HOLY SHIT! TPM blows lid off of OBL "October Surprise"?!?

[oldhat]

Damn! I guess this the story Josh was working on he mentioned a couple of weeks ago!

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_07_04.php#003133

A couple months ago, in passing, I noted that the Bush administration had been leaning heavily on the Pakistanis to produce some high-value al Qaida bad-guys -- bin Laden? Mullah Omar? Zawahiri? -- at the end of July, nicely timed to knock the Democratic convention seriously off-stride, and certainly, if at all possible, before the November election.

Well, tomorrow The New Republic is going to release a story -- written by recent TPM guest bloggers John Judis and Spencer Ackerman and another colleague -- which provides considerably more evidence and detail about what they've been up to.

I'm told Judis and Ackerman have mulitple Pakistani intelligence sources confirming key details.

If only baggin OBL had been such a priority for them in early '02. But, alas, Iraq called. And priorities are priorities.

[trumad]

1. You know who the other collegue is don't ya?

It's Josh... This is the story he was referring too awhile back..

[notadmblnd]

2. They're so cheney-ing predictable

nt

[0rganism]

23. And, predictably, American voters will lap it up like so much budweiser

Funny thing is, it doesn't matter how predictable they are. They think we're stupid, and about half the time they're right.

[notadmblnd]

27. No, it's their "base" that is asleep at the wheel

and more and more of them are waking up everyday.

[Emboldened Chimp]

3. This administration is absolutely reprehensible

They really just don't give a shit for anything but their own interests. Sickening.

:grr:

[girl gone mad]

4. What do the Pakistanis..

get in exchange?

[oldhat]

8. Musharref

We look the other way while their nuclear scientists sell technology to Iran, NK, al Qaeda, etc.

[girl gone mad]

13. I'm guessing it's..

more than that.

[Tight_rope]

44. I agree with you totally! But it will come back to haunt them! n/t

[Jacobin]

11. Just a few billion of our tax dollars

But, hey!! Anything to help Smirky get elected!!

/sarcasm

[fujiyama]

47. As the other said

a blind eye toward selling, bartering, and proliferating nuclear technology.

Also, BILLIONS of dollars in military aid and debt reduction.

[varun]

61. Kashmir

In exchange for OBL, Pakistan will get the disputed territory of Kashmir.

[Sweetpea]

5. It may not matter by then....a few al qaida capture won't erase

an iraqi civil war.

[redqueen]

6. Treason

Will we hear this finally?

[leftchick]

7. isn't he in someone's basement in Pakistan?

Didn't I read that is the last couple of weeks in LBN? Some ex-official ssying UBL is in Mushareff's basement (and not tongue in cheek!)?

[calico1]

10. Wouldn't surprise me at all.

[calimary]

33. Here's a link.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/762771.cms

Benazir Bhutto made this accusation, recently. "In jest."

[leftchick]

69. thank you calimary...

"in jest" my ass!

[Cooley Hurd]

9. I'm not sure this is what JMM meant when he described...

...what he was working on. Does this rise to a shifting of tectonic plates? :shrug:

Nonetheless, it'll be a great story...

[nostamj]

14. IF he's claiming that the WH

has had OBL all along and was holding him for POLITICAL reasons, I think it would qualify for a little plate shifting...

[hlthe2b]

18. Well, yes... I assumed they were just exposing the plan and not that

Bush* actually has had whoever it is all this time stashed away...Of course it appears that this is what they did via Iraqi "confederates" with Saddam...

[Art_from_Ark]

68. Of course, Senator Charles Grassley stated that

it's obvious that Osama will be captured before the election.

http://www.hillnews.com/under_dome/020404.aspx

[hlthe2b]

17. No... there is something else brewing with respect to yellow cake

Uranium....(and Cheney)

[DrBB]

21. It's a good story, but not THE story

It has been made quite clear that the "tectonic plates" story has to do with the question of who created the fraudulent Niger Yellowcake documents and why.

[Renew Deal]

26. That's what I thought too.

So many scandals, so little time.

[lancdem]

38. That's my impression, too

[slinkerwink]

12. ooooh! time to post this in another community!

[cthrumatrix]

15. bush said OBL is not a priority...remember..

[hlthe2b]

16. Maybe this is why Bush* reportedly was so glum today.... his little

surprise strategy is being spoiled-- blown wide open?

This is the way to do it though. Expose the treachery so they can't get mileage off the result!

[NewJeffCT]

28. i doubt it - non story

this story will be ignored, and the rest of the people won't care as long as OBL is on ice. The mass media will come up with some spin that they had to run DNA tests on him, or were trying to interrogate him before they revealed they had him to other Al Qaeda...

[notadmblnd]

29. It was that dark cloud that kept following him

all the while he was in Michigan today. I swear, the sun would come out for about 15 or 20 minutes then a big rain storm would blow up. And boy did it rain! There was no way he could have gotten soaked. I figured it kept raining here because he kept opening his mouth.

[oldhat]

19. Kick

[Zen]

20. Kick (* ass)

[seemslikeadream]

22. If this planet blows to pieces this year, thank Khan Labs' and Bush

You may never have heard of Khan Laboratories, but if this planet blows to pieces this year, it will be thanks to Khan Labs' creating nuclear warheads for Pakistan's military. Because investigators had been tracking the funding for this so-called "Islamic Bomb" back to Saudi Arabia, under Bush security restrictions, the inquiry was stymied. (The restrictions were lifted, the agent told me without a hint of dark humor, on September 11.)

Noam Chomsky, who read the story on page one of the Times of India, has wondered, "Why wasn't it all over US papers?

.. A top-level CIA operative who spoke with us on condition of strictest anonymity said that, after Bush took office, "There was a major policy shift" at the National Security Agency. Investigators were ordered to "back off" from any inquiries into Saudi Arabian financing of terror networks, especially if they touched on Saudi royals and their retainers. That put the Bin Ladens, a family worth a reported $12 billion and a virtual arm of the Saudi royal household, off limits for investigation.

I probed our CIA contact for specifics of investigations that were hampered by orders to back off of the Saudis. He told us that Khan Laboratories investigation had been effectively put on hold.
http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=312&row=0

[seemslikeadream]

24. Why no trial for the world's biggest criminal?

Pardon for scientist who sold atom bomb secrets
By Ahmed Rashid in Lahore and Robin Gedye

Pakistan is likely to pardon without trial the father of the country's atomic bomb even though he has confessed to selling nuclear technology to rogue states, a senior government official told the Telegraph yesterday.

Another promised international indignation in the event of pardon. "He is the world's biggest criminal, involved for 27 years in selling nuclear technology. If you let him off with a slap on the wrist, then what kind of message are you sending to others?" he said.

Mr. Khan has let it be known that he is prepared to blow the whistle on the army's involvement. A cabinet minister revealed that Mr. Khan's daughter, a British citizen, had traveled to London with papers that could incriminate generals and other Pakistani leaders, including the former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new ...

from varun
Pakistani nuclear sicentist offers public apology...
...and gets a slap on the wrist..
http://story.news.yahoo.com/ne ...

Pakistani Nuclear Scientist Takes the Rap for Leaks
57 minutes ago Add World - Reuters to My Yahoo!

By Mike Collett-White
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Top Pakistani scientist and national hero Abdul Qadeer Khan made a dramatic personal apology Wednesday for leaking atomic secrets, the latest twist in a proliferation scandal stretching from Libya to North Korea (news - web sites).
In a somber address on state television, Khan, revered at home as the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, absolved the government and fellow scientists of any blame in an apparent bid by all concerned to draw a line under the damaging affair.
Commentators said his confession smacked of a cover-up, possibly part of a wider agreement to spare the powerful military unwanted scrutiny in any trial and allow President Pervez Musharraf to avoid pressure from Islamists and nationalists...

Nuclear betrayal apology
But his claim to have arranged it all himself has been met with widespread skepticism.

Western diplomats said the middlemen operated in Germany, Netherlands, Malaysia and United Arab Emirates.

As a direct result of the Pakistani revelations, it was revealed yesterday a Malaysian company controlled by the son of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was being investigated for possibly supplying machine parts for Libya's nuclear weapons programs.
Malaysian special branch police began the investigation after the CIA in the US and Britain's M16 informed them in November that boxes of machine parts bearing SCOPE's name were found in five containers seized in a ship off Italy in October.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com ....

Pakistan pardons rogue nuke scientist
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has pardoned a scientist who confessed to leaking nuclear weapons secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea and says the country will not allow international supervision of its nuclear programme.
Musharraf also said Pakistan would not hand over any documents to the International Atomic Energy Agency, submit to an independent inquiry or allow the United Nations to supervise Pakistan's nuclear programme.
http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsP ... §ion=news

ElBaradei says A.Q.Khan just tip of nuclear iceberg
"Dr.Khan was not working alone," International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei told reporters, adding he had help from people in many countries.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenew ...


from bos1

Because of how deep it goes
in terms of international megabillion dollar syndicates of arms and drug running operations running the US gov't. As the Sibel Edmonds and David Schipper stories are just the latest indications. That is why no trials for these guys, unless there is a factional battle or change of window dressing.

Background: David Schippers, US House Judiciary Committee Head Prosecutor (head prosecutor of Clinton's impeachment) had FBI sources telling him of warning of a terrorist attack in Manhattan 6 weeks before Sept.11 and no one wanted to hear it -- congressmen, Ashcroft.

interview http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_I...

Sibel Edmonds was approached by another FBI translator and offered huge amounts of money to cover up intelligence reports with certain names in it, intelligence reports dealing with money laundering, drug trafficking, a support network for terrorism, people in high places in politics. When she reported it to her superiors she was offered bribes to forget about it, eventually fired, and the SLAPPED WITH A GAG ORDER by Ashcroft.

Her story also involves how corruption, infiltration and incompetence in the FBI that led to the 9/11 attacks.

Sibel Edmonds interview http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=2917 :
Another article http://villagevoice.com/issues/0421/mondo1.php

[Renew Deal]

25. I don't think this is the big one.

Yet.

I could be wrong, but it doesn't sound like the big one.

[LSK]

30. F 911 should be on dvd in late October

Release that movie on DVD in late October and that should counteract any "October Surprise". More people go to blockbuster than threaters nowadays.


MICHAEL MOORE ARE YOU LISTENING??!?!?

[napi21]

31. I heard Michael Moore say it was going to be on DVD in Sept.

I can't remember if it was on his AAR interview or if it was on one of the TV interviews, but I know I heard him say it. I can't drive anymore, and I was sooo excited to hear that announcement because I knew I'd be able to see this movie at home.

[eridani]

32. McDermott sez OBL might be in the bag

http://www.siliconindia.com/shownewsdata.asp?newsno=24763

McDermott also acknowledged that there could be some surprises from the Bush administration in the run-up to the elections.

"There are already rumours circulating that Osama bin Laden is being held somewhere already and it's only that they are trying to decide what day they should bring him out," he said.

[keithyboy]

34. Someone please help me out. What does this all really mean?

I must be missing a whole lot?

[southernleftylady]

54. Im missing something too.. n/t

[oldhat]

35. Kick

[geek tragedy]

36. What's really sad is that

I just assumed this was going on.

[peacetalksforall]

37. Why The New Republic magazine? Antenna up!

[Sliverofhope]

39. kick n/t

[ramblin_dave]

40. Here's The New Republic article

http://www.tnr.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040719&s=aaj071904

"This public pressure would be appropriate, even laudable, had it not been accompanied by an unseemly private insistence that the Pakistanis deliver these high-value targets (HVTs) before Americans go to the polls in November."

[Guaranteed]

41. This means we have to get the word out NOW.

All we can do to fight this is to spread it around as much as possible that they already have Osama and they're going to trot him out soon.

[Guaranteed]

42. Send this to everyone you know:

http://www.bushflash.com/lotto.html

[Guaranteed]

43. If we can't get the word out about this quickly enough, Kerry may have

to say something HIMSELF about it. It would hurt him, but if the Bush administration rolled him out at the end of July we wouldn't have a chance. Him saying something about it would surely make serious national news, and keep them from doing it. If they did it after that, it would just show that he was right, and that they're playing politics with terrorism.

Like I said, it will hurt Kerry to say something (because they'd then say that HE'S playing politics with the issue), but they couldn't do it after that- and at least we'd have a chance.

[Tight_rope]

48. I'm right behind you! It's on CNN right now!

[Virginian]

66. Osama Lotto

Great little piece and how current can you get. Perfect timing.

[mia]

45. Osama capture - futures trading

http://www.intrade.com/

[thebigidea]

46. Sounds familiar.

http://www.terminalproduct.com/octobersurprise.rm

[kohodog]

49. CNN 10:25 EST "July Surprise"

Amazing that they're covering it. Are we starting to unpeel the onion?

Administration is hedging the denial!

Give it legs, get it out there before Osama is frog marched out of a spider hole during the Democratic convention (or Nov.)

Let's see Rove and Cheny marched out next week in the Plame outing.

[Beetwasher]

51. Now That It's Been On CNN, If They Pull Out OBL

It could blow up in their faces...Ha Ha!

[kohodog]

52. ha ha ha, cheney em

Too bad nobody's really paying attention. What will Asscroft have in store tomorrow?

[Wind Dancer]

50. July Surprise on CNN now.

The New Republic is discussing October Surprise on CNN now. Peter Beinhart is blowing their cover now, mainstream news. He says * has put pressure on Pakistan to find high value target before election. Aaron Brown is shocked, really asking him some great questions.

[Shopaholic]

53. YES-YES-YES!

Please let the other networks pick this story up!

[Occulus]

56. If CNN is,

you can bet others are watching.

[kohodog]

58. CNN has been so reactionary lately

Slamming Kerry/Edwards, spewing republican talking points like my parrot (who speaks better than *). I'm amazed they brought this to light.

[Rose Siding]

59. Did he cite FOUR Pakistani sources?

Is that what they were saying?

[kohodog]

62. yes, but why now? What do they need to deflect?

but who knows how true that is. I'm very skeptical these days and when CNN comes out with something like this I wonder what's really going on. maybe they need to divert attention from the Plame Grand Jury investigation which may break next week. How better to bury that than by finding OSB?

[Rose Siding]

65. There's too many people to keep *all* the secrets

"They" aren't really any superhuman force. True, they've exhibited a chilling control over the flow of information but I really think some of it is just getting away from them.

I'd sooner think that Lay's indictment was intended to deflect from this than that this "surprise" scandal was being used for anything.

[goforit]

64. Mihop in action, eh?

Get your cameras ready folks!!!

[MattNC]

55. But I thought Bush doesn't care

where OBL is? :)

[Rose Siding]

57. I can't get to the TNR site- overloaded?

Here's the portion that TMP has snipped>

From TNR's new piece, 'July Surprise'...


A third source, an official who works under ISI's director, Lieutenant General Ehsan ul-Haq, informed tnr that the Pakistanis "have been told at every level that apprehension or killing of HVTs before election is absolute must." What's more, this source claims that Bush administration officials have told their Pakistani counterparts they have a date in mind for announcing this achievement: "The last ten days of July deadline has been given repeatedly by visitors to Islamabad and during meetings in Washington." Says McCormack: "I'm aware of no such comment." But according to this ISI official, a White House aide told ul-Haq last spring that "it would be best if the arrest or killing of HVT were announced on twenty-six, twenty-seven, or twenty-eight July"--the first three days of the Democratic National Convention in Boston.


Imagine that ...

[goforit]

60. Hmmm....Follow there tracks and ya may just catch them in the act!!!

Cameras and all!!!

[riverwalker]

63. Send a note to CNN and Aaron Brown

about the "July Surprise" story, let them know this is the kind of reporting we want, and to STAY on this story like a tick on a dog's butt.

[wyethwire]

67. Good to see TNR waking up

from its Lieberman-induced neo-con coma

[NewJeffCT]

70. I still don't think this will be a big story

Fox and the massmedia will just get the memo from Rove to keep quiet on the story. And, if "high value targets" are produced at key times, they will write it off as coincidence.