Plamegate is all about the loose ends now. [View All]

[robertpaulsen]

Wow, I'm impressed with how many threads are currently focusing on Plamegate in GD. I wanted to point out what I feel are the implications of what many assumed was a "recent" development, the flipping of John Hannah. As many have said:

H2OMan Scooped the Hanna FLIP 14 MONTHS AGO, Sorry Raw Story...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5093781

H20 Man, time to take a bow!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5087428

Rawstory says it's Hannah!!!!!!!!!!!!!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5091977#5092929

Hannah/Wurmser/Bolton: Check this out from 08/04 on DU !
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5091935

H2O Man brought this development to DU's attention back in August of 2004:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=2277059


I believe what this means is that all the reports we've heard recently that Fitz is going to widen or expand his probe, that he's only recently started focusing on the VP's office is OLD NEWS. Fitz is just tying up the loose ends, i.e. PERJURY and OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE charges. The big ones like CONSPIRACY and ESPIONAGE were probably determined long ago.

My guess is that Hannah flipped sometime after Fitz got on the case (December 2003) and before Cheney and * were interviewed by Fitz (June 2004). If Hannah was truly "singing like a canary" http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/8/23/16503/6468 back then, it would simply be a matter of getting the principles (* and Cheney) to turn on each other. I think that is what we're witnessing now.

So what are the loose ends? I think it's just a matter of sorting out the lies betweeen Miller, Libby and Rove to see if one, two or all three get perjury charges. This recent ABC article brings one aspect of this that I haven't seen too much discussion on into focus:

Inaccurate Info May Help CIA Leak Probe

WASHINGTON Oct 17, 2005 — Information attributed to Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff in New York Times reporter Judith Miller's interview notes is incorrect, offering prosecutors a potential lead to tracking the bad information to its original source.

Miller disclosed this weekend that her notes of a conversation she had with I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby on July 8, 2003 stated Cheney's top aide told her that the wife of Bush administration critic Joseph Wilson worked for the CIA's Weapons Intelligence, Non-Proliferation, and Arms Control (WINPAC) unit.

Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, never worked for WINPAC, an analysis unit in the overt side of the CIA, and instead worked in a position in the CIA's secret side, known as the directorate of operations, according to three people familiar with her work for the spy agency.

snip

The revelation came as President Bush weighed in Monday by declining to say what he would do if one of his aides were indicted in the investigation, and the Pentagon looked into Miller's claim that she was granted a security clearance in 2003 while reporting with a military unit during the Iraq war.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=1224775

Some of this article feels like disinfo (Libby didn't know Plame was undercover? Riiight!) but it illuminates just how extensive the lying has become, they're starting to trip over each other's lies. I don't know about anyone else, but I think Rove, Libby and Miller will be indicted for perjury at a minimum.