"Today is an ominous day for the country, signifying a new low since Watergate in terms of openness and honesty in our government. This is far more than an indictment of an individual. In
effect it’s an indictment of the vicious and devious tactics used by
the Administration to justify a war we never should have fought.
It’s an indictment of the lengths Administration officials were willing
to go to cover up their failed intelligence, their distortion on Iraq’s
weapons of mass destruction, and their serious blunders on the war. It
is an indictment of their vindictive efforts to discredit anyone who
challenge their misrepresentations.
The American
people know the high cost of this misguided war – 2,000 U.S. soldiers
dead, more than 15,000 wounded, hundreds of billions of dollars spent
with no end in sight, and a
continuing shameful effort by the White House to silence those who try
to tell the truth about the war. Dissent is the ultimate form of
patriotism, and it’s time we return to having an honest
discourse in this country about changing direction and paying attention
to the needs of the American people.
The President should take
this opportunity to do everything he can to heal the country by not
interfering with the prosecution of this case or the continuing
investigation, and by cleaning house at the White House to immunize the
country against any further corruption and dishonesty. As
the President promised, anyone still in the White House who had
anything to do with this scandalous plot or the cover-up should be
dismissed immediately, whether or not they have been indicted.
Something has to give — America can’t stand three more years of this
failed Bush presidency. " --Senator Kennedy
"It
"These are very serious charges," Reid said. "They suggest that
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) -
The charges against Vice President Dick Cheney's top adviser are "very serious" because they suggest a senior White House aide put politics ahead of national security, Sen. Harry Reid said Friday.
Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, announced his resignation Friday
shortly after he was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice,
making false statements and perjury in the CIA leak case.
Reid, the Senate Democratic leader from Nevada, said the case is bigger than just the leak of classified information.
is about how the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated
intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to
discredit anyone who dared to challenge the president," the senator said in a statement from Washington.
Friday's charges stemmed from a two-year investigation by special
counsel Patrick Fitzgerald into whether Rove, Libby or any other
administration officials knowingly revealed the identity of CIA officer
Valerie Plame or lied about their involvement to investigators.
If convicted on all five counts, Libby could face as much as 30 years in prison and more than $1 million in fines.
a senior White House aide put politics ahead of our national security
and the rule of law."
"It's now time for President Bush to lead and answer the very serious questions raised by this investigation. The American people have already paid too steep a price as a result of misconduct at the White House, and they deserve better."
A year later, the real Niger scandal is beginning to surface.
Knight-Ridder's Jonathan Landay and Warren Strobel report on the
central role of the Italian intelligence agency SISMI in distributing
the forged documents ...
Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI, and
people close to it, repeatedly tried to shop the bogus Niger uranium
story to governments in France, Britain and the United States. That
created the illusion that multiple sources were confirming the story.
...
Sept. 9 - With the White House's public campaign
against Iraq in full swing, Nicolo Pollari, head of SISMI, met with
then-Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley at the White
House. Hadley later took the blame for including the false Niger
allegation in Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech.
National Security Council spokesman Frederick Jones
said Thursday that the meeting was a 15-minute courtesy call and that
no one could recollect talk about yellowcake.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the case was "about how
the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order
to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to discredit anyone who
dared to challenge the president."
In today's paper ( Contra Costa Times Sat Oct. 29)there is a reference to the number of young
people opting out of recruitment to the Iraq War.This story coming on
the heels of yesterday's indictment of the Vice President's Chief of
Staff and the President's Special adviser is a sad reflection on the
state of the nation since the Bush administration took over.
Today we are mired in a war far away that is stealing our most valuable
resource--our youth.
Not only are they physically maimed or killed they are morally and
spiritually debased both by events in Iraq and in the US.
Now we learn that there is substantial evidence that Vice President
Cheney's Chief of Staff was obstructing an investigation into the White
House cover-up of the lies that led our nation to war in Iraq.
I am sad that the Bush administration continues its hypocritical stance
that it is a moral leader while lying,misleading and manipulating our
nation.
President Bush must stand up and take true moral command or our nation
will spiral out of control.
On or about
President of the
Central Intelligence Agency in the Counterproliferation Divison. LIBBY
understood that the Vice President had learned this information from the CIA.
This is a crucial piece of information. the Counterproliferation
Division (CPD) is part of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, i.e., not
Directorate of Intelligence, the branch of the CIA where 'analysts' come from,
but where the spies come
from.
Libby's a long time national security hand. He knows exactly what CPD
is and where it is. So does Cheney. They both knew.
It's right there in the indictment.
Xxxxxxxx
Remember, I. Lewis Libby doesn't just work
for the Vice President.
From the beginning of the administration, a
key root of Libby's power at the White House is that he works both for the Vice President (as
Chief of Staff and National Security Affairs Advisor) and the President of the
Demands grow for Iraq death count
Forty-six eminent figures including military men,
ex-diplomats and bishops have written to Tony Blair
urging an inquiry into civilian deaths in Iraq.
A study in a medical journal said nearly 100,000 died
after the invasion. Other groups put the figure at
15,000.
Mr Blair told MPs the most accurate estimate - of
between 3,853 and 15,517 for April to October this
year - was from the Iraqi Ministry of Health.
And he argued terrorists, not US-led troops were to
blame for the deaths.
At prime minister's questions, Mr Blair said he did
not accept the casualties' inquiry was needed for the
UK to fulfil its international obligations.
He urged people to back efforts to hold elections in
Iraq in January.
"Those people that are killing innocent people in Iraq
today, who are responsible for innocent people dying,
are the terrorists and insurgents who want to stop the
elections happening in Iraq," he said.
"Any action that the multi-national force or the Iraqi
people are taking in Iraq is in order to defeat those
people who are ... killing anyone who wants to make
the country better."
Independent inquiry
The publication of the letter to Mr Blair marks the
launch of a new campaign by health charity Medact and
the Iraq Body Count project.
Names on the letter include retired General Sir Hugh
Beech, the bishop of Coventry and an ex-ambassador to
Iraq.
It also includes the former assistant chief of the
defence staff Lord Garden, now a Liberal Democrat
peer, and playwright Harold Pinter.
VARYING IRAQ DEATH ESTIMATES
Iraq Body Count:
14,000-16,800 since March 2003
Iraq-based People's Kifah:
27,000 March-October 2003
US-based Brookings Institute:
Up to 27,000 to August 2004
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
10,000 to March 2004
Lancet study
100,000 since March 2003
The letter urges Mr Blair to set up an independent
inquiry to establish just how many people have been
killed or injured in Iraq, along with reasons for the
casualties.
Lord Garden told BBC News: "We have taken it [Iraq]
over and we are going to try and make it a democratic
country.
"We need to show the rest of the world that we are
doing it in a proper, legal, moral way and one that
can get the hearts and minds of the Arab and Muslim
world.
"If we appear to be discarding the people there and
saying they are not really important we are going to
lose that battle."
'Make an effort'
Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger, who is also a
signatory, said: "Since they don't want to catalogue
the deaths, they are giving the impression that
ordinary Iraqi lives are worth less than those of the
soldiers and that life is expendable.
"No figures in a war zone are going to be perfect -
but that's no excuse for not trying."
The letter says: "As you know, your government is
obliged under international humanitarian law to
protect the civilian population during military
operations in Iraq, and you have consistently promised
to do so.
HAVE YOUR SAY
The real inquiry will be the next UK elections
Gerry Noble, Salisbury, UK
"However, without counting the dead and injured,
no-one can know whether Britain and its coalition
partners are meeting these obligations."
The letter's publication marks the launch of a new
campaign by health charity Medact and the Iraq Body
Count project challenging the government to count
casualties.
Medact director Mike Rawson said: "We need casualty
estimates to assess the effect of weaponry on the
population and to plan health care for the injured.
Without information, everyone is working in the dark."
He argued the Iraqi health system should not be left
to keep a tally on its own and he argued the US-led
coalition had a responsibility to "commission and
resource this work themselves".
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/4076993.stm
Published: 2004/12/08 13:35:32 GMT
© BBC MMIV
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