Day: July 13, 2006

All Hell’s Breaking Loose in Washington — Plame Sues Cheney, Libby and Rove

Buck Banks

Spook suit: The Associated Press is reporting that Valerie Plame, the CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters, and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, have sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove today, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, accuses Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby of revealing Plame’s CIA identity to exact revenge on Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration’s motives in Iraq.

Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak’s column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.

The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to determine whether there was any truth to reports that Saddam Hussein’s government had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports, but the allegation nevertheless wound up in President Bush’s 2003 State of the Union address.

The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children’s lives at risk by exposing Plame.

“This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of … (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country,” the Wilsons’ lawyers said in the lawsuit.

Libby is the only administration official charged in connection with the leak investigation. He faces trial in January on perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, accused of lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about when he learned Plame’s identity and what he subsequently told reporters.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald told Rove’s lawyer last month that he had decided not to seek criminal charges against Rove.

Some Iranians Hold Reasonable Opinions

Buck Banks

Polling extremists: According to a recent Reader’s Digest/Zogby poll, not all Iranians are extremist nutjobs who don’t believe that Israel exists or that the U.S. is out to bomb them off the face of the earth.

Indeed, 41 percent of Iranians polled said reforming their national economy to operate more efficiently is more important than nuclear capability. Only, 27 percent said the country’s top priority should be to develop nuclear weapons, while a full 23 percent professed to believe that the top goal for their government should be to expand its citizens’ freedoms.

Using Pensito Math, I have taken the liberty of extrapolating these meaningless percentages into real numbers by calculating what they would mean in a country with a population of 8 million. Thus, applying Pensito Math, 27. 9 million would be in favor of reforming the economy and 15 million would support expanded freedoms, while 18.4 million extremists would favor becoming a nuclear threat to the world.

Almost two-thirds of Iranians cling to the delusion that they don’t believe that Iran and the U.S. will go to war in the next decade.

More than half of Iranians polled (56 percent/38 million) said they believe their country should lead the region “diplomatically and militarily,” but only 12 percent (8.2 million) took the more moderate path and said Iran should not be the dominant regional power. Almost a third of respondents (31 percent/21 million) are reasonable, and want Iran to become more secular and liberal. On the other hand, 36 percent (24.5 million) want the country to be a nation of radical religious extremists.

Sadly, only 9 percent of Iranians polled (6.1 million) said that Israel was a legitimate state and should be allowed to exist, while 67 percent (45.6 million) said, “Israel, what Israel?”

Almost two-thirds of Iranians cling to the delusion that they don’t believe that Iran and the U.S. will go to war in the next decade.

A majority held the extreme view that they would be willing to suffer economically if that were the price the country had to pay to develop its nuclear program. A quarter (17 million) took the extremist view and said they would blame the U.S. if the United Nations imposed nuclear-related sanctions, although nearly 40 percent (27.2 million) said they were not sure whom to blame. Only one in six (10.2 million) would rightfully blame the Iranian government for being a bunch of unreasonable hard-headed extremists. If Iran were to develop nuclear weapons — not that they are, of course — a foolish 25 percent (17 million) said it would make the Middle East a safer place, but a more sensible 35 percent (23.8 million) disagreed.

When it came to their view of the United States, older Iranians were more likely to admire the American people and society than younger Iranians, no doubt remembering the kindness the U.S. showed to the late Shah of Iran when he was dying of cancer and the sensitive media coverage of the death and burial of the Ayatollah Khomeni.

Disproving the notion that access to information liberalizes a culture, among Iranians with Internet access, 41 percent (27.9 million) said they wanted a more religious culture, compared to a nonradical minority of 33 percent (22.4 million) who said they wanted a more secular society. Ironically, Iranians with access to the Internet or satellite TV were more likely to identify the U.S. as the country they admire the most and less likely to pick the U.S. government as the one they admire the least — 34 percent (23.1 million) Iranians without Internet access chose the United States as least admired, compared with 18 percent (12.2 million) Iranians with Internet access.

Why This Is My Last Post On Pensito Review

Buck Banks

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Another One Bites the Katherine Harris Dust

Trish

Yet another Katherine Harris spokesperson has torn his hair out and high-tailed it.

Harris has had three campaign managers since getting into the race last summer, and has seen turnover in every key position

Rep. Katherine Harris’ communications director for her Senate campaign is resigning, the latest in staff turnover that has plagued the Republican’s effort to unseat Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson.

“I wish Katherine Harris the best, and it’s been a pleasure working for her,” campaign spokesman Chris Ingram said Wednesday. “It’s been an experience.”

“It’s been an experience.” I like that. Sounds kind of like, “Have a day,” or “It’s been real.” Go Chris.

You might recognize poor Chris as the one who’s had to defend Harris when she claimed Democratic House members from Florida were winking and nodding at her that wanted her to beat U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson this fall. Chris said it was all true, even though Harris could produce no specifics. He also backed her up when she tossed out a bogus line about Nelson accepting bribe money in response to a question about her own transgressions.

Meanwhile another Harris alum, Jim Dornan, keeps saying she’s nutso. The question is, how many more will make the inevitable dash for the parking lot with Chris?

Ingram, part of a new team put together after Harris’ core campaign staff quit this spring, didn’t talk further about the decision�

The same release added, “Contrary to earlier reports, Harris has only accepted the resignation of Chris Ingram,” an apparent attempt to downplay reports that other key staff members, including campaign manager Glenn Hodas and field director Pat Thomas, will also resign.

Hodas and Thomas didn’t immediately return calls.

Harris has had three campaign managers since getting into the race last summer, and has seen turnover in every key position.