Anyone got any info on Marc Grossman ? The CIA memo was written for him

[maddezmom]

The memorandum was dated June 10, 2003, nearly four weeks before Mr. Wilson wrote an Op-Ed article for The New York Times in which he recounted his mission and accused the administration of twisting intelligence to exaggerate the threat from Iraq. The memorandum was written for Marc Grossman, then the under secretary of state for political affairs, and it referred explicitly to Valerie Wilson as Mr. Wilson's wife, according to a government official who reread the document on Friday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/16/politics/16memo.html?pagewanted=2

Did he work for Bolton?

[joemurphy]

1. Dunno. I don't think so.

He appears to be one of Powell's guys. I think he resigned when Rice came in.

<http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/000503.html>

[madrchsod]

2. grossman has served

in the state dept starting with carter. he`s an expert on the middle east and has served every president since. after reading his background i can not see why he would discredit his job and himself by having anything to do with this matter.

[maddezmom]

4. he currently works for the Cohen Group

What accounts for the change in tone? The Bush Administration seems to have decided it has a big stake in the U.N.'s health and performance. Bush & Co. want a reformed U.N. to take on key tasks such as running Iraqi elections, supervising possible sanctions against Iran and North Korea, and keeping peace in Kosovo. "The U.N. system is critical to stability in the world," Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas R. Burns recently told reporters. "It's important for us that operate successfully," adds Marc Grossman, a former Administration official who is now vice-chairman of Washington consultancy Cohen Group.

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_29/b3943071_mz015.htm?campaign_id=rss_magzn

[robertpaulsen]

3. Written for Grossman. Real question is written BY????????

Here's Grossman's bio:

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/2982.htm

But who is the most likely person in the State Department to write this for him? Who in the State Department would have been specializing in covering WMD issues like Valerie Plame did for Brewster Jennings & Associates?

You know the answer.

[joemurphy]

7. Hmmm...Bolton...Maybe, maybe.

[maddezmom]

8. yup, Bolton was running his own little intelligence agency

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?031027fa_fact

[Scout1071]

5. Here's a question...........

Why would they need to do a work up on Joe Wilson a full month before his Op-Ed piece appears? Could it be that they were keeping a very close eye (ie spying) on him and Valerie for fear they could blow the WMD Iraq story? Seems like they could very likely be one or two of those blacked out names that Bolton was listening in on. That would explaing why the WH is so fearful for those names to be known. Maybe the Wilsons they were privately beginning to grumble to certain lawmakers or intelligence officers that *'s facts were false and something had to be done?

[joemurphy]

6. The workup was in response to a May newspaper article

by Nicholas Kristof which didn't mention Wilson by name but stated that a former ambassador had made a trip to Niger and had returned concluding that the Iraqis couldn't have bought any uranium.

There were CIA liaisons working with Cheney's private OSP group and they probably did some digging and got Wilson's name and/or that on his wife. The full "workup" on Wilson followed.

It's possible that the "Air Force One Memo" was a part of the "workup". Another possibility is that someone in the State Department just wanted to know the particulars about Wilson and his trip. Possibly this Marc Grossman asked for it.

Until we know more about who authored the Memo and why we'll just have to speculate.

[Zen Democrat]

9. They have their finger on the pulse. They knew Wilson was talking.

They knew Wilson was telling people that we went into Iraq on cherry-picked intelligence.

They were doing some preemptive work so they'd be ready for Wilson if he went public. And when he did, they were ready for the full press smear.

If there must be a "gate" in all of this -- Smeargate may be a correct moniker because smearing Joe Wilson was the motive behind leaking his wife's position at CIA to the press.