WP: CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy

[Pirate Smile]

CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy
As Grand Jury Term Nears End, Officials' Critique of Administration Gains Attention

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A03

The alleged leaking of a CIA operative's name had its roots in a clash over Iraq policy between White House insiders and their rivals in the permanent bureaucracy of Washington, especially in the State Department and the CIA.

As the investigation into the leak reaches its expected climax this week with the expiration of the grand jury's term, the internal disputes have been further amplified by a recent string of speeches and interviews criticizing the administration's handling of Iraq, including by former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and State Department diplomats, and other officials involved in the early efforts to stabilize Iraq.

Scowcroft, a close friend of former president George H.W. Bush, revealed in interviews with the New Yorker a deep disdain for the administration's foreign policy, according to an article published this week. He said he had once considered Vice President Cheney "a good friend," but "Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." When Scowcroft was asked whether he could name the issues on which he agreed with President Bush, he replied "Afghanistan." He then paused for 12 seconds before adding only, "I think we're doing well on Europe."

A top State Department official involved in Iraq policy, former ambassador Robin Raphel, said the administration was "not prepared" when it invaded Iraq, but did so anyway in part because of "clear political pressure, election driven and calendar driven," according to an oral history interview posted on the Web site of the congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/24/AR2005102401734.html

[marylanddem]

1. What am I missing here?

I read the whole article and didn't find a word in it that justified the
headline - is this just a johnny-come-lately headline trying to keep up with the NYT piece on Cheney???

[Pirate Smile]

2. more

'"The case that I saw for four-plus years was a case I have never seen in my studies of aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations, changes to the national security decision-making process," Lawrence B. Wilkerson, Powell's former chief of staff and longtime confidant, said in a speech last week. "What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."

Wilkerson added that when decisions were presented to the bureaucracy, "it was presented in such a disjointed, incredible way that the bureaucracy often didn't know what it was doing as it moved to carry them out."

Scowcroft, in his interview, discussed an argument over Iraq he had two years ago with Condoleezza Rice, then-national security adviser and current secretary of state. "She says we're going to democratize Iraq, and I said, 'Condi, you're not going to democratize Iraq,' and she said, 'You know, you're just stuck in the old days,' and she comes back to this thing that we've tolerated an autocratic Middle East for fifty years and so on and so forth," he said. The article stated that with a "barely perceptible note of satisfaction," Scowcroft added: "But we've had fifty years of peace."

Scowcroft also dismissed former deputy secretary of defense Paul D. Wolfowitz, the intellectual godfather of the Iraq invasion. "He's got a utopia out there. We're going to transform the Middle East, and then there won't be war anymore. He can make them democratic," Scowcroft said. "Paul's idealism sweeps away doubts," he added."

[WhiteTara]

3. the comblicker has ideals?

they are vomit producing vermin. Excuse me :puke:

[Straight Shooter]

4. I beg to differ with his "fifty years of peace" statement.

Gulf War (Desert Storm) is what first comes to mind.

[calimary]

5. Sheesh! Sounds like condi could use another nickname -

"She says we're going to democratize Iraq, and I said, 'Condi, you're not going to democratize Iraq,' and she said, 'You know, you're just stuck in the old days.'" I like referring to her as contradicta. Now, I think I'll add condescenda.

What a warmongering, power-tripping, superiority-complex besotted bitch! That woman thinks she knows more than most of the foreign policy experts who've been at it when she was still busy gumming her zweibach cookies. I hope SHE gets indicted, too!

[yodermon]

12. "gumming her zweibach cookies"

OMG calimary.
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[TacticalPeek]

6. The reporter, Glenn Kessler, was interviewed by the Special Prosecutor.

He is thought to be one of the six reporters leaked to, IIRC.

[hang a left]

7. CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy

CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy
As Grand Jury Term Nears End, Officials' Critique of Administration Gains Attention

By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 25, 2005; Page A03

The alleged leaking of a CIA operative's name had its roots in a clash over Iraq policy between White House insiders and their rivals in the permanent bureaucracy of Washington, especially in the State Department and the CIA.

As the investigation into the leak reaches its expected climax this week with the expiration of the grand jury's term, the internal disputes have been further amplified by a recent string of speeches and interviews criticizing the administration's handling of Iraq, including by former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, the former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and State Department diplomats, and other officials involved in the early efforts to stabilize Iraq.


Brent Scowcroft, former national security adviser, has revealed his dissent with President Bush in a series of interviews with the New Yorker.

Scowcroft, a close friend of former president George H.W. Bush, revealed in interviews with the New Yorker a deep disdain for the administration's foreign policy, according to an article published this week. He said he had once considered Vice President Cheney "a good friend," but "Dick Cheney I don't know anymore." When Scowcroft was asked whether he could name the issues on which he agreed with President Bush, he replied "Afghanistan." He then paused for 12 seconds before adding only, "I think we're doing well on Europe."

A top State Department official involved in Iraq policy, former ambassador Robin Raphel, said the administration was "not prepared" when it invaded Iraq, but did so anyway in part because of "clear political pressure, election driven and calendar driven," according to an oral history interview posted on the Web site of the congressionally funded U.S. Institute of Peace.

snip>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content//article/2005/10/24/AR2005102401734.html

[rodeodance]

8. Drats. Cheney's name is NOT in the headline--like it is in NYtimes & USA

Today newspapers!

[ClayZ]

9. "aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations" ...That includes Cheney.

:popcorn:

[Nothing Without Hope]

10. Related thread on the Scowcroft New Yorker article, Wilkerson's comments

...and much more:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5152016
thread title: New Yorker/ Goldberger: "Breaking Ranks" - SCOWCROFT's BLAST OF BUSH 43

Be sure to check out the articles posted in the replies too.

[TaleWgnDg]

11. "I smell BLOOD in the water," says the WashingtonPost . . .

.
"I smell BLOOD in the water," says the WashingtonPost.

"Golly," says one of the WashingtonPost writers, "Does that mean we must now do some real reporting?"

.