" I can't believe much of what I am reading. The "gossip" meme is mostly being swallowed. The idea that Armitage is somehow less lethal than Cheney, Libby, Rove, etc., is laughable.
Armitage was a signatory to PNAC. His history as a manager of Defense Department security assistance programs ties him closely to both the middle east, where he was a special emissary to King Hussein. His work with security forces of other nations also ties him closely to issue of torture, routinely used by these other countries, often trained by the U.S.
Armitage is not one to gossip? As a commenter noted, he was using that line way back in Iran-Contra to alibi himself. He is a VERY sophisticate Cold Warrior, who was put in charge of much of the demobilization of the Soviet Union forces and installation of pro-US regimes in East Europe.
It is hard to believe he is not intelligence, and his stay in the Navy and U.S. Naval Academy background would argue, albeit very speculatively, Naval Intelligence. If true, it might explain his "friendship" with former Navy Intelligence officer, Bob Woodward.
As I have argued before, the entire Plame outing carries black ops prints. These prints are mainly to be seen in the intelligence history of many of the players, and in the plethora of false leads, leaks, and bogus/partially true stories that have been released in order to cloud the situation beyond any ability to get the real truth. Fitzgerald alluded to this at his news conference, when he discussed his "sand in the eyes" experience with Libby's obstruction of justice. But Fitz is not someone to challenge the basic "integrity" of the system. He got one of them (Libby), and he'll push it as far as his authority will let him."
...reminded me of this comment by Uncle $cam at Moon Of Alabama:
WTF? I'm sorry, but give me a break--we're suppposed to believe that the leak was accidental, the result of gossipyness? From Newsweek:
Richard Armitage, Plame leaker?A book coauthored by NEWSWEEK's Michael Isikoff details Richard Armitage's central role in the Valerie Plame leak.Snip:
"...Armitage, a well-known gossip who loves to dish and receive juicy tidbits about Washington characters, apparently hadn't thought through the possible implications of telling Novak about Plame's identity. "I'm afraid I may be the guy that caused this whole thing," he later told Carl Ford Jr., State's intelligence chief. Ford says Armitage admitted to him that he had "slipped up" and told Novak more than he should have. "He was basically beside himself that he was the guy that f---ed up. My sense from Rich is that it was just chitchat," Ford recalls in "Hubris," to be published next week by Crown and co-written by the author of this article and David Corn, Washington editor of The Nation magazine."
I don't buy it. Something smells fishy here. Is there a conspiracy of modern times that Armitage wasn't involved in? What's the deal, does he have cancer or something, and so volunteered to be the foolish, gossipy idiot, as we're being led to believe? Bullshit...Armitage is just about the most unlikely of casual gossipers.
He was involved in all sorts of wild stuff from 1973 to 1978, when he is assumed to have been with the CIA. Making arrangements leading up to the fall of Saigon. A DIA consultant in Tehran in 1975-76, when the Shackley/Clines rogue CIA group was moving its arms-drugs-and-assassination operations there. A charter member of the Enterprise, dealing in particular with heroin-smuggling from Thailand and money-laundering of the profits.
(Just for shits and giggles, guess the name of the author of Shackley's biography. Hint -- his initials are DC.)
In the 80's, became Reagan's Assistant Secretary of Defense. In charge of coordinating covert military operations, including Ollie North's aid to the Contras. Also part of the Iran end of Iran-Contra. And helped Bill Casey run the mujahedeen war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
In the 90's, was a member of the American Turkish Council (the people Sibel Edmonds keeps talking about), the US-Azerbaijan Chamber of Commerce, and the Aspen Institute.
And in the Bush administration, knew beforehand about the Ledeen-Ghorbanifar meetings in Rome in December 2001, helped keep the Niger claims out of Powell's UN address, and requested the Ford memo on Wilson.
And we're expected to believe that this man, who has been involved in virtually every covert and dubious operation over the last 35 years, was just flapping his mouth idly for the fun of it?
Oh, yeah, and mister, will you please sell me that bridge?
5 comments:
FWIW, Tom Oliphant said the same thing on Air America Radio yeserday (subbing for Al Franken)that Armitage is a notorious gossip and Oliphant claimed to know this from personal experience.
BTW, whether Armitage was a gossip or not does not excuse the subsequent actions by Libby, Cheney and Rove. Their motives are still clear to me.
clear or unclear?
it's still unclear to me - i still don't buy the GetWilson story.
I'm with EW. This is pure unadulterated BULLSHIT.
Besides, what difference would it make if he did leak Plame's name through gossip? It is still against the law to reveal an agent's name, Whether you know they are covert or not at the time, you have a duty to inquire before revealing the person's name and that they are CIA.
I feel that discrediting Joe Wilson is the nice, official reason for outing Plame, but the real reason was to put Plame and her whole covert team on WMD's in Iran, out of business.
They still have some extra Niger Embassy stationary they can use to concoct another sale of yellowcake, this time to Iran. They only have to change one letter, from Q to N. Done.
kathleen - we'll convince them one-by-one that it had nothing to do with Joe
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