Interview with Valerie Plame Parts 3 and 4

[AmericanGranny]

Agent Valerie Plame Pays the Price - pages 192-193 of America's Conscience

In what appeared to be retaliation for the op-ed letter written by Ambassador Wilson, his wife's name appeared in the weekly column by conservative Robert Novak. Two weeks after the op-ed was published, Mr.Novak wrote, "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me Wilson's wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report.

 The CIA says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him."11 On Sept. 28, 2003, The Washington Post reported, ". . . two top White House officials called at least six Washington journalists and disclosed the identity and occupation of Wilson's wife."12 Three days after the Novak Column appeared, Dave Corn, editor of The Nation magazine, asked in an article entitled "A White House Smear,""Did senior Bush officials blow the cover of a U.S. intelligence officer working covertly in a field of vital importance to national security-and break the law-in order to strike at a Bush Administration critic and intimidate others?"13

 These reports continued ad nauseam with more journalists allegedly receiving the same telephone calls from White House officials. A cat-and mouse game of who-knew-what-and-when and who-told-whom-what went on for months, and then years. The outing itself would become the topic of a national debate.  After many belabored efforts and much pressure from Democrats, a special council was appointed to investigate the leak. The leak came from a close circle around the President. Vice President Dick Cheney had made handwritten notes on the Novak article and his scribbled comments were made public by Special Investigator Patrick Fitzgerald. The "Turd Blossom," White House strategist Karl Rove, was called to testify at least five times before a grand jury.

On October 28, 2005, Scooter Libby, Chief of Staff to Vice President Cheney, was indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, false statement and perjury. The indictment was for lying about how he obtained and disclosed then-classified information concerning the CIA's employment of Valerie Plame to reporters.

Libby was later charged and indicted on five counts by a federal grand jury.14 To date, no one has been charged with leaking the information on Ms. Plame as a CIA agent, a crime that can include a fine of $50,000, imprisonment of up to ten years, or both.  The Valerie Plame outing served as a distraction from the Wilson report on Niger and the denial of the yellowcake uranium allegations, which the Bush Administration used to justify the war in Iraq. The more important Wilson Report and op-ed story were buried under the CIA outing hoopla.

What Happens to Public Dissenters - From America's Conscience -

Chapter on the Cost of Dissent

 There are many brave men and women who have stood up to the Bush Administration to voice dissent. Their actions have had consequences.

 Paul O'Neill, Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Retired Chairman and CEO of Alcoa

Paul O'Neill is the outspoken former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. It was reported that Mr. O'Neill had been pulled out of retirement by Alan Greenspan, who recruited O'Neill specifically for the Secretary of the Treasury position. Mr. O'Neill had been the competent head of many successful endeavors, including the past CEO of ALCOA Corporation. He was known as a savvy businessman and a fiscal conservative.

Paul O'Neill claimed that within eight days of his taking office in early January 2001, George W. Bush discussed targeting Saddam Hussein and regime change in Iraq. And according to O'Neill, the real discussion lead by Vice President Cheney revolved around the oil contracts in Iraq and who would get the contracts.15

 O'Neill describes the great tension between himself and Vice President Cheney. He charged that Bush's economic policies were irresponsible and would have a negative impact on future generations and programs like social security. He was concerned about the U.S. budget going from a surplus to a deficit, and he warned of the consequences of raising the debt ceiling. According to Mr. O'Neill, his warnings fell on deaf ears because Cheney and Rove were calling the shots. He says Vice President Cheney never cared about budget deficits.

 O'Neill was against the Bush tax cuts; and he had fiscal concerns about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their slowing down the economy. But these were concerns the Bush Administration didn't want to hear.  Mr. O'Neill charges that George W. Bush was asleep at the wheel, lacking an inquisitive nature and "like a blind man in a roomful of deaf people." He said George W. Bush's habit of giving people nicknames was a form of bullying.16 After being forced out of the Bush White House, Mr. O'Neill became

one of the first to criticize President Bush and the administration. More critical details followed in a book by Ron Suskind entitled The Price of Loyalty: George W. Bush, the White House, and the Education of Paul O'Neill.17

 The Bush Administration charged that Secretary O'Neill's allegations were nothing more than sour grapes. They suggested that his ideas were "wacky." Former Republican Senator Bob Dole said that Mr. O'Neill simply wanted to sell books in order to get back at the administration for being fired.18

 ". . . at the first National Security Meeting . . . they discussed invading Iraq, and two days later the discussed the post-Saddam regime, including who wants oil contracts and where oil might be."19

~Paul O'Neill

 Richard A. Clark, Former Czar on Terrorism - Counter Terrorism Advisor to Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush

Richard A. Clark was the most prominent member of the government involved in overseeing the problems associated with terrorism. For thirty years he was responsible for advising Presidents and top-level cabinet members. Mr. Clark served as a Senior Executive Service Advisor to Presidents Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.20 He was the only government official to apologize publicly for the

failure to keep our nation safe against terrorism. He told the 9/11 Commission that he had failed our nation, and for that he was deeply sorry.  He also said that President Bush and the Bush Administration had failed the nation.21 Mr. Clark resigned from his position in January of 2003. Subsequently, he wrote the book Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror.22 In his book, Mr. Clark says that the Bush Administration failed to take terrorism and al-Qaeda seriously, and that Condoleezza Rice was skeptical about al-Qaeda threats in early 2001. Rice was so skeptical that she blocked Richard Clark's access to President Bush and other key decision makers. According to Mr. Clark, his requests to the Bush Administration to make terrorism a top priority were met with apathy and procrastination. He says the administration was so in the dark that Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz had asked what "all the fuss was about Osama bin Laden" before the 9/11 attacks.

 Mr. Clark reports that after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, the Bush Administration turned their attention immediately to Iraq, a nation not involved in the attacks, and that George W. Bush continues to be fixated on Iraq to this day. Clark believes that taking a unilateral approach in Iraq would lead to more attacks on Americans and American interests worldwide in the future.  Both President George H.W. Bush's failure to eliminate Saddam Hussein in 1991 and the American presence in Saudi Arabia increased anti-American sentiment in the Middle East, according to Mr. Clark. He says terrorism was a growing threat under the presidency of George H.W. Bush but it went ignored, despite the best efforts of Clark as the former Czar on Terrorism. And it was those ignored and yet inflamed sentiments that lead to the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Clark charges that the George W. Bush Administration didn't get it before 9/11 and still doesn't get it. 

 Richard Clark says he believes that President Clinton understood the gravity of terrorism and was obsessed with stopping al-Qaeda. But President Clinton was unable to do so because of political infighting and the sex scandal leading to his impeachment.  Vice President Cheney made the following statements about Richard Clark: "Clark is an uninformed underling . . . . he wasn't in the loop,  frankly, on a lot of this stuff. He was head of counterterrorism for several years . . . and I didn't notice that they had any great success dealing with the terrorist threat."23 Scott McClellan, former Press Secretary for the White House, said that Mr. Clark was bitter about not getting a position in the Homeland Security Department, and accused Mr. Clark of playing politics instead of being concerned with terrorism. Soon after Richard Clark's book was released, Condoleezza Rice appeared on almost all the television networks to disparage his work and to question his effectiveness. 24

 "I find it outrageous that the President [Bush] is running for re-election on the grounds that he's done such great things about terrorism . . . . He ignored terrorism for months, when maybe we could have done something to stop 9/11."  ~Richard Clark25

 Natalie Maines, Lead Singer, Dixie Chicks  #1 Song and Album in the U.S. in March 2003

Like many in America, I had never heard of the Dixie Chicks before Natalie Maines, their lead singer, made her infamous remarks about George W. Bush. In front of a live London audience on the eve of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, Ms. Maines said, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas." The audience went wild, applauding enthusiastically. The Dixie Chicks are a trio of all-American women who play country music. They were touring overseas in the spring of 2003 but were still following the news accounts of the U.S.'s preemptive attack on Iraq. They watched the anti-American sentiment grow and became concerned. They were quoted as saying they believed that President Bush was "ignoring the opinions of many in the U.S. and alienating the rest of the world." Ms. Maines held that her comments were made in frustration, and she pointed out that "one of the privileges of being an American is you are free to voice your own point of view."

 The band vowed that they supported the U.S. troops, but were frightened because a war with Iraq meant the loss of innocent lives including those of American soldiers.45  Immediately after Natalie Maines made her anti-Bush comment, it was splashed across American newspapers and news programs. An acidic reaction was instant as country radio stations called for a boycott of the

Dixie Chicks. Outraged radio D Js and inflamed patrons called for the ban of Dixie Chicks music, and one station sponsored a trash party where people were encouraged to dump Dixie Chicks CDs in the garbage. DJs also invited patrons to a "chicken toss", asking fans to throw away tickets previously purchased for Dixie Chicks concerts. "Natalie Maines is not paid to espouse her ideas on stage," said one DJ, and President George W. Bush called Natalie Maines "dumb."46 Within days of Ms. Maines' comment, 29 percent of country stations refused to play the Dixie Chicks and their music sales plummeted by 42 percent.47

 Buy the Book: http://www.americasconscience.com/

 

 

[AmericanGranny]

Oct. 15, 2008 at 1:07 PM

Okay, who watched the video?

(Original Poster)