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Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, who helped disprove the White House's claim that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002 and July 6, 2003) and in turn had his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, exposed as a CIA agent through a White House leak (see July 14, 2003, September 26, 2003, and September 30, 2003), publishes his book, The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir. He had signed with a relatively small publisher, Carroll & Graf, after making a gentleman's agreement with C&G editor Philip Turner, and refused to allow his literary agent to bid his book out for a larger advance in order to honor the agreement with Turner. According to Wilson's wife, he worked relentlessly for four months to complete the book, eager to tell not just the story of his trip to Niger and his wife's outing, but to write about his wide and varied diplomatic career in Africa and the Middle East (see September 5, 1988 and After, September 20, 1990, and Late November, 1990). (Wilson 2007, pp. 171-172) The book sells well and garners mostly positive reviews; for example, author and former White House counsel John Dean gives it a glowing review in the New York Times (see May 12, 2004). But right-wing supporters of the Bush administration quickly publish their own vilifications of Wilson and his book (see July 12, 2004). Plame Wilson will write in 2007: "Having lived through the first spate of attacks on Joe's credibility and character in the wake of the leak, I thought I had acquired some armor. I was wrong. I knew the comments were politically motivated, but they were still painful to read, and once again we felt under siege." Plame Wilson is particularly alarmed by the death threats made against her and her family by unidentified telephone callers, including one "seriously deranged person" who manages to talk to her four-year-old son for a moment. She asks the CIA for additional security measures to protect her children, a request that the agency will eventually deny. She will recall: "To say that the CIA response 'disappointed' me doesn't begin to touch the betrayal that I felt. After [REDACTED] loyal service, I expected the agency to come through on its standing promise to protect its 'family,' something that had always been a point of CIA pride.… Clearly, I was on my own." (Wilson 2007, pp. 178-180)
Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh informs his listeners of a Harris poll showing a majority of those surveyed believe that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction when the war began over a year before (see March 19, 2003). Limbaugh blames the misconception on the "liberal media," not on the government officials and conservative pundits, including Limbaugh, who pushed the idea of Iraqi WMD on the public before the invasion (see July 30, 2001, Mid-September, 2001, Mid-September-October 2001, October 17, 2001, November 14, 2001, December 20, 2001, 2002, February 11, 2002, Summer 2002, July 30, 2002, August 26, 2002, September 4, 2002, September 8, 2002, September 8, 2002, September 12, 2002, September 12, 2002, September 24, 2002, September 28, 2002, October 7, 2002, December 3, 2002, December 19, 2002, January 2003, January 9, 2003, February 5, 2003, February 17, 2003, March 16-19, 2003, March 23, 2003, May 21, 2003, May 29, 2003, and June 11, 2003), and uses the incident to warn his listeners about getting their news from the "liberal media." (Jamieson and Cappella 2008, pp. 151)
Although an Army investigation conducted within a few days of Pat Tillman's death (see May 23-June 1, 2002 and April 23, 2004) concludes that Tillman died due to his own unit's "gross negligence," shot three times in the head, this information is not given to the Tillman family for several weeks. Not until after a televised memorial service is held do Tillman relatives and the American public learn that Tillman died under "friendly," not enemy fire. It will be another year before the Washington Post breaks the story that Tillman's fellow Rangers had reported details of a friendly fire incident immediately and that US Army local command and top officials knew the truth well in advance of the family, but deliberately chose not to share it. A report consisting of 2,000 pages of investigative material, made by Brigadier General Gary M. Jones at the request of Tillman's family and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), will reveal that Army commanders know the results of an initial, in-house investigation days before the memorial at which they award Tillman the Silver Star. (White 5/4/2005)
The Pentagon awards Army Ranger Pat Tillman, who it claims died at the hand of the Taliban a week before (see April 23, 2004), a posthumous Silver Star for conspicuous bravery under enemy fire. It also releases more details of Tillman's death. According to an Army press release, Tillman had stormed an enemy-occupied hill trying to save fellow soldiers pinned down by enemy fire: "Through the fire, Tillman's voice was heard issuing commands to take the fight to enemy forces emplaced on the dominating high ground [even as he] personally provided suppressive fire with an M-249 Squad Automatic Weapon machine gun." Weeks later, the Pentagon's story will prove to be completely false. Tillman actually died from friendly fire. (Rich 2006, pp. 124)
Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, discussing his two trips to Niger in 1999 (see Fall 1999) and 2002 (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002) to investigate whether Iraq was attempting to obtain uranium from that nation, says that in 1999 he never discussed the subject of uranium purchases. Wilson, who met with former Nigerien Prime Minister Ibrahim Mayaki, says: "At that meeting, uranium was not discussed. It would be a tragedy to think that we went to war over a conversation in which uranium was not discussed because the Niger official was sufficiently sophisticated to think that perhaps he might have wanted to discuss uranium at some later date." He will later tell Senate Intelligence Committee staffers that Mayaki was leery of discussing any trade issues at all because Iraq was under United Nations sanctions. (FactCheck (.org) 7/26/2004)
Vice President Dick Cheney is interviewed in his office by federal prosecutors as part of the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see December 30, 2003). Cheney is asked if he knows who, if anyone, in the White House might have leaked Plame Wilson's identity to the press. He is asked about conversations with his senior aides, including his chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby. He is also asked whether he knows of any concerted effort by White House officials to leak Plame Wilson's identity. Cheney is not questioned under oath, and has not been asked to testify before the grand jury. He is represented by two lawyers, Terrence O'Donnell and Emmet Flood. (Federal Bureau of Investigation 5/8/2004 ; Johnston 6/5/2004)
Cheney Evades, Refuses to Answer Questions - In October 2009, an FBI interview summary regarding Cheney's testimony will be released (see October 1, 2009). According to the document, Cheney equivocates or refuses to answer 72 times during his interview, either saying he cannot be certain about the information requested, or that he does not know.
Denies Informing Libby about Plame Wilson's CIA Status - One of the most fundamental questions Cheney is asked is about how Libby learned about Plame Wilson's identity. Libby's own notes indicate that he learned it from Cheney, and that he had shared his notes with Cheney in late 2003 (see Late September or Early October, 2003), in defiance of instructions from the FBI and the White House counsel's office not to share information with colleagues (see September 29-30, 2003). But in his testimony, Cheney "cannot recall Scooter Libby telling him how he first heard of Valerie Wilson. It is possible Libby may have learned about Valerie Wilson's employment from the vice president… but the vice president has no specific recollection of such a conversation." (Federal Bureau of Investigation 5/8/2004 ; Yost 11/2/2009) Cheney testifies that contrary to the evidence, he learned of Plame Wilson's CIA status from Libby, who informed him that a number of reporters had contacted Libby in July 2003 to say that Plame Wilson had been responsible for arranging her husband's trip to Niger to investigate the Niger uranium claims. Cheney says that the next time he heard about Plame Wilson and her connection to her husband was when he read Robert Novak's article outing her as a CIA officer (see July 14, 2003). Cheney is lying; he informed Libby of Plame Wilson's identity (see (June 12, 2003)).
Denies Knowledge of Wilson Trip to Niger - He also denies knowing that Plame Wilson's husband, war critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson, was sent to Niger to investigate claims that Iraq was attempting to buy uranium from that country (see (February 13, 2002) and February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002), and says the CIA never briefed him about Wilson's trip (see March 5, 2002). Future testimony will challenge Cheney's claims, as witnesses will testify that Cheney, Libby, Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, the Defense Department, the State Department, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the National Security Council, and President Bush were all given copies of a CIA cable sent to Cheney's office that debunked the Niger claims (see December 2001, Shortly after February 12, 2002, March 5, 2002, February 12, 2002, March 8, 2002, October 15, 2002, Mid-October 2002, October 18, 2002, January 2003, and March 8, 2003). (Federal Bureau of Investigation 5/8/2004 ; Leopold 2/15/2006)
Refuses to Answer about WMD NIE - Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, leading the interview, presses Cheney to discuss evidence that shows he pressured Bush to quickly declassify portions of the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate on Iraqi WMD (see October 1, 2002) for the purpose of making the case for invading Iraq. Libby provided selected NIE information to New York Times reporter Judith Miller while simultaneously leaking Plame Wilson's identity to her (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003) and other reporters. Cheney refuses to confirm that he discussed anything regarding the NIE with Bush, saying that he could not comment on any private or privileged conversations he may have had with the president. Libby has already testified to the declassification of the NIE, telling prosecutors that he talked to Miller following the "president's approval relayed to me through the vice president."
Insists Plame Wilson's Identity Never Used to Discredit Husband - Cheney insists that no one in the White House ever talked about leaking Plame Wilson's CIA status to the press in an attempt to discredit her husband. There was never any discussion, Cheney says, of "pushing back" on Wilson's credibility by raising the issue of nepotism, the fact that his wife worked for the CIA, the same agency that dispatched him to Niger to run down the report of an agreement to supply uranium to Iraq. In his own testimony, Libby was far less emphatic, saying "[i]t's possible" he may have discussed the idea with Cheney. Both men lie in their testimony (see March 9, 2003 and After, May 2003, June 3, 2003, June 9, 2003, June 11 or 12, 2003, (June 11, 2003), 12:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, 2:00 p.m. June 11, 2003, 5:27 p.m. June 11, 2003, (June 12, 2003), June 19 or 20, 2003, July 7, 2003 or Shortly After, July 7-8, 2003, 12:00 p.m. July 7, 2003, July 8, 2003, and 7:35 a.m. July 8, 2003). (Federal Bureau of Investigation 5/8/2004 ; Yost 11/2/2009) Cheney tells prosecutors that he and his office were merely interested in rebutting Wilson's criticisms of the war effort, and wanted to dispel the notion among some reporters that he had selected Wilson for the Niger trip. In 2006, an attorney close to the case will say: "In his testimony the vice president said that his staff referred media calls about Wilson to the White House press office. He said that was the appropriate venue for responding to statements by Mr. Wilson that he believed were wrong." (Federal Bureau of Investigation 5/8/2004 ; Leopold 2/15/2006) In June 2009, the Department of Justice will reveal that Cheney and Bush had discussed the leak in a "confidential conversation" and "an apparent communication between the vice president and the president." (Leopold 7/7/2009)
Author and former Nixon White House counsel John Dean reviews former ambassador Joseph Wilson's new book, The Politics of Truth (see April 2004). Dean, who has long been a fierce critic of the Bush administration, uses the review to examine aspects of the controversy surrounding the White House's disproven claim that Iraq attempted to buy uranium from Niger (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002 and July 6, 2003) and the outing of Wilson's wife as a CIA agent through a White House leak (see June 23, 2003, July 7, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, July 8, 2003, 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003, Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003, Before July 14, 2003, and July 14, 2003). Dean calls the book "riveting and all-engaging… provid[ing] context to yesterday's headlines, and perhaps tomorrow's, about the Iraq war and about our politics of personal destruction," as well as detailed information about Wilson's long diplomatic service in Africa and the Middle East, and what Dean calls "a behind-the-scenes blow-by-blow of the run-up to the 1991 Persian Gulf war."
'Anti-Dumb-War' - Dean also admires Wilson's opposition to the Iraq war, saying that "Wilson is not antiwar. Rather, he is 'anti-dumb-war'" and noting that while Wilson is not himself particularly conservative (or liberal), he considers the neoconservatives who make up the driving force in President Bush's war cabinet "right-wing nuts."
'Vicious Hatchet Job' - Dean quickly moves into the White House-orchestrated attempt to besmirch Wilson's credibility, calling it "the most vicious hatchet job inside the Beltway since my colleague in Richard Nixon's White House, the dirty trickster Charles W. Colson, copped a plea for defaming Daniel Ellsberg and his lawyer (see June 1974).… It was an obvious effort to discredit Wilson's [Niger] report, and, Wilson believes, a you-hurt-us-we-will-hurt-you warning to others." While Wilson writes with passion and anger about the outing of his wife, he restrains himself from giving too many personal details about her, relying instead on material already revealed in press interviews and reports. Dean notes that Wilson believes his wife's name was leaked to the press by any or all of the following White House officials: Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney; Karl Rove, Bush's chief political strategist; and Elliott Abrams, a national security adviser and former Iran-Contra figure (see October 7, 1991). Though Dean is correct in noting that Wilson comes to his conclusions "based largely on hearsay from the Washington rumor mill," he will be proven accurate in two out of three of his assertions (see July 8, 2003, 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003, June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). Wilson continues to fight attacks from Bush supporters, but, Dean notes, if they actually read his book, "they should understand that they have picked a fight with the wrong fellow." (Dean 5/12/2004)
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald negotiates with NBC bureau chief Tim Russert about his conversations with White House official Lewis Libby (see July 10 or 11, 2003), particularly, according to documents later filed with the court in the Libby perjury trial, regarding "one or more conversations between [Russert] and [Libby] on or about July 10, 2003 (and any follow-up conversations) which involved Libby complaining to [Russert] in his capacity as NBC bureau chief about the on-the-air comments of another NBC correspondent." Russert, through his lawyers, declines to testify before Fitzgerald's grand jury, though he does "agree to preserve any relevant notes, tapes, or other documents" (see June 2004). As a result, Fitzgerald will issue a subpoena (see May 21, 2004). Russert has cooperated with the FBI in the investigation (see November 24, 2003), and recently spoke to Libby about the investigation (see Late February or Early March, 2004). (US Department of Justice 2/23/2006 )
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald informs Washington Post lawyer Eric Lieberman that he wants to interview Post reporters Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler regarding the Plame Wilson identity leak. Additionally, he informs Newsday that he wants to interview reporters from that publication. Fitzgerald declines to specify what information he wants from the reporters. Both Pincus (see June 3, 2003, June 11, 2003, June 12, 2003, June 12, 2003, (July 11, 2003), and 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003) and Kessler (see July 12, 2003) have some involvement in the White House's attempt to discredit war critic Joseph Wilson, and in its outing of his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, as a CIA official; so do Newsday reporters Knut Royce and Timothy Phelps (see February 2004). Some of the reporters will eventually cooperate, to a limited extent, with Fitzgerald's investigation (see June 2004 and September 15, 2004). (Schmidt 5/15/2004; Schmidt 5/22/2004)
The General Accounting Office (GAO) finds that the Bush administration broke two federal laws as part of its publicity campaign to promote its new Medicare prescription drug policies. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) illegally spent federal monies on what amounts to covert propaganda in producing and distributing "video news releases," or VNRs, to local television news broadcasters around the country that were designed to look like objective news reports (see March 15, 2004). The GAO findings do not carry legal weight, because the GAO acts as an adviser to Congress. The viewers in the more than 40 cities who saw the reports did not know they were watching government-produced videos anchored by public relations "flacks" paid by HHS who were not real reporters. The VNRs have only fueled criticism of the Medicare prescription drug coverage program, which gives private health care firms and prescription drug companies a much larger role in providing and setting prices for Medicare recipients' prescriptions. Democrats have long insisted that the law cripples Medicare beneficiaries' ability to receive low-cost prescriptions in favor of funneling Medicare dollars into the pharmaceutical companies' coffers; with the GAO findings, Democrats now say that the government used illegal propaganda tactics to "sell" the citizenry on the new program. The administration has already admitted that the program will cost hundreds of billions of dollars more than originally claimed. Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (D-MA) calls the videos "another example of how this White House has misrepresented its Medicare plan." Kerry's Senate colleague, Edward Kennedy (D-MA), says: "The new GAO opinion is yet another indictment of the deception and dishonesty that has become business as usual for the Bush administration. It was bad enough to conceal the cost of the Medicare drug bill from the Congress and the American people. It is worse to use Medicare funds for illegal propaganda to try to turn this lemon of a bill into lemonade for the Bush campaign." The Bush administration continues to insist that the VNR program is legal. "GAO opinions are not binding on the executive branch. That's an opinion of the GAO. We don't agree," says HHS spokesman Bill Pierce, who justifies the VNR usage by pointing to their ubiquitous usage in corporate settings. Asked if he understands that a viewer might be angry at being led to believe that the VNRs were real news stories, Pierce replies, "If I'm a viewer, I'd be angry at my television station." (Goldstein 5/20/2004; Kemper 5/20/2004)
The grand jury investigating the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity (see December 30, 2003) subpoenas Time reporter Matthew Cooper and NBC's Tim Russert, host of "Meet the Press." Time and NBC both say they will fight the subpoenas (see May 13-20, 2004, June 2004 and August 9, 2004). NBC says the subpoenas could have a "chilling effect" on its ability to report the news. NBC president Neal Shapiro says, "Sources will simply stop speaking with the press if they fear those conversations will become public." Cooper's lawyer, Floyd Abrams, says, "Rounding up the Washington press corps doesn't seem the most likely way to find out about sources." Time vice president Robin Bierstedt says that the magazine has a strict policy of protecting "its confidential sources." First Amendment lawyer Devereux Chatillon comments, "Subpoenas to the press at all, much less for confidential sources, are extremely unusual, certainly from the federal government. Without protection for confidential sources, the press cannot report effectively on things like the Abu Ghraib scandal." (Liptak and Kilborn 5/23/2003; Schmidt 5/22/2004; United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 12/8/2004 ; Supreme Court of the United States 5/2005; Washington Post 7/3/2007)
Lawyers for NBC News reporter and Meet the Press anchor Tim Russert argue that Russert should not have to testify before the Fitzgerald grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see May 21, 2004 and May 13-20, 2004). Since the spring of 2004, his lawyers have realized that Russert's testimony could be used to indict White House official Lewis Libby for perjury, as Libby has apparently lied about a conversation he and Russert had in the summer of 2003 (see July 10 or 11, 2003, March 5, 2004, and March 24, 2004). Russert knows that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald already knows of the Russert/Libby conversation (see November 24, 2003), and Libby has already signed a waiver permitting Russert to name him in testimony (see January 2-5, 2004). But Russert and his lawyers argue that he should not have to testify because it might harm his relationship with other sources. According to court papers released in 2006, it "appears that Mr. Russert's testimony is sought solely because the special prosecutor believes that his recollection of a telephone conversation with an executive branch official is inconsistent with that official's statements." (Leonnig 1/10/2006) On July 21, 2004, the court will deny Russert's motion. (MSNBC 2/12/2007)
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald informs Lee Levine, the lawyer for NBC bureau chief Tim Russert, of what he intends to ask Russert in front of the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see May 21, 2004). Fitzgerald notes that he has promised Russert's testimony would be kept secret. He writes: "Special counsel intends to ask your client about the following subject matter in the grand jury: telephone conversation(s) between I. Lewis Libby and your client, Tim Russert, on or about July 10, 2003 (and any follow up conversations) which involved Mr. Libby complaining to Mr. Russert in his capacity as NBC bureau chief about the on-air comments of another NBC correspondent (see July 10 or 11, 2003). To be clear, we will also ask whether during that conversation Mr. Russert imparted information concerning the employment of Ambassador [Joseph] Wilson's wife [Valerie Plame Wilson, a clandestine CIA official] to Mr. Libby or whether the employment of Wilson's wife was otherwise discussed in the conversation." (Office of the Special Counsel 6/2/2004 )
Lawyers for Time reporter Matthew Cooper move to quash the subpoena issued against Cooper by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the Plame Wilson leak investigation (see May 21, 2004). Cooper's lawyers argue that the subpoena violates Cooper's First Amendment rights to protect his journalistic sources, and his "reporter's privilege" under the Supreme Court ruling Branzburg v. Hayes. (US District Court for the District of Columbia 7/20/2004 ) Judge Thomas Hogan will refuse to quash the subpoena (see August 9, 2004).
Lawyers for NBC move to quash the subpoena issued against NBC bureau chief Tim Russert by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald as part of the Plame Wilson leak investigation (see May 21, 2004). NBC's lawyers argue that the subpoena violates Russert's First Amendment rights to protect his journalistic sources, and his "reporter's privilege" under the Supreme Court ruling Branzburg v. Hayes. (US District Court for the District of Columbia 6/4/2004 ; US District Court for the District of Columbia 7/20/2004 ) Judge Thomas Hogan will refuse to quash the subpoena (see August 9, 2004).
The New York Times learns that President Bush is retaining the services of lawyer James Sharp to represent him in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak case (see December 30, 2003). Sharp has represented numerous high-profile clients, including two key figures in the Nixon Watergate scandal, a senator accused of bribery, and Enron's Kenneth Lay. Friends and colleagues describe Sharp as "an absolutely superb trial lawyer," but "a very private guy." Sharp's political leanings are unclear, but his donation records show that he has regularly given more money to Democratic candidates than Republican, including contributing to the campaign of Bush's challenger, Senator John Kerry (D-MA). He has represented both Democrats and Republicans in a variety of court cases. He is a former Navy lawyer with the Judge Advocate General Corps, and has served as a federal prosecutor. (Janofsky 6/5/2004)
A reporter asks President Bush in reference to allegations that White House officials leaked the identity of CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson, "[D]o you stand by your pledge to fire anyone found to have done so" (see September 29, 2003)? Bush responds: "Yes. And that's up to the US Attorney to find the facts." (White House 6/10/2004) Bush will later modify his position to say that he would fire anyone convicted of a criminal offense (see July 18, 2005), and will refuse to fire White House political strategist Karl Rove (see July 13, 2005) after he admits to being one of the leakers (see July 10, 2005).
During a speech before the James Madison Institute, a conservative think-tank based in Florida, Vice President Dick Cheney states that Saddam Hussein "had long-established ties with al-Qaeda." (Schneider 6/14/2004)
President Bush repeats the US government claim that al-Qaeda had links to the Saddam Hussein government of Iraq, suggesting that militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the link between the two. "Al-Zarqawi's the best evidence of a connection to al-Qaeda affiliates and al-Qaeda. He's the person who's still killing." (CNN 6/15/2004)
Vice President Dick Cheney, infuriated by the 9/11 Commission's intent to report that no serious connections between Iraq and al-Qaeda ever existed (see July 12, 2004) and the media's acceptance of the same position, decides to launch a media counterattack. His first target is not the Commission itself, but the media, particularly the New York Times, which has just published a front-page article entitled "Panel Finds No Qaeda-Iraq Tie." Cheney's first appearance is on CNBC's Capital Report. Correspondent Gloria Borger notes, "I don't think I've ever seen you… as exercised about something as you seem today." Cheney leads off by calling the Times reporting "outrageous," and accuses the newspaper of manufacturing a division between the administration's claims of a "Qaeda-Iraq tie" and the Commission's report that no such ties ever existed. "There's no conflict," he says. He asserts that "[W]e don't know" if Iraq was involved in 9/11 and adds that no one has "been able to confirm" or "knock… down" the claim that 9/11 plotter Mohamed Atta met with an Iraqi intelligence agent in Prague in April of 2001. Reporters who doubt the connection are "lazy," he says. When Borger notes that Commission investigators have found no evidence to support that allegation, Cheney asserts that he "probably" knows information the 9/11 Commission does not. (CNN 6/18/2004; Shenon 2008, pp. 381-385) A few days later, the Commission says that after asking Cheney for any additional evidence he might have, they stand by their position. Cheney maintains his position as well, but does not turn over any new evidence. (Wallsten and Meyer 7/2/2004; Shenon 2008, pp. 381-385)
White House senior counsel Alberto Gonzales is questioned by the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak. (New York Times 2006) White House press secretary Scott McClellan refuses to discuss what Gonzales may have told the grand jury, saying only, "The judge was pleased to do his part to cooperate" with the investigation. (Schmidt 6/19/2004) A year later, Gonzales will tell Fox News interviewer Brit Hume that he "had no information regarding Ms. Plame [Wilson] and her role at the CIA.… I believe I first learned about it, Brit, at the same time that most Americans did, and that's when the stories began running about her role." Hume will ask, "So, basically, you read about it in the paper?" and Gonzales will reply, "That's correct." (Fox News 7/24/2005) In 2006, the media will learn that Gonzales withheld crucial White House e-mails from the investigation (see February 15, 2006).
Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler is interviewed by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald as part of Fitzgerald's investigation of the Plame Wilson identity leak. Kessler has agreed to give a deposition concerning two of his telephone conversations with Lewis Libby, the chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, on July 12 (see July 12, 2003) and July 18, 2003. Libby and other White House aides have signed waivers releasing Kessler and other journalists from any confidentiality agreements they may have concerning Plame Wilson (see January 2-5, 2004). Kessler tells Fitzgerald that Libby did not mention Plame Wilson or her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, during their conversations. He says that without the waiver he would have refused to testify; Post executive editor Leonard Downie Jr. says the agreement to allow Kessler to be deposed was "reached in a way so that we are not violating any confidential source agreements, and we will never do so willingly." Kessler's deposition takes place in the presence of Post lawyers, at a law office, and not before Fitzgerald's grand jury. (Schmidt 6/23/2004; Marcy Wheeler 2/12/2007)
President Bush is interviewed for over an hour as part of the ongoing investigation into the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003). Bush, who is not sworn in, is interviewed by a team of federal prosecutors led by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald. His lawyer, James Sharp (whom Bush has nicknamed "Shooter"), is also present during questioning (see June 5, 2004). White House press secretary Scott McClellan refuses to divulge any details of what Bush says to his interviewers, only telling reporters: "The leaking of classified information is a very serious matter. The president directed the White House to cooperate fully with those in charge of the investigation. He was pleased to do his part to help the investigation move forward." Fitzgerald has already interviewed Vice President Dick Cheney (see May 8, 2004), and has called several current and former White House officials to testify before a grand jury. He has also subpoenaed a number of records, including White House phone logs. McClellan confirms that the interview with Bush and Sharp lasted about 70 minutes; asked if the White House had set a time limit on the interview, he says it would be "wrong to characterize it that way." Even though Bush does not testify under oath, federal law requires him to be truthful in his statements, and he could be charged with making false statements if prosecutors found he lied or was evasive. (Stevenson and Johnston 6/25/2004; McClellan 2008, pp. 228)
Directly Contradicting Cheney - The media will later learn that Bush says he personally directed Cheney to lead a White House effort to counter allegations made by Plame Wilson's husband, Joseph Wilson, that the White House had manipulated intelligence to make the case for war with Iraq (see March 9, 2003 and After). Bush also admits that he directed Cheney to disclose classified information that would both defend his administration and discredit Wilson. His testimony directly contradicts Cheney's. Bush says he did not know that Cheney had told his then-chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, to covertly leak the classified information to the media instead of releasing it to the public in the usual, overt fashion.
Denies Instructing Subordinates to Leak Plame Wilson Info - He also denies telling anyone to reveal Plame Wilson's CIA status, and says he does not know who in his administration made her CIA status public knowledge. Libby has testified that neither Bush nor Cheney directed him or any other White House official to leak Plame Wilson's identity. According to one senior government official, Bush told Cheney to "Get it out," or "Let's get this out," regarding information that administration officials believed would rebut Wilson's allegations and would discredit him. Another source with direct knowledge of the interview will later say that characterization is consistent with what Bush tells Fitzgerald. Libby told the grand jury that Cheney had told him to "get all the facts out" to defend the administration and besmirch Wilson. (Waas 7/3/2006)
The Senate Intelligence Committee releases the 511-page Senate Report on Iraqi WMD intelligence, formally titled the "Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on the US Intelligence Community's Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq." (US Congress 7/7/2004; CNN 7/9/2004) All nine Republicans and eight Democrats signed off on the report without dissent, which, as reporter Murray Waas will write, is "a rarity for any such report in Washington, especially during an election year." (Waas 10/27/2005)
Report Redacted by White House - About 20 percent of the report was redacted by the White House before its release, over the objections of both Republicans and Democrats on the committee. Some of the redactions include caveats and warnings about the reliability of key CIA informants, one code-named "Red River" and another code-named "Curveball" (see Mid- and Late 2001). The source called "Red River" failed polygraph tests given to him by CIA officers to assess his reliability, but portions of the report detailing these and other caveats were redacted at the behest of Bush administration officials. (Jehl 7/12/2004; Rosenthal 7/18/2004)
Widespread Failures of US Intelligence - The report identifies multiple, widespread failures by the US intelligence community in its gathering and analysis of intelligence about Iraq WMD, which led to gross misunderstandings and misrepresentations about Iraq's WMD programs to the American public by government officials. Committee chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS), who has previously attempted to shift blame for the intelligence misrepresentations away from the Bush administration and onto the CIA (see July 11, 2003 and After), says that intelligence used to support the invasion of Iraq was based on assessments that were "unreasonable and largely unsupported by the available intelligence." He continues: "Before the war, the US intelligence community told the president as well as the Congress and the public that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and if left unchecked would probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade. Today we know these assessments were wrong." Senator John D. Rockefeller (D-WV), the ranking Democrat on the 18-member panel that created the report, says "bad information" was used to bolster the case for war. "We in Congress would not have authorized that war with 75 votes if we knew what we know now," he says (see October 10, 2002). "Leading up to September 11, our government didn't connect the dots. In Iraq, we are even more culpable because the dots themselves never existed." Numerous assertions in an October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE—see October 1, 2002) were "overstated" or "not supported by the raw intelligence reporting," including:
Claims that Iraq was rebuilding its nuclear weapons program;
Claims that Iraq had large stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons;
Claims that Iraq was developing an unmanned aerial vehicle that could be used to deliver chemical and/or biological weapons payloads onto distant targets;
The so-called "layering effect," where "assessments were based on previous judgments, without considering the uncertainties of those judgments" (Roberts calls it an "assumption train");
The failure to explain adequately the uncertainties in the October 2002 NIE to White House officials and Congressional lawmakers;
Reliance on claims by "Curveball," noting that the use of those claims "demonstrated serious lapses in handling such an important source";
Use of "overstated, misleading, or incorrect" information in helping then-Secretary of State Colin Powell present the administration's case to the United Nations in February 2003 (see February 5, 2003); and
The failure of the CIA to share significant intelligence with other agencies. (CNN 7/9/2004; Jones 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004)
"One fact is now clear," Roberts says. "Before the war, the US intelligence community told the president as well as the Congress and the public that Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons, and if left unchecked, would probably have a nuclear weapon during this decade. Well, today we know these assessments were wrong." (Jones 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004) Rockefeller says the intelligence community failed to "accurately or adequately explain the uncertainties behind the judgments in the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate to policymakers." The community's "intelligence failures" will haunt America's national security "for generations to come," he says. "Our credibility is diminished. Our standing in the world has never been lower," he says. "We have fostered a deep hatred of Americans in the Muslim world, and that will grow. As a direct consequence, our nation is more vulnerable today than ever before." (CNN 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004)
'Group Think' and 'Corporate Culture' - Roberts says the report finds that the "flawed" information used to send the nation to war was the result of "what we call a collective group think, which led analysts and collectors and managers to presume that Iraq had active and growing WMD programs." He says this "group think caused the community to interpret ambiguous evidence, such as the procurement of dual-use technology, as conclusive evidence of the existence of WMD programs." Roberts blames "group think" and a "broken corporate culture and poor management," which "cannot be solved by simply adding funding and also personnel." (CNN 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004)
Lack of Human Intelligence in Iraq - Perhaps the most troubling finding, Roberts says, is the intelligence community's near-total lack of human intelligence in Iraq. "Most alarmingly, after 1998 and the exit of the UN inspectors, the CIA had no human intelligence sources inside Iraq who were collecting against the WMD target," he says. (CNN 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004)
No Connection between Iraq, al-Qaeda - Rockefeller says that the administration's claims of an alliance between Iraq's Saddam Hussein and al-Qaeda had no basis in fact: "[N]o evidence existed of Iraq's complicity or assistance in al-Qaeda's terrorist attacks, including 9/11." The report says that intelligence claims of connections between Iraq and some terrorist activities were accurate, though the contacts between al-Qaeda and Iraq from the 1990s "did not add up to an established formal relationship." (CNN 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004)
Divided Opinion on Pressure from Bush Administration - Republicans and Democrats on the committee differ as to whether they believe the CIA and other intelligence agencies groomed or distorted their findings as a result of political pressure from the White House. "The committee found no evidence that the intelligence community's mischaracterization or exaggeration of intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction capabilities was the result of politics or pressure," Roberts says. However, Rockefeller notes that the report fails to explain fully the pressures on the intelligence community "when the most senior officials in the Bush administration had already forcefully and repeatedly stated their conclusions publicly. It was clear to all of us in this room who were watching that—and to many others—that they had made up their mind that they were going to go to war." The analysts were subjected to a "cascade of ominous statements," Rockefeller says, that may have pushed them to slant their analyses in the direction the White House indicated it wanted. The report finds that Vice President Dick Cheney and others who repeatedly visited intelligence agencies (see 2002-Early 2003) pressured intelligence analysts or officials to present particular findings or change their views. However, the report notes repeated instances of analysts exaggerating what they knew, and leaving out, glossing over, or omitting dissenting views. According to the report, the intelligence community released a misleading public version of the October 2002 NIE (see October 4, 2002) that eliminated caveats and dissenting opinions, thus misrepresenting "their judgments to the public which did not have access to the classified National Intelligence Estimate containing the more carefully worded assessments." (CNN 7/9/2004; New York Times 7/9/2004; Jones 7/9/2004) In an interview the evening after the report's release, Rockefeller is asked if the report documents "a failure of a system or is this a failure of a bunch of individuals who just did their jobs poorly?" Rockefeller responds: "This is a failure of a system.… It is not fair to simply dump all of this on the Central Intelligence Agency. The Central Intelligence Agency does not make the decision, and [former Director] George Tenet does not make the decision to go to war. That decision is made at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.… So we went to war under false pretenses, and I think that is a very serious subject for Americans to think about for our future." Asked "if the president had known then what he knows now, he would have still taken us to war?" Rockefeller answers: "I can't answer that question. I just ask—the question I ask is, why isn't he, and maybe he is, why isn't he as angry about his decision, so to speak his vote on this, as I am about mine?" (Lehrer 7/9/2004)
Supporting the Claim of Iraq's Attempt to Purchase Nigerien Uranium - The report states flatly that senior CIA case officer Valerie Plame Wilson made the decision to send her husband, former ambassador Joseph Wilson, to Niger to investigate false claims that Iraq had attempted to purchase uranium from that nation (see February 21, 2002-March 4, 2002). The CIA has demonstrated that Plame Wilson did not make that decision (see February 19, 2002). However, as well as claiming that Plame Wilson sent Wilson to Niger, it claims that Wilson's report, far from disproving the assertion of an attempt by Iraq to purchase uranium, actually bolstered that assertion. The report states that the question of Iraq's attempt to buy Nigerien uranium remains "open." It also says Wilson lied to the Washington Post in June 2004 by claiming that the documents used to support the claim were forgeries (see Between Late 2000 and September 11, 2001, Late September 2001-Early October 2001, October 15, 2001, December 2001, February 5, 2002, February 12, 2002, October 9, 2002, October 15, 2002, January 2003, February 17, 2003, March 7, 2003, March 8, 2003, and 3:09 p.m. July 11, 2003). "Committee staff asked how the former ambassador could have come to the conclusion that the 'dates were wrong and the names were wrong' when he had never seen the CIA reports and had no knowledge of what names and dates were in the reports," the report states. Wilson told committee members he may have been confused and may have "misspoken" to some reporters (see May 2, 2004). The committee did not examine the documents themselves. (Schmidt 7/10/2009) The committee made similar claims a year before (see June 11, 2003 and July 11, 2003 and After). Progressive reporter and columnist Joshua Micah Marshall disputes the report's claim that Wilson's trip to Niger actually helped prove the assertion that Iraq tried to buy Nigerien uranium. The intelligence reports making the assertion are "fruits of the same poison tree" that produced so many other false and misleading claims, Marshall writes, and were based on the assumption that the forged documents were genuine. (Joshua Micah Marshall 7/10/2004) In 2007, Plame Wilson will write, "What was missing from the [committee] report was just as telling as the distortions it contained. The 'Additional Views' section… had concluded" that she was responsible for sending Wilson to Niger. Yet that was contradicted by a senior CIA official over a year before. Plame Wilson will call the "Additional Views" section "a political smear if there ever was one," crammed with "distortions and outright lies. Yet it continues to be cited today by Joe's critics as proof of his lack of credibility." The Wilsons learn months later that committee Democrats decided not to fight against the attacks on Wilson's integrity; according to one of the senior Democratic senators on the panel, there was simply too much "incoming" from the Republicans for them to fight every issue. There were "far too many serious substantial disputes" that needed solving, and the Democrats chose to allow the attacks on Wilson to proceed without comment. (Wilson 2007, pp. 187-190)
Portion of the Report Delayed - Roberts and other Republican majority committee members were successful in blocking Democrats' attempts to complete the second portion of the report, which delineates the Bush administration's use of the intelligence findings. That report will not be released until after the November 2004 presidential election. Rockefeller says he feels "genuine frustration… that virtually everything that has to do with the administration" has been "relegated to phase two" and will be discussed at another time. The second part of the committee's investigation will focus on the "interaction or the pressure or the shaping of intelligence" by the Bush administration, Rockefeller says. "It was clear to all of us that the Bush administration had made up its mind to go to war," he says, and he believes that such a "predetermination" influenced the intelligence community. Representative Jane Harman (D-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, says she hopes a similar House investigation would address some of those issues. However, she notes, she has been stymied by House Republicans in even launching that investigation. "There has not been the cooperation that there apparently has been on the Senate side," she says. She has just now managed to wangle a meeting with House Intelligence Committee chairman Porter Goss (R-FL), who is being touted as the next director of the CIA (see September 24, 2004). Harman says, "I would hope we could address [the issues] factually and on a bipartisan basis, but at the moment I don't have a lot of confidence in it." (CNN 7/9/2004; Jones 7/9/2004) Roberts's spokeswoman Sarah Little later says that the committee has not yet decided whether the second portion of the report will be fully classified, declassified, or even if it will hold hearings. (Waas 10/27/2005)
Cheney, Roberts Colluded in Interfering with Report - Over a year later, the media will find that Roberts allowed Cheney and members of his staff to interfere with the committee's investigation and dramatically limit its scope (see October 27, 2005). Rockefeller will say that he made three separate requests for White House documents during the committee's investigation, but never received the documents he asked for. "The fact is," Rockefeller will say, "that throughout the Iraq investigation any line of questioning that brought us too close to the White House was thwarted." Rockefeller's spokesperson, Wendy Morigi, will say that Rockefeller will "sadly come to the conclusion that the Intelligence Committee is not capable of doing the job of investigating the fundamental question as to whether the administration has misused intelligence to go to war." (Waas and Singer 10/30/2005) Plame Wilson will write: "In the coming months, many reliable sources told us that before the report was issued, there was considerable collusion between the vice president's office and… Roberts on how to craft the report and its content. So much for checks and balances and the separation of powers." (Wilson 2007, pp. 192)
Author Clifford May, a former Republican National Committee staffer and a well-known television pundit, lambasts former ambassador Joseph Wilson's new book, The Politics of Truth (see April 2004). May, who has written derisively about Wilson before (see September 29, 2003), opens by accusing Wilson of publishing a "quickie book sporting his dapper self on the cover" that contains little substance and is based largely on "a wet-kiss profile in Vanity Fair." He derides Wilson's lengthy experience as a diplomat (see July 31, 1990, August 1-2, 1990, August 6, 1990, August 8-9, 1990, September 20, 1990, and January 12, 1991) by calling him "the guy who makes sure the embassy plumbing is working and that the commissary is stocked with Oreos and other products the ambassador prefers." Most notably, May comes to the conclusion that Wilson himself, and not the White House, outed his wife Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA agent, a conclusion he says was reached by a "bipartisan Senate committee report." May is referring to the recent report by the Senate Intelligence Committee (see July 9, 2004). He repeats many of the committee's erroneous assertions, including the allegation that Wilson's wife was responsible for the decision to send Wilson to Niger (see February 19, 2002, July 22, 2003, and October 17, 2003). In regards to President Bush's State of the Union assertion that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003), May writes, "We now know for certain that Wilson was wrong and that Bush's statement was entirely accurate." He goes on to assert that the forged documents used to support the Iraq-Niger uranium story were likely "planted in order to be discovered—as a ruse to discredit the story of a Niger-Iraq link, to persuade people there were no grounds for the charge. If that was the plan, it worked like a charm." May even says that Wilson's report bolstered the belief that the uranium story might be true. He repeats his earlier charges that Wilson is an incompetent partisan whom the CIA had no business sending to Niger in the first place. He never explains exactly how Wilson outed his own wife as a CIA agent, though he does assert, wrongly, that Plame Wilson was never an undercover agent (see Fall 1992 - 1996) and therefore no one broke the law in revealing her status as a CIA official. (May 7/12/2004) In 2004, Wilson will write of May's assertion that his wife's CIA status "was supposedly widely known" throughout Washington, "[I]f what May wrote was accurate, it is a damning admission, because it could have been widely known only by virtue of leaks among his own crowd." (Wilson 2004, pp. 443-444)
While reviewing reports from Iraq, senior CIA case officer and WMD expert Valerie Plame Wilson admits a fellow CIA officer into her office. In 2007, Plame Wilson will recall: "His round face was flushed and his eyes, behind glasses, looked close to tears. I had worked with him for the last two years, through many stressful days, and I had never seen him so emotional or distressed." After she closes the door, he says tightly, "They twisted my testimony." Plame Wilson is not sure what he is talking about. "I recommended Joe for the trip, don't you remember?" he continues. "I told the committee this, but they didn't include it in the report." Plame Wilson realizes that the officer is talking about the recently released report from the intelligence committee on the prewar intelligence used to justify the Iraq invasion (see July 9, 2004), and referring to her husband, Joseph Wilson. She will write: "So when… the reports officer came to my office a day after the [committee] report came out, he confirmed what I had felt to be true—that I had not suggested Joe at all—but was afraid to voice without knowing for sure. He also reminded me of how the phone call to [another CIA officer] had started this chain of events (see February 13, 2002). A wave of apprehension swept over me. I wanted to urge my colleague to come forward again with the truth, but I couldn't tell him what to do—it would be witness tampering." (Wilson 2007, pp. 192-193)
Conservative columnist Robert Novak, who outed Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA status in a column a year earlier (see July 14, 2003), regarding the recently released Senate Intelligence Committee report on the administration's use of intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq (see July 9, 2004), observes that its "most remarkable aspect… is what its Democratic members did not say." Novak claims that committee Democrats do not dispute that Iraq tried to discuss purchasing yellowcake uranium from Niger. They did not agree to the report's conclusion that Plame Wilson suggested her husband, Joseph Wilson, for a fact-finding mission to Niger, a conclusion that is false (see February 19, 2002, July 22, 2003, October 17, 2003, and Mid-July, 2004), but neither did they defend Wilson's denials of his wife's involvement. Novak writes: "According to committee sources, Roberts felt Wilson had been such a 'cause celebre' for Democrats that they could not face the facts about him.… Now, for Intelligence Committee Democrats, it is as though the Niger question and Joe Wilson have vanished from the earth." (Novak 7/15/2004)
Secretary of State Colin Powell testifies before the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher will confirm Powell's testimony in early August after Newsweek reports on it. No details are made public about Powell's testimony; Boucher will merely say that Powell was "pleased to cooperate with the grand jury," and that Powell is not personally the subject of its inquiry. Newsweek will report that the jury is interested in Powell's July 2003 trip to Africa with President Bush, and his possession of a State Department memo discussing the Iraq-Niger uranium claim and Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA status (see June 10, 2003 and July 7, 2003). Boucher will say, "As grand jury matters are secret, any further questions must be referred to the Department of Justice." (Washington Post 8/4/2004)
The Wall Street Journal publishes an op-ed declaring that since the Senate Intelligence Committee has "exposed" former ambassor Joseph Wilson's "falsehoods" about his trip to Niger to explore the allegations that Iraq tried to purchase uranium from Niger (see July 9, 2004), it is time for Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald to "close up shop" and stop his investigation into who outed Wilson's wife, CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson. The Journal declares that if "an administration official cited nepotism truthfully in order to explain the oddity of Mr. Wilson's selection for the Niger mission, then there was no underlying crime" in outing Plame Wilson. "[T]he entire leak probe now looks like a familiar Beltway case of criminalizing political differences. Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald should fold up his tent." The Journal also repeats the baseless conclusion of the Republican authors of the committee report that stated Wilson's findings in Niger actually provided "some confirmation" of the Iraq-Niger deal. (Wall Street Journal 7/20/2004) In 2007, Plame Wilson will write that she is in her CIA office when she reads the op-ed. She recalls realizing that the entire thrust of the attempt to smear her husband is "to derail the leak investigation, which was sniffing dangerously close to the White House. Now I understood the ferocity of the attacks on Joe." (Wilson 2007, pp. 192)
Bill Gertz, a columnist for the conservative Washington Times, writes that CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson's identity was compromised twice before it was publicly exposed by conservative columnist Robert Novak (see July 14, 2003). If true, neither exposure was made publicly, as Novak's was. Anonymous government officials told Gertz that Plame Wilson's identity was disclosed to Russian intelligence agents in the mid-1990s. Her identity was again revealed in what Gertz calls "a more recent inadvertent disclosure," references identifying Plame Wilson as a CIA official in confidential documents sent by the agency to the US interests section of the Swiss Embassy in Havana. The anonymous officials told Gertz that Cuban officials read the documents and could have learned of Plame Wilson's CIA status. The officials did not state when the alleged Cuban exposure took place. "The law says that to be covered by the act the intelligence community has to take steps to affirmatively protect someone's cover," one official told Gertz. "In this case, the CIA failed to do that." Another official told Gertz that the compromises before the news column were not publicized and thus should not affect the investigation of Plame Wilson's exposure. (Getz 7/22/2004)
White House political strategist Karl Rove denies leaking CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson's name to the press. Rove is lying (see July 8, 2003, July 8 or 9, 2003, 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003), though his words are carefully chosen to be technically accurate. At the Republican convention nominating George W. Bush as the party's presidential candidate, Rove tells a CNN reporter: "I didn't know her name and didn't leak her name. This is at the Justice Department. I'm confident that the US Attorney, the prosecutor who's involved in looking at this is going to do a very thorough job of doing a very substantial and conclusive investigation." Rove is correct in saying he did not tell reporters Plame Wilson's name, but he identified her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph Wilson, making it easy for reporters to find her name for themselves. (CNN 7/5/2005; Raw Story 7/7/2005)
Western intelligence officials say that a French intelligence operation to protect Niger's uranium industry and to prevent weapons proliferation is the inadvertent cause of the forged documents alleging a surreptitious attempt by Iraq to procure uranium from Niger. The operation began in 1999, the officials say. In 2000, French intelligence officials received documents from Italian information peddler Rocco Martino, a source they had used before, that indicated Iraq wanted to expand economic "trade" with Niger. The intelligence officials assumed Iraq wanted to trade for uranium, Niger's main export. Alarmed, the French asked Martino to provide more information, which, the Financial Times reports, "led to a flourishing 'market' in documents." The next documents Martino provided to the French were forgeries, later exposed as such by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (see March 7, 2003). The US, which used the documents to support President Bush's claim that Iraq had attempted to buy uranium from Niger in his 2003 State of the Union address (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003), later disavowed the claim; the British have yet to do so, insisting that they have other evidence showing the truth behind the allegations. Martino recently confirmed that the documents originated from contacts provided to him by Italian intelligence (see Late July, 2004). A Western intelligence official says: "This issue shows how vulnerable intelligence services and the media are to tricksters like Martino. He responded to a legitimate… demand from the French, who needed the information on Niger. And now he is responding to a new demand in the market, which is being dictated by the political importance this issue has in the US. He is shaping his story to that demand." (Huband 8/2/2004)
Time reporter Matthew Cooper, facing a subpoena to testify before the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak (see May 21, 2004), discusses the matter with White House official Lewis Libby. According to an affidavit later filed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Cooper tells Libby that his "recollection of events [referring to their conversation in which Libby outed Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA official—see 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003) is basically exculpatory, and asked Libby if Libby objected to Cooper testifying." Libby indicates he has no objections, and suggests their attorneys should discuss the issue. (US District Court for the District of Columbia 6/29/2007 ) Presumably, this is to determine whether Libby will agree to grant Cooper a waiver of confidentiality that would allow him to testify about their conversation.
NBC reporter Tim Russert, host of its flagship Sunday morning political talk show Meet the Press, testifies to FBI investigators probing the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003). He is deposed under oath and is audiotaped, but is not compelled to testify directly to the grand jury investigating the leak. According to an NBC statement, Russert is interviewed under oath, and testifies that he was the recipient of a leak; NBC will later claim that the interview was allowed as part of an agreement to avoid a protracted court fight. Russert is not asked to disclose a confidential source. "The questioning focused on what Russert said when Lewis (Scooter) Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, phoned him last summer" (see July 10 or 11, 2003), the statement reads. "Russert told the special prosecutor that at the time of the conversation he didn't know Plame's name or that she was a CIA operative and did not provide that information to Libby." (Office of Special Counsel 7/27/2004 ; Liptak 8/10/2004; Associated Press 8/11/2004) Neither did Libby disclose Plame Wilson's identity to him, Russert testifies. Russert and NBC News initially resisted the subpoena on First Amendment grounds, but relented after prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald agreed not to compel Russert to appear before the grand jury, or to disclose confidential sources or information. (Schmidt and Leonnig 8/10/2004) Russert has already talked informally with John Eckenrode, the FBI investigator overseeing the day-to-day investigation duties (see November 24, 2003). He told Eckenrode that Libby's claim of learning Plame Wilson's identity from him was false, and that he and Libby never discussed Plame Wilson at all. (Waas 2/15/2007) Libby's claim that he learned of Plame Wilson's identity from Russert will lead to perjury charges (see October 28, 2005).
In a statement, NBC News confirms that its Washington bureau chief, Tim Russert, has testified in the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see August 7, 2004). NBC reaffirms that Russert was not a recipient of Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA identity, and says he was asked "limited questions" by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that did not breach any confidentiality agreements he had with any sources. NBC says Russert testified that he first learned of Plame Wilson's identity when he read Robert Novak's column exposing her as a CIA official (see July 14, 2003). It acknowledges that Russert only testified after choosing not to wage a court battle over his subpoena to testify in the investigation (see May 21, 2004). (NBC News 8/9/2004 )
The grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity (see December 30, 2003) subpoenas New York Times reporter Judith Miller to testify. The Times says it will fight the subpoena. (US District Court for the District of Columbia 8/12/2004 ; Washington Post 7/3/2007)
Unusual Negotiations between Lawyers - The subpoena will open a lengthy and sometimes puzzling set of negotiations between lawyers for Miller and her source, White House aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Miller refuses to divulge the identity of her source or the contents of their conversations (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, and Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003). But she sends her lawyer, Floyd Abrams, to talk to Libby's lawyer, Joseph Tate, to see if Libby will approve of her testimony. According to Abrams and others involved in the negotiations, Tate initially tells Abrams that Miller is free to testify. However, Abrams will say, Tate says that Libby never told Miller the name or the undercover status of Plame Wilson. This raises a conflict for Miller: her notes clearly indicate that she was told three times about Plame Wilson's identity. If she testifies, she will contradict Libby's own accounts of their conversations.
Libby Attempting to Influence Miller? - Miller decides that Libby is sending her a signal not to testify. She will later recalls Abrams's recounting of his conversation with Tate: "He was pressing about what you would say. When I wouldn't give him an assurance that you would exonerate Libby, if you were to cooperate, he then immediately gave me this, 'Don't go there, or, we don't want you there.'" Abrams himself will recall: "On more than one occasion, Mr. Tate asked me for a recitation of what Ms. Miller would say. I did not provide one." (Tate will angrily dispute both Abrams's and Miller's recollections, saying: "I never once suggested that she should not testify. It was just the opposite. I told Mr. Abrams that the waiver was voluntary.… 'Don't go there' or 'We don't want you there' is not something I said, would say, or ever implied or suggested.") Miller's executive editor, Bill Keller, will later say that Miller believed Libby feared her testimony. "Judy believed Libby was afraid of her testimony," he will recall. "She thought Libby had reason to be afraid of her testimony." Because of these reasons, Miller will decide not to further pursue the idea of a waiver from Libby that would allow her to testify about their conversations. For over a year, the two sides do not speak to one another. "I interpreted the silence as, 'Don't testify,'" Miller will later say. Tate will counter that he never understood why Miller or Abrams wanted to discuss the matter further. (van Natta, Liptak, and Levy 10/16/2005)
McClellan: Fighting to Protect Partisan Government Leakers - In 2008, one-time White House press secretary Scott McClellan will write of Miller and fellow journalist Matthew Cooper, also battling a subpoena (see August 9, 2004): "Of course, there was a curious twist to the defense used by Cooper and Miller. By refusing to divulge the names of their sources in the leak case, the two reporters were not protecting courageous whistle-blowers revealing government wrongdoing in the public interest. Rather, they were shielding government officials whom administration critics believed had used leaks as weapons of partisan warfare. It was hard for some in the public, and especially those critical of the administration, to see this as an act of journalism.… This episode… seemed to confirm for at least some administration critics that reporters were no longer heroic figures, but were now participating in the same partisan warfare they created." (McClellan 2008, pp. 256)
Former ambassador Joseph Wilson, under fire for his 2002 findings that there was no truth to the reports that Iraq had tried to buy uranium from Niger (see Between Late 2000 and September 11, 2001, Late September 2001-Early October 2001, October 15, 2001, December 2001, February 5, 2002, February 12, 2002, October 9, 2002, October 15, 2002, January 2003, February 17, 2003, March 7, 2003, March 8, 2003, and 3:09 p.m. July 11, 2003), speaks at several events arranged by his literary agent in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. He and his wife are disappointed that many invitees decline to come based on the recent smear campaign against him—his wife, Valerie Plame Wilson, will write in 2007, "[I]t suddenly struck me that we had officially become pariahs"—but some do attend Wilson's short, impassioned presentations. At a book signing at a local library, Wilson asks the attendees if anyone knows who put the infamous "sixteen words" into President Bush's State of the Union address (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003). No one raises a hand. He then asks if anyone does not know the name of his wife. Again, no hands. Wilson asks: "What's wrong with this picture? Nobody knows who put a lie in the president's mouth, yet everybody knows the name of a covert CIA officer simply because she is married to a man who had the temerity to challenge the administration." (Wilson 2007, pp. 196-199)
Time reporter Matthew Cooper, facing jail time for refusing to honor a subpoena issued by the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson CIA identity leak (see August 9, 2004), agrees to make a deposition after his source, vice-presidential chief of staff Lewis Libby, releases him from a confidentiality pledge (see August 5, 2004). (Washington Post 7/3/2007; Washington Post 7/3/2007) Following Cooper's agreement to testify, contempt charges against him are dismissed. (PBS 8/24/2004; Leonnig 8/25/2004) Time managing editor Jim Kelly will later say: "Matt would have gone to jail if Libby didn't waive his right to confidentiality… and we would have fought all the way to the Supreme Court. Matt has been absolutely steadfast in his desire to protect anonymous sources." (Leonnig 8/25/2004) In the deposition, Cooper describes a conversation he had with Libby concerning Plame Wilson's identity. Cooper will later describe his conversation in an article for Time that will recount his deposition as well as his July 2005 grand jury testimony (see July 13, 2005). According to Cooper, the conversation with Libby was originally on the record, but "moved to background." On the record, Libby denied that Vice President Cheney knew about, or played any role in, sending Joseph Wilson to Niger (see (February 13, 2002)). On background, Cooper asked Libby if he had heard anything about Wilson's wife sending her husband to Niger. Libby replied, "Yeah, I've heard that too," or something similar. Cooper says that Libby did not use Plame Wilson's name. Nor did he indicate that he had learned her name from other reporters, as Libby has claimed (see March 5, 2004, March 24, 2004, and July 10 or 11, 2003). (US District Court for the District of Columbia 9/27/2004 ; Liptak 7/10/2005; Cooper 7/17/2005) Under an agreement with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Cooper is not asked about any other source besides Libby. (US District Court for the District of Columbia 9/27/2004 )
Special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak, files a motion with the court opposing the attempts to quash his subpoenas to reporters Judith Miller (see August 12, 2004 and After) and Walter Pincus (see 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003 and August 9, 2004). He argues that their testimony is vital to his investigation and that his questions will be limited in scope to preserve source confidentiality whenever possible. Fitzgerald's affidavit contains detailed information about the previous grand jury testimony of former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (see June 10, 2004). (US District Court for the District of Columbia 9/27/2004 ) Days after Fitzgerald files his motion, Fleischer will again be interviewed by the FBI with regards to his knowledge and actions surrounding the Plame Wilson identity leak (see September 2004).
Sometime during this month, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer testifies a third time to FBI agents as part of the Justice Department's invesigation into the Plame Wilson identity leak (see February 13, 2004 and June 10, 2004). (In his 2007 testimony in the Lewis Libby perjury trial, Fleischer will claim to have been interviewed three times: January 2004, February 2004, and September 2004. At that time, it will be unclear whether Fleischer is misremembering the dates of his interviews or if there is another reason why his dates do not jibe with the facts.) (Marcy Wheeler 1/29/2009)
Judge Thomas Hogan denies an appeal from New York Times reporter Judith Miller asking that a subpoena for her to testify in the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation be quashed (see August 12, 2004 and After). Hogan writes that Miller must describe any conversations she had with "a specified executive branch official." (Harper 9/2004; US District Court for the District of Columbia 9/9/2004 ) Presumably, the person is former White House official Lewis Libby.
Time reporter Matthew Cooper, already having submitted a deposition in the Valerie Plame Wilson CIA identity leak investigation (see August 9, 2004 and August 24, 2004), is subpoenaed again to provide further information. Time and Cooper will appeal the subpoena. (United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 12/8/2004 ; Washington Post 7/3/2007)
Columnist Robert Novak, who publicly outed CIA official Valerie Plame Wilson over a year ago (see July 14, 2003), testifies for a third time to FBI agents conducting an investigation into the Plame Wilson identity leak. Novak has already testified to the FBI concerning his sources for the information on Plame Wilson's CIA status (see October 7, 2003 and February 5, 2004). According to an affidavit subsequently filed by special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald, Novak is testifying to clarify and add information to his earlier testimony regarding his conversations about Plame Wilson with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage (see October 1, 2003). (US District Court for the District of Columbia 9/27/2004 )
Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus testifies before the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003 and August 9, 2004). Pincus refuses to divulge confidential sources, and refuses to divulge the name of the White House official who told him of Plame Wilson's identity as a CIA agent. He does, however, recount the substance of that conversation. (Associated Press 9/17/2004; New York Times 2006) In his deposition, Pincus says he agreed to be questioned by prosecutors only with his source's approval. "I understand that my source has already spoken to the special prosecutor about our conversation on July 12, and that the special prosecutor has dropped his demand that I reveal my source," Pincus says. "Even so, I will not testify about his or her identity." (Schmidt 9/16/2004; Associated Press 9/17/2004) "The source has not discharged us from the confidentiality pledge," says the Post's executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr. (Schmidt 9/16/2004) Pincus will later describe why he agreed to testify instead of go to jail to protect his sources. "I believed firmly that the sources controlled the privilege," he will say. One of his sources had told Pincus, through lawyers, that since he had revealed his own identity, Pincus could testify but not name him publicly. Pincus will later say, "If their identity was known to [special prosecutor] Patrick Fitzgerald, what confidence was I breaking?" He agreed to testify if he could name his source in court, but protect the source's identity publicly. Fellow reporter Lowell Bergman will later call it "a cute deal." When Newsweek senior editor Jonathan Alter asks Bergman, "Can't you make an argument that this was the pragmatic tactic to take?" Bergman will respond, "It is until you are the next reporter subpoenaed and you have no protection." (Brenner 4/2006) Pincus's source will later be revealed as former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (see 1:26 p.m. July 12, 2003).
The New York Times reports on the recent issuance of a new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq by the US intelligence community. It is the first NIE to be issued since before the invasion (see October 1, 2002). The report was leaked to the Times by unnamed government officials.
Civil War a Strong Possibility - The NIE's findings are grim. Civil war is a strong possibility, the NIE finds. Even the best-case scenario is an Iraq whose political, economic, and national security stability is tenuous and fragile. One government official says of the report, "There's a significant amount of pessimism." This NIE was initiated by the National Intelligence Council under the aegis of then-CIA Director George Tenet, who has since resigned. Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin approved the final report. The NIE stands in contrast to recent pronouncements by White House officials, who have insisted that the situation in Iraq is improving daily.
Critics 'Pessimists and Hand-Wringers' - The day before the NIE was released, White House press secretary Scott McClellan called critics of the occupation "pessimists and hand-wringers" who are being "proven… wrong." (Jehl 9/16/2004)
White House Ignores NIE - The NIE was prepared in July 2004 and not circulated until August, indicating that the White House had little use for the document. "It was finished in July, and not circulated by the intelligence community until the end of August," one senior administration official says. "That's not exactly what you do with an urgent document." (Jehl and Sanger 9/28/2004)
This NIE Closer to CIA's Own Assessments than Earlier Report - Senior CIA analyst Paul Pillar will later say that the agency's own prewar assessments "foretold a long, difficult, and turbulent transition," assessments more in line with the current NIE than with the 2002 estimate (see January 2003 and September 28, 2004). "It projected that a Marshall Plan-type effort would be required to restore the Iraqi economy, despite Iraq's abundant oil resources. It forecast that in a deeply divided Iraqi society, with Sunnis resentful over the loss of their dominant position and Shi'ites seeking power commensurate with their majority status, there was a significant chance that the groups would engage in violent conflict unless an occupying power prevented it. And it anticipated that a foreign occupying force would itself be the target of resentment and attacks—including by guerrilla warfare—unless it established security and put Iraq on the road to prosperity in the few weeks or months after the fall of Saddam" Hussein. The NIE, and the White House's blase response to it (see September 21-23, 2004), will deepen the tension and distrust between the White House and the CIA. (Roberts 2008, pp. 153, 244)
Responding to the leaked National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) warning of a possible civil war in Iraq (see September 16, 2004), President Bush dismisses the report, saying the CIA in particular is "just guessing" about conditions in that country. Bush says that the report provides "several scenarios that said, life could be lousy, life could be okay, or life could be better, and they were just guessing as to what the conditions might be like." Two days later, after senior CIA official Paul Pillar and others lambast Bush for his cavalier dismissal of the report, Bush backs away from his original description, calling it "unfortunate" and saying he should have used the word "estimate" rather than "guess." The entire imbroglio prompts conservative columnist Robert Novak to write that the White House and the CIA "are at war with each other." (Jehl and Sanger 9/28/2004; Roberts 2008, pp. 153) Novak also blasts Pillar and other intelligence officials for daring to criticize the Bush administration. (Jehl and Sanger 9/28/2004)
Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage testifies for a second time before the grand jury investigating the Plame Wilson identity leak. Armitage has testified to the grand jury before, but information on that testimony will be redacted from publicly available court documents. Armitage was interviewed by FBI agents almost a year before today's grand jury appearance (see October 1, 2003 and October 2, 2003). In today's appearance, Armitage denies discussing Valerie Plame Wilson with any reporter other than columnist Robert Novak (see July 14, 2003 and September 14, 2004). (US District Court for the District of Columbia 9/27/2004 ) Armitage is lying; he informed Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward of Plame Wilson's identity in June 2003 (see June 13, 2003).
During a broadcast of CNN's The Capital Gang, conservative columnist Robert Novak weighs in on the controversy surrounding a recent CBS story on George W. Bush's National Guard service. The story relied on documents whose authenticity has been questioned. Novak says: "I'd like CBS, at this point, to say where they got those documents from.… I think they should say where they got these documents because I thought it was a very poor job of reporting by CBS." Novak's colleague, liberal Al Hunt, retorts: "Robert Novak, you're saying CBS should reveal its source?… You think reporters ought to reveal sources?" Novak, tardily understanding where Hunt is going, backtracks: "No, no, wait a minute. I'm just saying in that case." Novak has yet to publicly reveal his sources for his outing of CIA case officer Valerie Plame Wilson (see July 14, 2003). Other reporters who were given Plame Wilson's name, including the New York Times's Judith Miller (see June 23, 2003) and Time's Matthew Cooper (see September 13, 2004), have disclosed their negotiations with special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald over revealing information to his grand jury, but Novak has said nothing on the subject. (Hunt later confirms that, like the vast majority of the Washington pundit corps, he has refrained from asking Novak about the issue, because Novak is "a close friend… it's uncomfortable.") Democratic strategist Paul Begala, who spars regularly with Novak on CNN, concurs: "Look, he's a friend of mine. I know that he can't talk about it. I respect that fact, so I don't bring it up." (Sullivan 12/2004) Novak has spoken with the FBI and with investigators for Fitzgerald three times (see October 7, 2003, February 5, 2004, and September 14, 2004).
The conservative lobbying and advocacy group Citizens United (CU) releases a documentary intended as a refutation of the popular documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11 (see June 25, 2004), a film by liberal documentarian Michael Moore that savaged the Bush administration's handling of the 9/11 attacks. The CU film is entitled Celsius 41.11—The Temperature at Which the Brain Begins to Die. CU spent six weeks making the film, and is releasing it in small venues around the nation after the Federal Election Commission (FEC) denied the organization permission to broadcast it on television (see September 8, 2004). (In August, the FEC dismissed a complaint against Moore over Fahrenheit 9/11 filed by CU—see August 6, 2004.) The slogan for the movie is "The Truth Behind the Lies of Fahrenheit 9/11!" The movie was written and produced by Lionel Chetwynd, who has written and produced a number of Hollywood feature films and documentaries. Chetwynd, a vocal conservative, produced the September 2003 "docudrama" 9/11: Time of Crisis, which portrayed President Bush as a near-action hero during and after the 9/11 attacks, and took significant liberties with the actual events (see September 7, 2003). Of this film, Chetwynd says: "We could have gone wall to wall with red meat on this, but we purposely didn't. The cheap shots may be entertaining in Moore's film, but we wanted to make the intellectual case and go beyond lecturing to the converted." New York Times reporter John Tierney describes the movie as overtly intellectual, sometimes appearing more as a PowerPoint presentation than a film made to appeal to a wider audience. It features a point-by-point defense of Bush's actions during the 9/11 attacks, and features "politicians, journalists, and scholars discoursing on the legality of the Florida recount in 2000, the Clinton administration's record on fighting terrorism, and the theory of American exceptionalism." There are a few "red meat" moments, Tierney notes, including the juxtaposition of the Twin Towers burning as Moore says in a voiceover, "There is no terrorist threat." It also includes a few slaps against Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (D-MA), mostly in the form of a country song where the singer Larry Gatlin sings, "John boy, please tell us which way the wind's blowing," a reference to the Bush campaign's attempt to portray Kerry as a "flip-flopper" who goes back and forth in his views on various issues. The Georgetown premiere of the movie attracts some 300 viewers, almost all Republicans, according to Tierney. The audience, according to Tierney, views the film as more "thoughtful and accurate" than Moore's film, and unlikely to make anywhere near the profits the earlier film garnered. Chetwynd says he resisted the temptation to launch an all-out assault on Kerry "the way that Moore did with Bush." Filmgoer Jerome Corsi, who has written a bestselling book attacking Kerry's Vietnam record, praises the film, as does Debra Burlingame, whose brother was the pilot of the airplane that was flown into the Pentagon on the morning of September 11, 2001 (see 8:51 a.m.-8:54 a.m. September 11, 2001). Burlingame, a founder of a group of 9/11 victim relatives that supports Bush, says: "Michael Moore actually used footage of the Pentagon in flames as a sight gag. It was really hard to sit there in the theater listening to people laugh at that scene knowing my brother was on that plane. I wish more people would see this film instead." (Tierney 9/30/2004) In October, the Washington Post's Philip Kennicott will dismiss the film as "generat[ing] heat but no new light," calling it "sad in a sad sort of way… dull, lazy, and inconsistent," and suffused with an "unabashed idolatry of the Great Leader (in this case, George W. Bush)" in the same way that Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl made her documentaries (he wonders, "Has the conservative worldview really been reduced to a slavish worship of authority?"). Kennicott will ask if the film is an attempt to refute Moore's documentary or an "overlong attack ad on John Kerry," and concludes that the film is little more than a combination of "dreadful political advertisements and dreadful political talk shows." (Kennicott 10/22/2004) TV Guide's Maitland McDonagh will call the film a "shrill, repetitive screed" obviously released just in time to influence the 2004 presidential election, and bearing "all the hallmarks of having been thrown together in a heated rush." (McDonagh 10/2004)
Days after the New York Times receives leaked information about the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq (see September 16, 2004), two more classified intelligence summaries are also leaked to the Times, both supporting the assessment that civil war is increasingly likely in Iraq. The reports date from 2003, and predicted that a US invasion would bolster Islamist radicals and precipitate violent internal conflicts (see January 2003). (Jehl and Sanger 9/28/2004; Roberts 2008, pp. 153)
CBS News president Andrew Heyward refuses to air a scheduled segment of 60 Minutes II that probes the allegations of the Bush administration deliberately using forged documents to bolster its claim that Iraq attempted to purchase uranium from Niger (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003)). In a statement, the network says it would be "inappropriate to air the report so close to the presidential election." The network also decides not to run the piece because it has admitted to using questionable documents in a recent segment showing that President Bush received preferential treatment in joining the Texas Air National Guard during the height of the Vietnam War, and shirked his Guard duties thereafter without consequence. CBS had a team of correspondents and consulting reporters working for six months on the segment, and landed the first-ever on-camera interview with Italian journalist Elisabetta Burba, the first reporter to see the forged documents that formed the basis of the uranium allegations. (The CBS reporters also interviewed Burba's source, information peddler Rocco Martino, but chose not to air any of that footage, and do not disclose Martino's identity in the piece. Neither does the segment explore why the FBI has so far been reluctant to interview Martino in its investigation of the fraudulent uranium allegations.) The segment is later described by Newsweek journalists Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball as a hard-hitting investigative piece that "ask[s] tough questions about how the White House came to embrace the fraudulent documents and why administration officials chose to include a 16-word reference to the questionable uranium purchase in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech" (see Mid-January 2003 and 9:01 pm January 28, 2003), and by Salon reporter Mary Jacoby as "making a powerful case that in trying to build support for the Iraq war, the Bush administration either knowingly deceived the American people about Saddam Hussein's nuclear capabilities or was grossly credulous.… The report contains little new information, but it is powerfully, coherently, and credibly reported." One of the central aspects of the segment is anchor Ed Bradley's interview with Dr. Jafar Dhia Jafar, the former chief of Iraq's nuclear program. Jafar confirms to Bradley that Iraq had dismantled its nuclear program after the Gulf War in the face of United Nations inspections. "So what was going on?" Bradley asks. "Nothing was going on," Jafar replies. He says the Bush administration was either "being fed with the wrong information" or "they were doing this deliberately." Another powerful moment is a clip from a German interview with the former foreign minister of Niger, Allele Habibou, whose signature appears on one of the forged documents. The document was dated 2000, but Habibou had been out of the government for 11 years by that point. "I only found out about this when my grandchildren found this on the Internet. I was shocked," he says. The story is twice as long as the usual 15-minute segments broadcast on the show. Bradley, who narrates the report, is reportedly furious at the decision not to broadcast the segment. Jacoby concludes, "60 Minutes defied the White House to produce this report. But it could not survive the network's cowardice—cowardice born of self-inflicted wounds." (Isikoff and Hosenball 9/23/2004; Jacoby 9/29/2004) The story will finally run on 60 Minutes almost two years later (see April 23, 2006).
Brent Scowcroft, the foreign policy adviser who has increasingly become a figure of ridicule inside the administration (see March 8, 2003), is dismissed from the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. Though Scowcroft is one of the most respected policy experts in Washington, and one of George H. W. Bush's closest friends and colleagues, President Bush does not do him the courtesy of speaking to him personally about his dismissal. (Unger 2007, pp. 326)
The fractious and contentious relationship between the White House and the CIA, never good since planning began for the Iraq war (see January 2003), has boiled over into the public eye in recent days, according to a New York Times report. James Pavitt, the former head of the CIA's Clandestine Service, says he has never seen anything approaching "the viciousness and vindictiveness" of the relationship between the White House and the CIA. In recent days, numerous classified assessments have been leaked to the press by people sympathetic to the CIA (see September 16, 2004, September 28, 2004, and October 4, 2004), "to the considerable embarrassment of the White House." The White House, in turn, has called the authors of the assessments "pessimists and naysayers," and dismissed a recent National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq as based on guesswork (see September 21-23, 2004). Some Republican partisans claim that the CIA is waging an "insurgency" or "vendetta" against the White House, an idea that both White House and CIA officials officially reject. "Wars bring things out in people that sometimes other disputes don't," says James Woolsey, a neoconservative and former CIA director who is a strong supporter of the administration's Iraq and terrorism policies. "But even with the passions of war, I think you ought to keep it within channels." Another former intelligence official is more critical of the agency: "The agency's role is to tell the administration what it thinks, not to criticize its policies." CIA defenders say it is important to set the record straight by revealing the agency's warnings about the possible dire consequences of an Iraq occupation, warnings which the White House either ignored or mocked. "There was nothing in the intelligence that was a casus belli for war," Pavitt says, noting that while the CIA might have been wrong about Iraq and WMD, it was much closer to the mark in its prewar warnings about the obstacles that an American occupying force would face in postwar Iraq. But, Pavitt, notes, "[t]he agency is not out to undermine this president." (Jehl 10/2/2004) Conservative defenders of the administration angrily attack the CIA for "insubordination" and betrayal, leaving liberals and progressives in the unusual position of defending the agency. (Roberts 2008, pp. 153)
Knight Ridder Newspapers reports on a leaked CIA assessment that undercuts the White House claim of links between al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. The assessment, requested some months ago by Vice President Cheney, finds no evidence to show that Saddam's regime ever harbored Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, an independent colleague of Osama bin Laden (see April 2002), and finds no evidence of any "collaborative relationship" between the former Iraqi regime and al-Qaeda (see October 2, 2002). In February 2003, Secretary of State Colin Powell told the United Nations Security Council that al-Zarqawi went to Baghdad for medical treatment and, while there, helped establish a terrorist base in Baghdad (see February 5, 2003). The assessment now shows that claim was incorrect. So was the administration's claim that al-Zarqawi received safe haven from Hussein. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who in September 2002 called the evidence of links between Hussein and al-Qaeda "bulletproof" (see September 26, 2002), now says, "To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two." Rumsfeld continues, "I just read an intelligence report recently about one person [al-Zarqawi] who's connected to al-Qaeda who was in and out of Iraq and there's the most tortured description of why he might have had a relationship and why he might not have had a relationship." In June 2003, President Bush called al-Zarqawi "the best evidence of connection" between Iraq and al-Qaeda; after the assessments are leaked, Bush insists that al-Zarqawi "was in and out of Baghdad," apparently continuing to press the idea that Saddam and al-Qaeda were connected. Al-Zarqawi did spend a lot of time in Iraq, but almost always in the northern sections of Iraq where Saddam's control did not reach. (Strobel, Landay, and Walcott 10/4/2004) The day after the Knight Ridder report, Vice President Cheney will say during a debate with vice-presidential opponent John Edwards (D-NC) that al-Zarqawi was based in Baghdad both before and after the March 2003 invasion, a claim that is demonstrably false (see October 5, 2004).
In a vice-presidential debate between Vice President Cheney and Senator John Edwards, Cheney says of Islamist militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi: "We know he was running a terrorist camp, training terrorists in Afghanistan prior to 9/11. We know that when we went into Afghanistan that he then migrated to Baghdad. He set up shop in Baghdad, where he oversaw the poisons facility up at Khurmal, where the terrorists were developing ricin and other deadly substances to use.… He was, in fact, in Baghdad before the war, and he's in Baghdad now after the war." (Commission on Presidential Debates 10/5/2004) It is true that al-Zarqawi was running a camp in Afghanistan prior to 9/11 (see Early 2000-December 2001). But just days before this debate, the CIA gave Cheney a new report about possible links between al-Zarqawi and Saddam Hussein's government, a report that Cheney himself had requested several months before (see October 4, 2004). The report doubts there were any such links, and also doubts that al-Zarqawi was in Baghdad getting medical treatment in the months before the Iraq war (see October 4, 2004). (Strobel, Landay, and Walcott 10/4/2004)
Judge Thomas Hogan holds New York Times reporter Judith Miller in contempt for refusing to answer a subpoena from the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity (see August 12, 2004 and After). (Washington Post 7/3/2007; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 11/19/2009) Hogan orders Miller jailed for up to 18 months after she informs him she will not answer questions from special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald about her conversations with officials. In turn, Hogan says Miller has no special right as a reporter to defy a subpoena in a criminal investigation. Hogan rules that he is satisfied Fitzgerald has exhausted other avenues of determining key information about the Plame Wilson identity leak, and that his questioning of journalists is a last resort rather than a "fishing expedition," as the Times has argued. "The special counsel has made a limited, deferential approach to the press in this matter," Hogan says. He goes on to note that journalists' promise to protect their sources is outweighed by the government's duty to investigate a serious crime. In a 1972 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment does not protect reporters called before a criminal grand jury. "We have a classic confrontation between conflicting interests," Hogan says. Miller remains free on bond while the Times appeals his decision. After the ruling, Miller tells a group of reporters: "It's really frightening when journalists can be put in jail for doing their job effectively. This is about all journalists and about all government officials who provide information on the promise of confidentiality. Without that, they won't come forward, and the public won't be informed." Times executive editor Bill Keller says he is disturbed that Bush administration officials had been asked by their superiors in this case to sign waivers of confidentiality agreements with reporters (see January 2-5, 2004). "This is going to become all the rage in corporate and government circles," he says. "It's really spooky." (Roberts 10/7/2004; Leonnig 10/8/2004)
Judge Thomas Hogan holds Time reporter Matthew Cooper in contempt for refusing to answer a subpoena from the grand jury investigating the leak of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity (see September 13, 2004). (Washington Post 7/3/2007; Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press 11/19/2009)
A New York Times editorial accuses the Plame Wilson identity leak investigation of "veer[ing] terribly off course," and in doing so "threaten[ing] grievous harm to freedom of the press and the vital protection it provides against government misconduct." The editorial is in response to the recent sentencing of Times reporter Judith Miller to a jail term for refusing to testify before a grand jury (see October 7, 2004). The Times writes, "The specter of reporters' being imprisoned merely for doing their jobs is something that should worry everyone who cherishes the First Amendment and the essential role of a free press in a democracy." The Times concludes: "Supreme Court precedent protects them from harassment and heedless prosecutorial fishing expeditions like this one. The situation points to the wisdom of state laws that recognize and protect a special relationship between journalists and their sources. Congress should follow their lead." (New York Times 10/14/2004)
Deputy White House chief of staff Karl Rove, President Bush's top political adviser, testifies for a third time before the grand jury investigating the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak (see December 30, 2003). (The date of Rove's second testimony to the grand jury is not publicly known, though Newsweek's Michael Isikoff later says Rove testified twice in February 2004.) Rove tells the jury that he spoke with Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper (see 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003), a conversation he has failed to disclose in previous testimony both before the jury and when interviewed by FBI agents (see October 8, 2003 and February 2004). Rove now says he recalls speaking with Cooper, but cannot remember details of their conversation. His lawyer, Robert Luskin, says Rove "answered fully and truthfully every one of their questions," and did not try to avoid answering questions on legal grounds. White House press secretary Scott McClellan says that Rove's testimony shows he is "doing his part to cooperate" in the probe. Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, charges that Rove and other Bush aides are refusing to tell the public everything they know about the outing of Plame Wilson as a CIA official. "Karl Rove needs to come clean and tell us what he told the grand jury today," McAuliffe says. Luskin claims that Rove has been informed he is not a target of the inquiry. (Novak 10/15/2004; Johnston 10/16/2004; Waas 4/28/2006; Isikoff and Thomas 5/8/2006)
Names Libby - Rove informs the jury that he may have learned of Plame Wilson's identity from former White House official Lewis Libby, the chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Almost a year later, the Washington Post will learn of Rove's naming of Libby from "a source familiar with Rove's account." Days before Plame Wilson's identity was publicly revealed (see July 14, 2003), Libby and Rove discussed conversations they had had with Cooper and other, unnamed reporters. Both Plame Wilson's CIA identity and her husband, war critic Joseph Wilson, were discussed, Rove tells the jury. He says that his conversations with Libby were confined to information the two men heard from reporters. He also says he heard about Plame Wilson's CIA identity from "someone outside the White House," but cannot recall that person's identity. (VandeHei and Leonnig 10/20/2005)
Claim of Memory Failure - Rove has claimed not to remember the conversation between himself and Cooper, but has recently found an e-mail he sent to Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley confirming the conversation (see After 11:07 a.m. July 11, 2003). Rove and Luskin claim that Rove only recently found the e-mail and immediately turned it over to Fitzgerald's investigators. They claim that Rove never intended to withhold evidence from the investigation. (Johnston and Stevenson 11/4/2005)
Kerry Campaign Calls for Full Disclosure from White House - Joe Lockhart, the campaign spokesman for the presidential campaign of John Kerry (D-MA), says: "With two weeks to go before the election, the American people are still in the dark about how it is that their White House leaked the name of an undercover CIA operative to the press, jeopardizing the life of this agent and possibly violating federal law. Instead of hiding behind the lawyers he so often likes to criticize, George Bush should direct Karl Rove and anyone else involved to go to the White House briefing room and come clean about their role in this insidious act." (Greive 10/15/2004)
Islamist militant leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his group al-Tawhid pledges loyalty to bin Laden in a statement posted on the Internet. He states, [Let it be known that] al-Tawhid pledges both its leaders and its soldiers to the mujahid commander, Sheikh Osama bin Laden…" (Bergen 2006, pp. 364) Bin Laden and al-Zarqawi began discussing the possibility of an alliance in early 2004 (see Early 2004). There had been other occasional contacts and linkages between al-Zarqawi and his group in years past, but al-Zarqawi had generally maintained his independence from al-Qaeda. Just one month earlier, al-Zarqawi stated, "I have not sworn allegiance to [bin Laden] and I am not working within the framework of his organization." (Yousafzai and Moreau 4/4/2005) The Atlantic Monthly will later report that at the same time al-Zarqwai made his loyalty oath, he also "proclaimed himself to be the 'Emir of al-Qaeda's Operations in the Land of Mesopotamia,' a title that subordinated him to bin Laden but at the same time placed him firmly on the global stage. One explanation for this coming together of these two former antagonists was simple: al-Zarqawi profited from the al-Qaeda franchise, and bin Laden needed a presence in Iraq. Another explanation is more complex: bin Laden laid claim to al-Zarqawi in the hopes of forestalling his emergence as the single most important terrorist figure in the world, and al-Zarqawi accepted bin Laden's endorsement to augment his credibility and to strengthen his grip on the Iraqi tribes. Both explanations are true. It was a pragmatic alliance, but tenuous from the start." (Weaver 6/8/2006) In December 2004, an audiotape said to be the voice of bin Laden acknowledges al-Zarqawi's comments. "It should be known that the mujahid brother Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the emir of the al-Qaeda organization in [Iraq]. The brothers in the group there should heed his orders and obey him in all that which is good." (Bergen 2006, pp. 364-365)
A former CIA officer will tell New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh that, in mid-2004, the White House began putting pressure on CIA analysts "to see more support for the administration's political position." But after Porter Goss becomes the new CIA director (see September 24, 2004) and the November 2004 election passes, a "political purge" of employees who have written papers that dissent with Bush policies begins. One former official notes that only "true believers" remain. (Hersh 1/24/2005)
'Creeping Politicization' - An anonymous former CIA official tells Newsday: "The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House. Goss was given instructions… to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats." (Royce 11/14/2004) In 2007, CIA analyst Valerie Plame Wilson will write, "Employees' worst fears about the creeping politicization of the CIA" are confirmed when Goss issues the memo about the agency supporting the administration. She will observe: "Although a CIA spokesman explained the memo as a statement of the agency's nonpartisan nature, it appeared to be just the opposite. It had a kind of creepy Orwellian Ministry of Truth ring to it—further dismaying CIA staffers who believed the agency was rapidly losing credibility and power as partisan politics began to degrade its work product." (Wilson 2007, pp. 212) Days after the November 2004 presidential election, Goss circulates an internal memorandum to all CIA employees, telling them their job is to "support the administration and its policies in our work." (Jehl 11/17/2004) The memo also contains a caveat that they should "let the facts alone speak to the policymaker." However, an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times calls this mere "lip service," and says the memo leaves "the impression that in the second Bush administration, the White House will run the CIA.… Goss has confirmed the worst fears of critics who warned he was too partisan when Bush appointed him." (Wise 11/21/2004)
Morale 'Dangerously Low,' Many Senior Officials Leave - Plame Wilson will recall hearing from her colleagues throughout August, while she was on leave, "that morale was dangerously low, and there was a spirit of outright revolt towards Porter Goss and his 'Gosslings.' Everyone was calculating the benefits of staying or jumping from the fast-sinking ship." (Wilson 2007, pp. 213) Such new policies inspire more employees to leave. By the time the purge is completed in early 2005, about 20 senior CIA officials will have resigned or retired. Only one member of the leadership team from George Tenet's tenure will remain. (Pincus 1/6/2005) Newsweek says the "efforts at cleaning house may have only thrown the spy agency into deeper turmoil." (Isikoff and Klaidman 2/21/2005) Plame Wilson will write: "At least one thousand years of hard-earned operational experience walked out when our country's national security needs were greatest. It was devastating." (Wilson 2007, pp. 213)
CIA Director Porter Goss, known for being dogmatically loyal to the White House (see September 25, 2003 and November-December 2004), responds to the recent spate of leaked CIA memos (see September 16, 2004, September 28, 2004, and October 4, 2004) by issuing a memo reminding agency staff that they should "scrupulously honor our secrecy oath." The memo is leaked to the press the next day. Goss says, "Intelligence-related issues have become the fodder of partisan food fights and turf-power skirmishes." Goss warns that agency officials must publicly support Bush administration policies: "As agency employees we do not identify with, support or champion opposition to the administration or its policies," Goss writes. His intention is, he writes, "to clarify beyond doubt the rules of the road." Goss's words may indicate that CIA employees must conform with administration policies and goals, but he also writes, "We provide the intelligence as we see it—and let the facts alone speak to the policymaker." Many critics of the agency and its leadership say that Goss's memo is part of his attempt to squelch dissent within the agency's ranks. "If Goss is asking people to color their views and be a team player, that's not what people at CIA signed up for," says a former intelligence official. Ron Wyden (D-OR), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that "on issue after issue, there's a real question about whether the country and the Congress are going to get an unvarnished picture of our intelligence situation at a critical time." (Jehl 11/17/2004; Roberts 2008, pp. 153)
Columnist and media observer Allan Wolper notes that while conservative columnist Robert Novak, who outed CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson apparently at the behest of the White House (see July 14, 2003), continues to "spout… off in his syndicated column, he keeps a secret he would not permit any politician to get away with." Wolper is writing of Novak's continued refusal to divulge whether he was subpoenaed by the grand jury investigating the case, or if he testified before that grand jury. Wolper calls it an "untenable ethical position," and bolsters his position with observations from media ethicists such as Robert Steele, the director of ethics for the Poynter Institute of Media Studies. "If he has a justifiable reason to withhold that information, he should give a reason why," Steele says. "Otherwise, he is undermining his credibility as an honest broker of ethical journalism. If he were on the other side, he would challenge journalists for not saying anything." Novak is defended by, among others, Washington Post reporter and assistant managing editor Bob Woodward, who says: "Bob Novak has taken a stand that is supported by many in the press. He is protecting his sources. He has done nothing that is illegal or improper." (Wolper is unaware as of this writing that Woodward has his own secondary involvement in the case, having been himself told of Plame Wilson's identity several times before (see June 13, 2003, June 23, 2003, and June 27, 2003).) Wolper notes that while Novak has refused to speak about subpoenas or testimonies, Post reporters Glenn Kessler and Walter Pincus have both given sworn depositions to the grand jury (see June 22, 2004 and September 15, 2004). Wolper writes, "They might have been able to fight off their subpoenas if their lawyers had known whether Novak… had been called by the grand jury." Aside from Kessler and Pincus, Time reporter Matthew Cooper (see July 17, 2003) testified after being threatened with jail (see May 21, 2004, August 24, 2004, July 6, 2005, and July 13, 2005), and New York Times reporter Judith Miller is facing jail rather than testify (see December 2004). "Novak has an obligation to own up," Wolper writes. Instead, "Novak continues to live a charmed life in journalism, writing his column and appearing regularly on CNN, where he is never challenged." CNN media critic Jeff Greenfield says of Novak's case, "I haven't thought it through. I don't want to talk about it, because I have no opinion on it." Jack Nelson, the retired bureau chief of the Los Angeles Times, says: "This whole thing is really strange. Novak was the guy who wrote the column that exposed the CIA agent, and yet they don't seem to be going after him." (Wolper 12/1/2004)
Alex Ben Lock of Television Week writes: "We have seen in the past year the rise of the Fox News Channel, founded only in 1996 (see October 7, 1996), as one of the most important news media of our culture.… Fox has engaged an even larger audience that is amazingly loyal to the FNC brand.… Fox News, in combination with a network of conservative talk radio commentators, has changed the way many Americans process news—despite or maybe because of the adamant opposition of numerous intellectuals, journalists, celebrities, and others who still can't believe what has happened" (see October 13, 2009). (Jamieson and Cappella 2008, pp. 48)
Washington State businessman Tom McCabe, the executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) and a prominent Republican activist, is angered by what he considers "voter fraud" in the disputed gubernatorial election between Christine Gregoire (D-WA) and Dino Rossi (R-WA—see December 23, 2004 - January 12, 2005). He is further frustrated by what he considers the reluctance by Republican John McKay (see October 24, 2001 and Late 2004 or Early 2005), the US Attorney for Western Washington, to pursue the allegations. McCabe repeatedly contacts the White House to demand McKay's firing. McKay will later say, "There was no evidence, and I am not going to drag innocent people in front of a grand jury." McCabe told McKay he had evidence of forged signatures on absentee ballots cast for Gregoire (see December 2004), and attempted to persuade the FBI to launch an investigation. Neither McKay nor the FBI will be convinced by McCabe's evidence (see January 4, 2005). Of McKay's refusal to pursue the allegations, McCabe later recalls, "It started me wondering whether the US Attorney was doing his job." McKay later says that the FBI concluded that the ballots cited by McCabe were not forgeries. (Bowermaster 3/13/2007; Thomas 2011)
The US sends teams of US-trained former Iranian exiles, sometimes accompanied by US Special Forces, from Iraq into southern and eastern Iran to search for underground nuclear installations. (Hersh 1/24/2005; Sale 1/26/2005; Borger 1/29/2005) In the north, Israeli-trained Kurds from northern Iraq, occasionally assisted by US forces, look for signs of nuclear activity as well. (Sale 1/26/2005) Both teams are tasked with planting remote detection devices, known as "sniffers," which can sense radioactive emissions and other indicators of nuclear-enrichment programs while also helping US war planners establish targets. (Hersh 1/24/2005; Sale 1/26/2005) The former Iranian exiles operating in the south and east are members of Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK), a group that has been included in the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997 (see 1997) and included in a government white paper (see September 12, 2002) that criticized Iraq for its support of the group. After the US invaded Iraq, members of MEK were "consolidated, detained, disarmed, and screened for any past terrorist acts" by the US (see July 2004) and designated as "protected persons." (see July 21, 2004) Initially, the MEK operate from Camp Habib in Basra, but they later launch their incursions from the Baluchi region in Pakistan. (Sale 1/26/2005; Dickey, Hosenball, and Hirsh 2/15/2005) They are assisted by information from Pakistani scientists and technicians who have knowledge of Iran's nuclear program. (Hersh 1/24/2005) Pakistan apparently agreed to cooperate with the US in exchange for assurances that Pakistan would not have to turn over A. Q. Khan, the so-called "father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb," to the IAEA or to any other international authorities for questioning. Khan, who is "linked to a vast consortium of nuclear black-market activities," could potentially be of great assistance to these agencies in their efforts to undermine nuclear weapons proliferation. (Hersh 1/24/2005) In addition to allowing Pakistan to keep Khan, the US looks the other way as Pakistan continues to buy parts for its nuclear-weapons arsenal in the black market, according to a former high-level Pakistani diplomat interviewed by Seymour Hersh (Hersh 1/24/2005) The United States' use of MEK is criticized by Western diplomats and analysts who agree with many Iranians who consider the group to be traitors because they fought alongside Iraqi troops against Iran in the 1980s. (Peterson 12/31/2003)
US Attorney John McKay of the Western District of Washington State (see October 24, 2001) issues a noncommital statement on allegations of voter fraud in the highly disputed governor's race between Christine Gregoire (D-WA) and Dino Rossi (R-WA—see December 23, 2004 - January 12, 2005). McKay, along with the FBI and the Justice Department, have examined the evidence presented in the allegations (see December 2004), and found no reason to bring any indictments (see January 4, 2005). Shortly after McKay issues the statement, Ed Cassidy, the chief of staff for US Representative Doc Hastings (R-WA), telephones McKay to discuss the race. According to McKay's recollection, Cassidy begins asking him about the election and the potential investigation, and McKay responds with what he will call information consistent with his public statement. When Cassidy says, "You know, John, it's really important—" McKay interrupts him and says, "Ed, I'm sure you're not about to start talking to me about the future direction of this case." McKay will recall taking a very stern tone with Cassidy. Cassidy terminates the call. (Cassidy will recall McKay saying, "I hope you're not asking me to tell you something that I can't tell you.") McKay informs his First Assistant US Attorney and the criminal chief, Assistant Attorney General Alice Fisher, about the call. Both say he conducted himself appropriately. All of them decide there is no need to report the call to the Justice Department, because Cassidy did not cross the line and demand that McKay open an investigation. McKay will later say he is "concerned and dismayed by the call" from Cassidy. Cassidy will say he did not place the call at the behest of Hastings, but because of the outrage among state Republicans at Gregoire's victory. Cassidy will say that he wanted to make sure Hastings did not make any inappropriate public statements if there was indeed a federal investigation opening. He will say that his telephone call to McKay is merely to head off the possibility of Hastings making what he calls "intemperate remarks" about the election. He will also say that his call to McKay "was a routine effort to determine whether allegations of voter fraud in the 2004 gubernatorial election were, or were not, being investigated by federal authorities," and will say that he did not violate ethical boundaries in the conversation. Hastings will call Cassidy's discussion with McKay "entirely appropriate," and will add, "It was a simple inquiry and nothing more—and it was the only call to any federal official from my office on this subject either during or after the recount ordeal." Hastings will say that he did not ask Cassidy to place the call, but will recall probably receiving some constituent complaints about the election and the alleged voter fraud that some callers said "gave" the election to Gregoire. He will say that he never had any misgivings about McKay. (Kiel 3/6/2007; Bowermaster and Mundy 3/7/2007; US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008; Thomas 2011) (A later Talking Points Memo report on the Cassidy-McKay discussion will inaccurately place it as taking place in November, before the recounts are completed.) (Thomas 2011)
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales testifies before the US Senate as part of his confirmation as the Bush administration's new attorney general. Much of the seven hours of testimony focuses on Gonzales's position on torturing terrorist suspects. He is specifically questioned on the August 2002 Justice Department memo requested by Gonzales that outlined how US officials could interrogate subjects without violating domestic and international laws against torture by setting unusually high standards for the definition of torture (see August 1, 2002). (Goodman and Gonzales 1/7/2005) Arlen Specter (R-PA) asks Gonzales if he approves of torture. Gonzales replies, "Absolutely not," but refuses to be pinned down on specifics of exactly what constitutes torture.
Equivocating on the Definition of Torture - Gonzales says he "was sickened and outraged" by the photographs of tortured Iraqis at Abu Ghraib prison (see Evening November 7, 2003), but refuses to say whether he believes any of that conduct is criminal, citing ongoing prosecutions. Joseph Biden (D-DE) retorts: "That's malarkey. You are obliged to comment. That's your judgment we're looking at.… We're looking for candor." (CNN 1/7/2005) When asked whether he agrees with the August 2002 memo that said, "[F]or an act to violate the torture statute, it must be equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury such as organ failure, impairment of bodily function, or even death," Gonzales says: "We were trying to interpret the standard set by Congress. There was discussion between the White House and Department of Justice as well as other agencies about what does this statute mean? It was a very, very difficult—I don't recall today whether or not I was in agreement with all of the analysis, but I don't have a disagreement with the conclusions then reached by the department." He says that the standard "does not represent the position of the executive branch" today. Author and torture expert Mark Danner calls the standard "appalling… even worse the second time through." Gonzales was obviously prepped for this line of questioning, Danner says: "He sat in front of the committee and asserted things, frankly, that we know not to be true.… He was essentially unwilling to say definitively there were no situations in which Americans could legally torture prisoners.… [T]here's an assumption behind [this performance] that we have the votes. We're going to get through. I just have to give them nothing on which to hang some sort of a contrary argument."
Equivicating on Techniques - Edward Kennedy (D-MA) questions Gonzales about what techniques are defined as torture, including "live burial" (see February 4-5, 2004) and waterboarding. Kennedy says that, according to media reports, Gonzales never objected to these or other techniques. Gonzales does not have a "specific recollection" of the discussions or whether the CIA ever asked him to help define what is and is not torture. He also says that in "this new kind of" war against "this new kind of enemy, we realized there was a premium on receiving information" the US needs to defeat terrorists. Agencies such as the CIA requested guidance as to "[w]hat is lawful conduct" because they did not "want to do anything that violates the law." Kennedy asks if Gonzales ever suggested that the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) ever "lean forward on this issue about supporting the extreme uses of torture?" Gonzales focuses on Kennedy's phrasing: "Sir, I don't recall ever using the term sort of 'leaning forward,' in terms of stretching what the law is." He refuses to admit giving any opinions or requesting any documents, but only wanted "to understand [the OLC's] views about the interpretation" of torture. Danner notes that Justice Department officials have told reporters that Gonzales pushed for the expansive definition of torture in the memos, but Gonzales refuses to admit to any of that in the questioning.
Ignoring the Uniform Code of Military Justice - Lindsey Graham (R-SC) tells Gonzales that the Justice Department memo was "entirely wrong in its focus" because it excluded the Uniform Code Of Military Justice, and that it "put our troops at jeopardy." Gonzales replies that he does not think that because of the memo the US has lost "the moral high ground" in the world. Danner says, "[Graham] is arguing that these steps weakened the United States, not only by putting troops at risk, but by undermining the US's reputation in the world, undermining the ideological side of this war… Graham is saying very directly that by torturing, and by supplying images like that one, of… a hooded man, the man with the hood over his head and the wires coming out of his fingers and his genitals which is known far and wide in the Arab world in the Middle East it's become highly recognizable by supplying that sort of ammunition, you're giving very, very strong comfort and aid to the enemy in fact." (Goodman and Gonzales 1/7/2005)
Justice Department lawyer Kyle Sampson (see 2001-2003) responds to an email from White House deputy counsel David Leitch regarding the proposed firing of some or all of the nation's 93 US Attorneys (see January 6, 2005). Sampson confirms that he has spoken with White House counsel Alberto Gonzales about the proposal "a couple of weeks ago" (see Late December 2004). Sampson delineates his "thoughts" to Leitch in four points. He notes that while US Attorneys serve at the "pleasure of the president," they generally serve four-year terms. (Sampson is aware that all 93 US Attorneys have been informed that they will not be asked to resign as President Bush's second term commences—see November 4, 2004—and is also aware that Gonzales and White House deputy counsel Harriet Miers are discussing replacing some or all of the US Attorneys—see November 2004 and Late December 2004.) It would be "weird" to ask them to leave before their terms are complete. Sampson goes on to note the "historical" practice of allowing US Attorneys to complete their terms, even if there is a party change in the administration; he does not mention that the incoming 1992 Clinton administration, and the incoming 2000 Bush administration, both asked all or almost all 93 US Attorneys to leave without regard to completing their terms (see March 24, 1993 and January 2001). Sampson then writes that "as an operational matter, we would like to replace 15-20 percent of the current US Attorneys—the underperforming ones. (This is a rough guess; we might want to consider doing performance evaluations after Judge [Gonzales] comes on board.) The vast majority of US Attorneys, 80-85 percent, I would guess, are doing a great job, are loyal Bushies, etc., etc. Due to the history, it would certainly send ripples through the US Attorney community if we told folks that they got one term only (as a general matter, the Reagan US Attorneys appointed in 1981 stayed on through the entire Reagan administration; Bush 41 even had to establish that Reagan-appointed US Attorneys would not be permitted to continue on through the Bush 41 administration—indeed, even performance evaluations likely would create ripples, though this wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing)." Sampson predicts that "as a political matter… I suspect that when push comes to shove, home-state senators likely would resist wholesale (or even piecemeal) replacement of US Attorneys they recommended." However, he writes, "if Karl [Rove, the White House political chief] thinks there would be policitical [sic] will to do it, then so do I." (US Department of Justice 1/9/2005 ; Greenburg 3/15/2007; US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008; Rove 7/7/2009 ; Thomas 2011) The original email seems to come from another aide in the White House Counsel's Office, Colin Newman, who told Leitch that Rove "stopped by to ask you (roughly quoting) 'how we planned to proceed regarding US Attorneys, whether we were going to allow all to stay, request resignations from all and accept only some of them, or selectively replace them, etc.' I told him that you would be on the hill all day for the judge's hearing, and he said the matter was not urgent." Leitch responded by forwarding the email to Sampson with the comment, "Let's discuss." (US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2009 ) Newman's email is dated January 6, and the reference to "the judge's hearing" seems to refer to White House counsel Alberto Gonzales's contentious hearing on the Geneva Conventions before the Senate Judiciary Committee on that date (see January 6, 2005).
Downplaying White House Involvement - In the 2008 investigation of the US Attorney firings by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (see September 29, 2008), Leitch will say that he has no recollection of discussing the matter with Sampson, Rove, or anyone else. He will leave the White House Counsel's Office shortly after this email exchange. (US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008) In 2009, Miers will testify that she does not recall specifics of these discussions. She will say: "I don't have a recollection of that, but it wouldn't surprise me if that happened, that would be some general discussion of, well, we have the Justice Department saying we have a certain number that we feel should be looked at and that that is better because it doesn't create the upheaval that removing all of the US Attorneys would have. I think the original discussion did not involve the kind of plan, as that term has been used, that eventually evolved." At this point, Miers will say, the idea of firing a large number of US Attorneys on the same day had not been discussed. The Justice Department, she will say, would make the decisions as to whom, if anyone, should be terminated, not the White House. Asked specifically about Rove's Office of Political Affairs (OPA), she will say that it would merely play a consulting role in the process: "I did ask that they assist, in the areas where there might be removals, the location of sources for recommendations. And so the political office was as it is called; they had the political piece." The Counsel's Office would not ask OPA for recommendations of replacements for the ousted US Attorneys, she says: "We would turn to them for identification of the sources that you could go to and ask for people to be considered. You wouldn't turn to them and say tell us who we ought to recommend." However, "if they had a preference for, someone, they would state it so that they certainly had input." (US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2009 ) In 2009, Rove will deny ever seeing the email or discussing the matter with Sampson, and will say, "The implication that somehow this was addressed to me and I somehow received it is inaccurate." (Rove 7/7/2009 ) Miers claims no memory of Rove ever attending a Judicial Selection Committee meeting to discuss the removal of a specific US Attorney. She will recall discussions of the removal of US Attorney David Iglesias (see October 18, 2001) by OPA members, including Rove. (US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2009 )
Pentagon official Roxie Merritt, the Director of Press Operations, sends a memo to several top Pentagon officials, including Larry Di Rita, the top public relations aide to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The memo reports on Merritt's conclusions and proposals in the aftermath of a Pentagon-sponsored trip to Iraq by a number of military analysts. The trip is part of the Pentagon's propaganda operation, which uses retired military officers to go on broadcast news shows and promote the administration's Iraq policies (see April 20, 2008 and Early 2002 and Beyond). The memo is in several sections:
'Background' - "One of the most interesting things coming from this trip to Iraq with the media analysts has been learning how their jobs have been undergoing a metamorphosis. There are several reasons behind the morph… with an all voluntary military, no one in the media has current military background. Additionally we have been doing a good job of keeping these guys informed so they have ready answers when the networks come calling."
'Current Issues' - "The key issue here is that more and more, media analysts are having a greater impact on the television media network coverage of military issues. They have now become the go to guys not only for breaking stories, but they influence the views on issues. They also have a huge amount of influence on what stories the network decides to cover proactively with regard to the military…"
'Recommendation' - "1.) I recommend we develop a core group from within our media analyst list of those that we can count on to carry our water. They become part of a 'hot list' of those that we immediately make calls to or put on an email distro [distribution] list before we contact or respond to media on hot issues. We can also do more proactive engagement with this list and give them tips on what stories to focus on and give them heads up on issues as they are developing. By providing them with key and valuable information, they become the key go to guys for the networks and it begins to weed out the less reliably friendly analysts by the networks themselves…
3.) Media ops and outreach can work on a plan to maximize use of the analysts and figure out a system by which we keep our most reliably friendly analysts plugged in on everything from crisis response to future plans. This trusted core group will be more than willing to work closely with us because we are their bread and butter and the more they know, the more valuable they are to the networks…
5.) As evidenced by this analyst trip to Iraq, the synergy of outreach shops and media ops working together on these types of projects is enormous and effective. Will continue to exam [sic] ways to improve processes."
Response from Di Rita - Di Rita is impressed. He replies, "This is a thoughtful note… I think it makes a lot of sense to do as you suggest and I guess I thought we were already doing a lot of this in terms of quick contact, etc… We ought to be doing this, though, and we should not make the list too small…" In 2008, Salon commentator Glenn Greenwald will sum up the plan: "So the Pentagon would maintain a team of 'military analysts' who reliably 'carry their water—yet who were presented as independent analysts by the television and cable networks. By feeding only those pro-government sources key information and giving them access—even before responding to the press—only those handpicked analysts would be valuable to the networks, and that, in turn, would ensure that only pro-government sources were heard from. Meanwhile, the 'less reliably friendly' ones—frozen out by the Pentagon—would be 'weeded out' by the networks (see May 10-11, 2007). The pro-government military analysts would do what they were told because the Pentagon was 'their bread and butter.' These Pentagon-controlled analysts were used by the networks not only to comment on military matters—and to do so almost always unchallenged—but also even to shape and mold the networks' coverage choices." (Greenwald 5/10/2008)
Chris Matthews, the host of MSNBC's Hardball, asks three of the Pentagon's most reliable "military analysts" (see April 20, 2008 and Early 2002 and Beyond)—retired generals Montgomery Meigs, Wayne Downing, and Kenneth Allard—on his show to pillory a recent New Yorker article by Seymour Hersh that reveals Pentagon plans for an attack on Iran (see (Early January 2005)). Matthews calls the three "Hardball's war council." After the broadcast, Allard writes an e-mail to Pentagon public relations official Larry Di Rita, in which he says, "As you may have seen on MSNBC, I attributed a lot of what [Hersh] said to disgruntled CIA employees who simply should be taken out and shot." (Greenwald 5/10/2008)
The latest of several experienced prosecutors quits his job at the office of US Attorney Kevin Ryan of the Northern District of California (see August 2, 2002). The prosecutor sends an office-wide "open letter" to Ryan complaining about long-standing morale and attrition problems, and credits Ryan's poor management style with creating the issue. The letter is quickly forwarded to staff members in other US Attorneys' offices, and to the Executive Office for US Attorneys (EOUSA) in the Justice Department. Complaints about Ryan have already been forwarded to the EOUSA (see Fall 2004). The chief judge in Ryan's district, who made the earlier complaint, sends Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis the open letter and asks him to consider the issue. Margolis and EOUSA chief Mary Beth Buchanan schedule a meeting with Ryan and his First Assistant US Attorney for March 21. Margolis will later say of the meeting that he "read [Ryan] the riot act" about the issues in his office, and suggests that Ryan should ask the Justice Department to undertake a special review of his management issues. Margolis will later say that Ryan does not request such a review. (US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008)
The Justice Department issues a secret opinion that countermands and contradicts the administration's official policy that torture is "abhorrent" and will not be practiced by US military or law enforcement officials (see December 30, 2004). The secret opinion is, the New York Times writes two years later while publicly revealing its existence, "an expansive endorsement of the harshest interrogation techniques ever used by the Central Intelligence Agency." The opinion gives explicit authorization to abuse detainees with a combination of physical and psychological abuse, including head-slapping, stress positioning, simulated drowning ("waterboarding"), and prolonged exposure to intense cold. New attorney general Alberto Gonzales (see November 10, 2004) approves the memo over the objections of deputy attorney general James Comey, himself preparing to leave the Justice Department after a series of battles over the legality of torture and the domestic surveillance program (see March 10-12, 2004). Comey says at the time that everyone at the department will be "ashamed" of the new opinion once the world learns of it. (Shane, Johnston, and Risen 10/4/2007)
Carol Lam, the US Attorney (USA) for Southern California (see November 8, 2002), undergoes an Evaluation and Review Staff (EARS) performance review undertaken by the Justice Department. Lam does well in the review. The review finds that she is "an effective manager… respected by the judiciary, law enforcement agencies, and the USAO [office] staff." The review does note concerns about her office's prosecution of firearms and immigration cases. The report states: "The USAO intake and initial processing of criminal cases worked smoothly except for firearms cases.… The number of firearms cases prosecuted by the USAO was well below the national average and well below the average of other USAOs in California.… [T]he number of immigration cases handled per AUSA [Assistant US Attorney] work year was statistically lower than the immigration cases handled per AUSA work year in the other Southwest Border USAOs." The head of the Executive Office for US Attorneys, Mary Beth Buchanan, will write in a follow-up letter to the EARS review, "Your report makes clear the emphasis you have put on carrying out department priorities and maintaining a solid management practice." (US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2007 ; US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008)
In an op-ed piece published by the Washington Post, David Kay, formerly of the Iraq Survey Group, recommends five steps the US should follow in order to avoid making the same "mistake" it made in Iraq when it wrongly concluded that Iraq had an active illicit weapons program. Three of the points address the issue of politicized intelligence. He implies that the US should learn from the experience it had with the Iraqi National Congress (see 2001-2003), which supplied US intelligence with sources who made false statements about Iraq's weapon program. "Dissidents and exiles have their own agenda—regime change—and that before being accepted as truth any 'evidence' they might supply concerning Iran's nuclear program must be tested and confirmed by other sources," he says. In his fourth point, Kay makes it clear that the motives of administration officials should also be considered. He says it is necessary to "understand that overheated rhetoric from policymakers and senior administration officials, unsupported by evidence that can stand international scrutiny, undermines the ability of the United States to halt Iran's nuclear activities." And recalling the CIA's infamous 2002 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq (see October 1, 2002), he says that an NIE on Iran "should not be a rushed and cooked document used to justify the threat of military action" and "should not be led by a team that is trying to prove a case for its boss." (Kay 2/9/2005)
An appeals court rules 3-0 that reporters Judith Miller (see August 12, 2004 and After) and Matthew Cooper (see October 13, 2004) must testify in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see December 30, 2003). Both the New York Times and Time magazine will appeal the ruling to a full appeals court and eventually to the Supreme Court (see June 27, 2005). The appeals court rules that because Miller and Cooper may have witnessed a federal crime—the disclosure of Plame Wilson's covert CIA identity by government officials (see June 23, 2003, 8:30 a.m. July 8, 2003, Late Afternoon, July 12, 2003, 2:24 p.m. July 12, 2003, and 11:00 a.m. July 11, 2003)—the First Amendment does not protect them from testifying to the possible crime. The court finds that a 1972 Supreme Court ruling, Branzburg v. Hayes, applies: in that case, a reporter was ordered to testify about witnessing the production of illegal drugs. Writing for the appeals court, Judge David Sentelle notes that the Supreme Court "stated that it could not 'seriously entertain the notion that the First Amendment protects the newsman's agreement to conceal the criminal conduct of his source, or evidence thereof, on the theory that it is better to write about a crime than to do something about it.'" (United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit 12/8/2004 ; Washington Post 7/3/2007) Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger says of the ruling: "The Times will continue to fight for the ability of journalists to provide the people of this nation with the essential information they need to evaluate issues affecting our country and the world. And we will challenge today's decision and advocate for a federal shield law that will enable the public to continue to learn about matters that directly affect their lives." Miller says, "I risk going to jail for a story I didn't write, for reasons a court won't explain." (Liptak 2/16/2005)
Kyle Sampson, the deputy chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (see February 15, 2005), sends a list of the 93 current US Attorneys to White House counsel Harriet Miers. Each US Attorney is listed in either plain type, boldface, or "strikeout," meaning a line is drawn through their name. In a follow-up email on March 2, Sampson explains that, "putting aside expiring terms, the analysis on the chart I gave you is as follows:
Bold - "Recommend retaining; strong US Attorneys who have produced, managed well, and exhibited loyalty to the president and attorney general.
Strikeout - "Recommend removing; weak US Attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors; chafed against administration initiatives, etc.
Nothing - "No recommendation; not distinguished themselves either positively or negatively."
On the copy of the chart released to the House Judiciary Committee in 2009, most of the US Attorneys' names are redacted. The ones who are not redacted are listed as follows:
Paul K. Charlton, Arizona (see November 14, 2001 and December 2003): nothing;
Bud Cummins, Eastern Arkansas (see January 9, 2002 and April or August 2002): strikeout.
Debra W. Yang, Central California: boldface.
Kevin Ryan, Northern California (see August 2, 2002 and February 2003): nothing. (Ryan's name is in a different font than the others, suggesting that it has been re-entered; it is difficult to tell from the copy of Sampson's chart if his name is in boldface or not.)
Carol C. Lam, Southern California (see November 8, 2002 and February 7-11, 2005): strikeout.
Patrick Fitzgerald, Northern Illinois (see October 24, 2001): nothing.
Margaret M. Chiara, Western Michigan (see November 2, 2001 and July 12-16, 2004): strikeout.
Thomas B. Heffelfinger, Minnesota: strikeout.
Dunn O. Lampton, Southern Mississippi: strikeout.
Todd P. Graves, Missouri (see October 11, 2001 and March 2002): nothing.
Daniel G. Bogden, Nevada (see November 2, 2001 and February 2003): nothing.
Christopher J. Christie, New Jersey (see December 20, 2001): boldface.
David C. Iglesias, New Mexico (see October 18, 2001 and 2002): boldface.
Anna Mills S. Wagoner, Central North Carolina: strikeout.
Mary Beth Buchanan, Western Pennsylvania: boldface.
John McKay Jr., Western Washington (see October 24, 2001 and May 2002): strikeout.
Steven M. Biskupic, Wisconsin: strikeout.
Thomas A. Zonay, Vermont: boldface.
On March 2, Sampson sends an email to Miers indicating some revisions to the chart. Heffelfinger and Biskupic have their statuses changed to "strikeout" (referenced above), and Matt Orwig, the US Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas, is listed in boldface. Miers, a Texas native, responds, "Good to hear about Matt actually." Sampson replies, somewhat cryptically and with careless punctuation and capitalization: "yes he's good. oversight by me." (US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2009 )
Missouri Governor Matt Blunt (R-MO) awards a no-bid contract to Tracy Graves, the wife of US Attorney Todd Graves (see October 11, 2001), to manage a motor vehicle license office near Kansas City. In Missouri, license agents are independent contractors who receive a portion of the fees their offices collect. On March 1, Cory Dillon, the executive director of the Missouri Democratic Party, urges Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to fire Graves based on his wife's acceptance of the contract. Dillon points out that in addition to Tracy Graves, her brother and two staff members from the office of Representative Sam Graves (R-MO), Todd Graves's brother, have also been awarded similar contracts. The Kansas City Star reports on Dillon's letter to Gonzales on March 2, and the day after runs an editorial accusing Todd Graves of a "clear conflict of interest" if he is ever led to investigate the Blunt administration. Gonzales's chief of staff, Kyle Sampson, refers the matter to Chuck Rosenberg, the chief of staff to Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty. Sampson's March 16 email to Rosenberg indicates that the White House is interested in the matter, and has asked, "(1) whether we have looked into the allegations made against Graves… and (2) what our conclusion is, i.e., whether we are comfortable that he doesn't have any legal or ethical issues." The matter is referred by Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis to the Executive Office for US Attorneys (EOUSA), which in turn refers the matter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). That office, after reviewing the matter and consulting with Margolis, decides not to open an investigation. On April 8, Margolis informs Graves that he has "determined that there is no existing conflict of interest that requires further action at this time." Graves will tell Justice Department investigators probing the 2006 US Attorney purge (see September 29, 2008) that he himself had brought the Dillon complaint to the attention of EOUSA Director Mary Beth Buchanan after reading about it on the Internet. He considers the allegations groundless. He will say that at no time did anyone in the Justice Department ever raise any questions concerning the propriety of his wife's contract, or allege that her contract put his position as US Attorney in jeopardy. And, he will state, no Justice Department official ever raised concerns with him about his performance (see March 2002). However, Principal Assistant Deputy Attorney General William Mercer will later recall Sampson voicing "real concerns" about the contract because, Mercer will say, Sampson feels it does not reflect well on the US Attorney's office. Margolis will speculate that this issue is what prompts Sampson to put Graves on the list of US Attorneys he feels should be fired (see January 1-9, 2006), though he will say he cannot be sure because he never spoke to Sampson about it. Sampson does not express any such concerns in his email to Rosenberg. When investigators ask Sampson about the matter, he will claim memory loss, saying he has no recollection of being involved in any way with Graves's firing. As the investigators will write, "Sampson also did not express any consternation about the license fee contract matter to us during his interview, and he essentially disclaimed any responsibility for requesting Graves's resignation." (US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008) During this time, the legal counsel for Senator Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-MO), Jack Bartling, will issue repeated demands to the White House that Graves be fired, in part because of Tracy Graves's contract but largely because of conflicts between the offices of Bond and Sam Graves (see Spring 2005).
Steven Bradbury, the acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), issues a finding that the government's use of "video news releases" (VNRs—see March 15, 2004 and May 19, 2004) is not propaganda and therefore not illegal. The VNRs might be "covert," he writes, since the government actively misled viewers as to their source, but they are not "propaganda," since they merely explain government programs and facts, and do not espouse a political point of view. Because OLC opinions are legally binding, Bradbury's "advisory opinion" effectively precludes White House and other agency officials from being prosecuted for authorizing the VNRs, and the practice continues. The General Accounting Office (GAO) rejects Bradbury's finding and continues to insist that the VNRs are unethical and illegal. (Savage 2007, pp. 172-173) Two months later, Congress will prohibit the government's use of VNRs (see May 2005).
Justice Department official Kyle Sampson (see 2001-2003), now the deputy chief of staff for Attorney General Alberto Gonzales (see February 15, 2005) as well as the Special Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, sends an email to Gonzales's successor, senior White House counsel Harriet Miers. Sampson is responding to a late February request for recommendations for firing US Attorneys in case the White House decides to ask for resignations from a "subset" of those officials (see February 24, 2005 and After). In the email, Sampson ranks all 93 US Attorneys, using a set of three broad criteria. Strong performers exhibit "loyalty to the president and attorney general" (see January 9, 2005). Poor performers are, he writes, "weak US Attorneys who have been ineffectual managers and prosecutors, chafed against administration initiatives, etc." A third group is not rated at all. US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico (see October 18, 2001, 2002 and November 14-18, 2005 ) and Kevin Ryan of the Northern District of California (see August 2, 2002) appear on the list as "recommended retaining." Gonzales has approved the idea of firing some of the US Attorneys.
Denoted for Firing - US Attorneys listed for possible firing are: David York of the Southern District of Alabama; H.E. "Bud" Cummins of the Eastern District of Arkansas (see January 9, 2002 and April or August 2002); Carol Lam of the Southern District of California (see November 8, 2002); Greg Miller of the Northern District of Florida; David Huber of the Western District of Kentucky; Margaret Chiara of the Western District of Michigan (see November 2, 2001); Jim Greenlee of the Northern District of Mississippi; Dunn O. Lampton of the Southern District of Mississippi; Anna Mills S. Wagoner of the Middle District of North Carolina; John McKay of the Western District of Washington state (see October 24, 2001, Late October 2001 - March 2002, and January 4, 2005); Kasey Warner of the Southern District of West Virginia; and Paula Silsby of Maine. Sampson sends a revised listing later this evening with two more names indicated for possible firing: Thomas B. Heffelfinger of Minnesota and Steven Biskupic of the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Sampson says he based his choices on his own personal judgments formed during his work at the White House and the Justice Department, and on input he received from other Justice Department officials. He will later testify that he cannot recall what any specific official told him about any specific US Attorney. He will call this list a "quick and dirty" compilation and a "preliminary list" that would be subject to "further vetting… down the road" from department leaders. (US Department of Justice 2005 ; US Department of Justice 2/15/2005; Eggen and Solomon 3/12/2007; US Department of Justice 3/13/2007 ; US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008; Thomas 2011) Days later, a Federalist Society lawyer will email Mary Beth Buchanan, the director of the Executive Office of US Attorneys, with a recommendation for Lam's replacement (see March 7, 2005).
Later Recollections - In the 2008 investigation of the US Attorney firings by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (see September 29, 2008), Gonzales will tell investigators that he supported the concept of evaluating the US Attorneys' performance to see "where we could do better." Gonzales will say that he instructed Sampson to consult with the senior leadership of the Justice Department, obtain a consensus recommendation as to which US Attorneys should be removed, and coordinate with the White House on the process. Gonzales will say that he never discussed with Sampson how to evaluate US Attorneys or what factors to consider when discussing with department leaders which US Attorneys should be removed. Sampson will say that he did not share the list with Gonzales or any other department officials, but will say he believes he briefed Gonzales on it. Gonzales will say he recalls no such briefing, nor does he recall ever seeing the list. Then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey and then-Associate Deputy Attorney General David Margolis will tell OIG investigators about their discussions with Sampson. Comey will recall telling Sampson on February 28, 2005 that he felt Ryan and Lampton belonged in the "weak" category, and will say he may have denoted Heffelfinger and another US Attorney, David O'Meilia, as "weak" performers. Comey will say that he was not aware of Sampson's work with the White House in compiling a list of US Attorneys to be removed. He will say that he considered his conversation with Sampson "casual" and that Sampson "offhandedly" raised the subject with him. Margolis will recall speaking briefly with Sampson about "weak" performers among the US Attorneys in late 2004 or early 2005, but recall little about the conversation. He will remember that Sampson told him about Miers's idea of firing all 93 US Attorneys (see November 2004), and agreed with Sampson that such a move would be unwise. Margolis will recall Sampson viewing Miers's idea as a way to replace some US Attorneys for President Bush's second term, an idea Margolis will say he endorsed. He was not aware that political considerations may be used to compile a list of potential firings. He will recall looking at a list Sampson had of all 93 Attorneys. He will remember citing Ryan and Lampton as poor performers, as well as Chiara. He will remember saying that eight other US Attorneys might warrant replacement. Sampson will tell OIG investigators that he received no immediate reaction from Miers to the list, and will say he did not remember discussing the basis for his recommendations with her. As for McKay, though Washington state Republicans are sending a steady stream of complaints to the White House concerning McKay's alleged lack of interest in pursuing voter fraud allegations (see December 2004, Late 2004, Late 2004 or Early 2005, January 4, 2005, and January 4, 2005), Sampson will claim to be unaware of any of them and say he would not have used them as justification to advocate for McKay's termination. (US Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General 9/29/2008)
President George Bush selects John Bolton, currently an official in the State Department, to be the US ambassador to the UN. Bolton is a staunch neoconservative with a long record of opposing multilateral efforts. As undersecretary of state for arms control, Bolton opposed a multilateral effort in July 2001 to create broad worldwide controls on the sale of small arms (see July 9, 2001). In February 2002, Bolton made it clear that the Bush administration did not feel bound to the 1978 pledge not to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states (see February 2002). Bolton was also a strong advocate of taking unilateral action against Saddam Hussein (see January 26, 1998) and in May 2002, he effectively removed the US signature from the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court (ICC) (see May 6, 2002). (Nichols 3/7/2005)
An investigation by the New York Times reveals that the government's use of "video news releases," or so-called "fake news" reports provided by the government and presented to television news viewers as real news (see March 15, 2004), has been used by far more government agencies than previously reported. The Times report finds that VNRs from the State Department, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and the Agriculture Department are among the agencies providing VNRs to local television news broadcasters. Previous media reports focused largely on the VNRs provided by the Department of Health and Human Services to tout the Bush administration's Medicare proposals. The Times finds that "at least 20 federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Census Bureau, have made and distributed hundreds of television news segments in the past four years.… Many were subsequently broadcast on local stations across the country without any acknowledgement of the government's role in their production.… [T]he [Bush] administration's efforts to generate positive news coverage have been considerably more pervasive than previously known. At the same time, records and interviews suggest widespread complicity or negligence by television stations, given industry ethics standards that discourage the broadcast of prepackaged news segments from any outside group without revealing the source."
VNRs Presented as Actual News - While government VNRs are generally labeled as being government productions on the film canister or video label, the VNRs themselves are designed, the Times writes, "to fit seamlessly into the typical local news broadcast. In most cases, the 'reporters' are careful not to state in the segment that they work for the government. Their reports generally avoid overt ideological appeals. Instead, the government's news-making apparatus has produced a quiet drumbeat of broadcasts describing a vigilant and compassionate administration." The VNRs often feature highly choreographed "interviews" with senior administration officials, "in which questions are scripted and answers rehearsed. Critics, though, are excluded, as are any hints of mismanagement, waste or controversy."
Benefits to All except News Consumers - The Times explains how VNRs benefit the Bush administration, private public relations firms, networks, and local broadcasters: "Local affiliates are spared the expense of digging up original material. Public relations firms secure government contracts worth millions of dollars. The major networks, which help distribute the releases, collect fees from the government agencies that produce segments and the affiliates that show them. The administration, meanwhile, gets out an unfiltered message, delivered in the guise of traditional reporting." News viewers, however, receive propaganda messages masquerading as real, supposedly impartial news reports.
Ducking Responsibility - Administration officials deny any responsibility for the use of VNRs as "real" news. "Talk to the television stations that ran it without attribution," says William Pierce, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services. "This is not our problem. We can't be held responsible for their actions." But the Government Accountability Office (GAO) has disagreed, calling the use of government-produced VNRs "covert propaganda" because news viewers do not know that the segments they are watching are government productions (see May 19, 2004). However, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Justice Department (see March 2005) have called the practice legal, and instructed executive branch agencies to merely ignore the GAO findings.
Creative Editing - The Times gives an example of how seamlessly government-produced propaganda can be transformed into seemingly real news segments. In one segment recently provided by the Agriculture Department, the agency's narrator ends the segment by saying, "In Princess Anne, Maryland, I'm Pat O'Leary reporting for the US Department of Agriculture." The segment is distributed by AgDay, a syndicated farm news program shown on some 160 stations; the segment is introduced as being by "AgDay's Pat O'Leary." The final sentence was edited to state: "In Princess Anne, Maryland, I'm Pat O'Leary reporting." Final result: viewers are unaware that the AgDay segment is actually an Agriculture Department production. AgDay executive producer Brian Conrady defends the practice: "We can clip 'Department of Agriculture' at our choosing. The material we get from the [agency], if we choose to air it and how we choose to air it is our choice." The public relations industry agrees with Conrady; many large PR firms produce VNRs both for government and corporate use, and the Public Relations Society of America gives an annual award, the Bronze Anvil, for the year's best VNR.
Complicity by News Broadcasters - Several major television networks help distribute VNRs. Fox News has a contract with PR firm Medialink to distribute VNRs to 130 affiliates through its video feed service, Fox News Edge. CNN distributes VNRs to 750 stations in the US and Canada through its feed service, CNN Newsource. The Associated Press's television news distributor does the same with its Global Video Wire. Fox News Edge director David Winstrom says: "We look at them and determine whether we want them to be on the feed. If I got one that said tobacco cures cancer or something like that, I would kill it." TVA Productions, a VNR producer and distributor, says in a sales pitch to potential clients, "No TV news organization has the resources in labor, time or funds to cover every worthy story." Almost "90 percent of TV newsrooms now rely on video news releases," it claims. The reach can be enormous. Government-produced VNRs from the Office of National Drug Control Policy reached some 22 million households over 300 news stations. And news stations often re-record the voiceover of VNRs by their own reporters, adding to the illusion that their own reporters, and not government or PR employees, are doing the actual reporting.
Office of Broadcasting Services - The State Department's Office of Broadcasting Services (OBS) employs around 30 editors and technicians, who before 2002 primarily distributed video from news conferences. But in early 2002, the OBS began working with close White House supervision to produce narrated feature reports promoting American policies and achievements in Afghanistan and Iraq, and supporting the Bush administration's rationale for invading those countries. Between 2002 and now, the State Department has produced 59 such segments, which were distributed to hundreds of domestic and international television broadcasters. The State Department says that US laws prohibiting the domestic dissemination of propaganda don't apply to the OBS. Besides, says State Department spokesman Richard Boucher: "Our goal is to put out facts and the truth. We're not a propaganda agency." State Department official Patricia Harrison told Congress last year that such "good news" segments are "powerful strategic tools" for influencing public opinion. The Times reports that "a review of the department's segments reveals a body of work in sync with the political objectives set forth by the White House communications team after 9/11." One June 2003 VNR produced by the OBS depicts US efforts to distribute food and water to the people of southern Iraq. The unidentified narrator condluded, "After living for decades in fear, they are now receiving assistance—and building trust—with their coalition liberators." OBS produced several segments about the liberation of Afghan women; a January 2003 memo called the segments "prime example[s]" of how "White House-led efforts could facilitate strategic, proactive communications in the war on terror." OBS typically distributes VNRs through international news organizations such as Reuters and the Associated Press, which then distribute them to major US networks, which in turn transmit them to local affiliates.
The Pentagon Channel and 'Hometown News' - In 2004, the Defense Department began providing The Pentagon Channel, formerly an in-house service, to cable and satellite operators in the US. The content is provided by Pentagon public relations specialists who produce "news reports" identical to those produced by local and national news broadcasters. And the content is free. The Pentagon Channel's content is supplemented by the Army and Air Force Hometown News Service (HNS), a 40-man unit that produces VNRs for local broadcasters focusing on the accomplishments of "hometown" soldiers. Deputy director Larry Gilliam says of the service, "We're the 'good news' people." Their reports, tailored for specific local stations, reached 41 million households in 2004. But the service's VNRs sometimes go beyond celebrating a hometown hero. Weeks after the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, HNS released a VNR that lauded the training of military policemen at Missouri's Fort Leonard Wood, where many of the MPs involved in the scandal were trained. "One of the most important lessons they learn is to treat prisoners strictly but fairly," the "reporter" in the segment says. A trainer tells the narrator that MPs are taught to "treat others as they would want to be treated." Gilliam says the MP report had nothing to do with the Pentagon's desire to defend itself from accusations of mistreatment and prisoner abuse. "Are you saying that the Pentagon called down and said, 'We need some good publicity?'" Gilliam asks the Times reporter. He answers his own question, "No, not at all." (Barstow and Stein 3/13/2005)
Congress Bans Use of Government VNRs - Two months after the Times article is published, Congress will ban the use of government VNRs for propaganda purposes (see May 2005).
The Bush administration appoints veteran Bush adviser Karen Hughes as the undersecretary of state for public diplomacy. Her main job will be to craft an administration marketing and public relations policy that will reach out to the Islamic and Arab worlds, and to convince Muslims and Arabs that the US is indeed their friend (see August 2002). But Hughes is immediately granted six months of personal leave before facing Senate confirmation in the fall. And Hughes's staff will include no Muslims. As a result, a high-level US official warns that "the gap between rhetoric and reality" will undermine the US's credibility in its outreach program. Hughes's deputy, Dina Powell, is not expected to take her position until at least May. The new initiative is at least partially sparked due to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report criticizing the administration for failing to develop a policy to improve the US image in the rest of the world. "[R]ecent polling data show that anti-Americanism is spreading and deepening around the world," the report finds. "Such anti-American sentiments can increase foreign public support for terrorism directed at Americans, impact the cost and effectiveness of military operations, weaken the United States' ability to align with other nations in pursuit of common policy objectives, and dampen foreign publics' enthusiasm for US business services and products." Another US official says the dearth of Muslims in the administration is worrisome. (Powell is Egyptian-American, but is a Christian, not a Muslim. The few officials of Arab descent in the Bush administration are, by and large, Christians.) "It's very important for American Muslims to be involved, as they're an important conduit to the wider Islamic world and they should be speaking out," that official says. "But American Muslims generally feel they're not included like other communities. We should be talking to them, as they have a lot of knowledge of the region." Thomas Carothers of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace says, "You can do Muslim outreach without Muslims and it doesn't mean Dina Powell can't be effective, but the administration has not made much effort to integrate Muslim Americans in this effort." Carothers says many in the administration confuse public diplomacy with marketing. "There's deep confusion within the administration about what public diplomacy means," he says. "For some, it's simply selling America's image in the world. For others, it's something deeper that has to do with creating a partnership between America and Muslim countries to replace the current antagonism.… The administration is convinced that if only the Muslim world understood us better they'd like us more, whereas many Muslims feel it's precisely because they understand us that they're unhappy." (Wright and Kamen 4/18/2005; Rich 2006, pp. 165)
Lawyers for 36 media organizations file an amici curiae brief with the US Court of Appeals in Washington asking that it overturn a decision to compel reporters Matthew Cooper and Judith Miller to testify before a grand jury hearing evidence in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see February 15, 2005). The brief argues in part that neither Miller nor Cooper should be jailed because "the circumstances necessary to prove" a violation of the Intelligence Identities Protection Act (IIPA) "seem not to be present here," and therefore the trial court should be ordered to hold a hearing "to determine whether specific elements of the [IIPA]… have been met." The request will be denied. One of the authors of the brief is Washington lawyer Victoria Toensing, who with her husband Joseph diGenova heads a law firm with deep ties to the Republican Party. (Toensing was a Justice Department official during the Reagan administration and helped write the IIPA.) Toensing will write numerous op-eds and make frequent television appearances denouncing the investigation (see November 3, 2005, February 18, 2007, February 18, 2007, and March 16, 2007), usually without revealing her ties to the case. (US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Court 3/23/2005 ; Media Matters 3/6/2007)
The Bush administration's chief envoy to Southeast Asia, Christopher Hill, finally manages to make some progress in the ongoing six-way talks over North Korea's nuclear program (see August 2003), largely by evading and ducking Bush administration restrictions on his negotiations. Hill is under orders not to open two-party talks with North Korea unless the North agrees to make significant concessions. (In 2008, author J. Peter Scoblic will observe, "Perversely, the Bush administration was offering negotiations in exchange for changed behavior, rather than using negotiations to change behavior; they had reversed the standard cause and effect of diplomacy.") Hill persuades the North Koreans to return to the talks by arranging a dinner in Beijing for him and his North Korean counterpart, Li Gun. The Chinese hosts "fail" to show up, and Hill is left to dine with Gun alone. The North Koreans, happy with this "bilateral negotiation," agree to rejoin the talks. Hill is unaware that Bush administration conservatives are planning to scuttle the negotiations (see September 19-20, 2005). (Scoblic 2008, pp. 244) The talks will officially reopen on July 25, 2005. (BBC 12/2007)
Journalist and radio host Ian Masters asks former CIA operative Vincent Cannistraro during an interview, in reference to the question of who forged the Niger documents (see March 2000), "If I were to say the name Michael Ledeen to you, what would you say?" Cannistraro replies, "You're very close." After the radio show, Ledeen denies in a statement that he has any connection to the documents. (Cannistraro 4/3/2005)
By the end of March 2005, the FBI clearly suspects Bruce Ivins for the 2001 anthrax attacks (see October 5-November 21, 2001). Ivins works at USAMRIID, the US Army's top bioweapons laboratory, and his lab was raided by the FBI to find Ivins' anthrax samples (see July 16, 2004). He has been questioned about suspicious behavior around the time of the attacks and since (see March 31, 2005). Yet Ivins is still allowed to work with anthrax and other deadly germs at USAMRIID. McClatchy Newspapers will report in August 2008, "[A] mystery is why Ivins wasn't escorted from [USAMRIID] until last month when the FBI had discovered by 2005 that he'd failed to turn over samples of all the anthrax in his lab, as agents had requested three years earlier." In 2003, USAMRIID implemented a biosurety program that required all scientists working there to undergo regular intrusive background checks, which includes disclosure of mental health issues. They also have to undergo periodic FBI background checks to retain their security clearances. Jeffrey Adamovicz, head of USAMRIID's bacteriology division in 2003 and 2004, will later say that USAMRIID officials knew at least by late 2006 that Ivins was a suspect, yet he maintained his lab access and security clearances until July 10, 2008, shortly before his suicide later that month (see July 10, 2008 and July 29, 2008). Adamovicz will say, "It's hard to understand if there was all this negative information out there on Bruce, why wasn't it picked up in the biosurety program or by law enforcement." (Gordon 8/7/2008) By contrast, anthrax attacks suspect Steven Hatfill lost his security clearance in 2001 after it was discovered he had misrepresented some items on his resume (see August 23, 2001).
While Christopher Hill, the Bush administration's new chief envoy to Southeast Asia, is overseas trying to shore up relations with North Korea, President Bush undermines Hill by publicly insulting North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Kim "is a dangerous person," Bush says. "He's a man who starves his people. He's got huge concentration camps. And… there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don't know if he can or not, but I think it's best, when you're dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong Il, to assume he can." In 2008, author J. Peter Scoblic will note that while Bush's allegations against Kim are largely true, to publicly insult him is to make it that much more difficult to persuade the dictator to give up his nuclear weapons (see August 2003). (Scoblic 2008, pp. 243)
Jordanian journalist Fuad Hussein publishes a book that extensively quotes Saif al-Adel, who is believed to be al-Qaeda's current military commander and possibly lives in Iran (see Spring 2002). Al-Adel claims: "Abu Musab [al-Zarqawi] and his Jordanian and Palestinian comrades opted to go to Iraq.… Our expectations of the situation indicated that the Americans would inevitably make a mistake and invade Iraq sooner or later. Such an invasion would aim at overthrowing the regime. Therefore, we should play an important role in the confrontation and resistance. Contrary to what the Americans frequently reiterated, al-Qaeda did not have any relationship with Saddam Hussein or his regime. We had to draw up a plan to enter Iraq through the north that was not under the control of [Hussein's] regime. We would then spread south to the areas of our fraternal Sunni brothers. The fraternal brothers of the Ansar al-Islam expressed their willingness to offer assistance to help us achieve this goal." (Bergen 2006, pp. 120, 361-362) He says "the ultimate objective was to prompt" the US "to come out of its hole" and take direct military action in an Islamic country. "What we had wished for actually happened. It was crowned by the announcement of Bush Jr. of his crusade against Islam and Muslims everywhere." (Danner 9/11/2005) Al-Adel seems to have served as a liaison between al-Qaeda and al-Zarqawi, and mentions elsewhere in the book that his goal was not "full allegiance" from al-Zarqawi's group, but "coordination and cooperation" to achieve joint objectives. (Bergen 2006, pp. 120, 353-354)
Outgoing Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith, one of the key architects of the Iraq occupation, is bemused by the fact that, despite his predictions and those of his neoconservative colleagues, Iraq is teetering on the edge of all-out civil war. He has come under fire from both political enemies and former supporters, with Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) accusing him of deceiving both the White House and Congress, and fellow neoconservative William Kristol accusing him of "being an agent of" disgraced Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld (see November 6-December 18, 2006). Feith defends the invasion of Iraq, calling it "an operation to prevent the next, as it were, 9/11," and noting that the failure to find WMD is essentially irrelevant to the justification for the war. "There's a certain revisionism in people looking back and identifying the main intelligence error [the assumption of stockpiles] and then saying that our entire policy was built on that error." Feith is apparently ignoring the fact that the administration's arguments for invading Iraq—including many of his own assertions—were built almost entirely on the "error" of the Iraqi WMD threat (see July 30, 2001, Summer 2001, September 11, 2001-March 17, 2003, Shortly After September 11, 2001, September 14, 2001, September 19-20, 2001, September 20, 2001, October 14, 2001, November 14, 2001, 2002, 2002-March 2003, February 2002, Summer 2002, August 26, 2002, September 3, 2002, September 4, 2002, September 8, 2002, September 8, 2002, September 10, 2002, September 12, 2002, Late September 2002, September 19, 2002, September 24, 2002, September 24, 2002, September 28, 2002, October 7, 2002, December 3, 2002, December 12, 2002, January 9, 2003, February 3, 2003, February 5, 2003, February 8, 2003, March 22, 2003, and March 23, 2003, among others).
Cultural Understanding Did Not Lead to Success - Feith says he is not sure why what he describes as his deep understanding of Iraqi culture did not lead to accurate predictions of the welcome the US would receive from the Iraqi people (see November 18-19, 2001, 2002-2003, September 9, 2002, and October 11, 2002). "There's a paradox I've never been able to work out," he says. "It helps to be deeply knowledgeable about an area—to know the people, to know the language, to know the history, the culture, the literature. But it is not a guarantee that you will have the right strategy or policy as a matter of statecraft for dealing with that area. You see, the great experts in certain areas sometimes get it fundamentally wrong." Who got it right? President Bush, he says. "[E]xpertise is a very good thing, but it is not the same thing as sound judgment regarding strategy and policy. George W. Bush has more insight, because of his knowledge of human beings and his sense of history, about the motive force, the craving for freedom and participation in self-rule, than do many of the language experts and history experts and culture experts."
'Flowers in Their Minds' - When a reporter notes that Iraqis had not, as promised, greeted American soldiers with flowers, Feith responds that they were still too intimidated by their fear of the overthrown Hussein regime to physically express their gratitude. "But," he says, "they had flowers in their minds." (Goldberg 5/9/2005; Scoblic 2008, pp. 228-229)
Leslie Fahrenkopf, a lawyer in the White House counsel's office, sends an email to White House counsel Harriet Miers about US Attorney David Iglesias of New Mexico (see October 26, 2004). Fahrenkopf has seen emails from Scott Jennings, an official in the White House Office of Political Affairs, to his boss Timothy Griffin asking that Iglesias be ousted (see May 2 - June 28, 2005). Fahrenkopf writes: "Harriet, per our conversation last week regarding the US Attorney for New Mexico, David Iglesias, I double-checked the dates of Iglesias's confirmation and appointment. He was confirmed October 11, 2001, and appointed by the president October 16, 2001. You also asked me to remind you to check the chart grading US Attorneys on their performance. Thanks." Fahrenkopf sends a follow-up email to Miers on June 9, 2005, saying: "Harriet, I just wanted to follow up on this item to see if you wanted to take any action. You will recall that this is the individual who is ruffling some feathers in New Mexico." Less than an hour after Fahrenkopf sends this email, Miers replies, "I believe the decision is to let his four years run and then appoint someone else, if this is the right case." Karl Rove, the White House deputy chief of staff and the senior political official in the Bush administration (see Late January 2005), will later testify that he "probably" spoke to Miers about Iglesias before the email exchange involving Miers, Fahrenkopf, Jennings, and Griffin. Miers will testify to having no recollection of the email exchange. She will be asked why, if Iglesias had been ranked so highly just months before (see November 14-18, 2005 and March 2, 2005), he was now being considered for firing. Miers will have no answer. (US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2009 ; US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 6/15/2009 ; Rove 7/7/2009 ; US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 7/30/2009 ; US House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary 8/11/2009)
Steven Bradbury, the acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel, issues a classified memo. The contents and the recipient remain secret, but the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) will later determine the memo deals with the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the CIA. In early May, Bradbury determined that none of the CIA's past or present interrogation methods violated either federal or international standards (see May 10, 2005). (American Civil Liberties Union [PDF] 1/28/2009 )
The identity of "Deep Throat," the Watergate source made famous in Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward's book All the President's Men, is revealed to have been W. Mark Felt, who at the time was the deputy director of the FBI. As "Deep Throat," Felt provided critical information and guidance for Bernstein and Woodward's investigations of the Watergate conspiracy for the Washington Post. Felt's identity has been a closely guarded secret for over 30 years; Woodward, who knew Felt, had repeatedly said that neither he, Bernstein, nor then-editor Ben Bradlee would release any information about his source's identity until after his death or until Felt authorized its revelation. Felt's family confirms Felt's identity as "Deep Throat" in an article published in Vanity Fair. Felt, 91 years old, suffers from advanced senile dementia. Felt's character as the romantic government source whispering explosive secrets from the recesses of a Washington, DC, parking garage was burned into the American psyche both by the book and by actor Hal Holbrook's portrayal in the 1976 film of the same name. Woodward says that Holbrook's portrayal captured Felt's character both physically and psychologically. (Drehle 6/1/2005) Bernstein and Woodward release a joint statement after the Vanity Fair article is published. It reads, "W. Mark Felt was Deep Throat and helped us immeasurably in our Watergate coverage. However, as the record shows, many other sources and officials assisted us and other reporters for the hundreds of stories written in the Washington Post." (Woodward 2005, pp. 232)
Surveillance Methods to Protect Both Felt and Woodward - Felt used his experience as an anti-Nazi spy hunter for the FBI to set up secret meetings between himself and the young reporter (see August 1972). "He knew he was taking a monumental risk," says Woodward. Woodward acknowledges that his continued refusal to reveal Felt's identity has played a key role in the advancement of his career as a journalist and author, as many sources trust Woodward to keep their identities secret as he did Felt's.
Obscuring the Greater Meaning - Bernstein cautions that focusing on Felt's role as a "deep background" source—the source of the nickname, which references a popular 1970s pornographic movie—obscures the greater meaning of the Watergate investigation. "Felt's role in all this can be overstated," Bernstein says. "When we wrote the book, we didn't think his role would achieve such mythical dimensions. You see there that Felt/Deep Throat largely confirmed information we had already gotten from other sources." (Drehle 6/1/2005) Felt was convicted in 1980 of conspiring to violate the civil rights of domestic dissidents belonging to the Weather Underground movement in the early 1970s; Felt was pardoned by then-President Ronald Reagan. (Woodward 2005, pp. 146-147) At that time, Felt's identity as "Deep Throat" could have been revealed, but was not.
Felt, Daughter Decide to Go Public - The Vanity Fair article is by Felt family lawyer John D. O'Connor, who helped Felt's daughter Joan coax Felt into admitting his role as "Deep Throat." O'Connor's article quotes Felt as saying, "I'm the guy they used to call Deep Throat." O'Connor says he wrote the article with the permission of both Felt and his daughter. Woodward has been reluctant to reveal Felt's identity, though he has already written an as-yet unpublished book about Felt and their relationship, because of his concerns about Felt's failing health and increasingly poor memory. The Washington Post's editors concluded that with the publication of the Vanity Fair article, they were not breaking any confidences by confirming Felt's identity as Woodward's Watergate source. (Drehle 6/1/2005)
Endless Speculation - The identity of "Deep Throat" has been one of the enduring political mysteries of the last 30 years. Many observers, from Richard Nixon to the most obscure Internet sleuth, have speculated on his identity. Watergate-era figures, including then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Nixon speechwriter Pat Buchanan, Nixon deputy counsel Fred Fielding, Nixon chief of staff Alexander Haig, National Security Council staffers Laurence Lynn and Winston Lord, then-CBS reporter Diane Sawyer, and many others, have been advanced as possibilities for the source. Former White House counsels John Dean and Leonard Garment, two key Watergate figures, have written extensively on the subject, but both have been wrong in their speculations. In 1992, Atlantic Monthly journalist James Mann wrote that "Deep Throat" "could well have been Mark Felt." At the time, Felt cautiously denied the charge, as he did in his 1979 memoir, The FBI Pyramid. (Woodward 2005, pp. 153-156; Drehle 6/1/2005) In 1999, the Hartford Courant published a story saying that 19-year old Chase Coleman-Beckman identified Felt as "Deep Throat." Coleman-Beckman had attended a day camp with Bernstein's son Josh a decade earlier, and Josh Bernstein then told her that Felt was Woodward's source. Felt then denied the charge, telling a reporter: "No, it's not me. I would have done better. I would have been more effective. Deep Throat didn't exactly bring the White House crashing down, did he?" Woodward calls Felt's response a classic Felt evasion. (Woodward 2005, pp. 158-159)
Motivated by Anger, Concern over Politicization of the FBI - Woodward believes that Felt decided to become a background source for several reasons both personal and ideological. Felt, who idealized former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, was angered that he was passed over for the job upon Hoover's death; instead, the position went to L. Patrick Gray, whom Felt considered both incompetent and far too politically aligned with the Nixon White House. The FBI could not become an arm of the White House, Felt believed, and could not be allowed to help Nixon cover up his participation in the conspiracy. He decided to help Woodward and Bernstein in their often-lonely investigation of the burgeoning Watergate scandal. Woodward and Bernstein never identified Felt as anyone other than "a source in the executive branch who had access" to high-level information. Felt refused to be directly quoted, even as an anonymous source, and would not give information, but would merely confirm or deny it as well as "add[ing] some perspective." Some of Woodward and Felt's conversations were strictly business, but sometimes they would wax more philosophical, discussing, in the words of the book, "how politics had infiltrated every corner of government—a strong-arm takeover of the agencies by the Nixon White House…. [Felt] had once called it the 'switchblade mentality'—and had referred to the willingness of the president's men to fight dirty and for keeps…. The Nixon White House worried him. 'They are underhanded and unknowable,' he had said numerous times. He also distrusted the press. 'I don't like newspapers,' he had said flatly." (Woodward 2005, pp. 167-215; Drehle 6/1/2005)
Former director of Israeli intelligence Uzi Arad says that many Israelis were keenly disappointed in the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq and not Iran. Arad says: "If you look at President Bush's 'axis of evil' (see January 29, 2002), all of us said North Korea and Iran are more urgent. Iraq was already semi-controlled because there were [UN-imposed economic] sanctions. It was outlawed. Sometimes the answer [from the Bush neoconservatives] was 'Let's do first things first. Once we do Iraq, we'll have a military presence in Iraq, which would enable us to handle the Iranians from closer quarters, would give us more leverage.'" Arad's words are almost verbatim echoes from three years before (see Late January 2002). (Unger 2007, pp. 307-308)
In his new book, "Countdown to Terror," Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), the vice chairman of the House Homeland Security and Armed Services Committees, accuses the CIA of dismissing an informant who he says has valuable information on Iran. Weldon's source claims to have knowledge that Osama Bin Laden is in Iran and that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, ordered a terrorist assault on the US called the "12th Imam attack." But according to Bill Murray, a former CIA Station Chief in Paris who met with Weldon's source on four occasions, the information provided by the informant was believed to have originated with Iranian gunrunner Manucher Ghorbanifar, a "known fabricator," familiar to the CIA since the 1980s (see December 9, 2001 and December 2003). Murray compares Ghorbanifar to Ahmed Chalabi, whose false claims about Iraqi WMD were fed to US intelligence, Congress, and the public during the lead-up to war with Iraq. (Rozen and Heer 4/1/2005; Shane 6/8/2005) Murray later identifies Weldon's source, whom Weldon nicknames "Ali," as Ghorbanifar's associate Fereidoun Mahdavi. According to Murray, Mahdavi is a complete liar. "Mahdavi works for Ghorbanifar," Murray will say. "The two are inseparable. Ghorbanifar put Mahdavi out to meet with Weldon." Weldon was accompanied on at least one visit to "Ali" by Peter Hoekstra, the Republican chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. (Rozen 6/10/2005; Unger 3/2007)
Three days before a group of military analysts are taken to Guantanamo by the Pentagon for an orchestrated "tour" (see June 24-25, 2005), one planning e-mail from Pentagon official Dallas Lawrence gives weight to the belief that the tour was arranged to prepare the analysts to deliver scripted talking points before the cameras (see April 20, 2008 and Early 2002 and Beyond). Lawrence notes the importance of scheduling the Guantanamo trip to ensure that an analyst for the American Spectator, Jed Babbin, can participate: "He is hosting a number of radio shows this summer. I would have to think he would have every member of Congress on to talk about their trip together—a definite plus for us looking to expand the echo chamber." Babbin will respond with a Spectator article lambasting Democratic critics of Guantanamo, and will be given an invitation to appear on Bill O'Reilly's Fox News talk show. Pentagon public relations official Lawrence Di Rita is quite pleased by Babbin's work, and in an e-mail to other Pentagon officials, says: "We really should try to help [Babbin]. He is consistently solid and helpful." (Greenwald 5/9/2008)
With criticism of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility reaching new heights, new allegations of abuse from UN human rights experts, Amnesty International receiving plenty of media exposure for calling the facility "the gulag of our times" (see May 25, 2005), and many calling for the facility's immediate closure, the Pentagon counters by launching the latest in its propaganda counteroffensive designed to offset and blunt such criticism (see April 20, 2008). The Pentagon and White House's communications experts place a select group of around ten retired military officers, all who regularly appear on network and cable news broadcasts as "independent military analysts," on a jet usually used by Vice President Dick Cheney, and fly them to Cuba for a carefully orchestrated tour of the facility. (Barstow 4/20/2008)
A Four-Hour Tour - During the three-hour flight from Andrews Air Force Base to Cuba, the analysts are given several briefings by various Pentagon officials. After landing, but before being taken to the detention facility, they are given another 90-minute briefing. The analysts spend 50 minutes lunching with some of the soldiers on base, then begin their tour. They spend less than 90 minutes viewing the main part of the Guantanamo facility, Camp Delta; in that time, they watch an interrogation, look at an unoccupied cellblock, and visit the camp hospital. They spend ten minutes at Camp V and 35 minutes at Camp X-Ray. After less than four hours in Guantanamo's detention facilities, they depart for Washington, DC. (Greenwald 5/9/2008) This is the first of six such excursions, all designed to prepare the analysts for defending the administration's point of view and counter the perception that Guantanamo is a haven for abusive treatment of prisoners. During the flight to the facility, during the tour, and during the return flight, Pentagon officials hammer home the message they want the analysts to spread: how much money has been spent on improving the facility, how much abuse the guards have endured, and the extensive rights and privileges granted to the detainees.
Producing Results - The analysts provide the desired results. All ten immediately appear on television and radio broadcasts, denouncing Amnesty International, challenging calls to close the facility, and assuring listeners that the detainees are being treated humanely. Donald Shepperd, a retired Air Force general, tells CNN just hours after returning from Guantanamo, "The impressions that you're getting from the media and from the various pronouncements being made by people who have not been here in my opinion are totally false." The next morning, retired Army General Montgomery Meigs appears on NBC's flagship morning show, Today, and says: "There's been over $100 million of new construction [at Guantanamo]. The place is very professionally run." Transcripts of the analysts' appearances are quickly circulated among senior White House and Pentagon officials, and cited as evidence that the Bush administration is winning the battle for public opinion. (Barstow 4/20/2008)
Former FBI Director L. Patrick Gray, who resigned under fire during the Watergate investigation (see April 27-30, 1973), appears on ABC's This Week to respond to the recent revelation that his then-deputy, W. Mark Felt, was the notorious informant "Deep Throat" (see May 31, 2005). Thirty years before, Felt had lied to Gray when asked if he had leaked information to the press (see October 19, 1972). Gray, whose health is in serious decline, airs decades' worth of pent-up grievances against both Felt and the Nixon administration, which he says left him to "twist slowly, slowly in the wind" (Nixon aide John Ehrlichman's words—see Late March, 1973) after he admitted giving information about the Watergate investigation to White House staffers (see June 28, 1972 and July 21, 1972). He felt "anger, anger of the fiercest sort" after hearing Ehrlichman's words, and adds, "I could not believe that those guys were as rotten as they were turning out to be." He was justified in burning key White House documents instead of turning them over to the FBI (see Late December 1972), he says, because the documents were unrelated to the Watergate investigation. Learning that Felt, his trusted deputy, was "Deep Throat" was, Gray says, "like [being] hit with a tremendous sledgehammer." Gray says that if he could, he would ask Felt: "Mark, why? Why didn't you come to me? Why didn't we work it out together?" Gray says he now realizes that he could not stop the FBI from leaking information to the press because Felt was in charge of stopping the leaks. "I think he fooled me… by being the perfect example of the FBI agent that he was.… He did his job well, he did it thoroughly, and I trusted him all along, and I was, I can't begin to tell you how deep was my shock and my grief when I found that it was Mark Felt." Two weeks after the interview, Gray will die of cancer. (Johnston 6/26/2005; Roberts 2008, pp. 151) After Gray's death, his son Ed Gray will call his father "the only wholly honest" man involved in Watergate. (Associated Press 7/6/2005)
The Supreme Court refuses to intervene in two reporters' attempts to refuse to testify in the Valerie Plame Wilson identity leak investigation (see February 15, 2005 and March 23, 2005). (Washington Post 7/3/2007) One of the reporters, the New York Times's Judith Miller, says she will go to jail rather than reveal her confidential sources. "Journalists simply cannot do their jobs without being able to commit to sources that they won't be identified," she says. "Such protection is critical to the free flow of information in a democracy." Lawyers for the second reporter, Time magazine's Matthew Cooper, say they will file a motion to reargue the case. (Liptak 6/28/2005)
A few days after the Supreme Court's refusal to quash the subpoenas of two reporters in the Valerie Plame Wilson case (see June 27, 2005), Plame Wilson and her husband, Joseph Wilson, pass one of the reporters, Matthew Cooper, on the street. Cooper buttonholes Wilson and, obviously struggling with himself, asks, "Could you do something for me?" Cooper asks Wilson if he would write the judge who ruled against Cooper and fellow reporter Judith Miller (see August 9, 2004) a letter asking for leniency for him. Wilson, whom his wife will describe as "taken aback," tells Cooper that he will ask his lawyer about the request. Over dinner, the Wilsons marvel over Cooper's request. They wonder if "Matt [had] momentarily lost his mind." Plame Wilson will write: "A request from Joe for leniency on Matt's behalf would carry little or no weight with the presiding judge. More pointedly, it was obviously in our interest to have the reporters testify. We, along with the entire country, wanted to hear what they would say under oath. We wanted to know what sources in the administration had leaked my name to the media, thereby undermining our national security." More generally, Plame Wilson will reflect: "In the debate over whether reporters should be compelled to reveal their sources, it seemed to me that some of the leading advocates of reporters' First Amendment rights had lost sight of a basic fact in this case: people in the administration had used reporters to advance their own political agenda. That alone is not unusual, or even criminal. But the reporters' refusal to testify would not help to uncover government wrongdoing, but assist officials who wanted to cover up their illegal behavior. It was the Pentagon Papers (see March 1971) or Watergate (see June 15, 1974) turned on its head.… [T]his particular case was not about the freedom of the press, or about reporters' roles as watchdogs on behalf of the governed, the citizens of this country. These reporters were allowing themselves to be exploited by the administration and were obstructing the investigation. It didn't make much ethical sense to me." (Wilson 2007, pp. 220-221)
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