Cheney's Chickens Come Home to Roost (Ray McGovern)

[hang a left]

October 20, 2005
Cheney's Chickens Come Home to Roost
by Ray McGovern

Indictments are expected to come down shortly as special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald completes the investigation originally precipitated by the outing of a CIA officer under deep cover. In 21-plus months of digging and interviewing, Fitzgerald and his able staff have been able to negotiate the intelligence/policy/politics labyrinth with considerable sophistication. In the process, they seem to have learned considerably more than they had bargained for. The investigation has long since morphed into size extra large, which is the only size commensurate with the wrongdoing uncovered – not least, the fabrication and peddling of intelligence to justify a war of aggression.

The coming months are likely to see senior Bush administration officials frog-marched out of the White House to be booked, unless the president moves swiftly to fire Fitzgerald – a distinct possibility. With so many forces at play, it is easy to lose perspective and context while plowing through the tons of information in this case. What follows is a retrospective and prospective, laced with some new facts and analysis aimed at helping us to focus on the forest once we have given due attention to the trees.

Background

In late May 2003, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center (EPIC) informed me that a former U.S. ambassador named Joseph Wilson would be sharing keynote duties with me at a large EPIC conference on June 14.

I was delighted – for two reasons. This was a chance to meet the "American hero" (per George H. W. Bush) who faced down Saddam Hussein, freeing hundreds of American and other hostages taken when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. More importantly, since Wilson had served as an ambassador in Africa, I thought he might be able to throw light on a question bedeviling me since May 6, when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote an intriguing story about a mission to Niger by "a former U.S. ambassador to Africa."

There Once Was an Ambassador in Niger…

According to Kristof, that mission was undertaken at the behest of Vice President Dick Cheney's office to investigate a report that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger. The report was an entirely convenient smoking gun. Since Iraq lacked any nonmilitary use for such uranium, it had to be for a nuclear weapons program, if the report were true. Or so went the argument. The former ambassador sent to Niger had found no basis for the report, pulling the rug out from under the "intelligence" the administration had used during the previous fall to conjure up the "mushroom cloud" that intimidated Congress into authorizing war.

snip>

http://www.antiwar.com/mcgovern/?articleid=7697

[Dogmudgeon]

1. ... and they have Bird Flu

--p!

[texpatriot2004]

2. Hang a left you're still at it huh? Haven't slept yet? Can't sleep? nt

[hang a left]

4. Got two hours last night. And a half and hour nap in the car while

my son was at football practice. I am starting to see things. I will try to sleep tonight. Thanks for your concern. :hi:

[hang a left]

6. How about you. I have seen you at all hours too.

How are you holding up?

[texpatriot2004]

7. Are you still there? Awake? I was working on home $ stuff and

just noticed your message. I could relate to your lack of sleep. I did that last week where I got like a few hours sleep in a few days. Yes, I am here at all hours, mostly b/c I am glued to DU. Constantly vigilant lately. I am very anxious, as many of us are about the state of the "Union" these days. I am looking for work and stressed about money too so I can't sleep much. I hope you get some rest. I appreciate all the good stuff you have been posting.

[hang a left]

10. Sorry about your $$ issues. Will send good thoughts your way.

Got about 5 hours last night. Most I have slept in a few days. Thanks.

[mestup]

3. Thanks for the link. I just saw McGovern in a documentary...

..."Uncovered: The War on Iraq." It's very interesting.

[cynatnite]

9. It's so eerie to watch now...

I was furious the first time I saw it. I couldn't hardly contain my anger.

It's our 'I told you so'.

[hang a left]

5. Well I found two points that he made in the article that I am not sure are

correct. One I think is just an accident. The first one is

"Wilson then dropped the other shoe during an interview with the Washington Post also on July 6."

Wilson went on Meet the Press that morning with Russert.

And the second one:

Gonzales will not be the one doing the firing if that is what ** tries to do. Gonzales has testified in this case and has recused himself. So it will be Comey's replacement if in fact ** tries to pull that one.

If he does try that I think that would trigger the "Constitutional Crisis" that Plamaholics have discussed here.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. I doubt if W would get away with firing Fitzgerald at this point

even though he would probably love to, things are too far along for him to get away with it.

[hang a left]

11. I think you are right. eom

[crispini]

12. Interesting prediction here:

Will the White House decide to fire special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald and simply absorb the PR black eye, as Nixon did? There is absolutely nothing to prevent it. Can you imagine Attorney General Alberto Gonzales refusing on principle an order from President Bush?

Could Bush himself be named an unindicted co-conspirator? If that or something like it happens, we can expect a circling of the wagons and Fitzgerald cashiered.

If the case Fitzgerald has built, however, is not strong enough to implicate Bush personally, it seems likely that the president will acquiesce in the wholesale frog-marching of others from the White House and then go off for a Thanksgiving vacation in Crawford – or, more likely, Camp David. For Cindy Sheehan is planning Thanksgiving in Crawford: she still hopes to see the president so that he can explain to her personally what the "noble cause" was for which her son died.

That has the ring of truth to it, to me.