An Oldie on Walter Pincus...who has testifed to the GJ in Plamegate

[maddezmom]

Why Doesn’t the Post Love Walter Pincus?
If President Bush suffers because it turns out he took the country to war on false pretenses, he might look back on stories by Walter Pincus for drawing first blood.

On March 16, the eve of war, Pincus wrote in the Post that “U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to give Congress or the Pentagon specific information” about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

At the time, the Bush White House was telling the world that America had to invade Iraq to root out weapons of mass destruction. Pincus quoted sources saying that there was “a lack of hard evidence.” And they also said the White House had “exaggerated intelligence” to back up its drive toward war.

Pincus was uniquely positioned to delve into the intricacies of the weapons question. At 70, he had been reporting on national security for 25 years at the Post. Along the way he had cultivated sources in Congress, the CIA, the Pentagon, and the scientific community. For decades, he has been close to chief UN weapons inspector Hans Blix.

more:http://www.washingtonian.com/inwashington/buzz/pincus.html

:D

[still_one]

1. are you saying pincus was the second source?

[maddezmom]

3. no I don't think so, but I bet he knows the whole story & implicated Rove

On July 12, 2003, an administration official, who was talking to me confidentially about a matter involving alleged Iraqi nuclear activities, veered off the precise matter we were discussing and told me that the White House had not paid attention to former Ambassador Joseph Wilson’s CIA-sponsored February 2002 trip to Niger because it was set up as a boondoggle by his wife, an analyst with the agency working on weapons of mass destruction.....I didn’t write about that information at that time because I did not believe it true that she had arranged his Niger trip.



http://talkleft.com/new_archives/011460.html

[Oversea Visitor]

5. No he saying

connect the dot
DSM.... facts fix to fit the war
CIA.... say facts dont fit
Plame... WMD specialist covert
Wilson... hubby
Nigeria trip... investigation or excuse
Wilson ..... reaction was it expected... hmm got letter for old bushie
even got talk with young bushie
Then Plame...Kaboom cover blown

Plane down plane down... need new plane

Did Rove went out of control....
Dick so far very very quiet.
Chief poohiee finger strike again

[still_one]

6. wow, you sound just like hal hollbrook in all the president's men

[Oversea Visitor]

7. Who me

ME stay far away lol
Right on the otherside of the world
:) World shaking events all happening is US at moment
need to keep track hey

[maddezmom]

2. 3/16/03 U.S. Lacks Specifics on Banned Arms

U.S. Lacks Specifics on Banned Arms

By Walter Pincus
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 16, 2003; Page A17

Despite the Bush administration's claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, U.S. intelligence agencies have been unable to give Congress or the Pentagon specific information about the amounts of banned weapons or where they are hidden, according to administration officials and members of Congress.

Senior intelligence analysts say they feel caught between the demands from White House, Pentagon and other government policymakers for intelligence that would make the administration's case "and what they say is a lack of hard facts," one official said.

"They have only circumstantial evidence . . . nothing that proves this amount or that," said an individual who has regularly been briefed by the CIA.

The assertions, coming on the eve of a possible decision by President Bush to go to war against Iraq, have raised concerns among some members of the intelligence community about whether administration officials have exaggerated intelligence in a desire to convince the American public and foreign governments that Iraq is violating United Nations prohibitions against chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons and long-range missile systems.

more:http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A30601-2003Mar15¬Found=true

[ClintonTyree]

4. haha....

this was back in the days when Americans realty thought bush was going to invade only as a "last resort". Remember how quaint and silly Americans were is those days?

But they all bought into the WMD lies, the Saddam/Bin Laden connection lies.after all, out president wouldn't lie to us, right?

How far we've come in two years. We now know that there never were any WMDs and our president is a lying sack of shit. My, how things can change in such a short time.

[maddezmom]

8. Pincus on Bolton 4/9/01

Taiwan Paid State Nominee For Papers on UN Reentry;
Bolton's Objectivity On China Is Questioned

http://www.globalpolicy.org/unitedstates/unpolicy/gen2001/0409twan.htm

[skip fox]

9. Pincus reputedly got initial leak from Rove or confirmed initial leak with

Rove. Libby is reputedly the other source. So we know four reporters of the otiginal six (Pincus, Novak, Miller, & Cooper) contacts. But we also know that there were at least three followups confirming the material through another "high administrative official." Therefore, there was a coordination (I am trying not to use conspiracy") of leaks, and Rove would certainly been the mastermind.

Therefore at least 2 people(Rove and Novak's initial source, perhaps Libby) served as main sources. (The fact that one source released Cooper from his agreement of confidentiality but one source did not release Miller also suggests at least 2 sources.) Rove would have to coordinate! To establish guidelines like: No source should call another's contact, Pitch the information off hand, not as the main subject, Make the contact think the source is trying to do him or her a favor ("Don't go too far out on this Wilson thing, I don't want you burnt."), etc. AND Rove would have had to field a group of officials to support the sources stories.

I say Rove coordinated because it is obvious he did so since anyone in the administration in possession of the Plame-Wilson-CIA link would have gone straight to the world master of deceitful politics, and now we know Rove was at least one of the leakers.

So, we could have at least 2 indictments for Rove (exposing and conspiring to expose) and (perhaps) 1 or more indictments for others (Novak and/or Miller's source). Not to mention exposure of those who condoned and confirmed the exposure.

I think the great thing we have going for us on this case is Patrick Fitzgerald. By all accounts a fine prosecutor.


Wow.