| Friday, October 28, 2005 |
| The four horsemen |
Update: Reverse course -- the undersecretary of state is not John Bolton, it's Marc Grossman...
The indictment showed that Libby began seeking information about Wilson and his wife in late May 2003, some six weeks before Plame's identity was publicly disclosed in a July 14, 2003, newspaper column by Robert Novak.
It appears that Libby first learned that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA -- and that she was involved in organizing his trip to Niger -- on June 11 or June 12, 2003 in conversations with the undersecretary of State and a senior officer at the CIA, who were not identified by name. The undersecretary referred to in the documents is Marc Grossman.
The indictment also highlighted Cheney's role. Libby learned from Cheney himself on June 12, 2003, that Wilson's wife worked in the counterproliferation division of the CIA.
Fitzgerald declined to predict when Libby's trial would begin but said he would not be arrested.
As for Rove, legal sources said the key Bush aide could at a later date face perjury charges for initially failing to tell the grand jury he talked to a Time magazine reporter about Plame. And from an astute Washington Note reader:
The Undersecretary of State referenced in the indictment is not John Bolton -- it is Marc Grossman, the former U/S for Political Affairs. Because Powell and Armitage were out of the country at the time, Grossman was Acting Sec State. Hence, the State Department's INR forwarded Grossman the memo on the Niger stuff and Plame and Wilson's role, and Grossman forwarded it on to the White House.
Nothing sinister -- Grossman was just peforming his bureaucratic function.
There'll be no Moustache chronicle here ... I'll leave the original post active below just for the sheer joy of rampant speculation ...
Original post: Okay, zeroing in on the four horsemen of the Bush apocolypse; three of the four sources for Scooter Libby (the "undersecretary of state," the "senior CIA official," the "counsel" to Cheney and Cheney himself, and the original leaker to Bob Novak -- which may be one of the four, or which could be someone else -- are still out there. Joshua Marshall helps out with the treasure hunt. Following his instructions, I surfed over to the State Department web-site and looked up the organizational chart to locate the undersecretary of state in charge of intelligence and non-proliferation:
Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security -- Robert Joseph
The Under Secretary leads the interagency policy process on nonproliferation and manages global U.S. security policy, principally in the areas of nonproliferation, arms control, regional security and defense relations, and arms transfers and security assistance. More on the undersecretary's job description:
"... the Under Secretary attends and participates, at the direction of the President, in National Security Council (NSC) and subordinate meetings pertaining to arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament and has the right to communicate, through the Secretary of State, with the President and members of the NSC on arms control, nonproliferation, and disarmament concerns. ..." Mr. Joseph is absolutely not in the crosshairs -- he has only been in the job since June. At that time, the job was vacated by none other than John Bolton.
... As for the veep connection, Google search of "coounselor to the president" during the relevant perios brings up a bona fide member of the White House Iraq Group: Mary Matalin. In fact, Matalin is the only member of the WHIG who fits the description "counsel" or "counselor" to the vice president.
... We also know from news reports that Cheney has at least convinced Scooter Libby that he got the scoop on Joe Wilson's wife from former CIA chief George Tenet, although there's no reason he and Scooter couldn't have dredged up the information during their many trips to the agency trolling for damning information with which to convince the Congress we should invade Iraq.
...And then there's Cheney himself, whom Fitzgerald pointedly refused to point a finger at today, but whom he by no means affirmatively cleared.
All just speculation, but interesting speculation...
Update: The Wash Note's Steve Clemons agrees with me about Bolton, and speculates that Fred Fleitz, a former Bolton aide and a former CIA operative, could be the "senior CIA source."
Tags; CIA leak, Plame, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson , Karl Rove, Scooter Libby, White House, PlameGate, Iraq, Middle East, War, Terrorism, Foreign Policy, politics |
posted by JReid @ 3:30 PM   |
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