AIM Column - Russert Leads Media Lynch Mob - November 2, 2005

By Aussiegirl

Cliff Kincaid of Accuracy in Media picks up on the real story behind Plamegate -- the secret war being waged against the Bush administration by elements of the CIA. (see my post on the Libby indictment below) Five years into the Bush administration and they still do not have control over that agency. The release by the Washington Post of top secret information about overseas facilities for holding and interrogating terrorists is an act of treason during time of war. Whoever leaked this information should be found, arrested and prosecuted on serious charges. What is Porter Goss doing over there? And is he launching an internal covert operation of his own to discover the moles inside the CIA who are actively working against the stated foreign policy of a duly elected president? In case they hadn't read the Constitution, it is only the president who is tasked with conducting foreign affairs and who is Commander in Chief. As I discussed in an earlier post, Libby and the administration were merely attempting to set the record straight after the release of disinformation by elements within the CIA. This is the elephant in the living room that the media refuse to discuss, because they themselves are involved in the strategy to bring down the administration. As Kincaid mentions, in the case of Libby, it amounts to his words vs. the words of media types like Russert who are already out to get the administration.

AIM Column - Russert Leads Media Lynch Mob - November 2, 2005

The Washington Post has published a story by Dana Priest about a debate within the CIA over holding Muslim terrorists at secret facilities. The story reflects the view of a faction in the agency that opposes this policy and wants to use the Post to convey its view publicly. Once again, the secret war against the Bush Administration is on display for all to see. Will there be an investigation of who in the agency leaked this information to the Post? Or are leaks supposed to be criminal only when Bush Administration officials are behind them?

The indictment of Lewis Libby, former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, is another dramatic example of the secret war. The indictment includes some tantalizing information about what was happening behind the scenes:

· "On or about June 14, 2003, Libby met with a CIA briefer and expressed displeasure that CIA officials were making comments to reporters critical of the Vice President's office, and discussed with the briefer, among other things, 'Joe Wilson' and his wife 'Valerie Wilson,' in the context of Wilson's trip to Niger."

· "On or about June 23, 2003, Libby met with Judith Miller of The New York Times. Libby was critical of the CIA and disparaged what he termed 'selective leaking' by the CIA concerning intelligence matters. In discussing the CIA's handling of Wilson's trip to Niger, Libby informed Miller that Wilson's wife might work at a bureau of the CIA."

It is apparent that Libby realized that the Wilson mission was, as former prosecutor Joseph diGenova has put it, a CIA "covert operation" against the Bush Administration. He saw the Wilson mission as just another effort by a faction in the agency to undermine the administration's Iraq War policy. And Libby was right! That became apparent when Wilson began telling sympathetic press people, such as Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, that his trip had uncovered information damaging to the administration. And when Wilson then went public with his own article in the Times, casting doubt on the Iraq-uranium link, the Wilson agenda was on display for the public to see.

If the CIA had sent Wilson on the trip purely for fact-finding purposes, as diGenova noted, it would have insisted that he sign a confidentiality agreement and not go public with his findings. After all, the CIA is supposed to be a secret agency. Instead, it permitted him to eventually go public with a Times op-ed column, not only making himself but his wife into targets for curiosity and concern. Wilson and the CIA had to know what would inevitably follow. Did they really believe that officials of the Bush Administration would stay mute or go into hiding as Wilson mounted his high horse?