Summary of Plame et. al."Fitzgerald...Occupied Washington under siege"

[Emit]

A must read op/ed that puts all the pieces together (with corresponding links and details)

http://antiwar.com/justin/

July 20, 2005
Patrick J. 'Bulldog' Fitzgerald, American Insurgent
Occupied Washington under siege
by Justin Raimondo

The investigation into who "outed" Valerie Plame, a CIA agent formerly engaged in deep-cover operations involving weapons of mass destruction, is now threatening to bring down some of the president's top advisers, including Karl Rove, the Machiavellian mastermind behind the White House's political machine. This has helped to create a partisan debate that obscures the potential significance of the investigation now being conducted by U.S. Attorney Patrick J. "Bulldog" Fitzgerald, and blocks any real understanding of what in blazes is going on. There's one way to get beyond this political smokescreen, however, and that's by clearing the air about the origins of this probe: what prompted it, and why is it so important?

In October 2001, the CIA received a report from a foreign intelligence agency claiming that an agreement between Iraq and the African nation of Niger had been inked sometime in early 1999, and that by late 2000 Niger's president had personally communicated to Iraq his nation's willingness to begin uranium shipments pronto.

This news was met with almost universal skepticism by the American intelligence community, and our ambassador to Niger dismissed the claim as being beyond the realm of possibility. In November, the same foreign intelligence service reiterated its claim, this time with more detail. The outcome of a proposal to have the source submit to a polygraph test remains unclear. What is clear is that the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR) reflected the views of the Niamey embassy: the uranium mines of Niger, tightly controlled by a French consortium, were an unlikely source to fuel Saddam's alleged nuclear weapons program, particularly since the purported Iraqi order – 500 tons of yellowcake – amounted to one-sixth of that country's annual production. Surely such a large chunk torn out of Niger's yellowcake stock would attract a certain amount of notice. The whole notion just didn't make any sense.

In the Bizarro World fantasyland inhabited by the purveyors of this tall tale, however, nonsense is truth...

<<snip>>

What we are witnessing is an insurgency arising to take back Washington from the occupiers. It is a two-pronged legal assault, launched from within the FBI and the Department of Justice by patriotic Americans who mean to take back their country from the invader. That is the meaning of the Plame investigation and the AIPAC-Larry Franklin spy case. The battlefield is not Baghdad, it's an American courtroom: the weapon of choice is not the RPG but the subpoena. As the prosecutor-insurgents inch slowly toward the White House, occasionally scoring direct hits inside the Green Zone, the panic begins to spread: talk of "staying the course" is tempered by hints of negotiations and rumors of withdrawal. Donald Rumsfeld tells us that the Iraqi insurgency could last a decade or more, but the Washington version is likely to end much sooner – in a clear victory for the insurgents.

–Justin Raimondo

[annabanana]

1. Raimondo writes goo-o-o-o-d!

I'm tellin' ya. This beats the the World Cup, the World Series, the Super Bowl and March Madness rolled into one all to hell...

[wli]

2. where are the signs of progress?

That's what I'd like to know.

[cssmall]

3. I will find out a way to make a shirt

that says my name over my heart and on the back it will read American Insurgent! Every time I listen to Limpballs, Halfbrain, and the adopted son of a sellout, I hear we're staying the course, which is political talk for: "Oh fuck, we're in some deeeeeep shit now."

But, personally, I am just waiting for Reagan's son to talk about his beloved father so that I can call in and make a point of how exactly I feel about Ronnie, I know I'd get hung up on, but if we can bring up that Reagan was a sellout Democrat, then it'd be a blast. (Because I'm sure sick of him being remembered as a great president, he just played the part.)

[yodermon]

4. Everyone BE SURE to read the original

Because it is copiously, copiously sourced. LIke every other word is hyperlinked (ok not quite).

Libertarian or not, Justin Raimondo is an excellent writer.

His wikipedia entry is a little troubling though.

(Buchanan supporter in 92, 96, & 2k???
voted Nader in 04?? :eyes: )

but a :toast: for this article regardless.

[DURHAM D]

5. His libertarian path does seem consistent . Thanks

for posting - interesting read.

[Emit]

7. Thanks for the info on Raimondo

Never knew all that about him, and I've been reading his stuff for a while now, particularly this Plame/Rove/et. al. stuff. He's quite the sleuth, it appears.

Yeah, what's up with the Buchanan thingy? That surprised me, to say the least (although I know, in more recent times, Buchanan is quite outspoken against the neo-cons.)

Anyway, it's a detailed read and pieces a great deal together that folks have been trying to unravel independently for some time.

[bemildred]

6. Guffaw. I do like to see Justin and Cockburn get annoyed with each other.

It's better than watching former Trotskyite popinjays bicker over minute Marxist theological points.

[LibertyorDeath]

8. Thanks for this

Rec