Chickens Come Home to Roost on Cheney

[katty]

cont'd at:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/102005Y.shtml

Chickens Come Home to Roost on Cheney
By Ray McGovern
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Thursday 20 October 2005

Indictments are expected to come down shortly as special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald completes the investigation originally precipitated by the outing of a CIA officer under deep cover. In 21-plus months of digging and interviewing, Fitzpatrick and his able staff have been able to negotiate the intelligence/policy/politics labyrinth with considerable sophistication. In the process, they seem to have learned considerably more than they had bargained for. The investigation has long since morphed into size "extra-large," which is the only size commensurate with the wrongdoing uncovered - not least, the fabrication and peddling of intelligence to "justify" a war of aggression.

The coming months are likely to see senior Bush administration officials frog marched out of the White House to be booked, unless the president moves swiftly to fire Fitzgerald - a distinct possibility. With so many forces at play, it is easy to lose perspective and context while plowing through the tons of information on this case. What follows is a retrospective and prospective, laced with some new facts and analysis aimed at helping us to focus on the forest once we have given due attention to the trees.

Background

In late May 2003, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) informed me that a former US ambassador named Joseph Wilson would be sharing keynote duties with me at a large EPIC conference on June 14.

I was delighted - for two reasons. This was a chance to meet the "American hero" (per George H.W. Bush) who faced down Saddam Hussein, freeing hundreds of American and other hostages taken when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. More important, since Wilson had served as an ambassador in Africa, I thought he might be able to throw light on a question bedeviling me since May 6, when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote an intriguing story about a mission to Niger by "a former US ambassador to Africa."

There Once Was an Ambassador in Niger ...

[WI_DEM]

1. I don't see how he could fire Fitz

It would be akin to Nixon's Saturday Night Masscre and would cripple the administration and lead to, as the Saturday Night Massacre did, resolutions of impeachment against Bush.

[indepat]

2. Ain't no three Repuke Congressmen who would every support impeachment

under any circumstances IMHO. Hopefully I am a just a nattering nabob of negativism, but consider how Repukes have voted in virtual lockstep for everything W has wanted.

[WI_DEM]

3. It's more than that

It would be a big credibility problem for Bush with the country. Republicans would be sure to lose the congressional elections because it would be so obvious that Bush is trying to cover up and protect his own. Then he could be impeached with a Democratic congress. I don't think he would chance it.