1 Boring Old Man

LIBBY TRIAL:
Bush Admin Targeted Wilson’s Wife Long Before Wilson’s Article Published

Trial testimony and evidence show the Administration already gunning for Plame/Wilson well prior to her husband’s editorial. The prosecution isn’t allowed to say so, very directly, because it would be too prejudicial, but here is the timeline of the pre-op-ed activities:

• May 29, 2003 – Libby calls Marc Grossman, then an Under Secretary in the State Department, asking how and why Joe Wilson was sent to Niger about uranium.
• “late May and early June, 2003” according to Grossman’s testimony — Grossman gives oral interim reports to Libby that Wilson was the ambassador who went to Niger (mentioned but not named in a May 6 NYTimes piece by Nicholas Kristof, “Missing in Action: Truth”).
• June 9, 2003, according to Grossman’s testimony – Grossman had a conversation with Wilson, who was “upset” about Condoleezza Rice’s claim the day before on Meet the Press that the White House was unaware of doubts about the Niger uranium story. (In his book, Wilson says this conversation “elicited the suggestion that I might have to write the story myself”; he got in touch with the NYTimes the same day. p.332.)
• June 9, 2003 – classified documents from CIA are faxed to the Office of the Vice President to Libby and colleague John Hannah, mentioning the Wilson trip but not naming Wilson.
• June 10, 2003 – a classified State Department memo written by State’s Bureau of Intelligence & Research (INR) gives Grossman the background on Wilson’s Niger trip, refers explicitly to Valerie Wilson as Wilson’s wife and “a CIA WMD manager.” The memo also strongly debunks the Niger uranium story.
• June 11, 2003 – Robert L. Grenier, then “Iraq mission manager” and “point person for Iraq,” receives a phone call from Libby, then is summoned from a meeting with the CIA Director to talk with Libby about Wilson; tells Libby Wilson’s wife is in CIA. (Grenier is no longer with the CIA.)
• June 11/12, 2003 – Marc Grossman has a “30-second discussion” about Mrs. Wilson with Libby, according to Grossman’s testimony.
• June 12, 2003 – Libby is informed by Cheney in a phone call that Wilson’s wife is in CIA (handwritten note: “CP: his wife works in that div”).
• June 12, 2003 – David Addington, Cheney’s government lawyer, receives the same notes from Libby’s office mentioning Wilson’s wife in CP (typed copy).
• June 13, 2003 – Richard L. Armitage tells Bob Woodward, on tape, that Mrs. Wilson works for CIA, suggests that Mrs. Wilson sent Wilson on the Niger trip.
• June 14, 2003 – CIA daily briefer Craig Schmall briefing of Libby at Libby’s home notes question about Wilson (“ex-amb”) and the Niger trip, notes Wilson and Valerie Wilson by name.
• June 23, 2003 – Libby has a discussion with Judith Miller, mentions Wilson’s wife at “bureau” (CIA). (Miller had returned to the U.S. on June 8.)
• July 6, 2003 – Joseph Wilson’s op-ed criticizing the Niger story finally appears in the NYTimes.

Additionally, on June 20, June 23 and June 27, according to a cautious statement by Bob Woodward in the WashPost, Woodward met with another official, spoke with Libby on the phone and then met with Libby, bringing items including “yellowcake” and “Joe Wilson’s wife” with him.

So why were there all these colloquies in the administration, about Wilson’s wife, before Wilson’s article even came out?

It feels like an illness, obsessing over the details of the Plame Case [now known as the Libby Trial]. But there are lot’s of us who have it. I don’t think I’m going to take Prozac to get over it though. It needs to be thought about and the "jury’s still out."

Margie Burns’ post on the BradBlog has a clean timeline of the pre-Wilson sheenanigans. She questions the "why?" of it all. I’m not sure there’s anything hidden about "why?" As soon as Wilson started making noises, the OVP was all over it. And, to me, that’s the whole point of this story. For unclear reasons, they thought think they can get away with this War in Iraq.

For that to happen, the war would have to end quickly, before we got really upset about the absence of nuclear bomb plants or vats of anthrax. They would have to overcome the revelation that the pre-war intelligence was a hoax when we began to figure it out. They would have to repeatedly fuel the myth that this was part of a war on terrorists, specifically al Qaeda, and that it was our response to the 911 attack on New York City. In June and July of 2003, they were still in a position to bring it off, or so they thought.

First, there were no weapons of mass destruction. Damn! We were counting on them. Then people began to question the prewar reporting of their conduits like Judith Miller of the New York Times. Damn! We’re not ready for that yet. Then, the Iraqi expatriots they were counting on started smelling like a fishmarket. Damn! We were counting on them too. But then, along came this ex-Ambassador named Wilson, asking questions, getting nosey, getting noisy. Damn! We’ve got to get that guy.

And, they actually brought it off. They’re still in the White House. We’re still in the Iraq War. Al Qaeda is still in the mountains of somewhere-i-stan. But thanks to the persistence of an honorable Federal Prosecutor, we’ve at least made it into a courtroom with a piece of this sordid puzzle. I don’t mean to demean Margie’s question, I just think we know the answer. The OVP knew what it had done, and knew the consequences of it reaching the light of day. Cheney still knows. But back then, he was powerful enough to do anything he wanted to do – or so he thought.

So, I’ll keep obsessing about the details along with the rest of the people who see this as the only way to get some leverage on this frozen bolt to turn it some more. We don’t need Prozac, we need elbow-grease…