Plamegate and George Bush's fingerprints.

[whometense]

If the ins and outs of the Plame affair have your head spinning, I highly recommend this Will Pitt piece over at After Downing Street:

Two questions remain: why would the administration take such a fantastic risk in attacking Wilson, and where are Bush's fingerprints on this thing? Both questions can be answered by another tidbit that has fallen down the memory hole. On May 22nd, 2003, two months after the invasion of Iraq, George W. Bush signed an Executive Order titled "Protecting the Development Fund for Iraq and Certain Other Property in Which Iraq Has An Interest."

The so-called "Development Fund for Iraq" was, by the way, one of the most grandiose money-laundering schemes ever devised. All of the profits made from plundering Iraq's oil were to go into this fund, ostensibly for use by the Iraqi people. In fact, this was the clearing-house for payouts to companies like Halliburton and its subsidiary, Kellog Brown & Root.

<snip>

This Executive Order, declaring a national emergency, gave complete and total legal cover to Halliburton and every other petroleum and quasi-petroleum corporation currently operating in Iraq. No one can sue them, no one can touch them, no matter what they may do. By Executive Order, George W. Bush released Halliburton and the others from the need to display any kind of responsibility or legal behavior. Halliburton was removed from the sphere of civilization, and the laws that govern civilization, with the stroke of Mr. Bush's pen.

<snip>

The Office of Special Plans to the White House Iraq Group, Cheney to Langley and Bush with his Executive Order, a war to get paid and cash money, honey, for Halliburton and friends. Rove and Libby are small fish. If and when they get fried, the stink may well fill the Oval Office. If George and Dick come out of this unscathed, Mr. Fitzgerald may as well have stayed in Chicago.

[whometense]

1. If you're following the story as closely as I am,

you'll know that Raw Story and the New York Daily News are reporting that Fitzgerald has flipped John Hannah, and that he's spilling all.

http://rawstory.com/admin/dbscripts/printstory.php?story=1326

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/356858p-304125c.html

Who is John Hannah??

Check out these various posts at Informed Comment

http://www.google.com/custom?q=%22John+Hannah%22&sa=Google+Search&cof=GIMP%3Ablack%3BT%3Ablack%3BBIMG%3Ajuancole.com%3BALC%3Agreen%3BGFNT%3Apurple%3BLC%3Ablue%3BBGC%3AC0F6FF%3BAH%3Acenter%3BVLC%3Apurple%3BGL%3A0%3BS%3Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.juancole.com%3BGALT%3Ablue%3BAWFID%3Aa9a12e39b0187cc6%3B&domains=juancole.com&sitesearch=juancole.com

Here's a bit dated February 7, 2004 http://www.juancole.com/2004/02/john-hannah-allegedly-focus-of-plame.html:

Richard Sale, respected intelligence reporter for UPI, has given credibility to a story that had been rumored for several weeks . It is that the FBI investigation into the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame is increasingly focusing on two officials in the office of Vice President Dick Cheney, Lewis "Scooter" Libby and John Hannah. Sale assures me that the information is solid.

More on Hannah here: http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000816.html

[whometense]

2. And guess what????

John Hannah's trail leads right to - - - - John Bolton!!!

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/index.php?id=P2235

Bolton-Plame Connection: You Read It Here First

Would-be UN ambassador John Bolton's connection to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame was first broached in my July 15 column on Plame-gate:

"After the War Party met in solemn conclave, and the command went out from Cheney: "Bring me the head of Joe Wilson!", there was only one logical place for Cheney's minions to go. Who in the administration would've had access to the specific information regarding Plame-Wilson's role in a deep-cover CIA operation involving nuclear proliferation? Why, the man who was the State Department deputy secretary in charge of "weapons of mass destruction" – the somewhat irritable if not downright reckless John Bolton, would-be ambassador to the UN, who played a central role in promulgating the Niger Uranium Myth.

"Conveniently, two of Bolton's assistants, David Wurmser and John Hannah, also worked in Cheney's office."

Now, as Joshua Marshall and Steve Clemons note, we learn that Bolton was called to testify by Plame-gate prosecutor Patrick J. "Bulldog" Fitzgerald. Somehow, Bolton forgot to disclose this on the occasion of his confirmation hearings as UN ambassador.

As the focus of the Plame investigation shifts from Karl Rove to Bolton and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the Vice President's chief of staff, just remember you read it here first.

[ginnyinWI]

3. hmm very interesting

Why am I not surprised?

What did Voinovich know, and when did he know it? Wow. There is just so much more to this than the media is aware of so far--and the internet is way out ahead of it, as usual. I'm trying to follow it as well as I can--every day something new appears.

[whometense]

4. Me too,

but mostly it just makes my brain hurt. It is interesting, though, that the more scandals are uncovered in this administration, the more surprised I am by how relatively few people are actually involved in them. I mean, certain peoples' fingerprints keep popping up all over the place - DeLay, Abramoff, Cheney, Bolton...

I'm just praying that Fitzgerald can tie it all up with a big fat bow.

[TayTay]

5. Thank you for all the links

You are th_is close to being at the head of the Geek Table now, you know.

Seriously, I am on pins and needles about this. I want it to happen soon, but I want Fitzgerald to cross every t and dot every i. Sigh! It is so exciting and sad and I don't know what.

Again, though, thanks for the update.

[whometense]

9. I know,

dangerously close...I am finding this story so compelling. Fitzgerald himself is a fascinating Eliot Ness-like figure. (see here: http://nydailynews.com/front/story/356835p-303999c.html)

I have a fantasy scenario going through my head: I picture incurious george wandering the halls of a now-deserted White House, crying out in a plaintive tone, "Karen? Condi? Turd Blossom? Unka Dick??? Where is everybody???"

But no one answers...

NO MERCY

[TayTay]

11. No mercy is right.

Not after the f*ckup that is Iraq. Not after the SBVT. Not after Katrina. He can bite me. White House roadkill is fine by me.

I don't believe in getting mad. I believe in getting even. And however long it takes, we wil get even.

[whometense]

14. I agree.

Vengeance is the order of the day. And if all the stories about Fitzgerald are true, we shall have it. There's something so primitively satisfying about this story, isn't there? Something almost biblical. I can't quite put my finger on it, but the idea of one Lone Ranger taking down the whole self-satisfied, corrupt, rotted cabal just gives me such pleasure.

[jillan]

6. KO was saying that we could hear something tomorrow.

And Randi said the same.

I can't wait.
I hope these treasonous acts are met with the punishment they deserve.

[whometense]

7. There's so much stuff out there now

it's hard to separate reasonable from un-. Rumors are flying, but Fitzgerald continues to play his cards close to the vest.

I feel like we're living a John LeCarre novel.

[jillan]

8. Just wondering when to chill that champagne.

I believe we will have some celebrating to do.:party:

[whometense]

10. I sincerely hope so.

Tweety was still trying to have it both ways on Hardball, and David Gergen was downplaying the whole thing - nothing to see here folks, move along now.

But it feels VERY BIG. On my favorite blog for tracking this story, firedoglake, they refer to Fitzgerald as "Hurricane Patrick." Which seems appropriate.

[jillan]

12. Hurricane Patrick - love it!

I'll check out that blog tomorrow. I gotta get off of this computer. zzzzz.

[emulatorloo]

13. I was obsessed w Watergate, Iran-Contra, and now this story. . .

It really is amazing how the internet has changed how we follow these things -- instant access to newspaper stories, op-eds, and rumors. . . .

[whometense]

15. That's so true.

It's astounding, the speed at which rumors fly around now.

I have an idea this is kind of freaking out the talking head types. The more easily we regular people can get our hands on this information the less call there is for shows like Hardball, which, after all, mostly traffic in rumors. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. We still need good journalists and good analysis - but we can get the info on our own now.

[whometense]

16. More on Hannah this morning

from the Carpetbagger: http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/5570.html

Who's John Hannah? His name was most prominently in the news in late 2003 when Newsweek reported that Hannah was a "principal point of contact" for (dubious) intelligence generated by the controversial Iraqi National Congress before the U.S. invasion began. In other words, when the White House needed "proof" about Iraqi WMD and connections to terrorism, it relied on defectors' bogus claims — which were given directly to Hannah — to make the case that the war was necessary.

In the context of the Plame scandal, Joseph Wilson was telling the nation that the information Hannah received was wrong.

Those close to the investigation said in June 2003, Hannah was given orders by higher-ups in Cheney's office to leak Plame's covert status and identity in an attempt to muzzle Wilson, who had been a thorn in the side of the administration since May 2003, when he started questioning the administration's claims that Iraq was an imminent threat to the U.S. and its neighbors in the Middle East. The specifics of who issued those orders and what directives were given were not provided.

In addition to being named as a key player in early 2004 by UPI, Wilson voiced his suspicions about Hannah specifically in his book, The Politics of Truth.

If Hannah did flip, he's in a position to do a world of trouble for the Bush White House.

Stay tuned.