Reply #28: This was not a one man operation. Scooter Libby is part of WHIG.

[snippy]

The Wilson affair should be used to expose the entire broad and well coordinated campaign of lies by the Bush administration concerning the invasion of Iraq. The Wilson affair is only one small part of that campaign. The Wilson affair has legs because there is easily understood evidence of an easily understood crime. But I think that it is a mistake to be content to use it to bring one or two flunkies in the administration down. Whoever ultimately takes the fall for this either never will be indicted or will be pardoned and become republican folk heroes. Think Ollie North.

I think nearly every single fact and allegation about the entire Wilson affair indicates that it was an operation of the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG. The WHIG was formed by White House Chief of Staff Andy Card in August of 2002 to market and create support for the invasion of Iraq. It also was charged with framing the debate so that republicans would benefit politically from the invasion. WHIG's responsibilities included the creation and coordination of all of the lies to support the invasion, including the yellowcake and other nuclear weapons lies. Scooter Libby was a participant in the WHIG.

From an excellent article describing the WHIG:

The group met weekly in the Situation Room. Among the regular participants were Karl Rove, the president's senior political adviser; communications strategists Karen Hughes, Mary Matalin and James R. Wilkinson; legislative liaison Nicholas E. Calio; and policy advisers led by Rice and her deputy, Stephen J. Hadley, along with I. Lewis Libby, Cheney's chief of staff.

The first days of September would bring some of the most important decisions of the prewar period: what to demand of the United Nations in the president's Sept. 12 address to the General Assembly, when to take the issue to Congress, and how to frame the conflict with Iraq in the midterm election campaign that began in earnest after Labor Day.

A "strategic communications" task force under the WHIG began to plan speeches and white papers. There were many themes in the coming weeks, but Iraq's nuclear menace was among the most prominent.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A39500-2003Aug9

The WHIG not only chose what lies to use, it also chose when, where, and how the lies would be disseminated. And by whom.

The fact that at least two people in the administration were shopping the story indicates that a decision to disclose the information was made. It was not casually revealed during the course of conversation. It was an actual decision made by someone. The fact that at least two people in the administration were shopping the story also indicates delegation and coordination by someone.

If lies about Iraq's nuclear weapons program are involved, it is a WHIG operation. If a decision about a communication concerning any of the Iraq lies was made in the White House, WHIG was involved in the decision. If the job of making that communication was delegated to two or more people and coordinated, WHIG was involved in the delegation and coordination. That means the White House Chief of Staff, Andy Card and Turd Blossom Rove were involved.

I am hoping that the investigation of the disclosure of the information on Wilson's wife will lead to a broader investigation of what I think are the three most important questions about the invasion of Iraq (from the standpoint of revealing the criminal behavior of Bush and his minions):

1. Who made the decision to use a campaign of lies to market the invasion of Iraq? (Turd Blossom Rove? Whistle Ass? Cheney? Roger Ailes? Rush Limbaugh? Someone else?)

2. When was that decision made? (Before or after January, 2001? or September 11, 2001? or March, 2002 when Bush told three Senators in Rice's office: "Fuck Saddam. We're taking him out."? or September 2002 when Andrew Card said about trying to sell the American people on the invasion of Iraq: "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August."?)

3. Why was that decision made? (Political reasons? Financial reasons? Personal reasons? Religious reasons? Other reasons?)

I think the answers to these questions would reveal a criminal conspiracy much broader than the decision to out Wilson's wife. That conspiracy involves more powerful people than Scooter Libby.