Peer Into The Crystal Ball, and predict Mr. O'Neill's fate...

[0rganism]

Former Treasury Secretary O'Neill has gone out on something of a limb, apparently risking the wrath of the bush clan. Let's use the infallible DU crystal ball to precognate his potential demise.

[mitchtv]

1. something wrong it says I already voted

when i didn't. no one has so far. oops, it looks as if the polls were crowded.

[Cat Atomic]

2. Rich, white CEO's do not go to Guantanamo.

[Gman]

3. Nevermind... you covered transportation above

Maybe suicide by .22 caliber ratshot to the back of the head like Cliff Baxter.

[Zan_of_Texas]

9. side of the head

Baxter was shot in the side of the head according to the autopsy.

Highly, highly unlikely it was suicide.

Still, may as well get the facts right.

[young_at_heart]

4. They will say he is crazy

Memos of remarks of his "craziness" will be forthcoming.

[IronLionZion]

5. a a barrage of witnesses will "prove" he's a notorious radical

or a liar or something equally evil

[0rganism]

7. I'd like to see the CEO of Alcoa painted as a "notorious radical"

It's so prima facie preposterous, I'd almost like to see it tried.

[Wickerman]

6. The beauty is, 19,000 pages of documentation are his legacy

whatever his personal outcome. Like most people on this site I have spotted the other shoe that was gonna drop on Bush* way too many times previously, However, this one could have legs and those 19k pages might just be the unraveling.

For the record, I voted the BFEE combo - sorry Mr. O'Neill. :shrug:

[Terwilliger]

8. nothing

he'll just go back to his life, and nobody will remember who he is by March

[Ready4Change]

10. Highly public DUI

They've got to discredit him, but can't afford to off him now that he's gone so broadly public. If they do move against him in an underhanded way, I'd think they'd grab him, force him into massive inebriation or heavy drugs, then set him up as arrested for DUI, with seriously publicized Nick Nolte style arret pictures.

The above assumes a :tinfoilhat: style massive right wing conspiracy, of course.

Lacking such conspiring "thems", I expect a media fight, with the administration doing everything they can to make this issue into a trial of O'Neills respectability, and O'Neill trying to get some facts, ANY facts from those 19,000 pages of his into the broader public eye. I'd normally give the edge to the administration, but it's looking like O'Neill and Suskind have done some advance prep-work. It sounds like it SHOULD blow Bush right out of the water along with Cheney. However, I suspect it will merely damage them. That damage will drop the polls to the point that "something" will have to happen to prop them up yet again.

But I'm back to conspiracies again. :) Oops. Guess I'm just in that mood.

[HawkerHurricane]

11. DoJ investigation

AoHell already has the story that some of the documents shown on 60 minutes were classified... How much you want to bet he gets the treason charge that the person who outed Valerie Plame will never see?

[stevedeshazer]

12. I have to go w/ "neutralized by other means"

Drugged, slobbering, found wandering aimlessly in a cow pasture near Mabton, Washington.

[OneTwentyoNine]

21. Yeah,I'll go with that catagory.....

From what it sounds like O'Neil is NOW saying I think bubba must have paid him a visit yesterday and started talking about broken bones and disfigurement.....


David

[LoZoccolo]

13. Neutralized by no-one-cares.

Sadly, people have known the war was based on lies. Lots of people are not gonna wanna feel guilty for going along with it and find other excuses to support it, or they just don't feel guilty to begin with.

[TheMiddleRoad]

14. transportation

He should stay off small planes.

They WILL go after him. This is too big. These guys don't twist arms, they yank them off.

[Military Brat]

15. O'Neill is ready for the blowback

Hey, he's been in the labyrinth, he's been face-to-face with the evil Minotaur. He's got weapons of his own.

Don't underestimate the man. Maybe he has friends in high places.

[0rganism]

16. I think the technical term is "ratfuck", but I hope you're right anyway

It's going to take more than one disgruntled ex-staffer to put the screws on the bush administration, so if they successfully silence the first few that do... well, let's say the first ones like O'Neill are going to get "special attention."

[Piperay]

17. If I was O'Neill

I would stay off of airplanes. :scared:

[radfringe]

18. O'Neill doesn't have a wife in the CIA

so they have to investigate him directly to destroy his credibility

exerpt from the 60minutes transcript:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/09/60minutes/main592330.shtml

O'Neill is the only one who spoke on the record, but Suskind says that someone high up in the administration -- Donald Rumsfeld -- warned O'Neill not to do this book.

Was it a warning, or a threat?

I don't think so. I think it was the White House concerned, says Suskind. Understandably, because O'Neill has spent extraordinary amounts of time with the president. They said, This could really be the one moment where things are revealed.

------------------------------
with the investigation announced one day following the 60 minutes interview -- it sounds like a threat made good to me

question not being asked by the media: when people were asking for an investigation into 9-11, Bush brushed it off and it took close to a year for the investigation to be even organized

when Plame was outed - it took a few months before there was any announcement of a leaker investigation

O'Neill goes on 60 minutes, reveals damaging information and the next day he's being investigated

why did it take so long for 9-11 and plame investigations to get off the ground, and yet O'Neill's investigation started in less than 24 hours? Smells like payback to me

[Nlighten1]

19. He will be defenstrated...

That seems to be a popular way of getting rid of people.

[0007]

20. Paul O'Neill appears to be a very weak vindictive type of person.

I hate to predict his fate of any sort. But I don't see him up standing up and taking the heat. Paul is not a nice man. He is in a snake pit and that is enough to stop anyone's heart.

[noonwitch]

22. He's old-I'd guess some kind of medical/pharmacuetical accident

Or a previously unkown heart condition, a surprise stroke, a brain tumor.
If he fishes or hunts, that kind of accident might be in line. They haven't used that one for a decade.
They'll save the transportation accidents for younger targets who are in good health.