Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Ledeen: an iranian agent?

* i've just read Unger's VF story on the Nigeranium . Nothing particularly mindblowing there that hasnt been covered by laura, josh and larisa (not of whom got much credit in the piece - laura didnt get a single mention)- but this was new to me:
"A week after Bush's (SOTU) speech, on February 4, the Bush administration finally forwarded electronic copies of the Niger documents to the I.A.E.A. Astonishingly, a note was attached to the documents which said, "We cannot confirm these reports and have questions regarding some specific claims.""
there were some interesting comments in the final few paras.

it was nice to see this get a mention (although weldon's name never appears):
"It is also unclear what, if anything, the Italians may have received for their alleged participation in Nigergate. In 2005, a consortium led by Finmeccanica, the Italian arms company, and Lockheed Martin unexpectedly beat out U.S.-owned Sikorsky to win a contract to build presidential helicopters. Some saw the contract, worth as much as $6.1 billion, as a reward to Berlusconi for helping Bush on Iraq."
and this old chestnut:
"Yet the Bush administration, despite having declared Iran a member of the Axis of Evil, proceeded to attack its two biggest enemies, Afghanistan and Iraq. "Iran is unquestionably the biggest beneficiary of the war in Iraq," says Milt Bearden."
and here's how it ends:
"To Michael Ledeen, however, Iran's ascendancy is just one more reason to expand the Iraq war to the "terror masters" of the Middle East. "I keep saying it over and over again to the point where I myself am bored," he says. "I have been screaming 'Iran, Iran, Iran, Iran' for five years. [Those in the Bush administration] don't have an Iran policy. Still don't have one. They haven't done fuck-all.""
Given how little we trust anything that comes out of Ledeen's mouth - and the article does paint a solid picture of Ledeen's obsession with obfuscation - ya gotta wonder whether Ledeen isn't protesting too mucheth - and whether he actually might be an Iranian agent.

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