Threads Of Scandal Iraq Niger

The Threads of Scandal: Iraq, Niger, Plamegate and Franklin

Norman Dombey asks acute questions about the various scandals in Washington concerning the false documents alleging Iraqi purchase of Niger uranium. These forgeries tie together the fraudulent basis for the Iraq War, the scandal that caught up Judith Miller of the New York Times about the revelation by Irving Lewis Libby (Cheney’s chief of staff) that Ambassador Joe Wilson’s wife was an undercover CIA operative; and Larry Franklin, who recently confessed to spying for Israel (and trying to get up a war against Iran), and who met with Italian military intelligence, Michael Ledeen, Manucher Ghorbanifar (Iran-Contra scandal figure) and Harold Rhode in Europe.

Dombey asks good questions. Would that we had the answers.

Gene Goldenfeld writes:

‘ This is an FYI:

In response to Arianna Huffington’s 10-15 post under “TimesSelective..,” a reader asks about Stephen Hayes’ Weekly Standard article dated 10-25-05, “The White House, the CIA, and the Wilsons.” Hayes’ article is a substantial and slick piece of disinformation. I’d suggest taking a close look at it because it is undoubtedly going to be widely circulated and cited by Administration backers against Wilson and the whole Special Prosecutor’s investigation. The Hayes’ piece is at The Weekly Standard.

This is what I wrote in the Huffington Comments in response:

Hayes’ piece in the Weekly Standard claming that Wilson is the only liar in this business is an important piece of disinformation that will undoubtedly be picked up by Brooks and others for their columns in defense of the Bush Administration. I don’t know what Wilson claimed privately to reporters about the forged documents and other matters, but in the speech passage Hayes quotes (pg 2) Wilson says he called “the government” *after* the British report came out to suggest fact checking, i.e., to check the authenticity of the documents it was based on. Contrary to Hayes, there is nothing in Wilson’s account to suggest he was making claims about the forgeries before they were known about publicly. Hayes has pulled a sophisticated version of a common liar’s trick: fill your story with a long detailed chronology to make it look
like you know what you’re talking about, in the hope that listeners/readers won’t notice how you finesse your central claim.

Gene Goldenfeld ‘