasendorf]

I can't hear boedicca over the chirping crickets...

 

[Superlative]

Give it time, everyone will have something to say sooner or later. I just cant understand the blind defence of things that obviously should be questioned.