hadley & woodward

Larisa has a new article out, again fingering Hadley:

In a late night Friday filing (made available by RAW STORY here,) attorneys for Vice President Dick Cheney's former Chief of Staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, named key witnesses in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame.

Included for the first time in formal documents was National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley.

[...]

While there has been much speculation that the new anti-Deep Throat may be Richard Armitage, RAW STORY confirmed late last year that, according to attorneys close to the investigation, Woodward’s source was actually Stephen Hadley

[...]

The attorneys provided RAW STORY with a rare glimpse into the secretive Grand Jury proceedings in which Woodward had testified as to his own involvement in the leak case and how he came to learn of Plame Wilson’s identity:

“Testifying under oath Monday to Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald, Woodward recounted a casual conversation he had with Hadley, these sources say. Hadley did not return a call seeking comment.”

[...]

Although Armitage and Hadley both appear as potential witnesses in the filing by Libby’s defense team, both appearing seven times each, only Armitage is mentioned by most press accounts.

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The near-total silence by the press on Hadley’s involvement, even when he is finally named in a legal filing for the case, is perplexing considering Hadley’s alleged involvement in so much of the pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

[...]

Hadley was intimately implicated in the trips taken by one-time foreign policy advisor to Karl Rove, Michael Ledeen, Pentagon Iran expert Harold Rhode, and DIA analyst Larry Franklin. Franklin has since pleaded guilty in an espionage case involving an Israeli lobby.

In a recent interview with RAW STORY, Michael Ledeen confirmed that Hadley had approved the trip (and subsequent trips by Rhode and Franklin). While Hadley at first denied approving the trips and later claimed not to have known what their purpose was, Ledeen points out that Hadley would have had to authorize the trips and do so with approval from his higher ups:

[...]

In the lead up to the Iraq war it was Stephen Hadley who met with the head of Italian intelligence (SISMI), Nicolo Pollari, in the fall of 2002 to discuss allegations that Iraq was attempting to purchase yellowcake uranium from Niger. Armitage was not part of this meeting.

[...]

Yet in all mainstream press accounts, Hadley is not even discussed as a potential source for Woodward.

why won't armitage go on the record?