Larry Johnson on The Situation Room

[Coexist]

Wolf is actually talking about Plame-Wilson's post-mortem.

They are discussing the damage done by this leak!
Woo hoo! What a great show.

[chelsea0011]

1. CIA people, from what I've read, are pissed off about the leak of Plame

[leveymg]

5. That's why there was a Grand Jury.

[katty]

51. old guard CIA, very pissed off-bush&co screwed up big time

[liberalnurse]

2. They have no choice now but to report it!

Larry is a champion!

[Coexist]

3. Showing Novak's column about "she wasn't covert"

Johnson's response:

"Once again, he shows he doesn't know what he's talking about"

"Clifford May doesn't know what he's talking about either"

[knowbody0]

4. yep

and the CIA is pissed.
"I've got $5,000 for anyone"

[Coexist]

6. "People saying that are showing their ingorance of the CIA"

"Just because they're driving through the gates, doesn't mean they are not undercover"

He is kicking ass.

[Coexist]

7. "after her outing, she has received death threats from Al-Qaeda"

I didn't know that.

[VolcanoJen]

12. That seemed like a blockbuster to me, when he said it.

Wolf seemed taken aback by it, too.

Has Johnson implied before that Plame's life has been threatened by Al-Qaeda?

[Spazito]

23. I had heard that recently, I think it was on Randi's show

that it was talked about as well as the fact that the CIA told her to rely on 911.

[countryjake]

17. And she wasn't provided with extra security!

Told she had to rely on 911 service! Imagine the effect this had on every single person involved in her operation.

[Coexist]

20. I would be very interested to see what is int he CIA's report

on Brewster Jennings (the post-mortem mentioned).

Very interested indeed.

[countryjake]

27. If it ever shows up, it'll be here...

http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/index.html

But highly redacted, I'm sure.

[liberalnurse]

28. I don't understand that decision.

Why would they not protect her?

[countryjake]

Perhaps Tenet had a say in that order?!

I don't know, but the inexperienced "heads" of the CIA have done quite a few things in the past years that are pretty hard to fathom, causing former employees to speak out, critically, and agents to leave in droves.

That's a real good question!

[jayctravis]

38. I don't think they can protect the NOCs.

From the stories I've read, it seems the people who do the type of undercover work she did essentially are on their own. The CIA would keep her cover by denying she works for them.

Anyone who *officially* knows she works for the CIA should stupid up about it at any turn. That's why this is so important.

[Coexist]

41. who was the former NOC that was killed in Greece?

Does anyone know what I am talking about?
I remember reading that someone outed him after he retired and he was killed... am I nuts?

[countryjake]

50. Do you mean thirty years ago?

There were a whole bunch of them "outed" all at once, first by disgruntled former CIA Phillip Agee in his book detailing the tactics of our system and then by a junk mag, CounterSpy, and that's why we got the Intelligence Identities Protection Act now. His name was Richard Welch, I think.

It used to be quite the style to post flyers with pics of all the swarming CIA, FBI, narcs and such back then, as capitalism spread its dirty work. They smeared Agee with "commie" and Poppy fixed the law so it'd never happen again.


(Edited to change Robert to Richard)

[Tinksrival]

54. Cheney name surfaces again

From Firedoglake:
Richard Welch, a brilliant Harvard-educated classicist, had been stationed in Greece as CIA station chief only a few months before he was murdered, by a radical Greek terrorist organization called the 17th of November, in the doorway of his house in Athens on Dec. 23, 1975.

More here:
http://firedoglake.blogspot.com/2005_10_01_firedoglake_archive.html

Irony:

There is one final irony to this story. On Christmas Eve in 1975, I got a call at my home from the director of the CIA, William Colby. He asked if I would intervene with the White House to obtain presidential approval to have Welch buried at Arlington National Cemetery, a hero fallen in service to his country. I quickly called President Ford's chief of staff on Colby's behalf and made the request. Within two hours, the president had agreed to sign the order permitting Welch to be buried at Arlington.

The chief of staff's name was Richard Cheney.

[countryjake]

55. Not actually much surprise there...

they've had years of experience honing their dirty-dog politics, that's all. The smearing of Agee was equivalent and just as bad as what's been done to Plame-Wilson.

Thanks for that link!

[katty]

53. NOC: yea, you are on your own!

[FreedomAngel82]

45. Seriously?

Oh wow. :( And she and Wilson have little twins. :( They put her, her family and neighbors in danger.

[LSparkle]

10. He totally didn't back down -- admitted Valerie got death threats

THAT's why she and Joe Wilson are photographed so frequently NOW -- not that they're "capitalizing" on her outing -- they MAY BE IN DANGER and safer if in the public eye!

Poor Wolfie couldn't defend that scumbag Cliff May enough, but Larry wasn't having ANY of it. Beautiful!!!!

[FreedomAngel82]

44. Awesome

And yes on CNN they had an article of two guys who were pissed.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/24/cnna.leak/

<HEMMER: Tell me why you think it is such a big deal.

JOHNSON: Was 9/11 a big deal? It's a big deal in part because we saw the planes crash into the buildings and we saw the images and horrible vision of people jumping from those towers. We saw it. If we didn't see it and didn't read about it, we wouldn't know it happened.

The problem with this is a lot of the damage that has occurred is not going to be seen. It can't be photographed. We can't bring the bodies out because in some cases it's going to involve protecting sources and methods. And it's important to keep this before the American people. This was a betrayal of national security. > This was from October 24th, 2003.

[Coexist]

46. "we can't bring out the bodies"

"because in some cases its going to involve protecting sources and methods"

Holy cow - I never hear that. So he is saying, then, that there WERE deaths as this.

[katty]

52. Exactly

[jrthin]

8. He was brilliant. nt

[The Night Owl]

9. Blitzer: Clifford May is a respected journalist.

:rofl:

Man, do I hate Blitzer.

[geek tragedy]

15. Kind of like the Balrog was a dedicated caretaker in Lord of the Rings. nt

[leftchick]

22. I think he and Cliff may be boyfriends

omg... what an ass... :puke:

[The Night Owl]

25. Johnson nailed it...

If May's claim that Plame's CIA identity was common knowledge amongst Washington insiders, then why can't he name even one person who knew that she was CIA?

Sorry, Wolf, but May is a liar, not a respected journalist, you hack.

[Garbo 2004]

35. If it was "common knowledge" why didn't Blitz know? Poor Blitz,

out of the loop. And after all his brown nosing.

Has anyone ever asked Bitz, ace Washington reporter, if he knew, since it was "common knowledge" and all? I'd love to see someone like Johnson just ask him that flat out on the air.

[FreedomAngel82]

47. Heh yeah really

Someone should ask all the reporters in the White House press room if they knew she was an agent and ever heard of her before hand.

[Joe Chi Minh]

30. WAS a respected journalist. Maybe..

[Garbo 2004]

33. Just proves that May was in the pipeline for the Plame leaks that were

going on before Novak's article, that's all. Novak's article wasn't the beginning of the leaking, he was the only one who printed what he was told. July 8 he even burted it out to a stranger on the street who turned out to be a friend of Wilson's.

May knew "weeks" before Novak's column because the leaks commenced weeks before, not because it was "common knowledge."

June 23: Libby chats up Miller, bitching about CIA, Wilson & his wife
July 6: Wilson's op ed appears in NYT
July 11: Rove told Cooper
July 14: Novak's column appears

No doubt there were other leaks and the recipients of leaks subsquently handing it off between those dates and likely even before Libby "flamed" the Wilsons to Miller. After their game of "telephone" was done, they claim it was "common knowledge." Only it wasn't.

[NNN0LHI]

34. Blitzer: Clifford May is a respected journalist. He once worked for the NYT

Did you catch that part? Like working for the NYT makes someone respected? Bwaaaaaaaa.

Don

[Garbo 2004]

37. Yeah, Jayson Blair once worked for the NYT too. And it appears Ms. Miller

may also be a former NYT employee if reports are correct.

[FreedomAngel82]

48. LOL

Talk to Judy Miller. :eyes:

[Postman]

49. Respected my ass. He's a propagandist.

and if he worked for the New York Times he must be a "liberal", right?

And I'm the Easter Bunny.

[AX10]

11. They have to report it now.

This has gotten to big to contain.

[buzzard]

13. It was well worth watching especially eye opening for the people who

have no idea exactly what assets were blown. Most of them post at a place caller Freeperville or so I heard.

[VolcanoJen]

14. Here's a bit of a summary that I posted in another thread

Thought it might be worthwhile to anyone who missed the segment.

As far as I know, Situation Room segments are not repeated... is that true?

Here's the other post:

You'd be impressed with the segment on CNN right now.
Edited on Wed Oct-26-05 05:36 PM by VolcanoJen

The segment opened with the reporter saying, "What harm was done when Valerie Plame's identity was revealed? For one, the United States lost a veteran undercover agent, and asset."

The focus of the story was CIA officials who, off-record, have told reporters that the revelations "damaged" the CIA.

CNN seems to be operating on the "Valerie Plame was a covert CIA operative whose identity was revealed via Bob Novak's column" premise, overall.

Larry Johnson is on opposite Wolf now, and he concurs that Plame was a United States intelligence resource that was destroyed.

In terms of Novak's insistence that Plame's status was no secret, Johnson says that Novak is lying, or has demonstrated that he doesn't know what he's talking about. In terms of Cliff May's same insistence, Johnson says he has no respect for May, and that his information on this issue has been repeatedly inaccurate.

This seems like a blockbuster... Johnson says that Plame has received death threats originating with Al-Qaeda. Has he implied this before? Wolf seemed a bit taken aback by it.

Excellent segment.

[Coexist]

16. thanks for this - I didn't see another thread on this.

Great stuff.

[Scout1071]

19. Good summary. I hit the DVR button as soon as he came on and

I'm glad I did. Wow...that was one hell of an interview. It's nice to see a CIA agent's perspective.

[Scout1071]

18. Larry was great and I got the impression that the new star on the

wall at Langley may very well have been a result of their betrayal.

He did indicate significant damage had been done, but stopped just short of saying lives had been lost.

[halobeam]

21. so is it true this segment doesn't replay?

I hope if it doesn't, someone will get a vid. up online.

[countryjake]

26. I have never seen it repeated and I keep good track of CNN.

Just like the "Daybreak" interviews that Carol Costello does in the middle of the night, when the Middle East is actually awake and active...she had a good one last night from some guy (who I can't remember the name) who said that the Iraqis wanted the coalition out of their country.

They never repeat the good stuff!

[Pirate Smile]

24. I hope Crooks and Liars has it.

[Coexist]

29. Maybe our own liveoaktx tivo'd it?

Well, didya?!

I would love to see and digest it again, as I was caught between being amazed and typing furiously.

[Pirate Smile]

36. He may have been focused on Tweety's show at that time.

[Catherine Vincent]

31. Damn I hate I missed Larry Johnson!

[kainah]

32. oddest thing

"The Situation Room" now advertises on MSNBC during "Hardball." As if MSNBC viewers don't know CNN exists.... :shrug:

[shadowknows69]

39. it was great

he pummled wolf when he tried to shill for the opposition.

[lanlady]

40. I watched on TV in the doctor's office

and the other patients were nodding their heads in agreement with Johnson. He was INCREDIBLE!

[TacticalPeek]

42. Here's the transcript. Great job by Johnson.

JOHNSON: But they also recognized, at the time when they did it, her career had been completely destroyed. And she had received death threats overseas from al Qaeda. So, as a result of that outing...

BLITZER: How do you know she got death threats from al Qaeda?

JOHNSON: I have heard it directly from people that have been told that there was a threat.

BLITZER: Because she is a...

JOHNSON: Because...

BLITZER: ... a former CIA operative?

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: ... operative and outed by Robert Novak.

There were three people that were identified as having a threat. And she was contacted by the FBI.

BLITZER: Does she get security protection...

(CROSSTALK)

JOHNSON: She did not.

BLITZER: Why didn't she?

JOHNSON: She called...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: She still works for the CIA.

JOHNSON: She called CIA and was told, you will have to rely upon 911.

BLITZER: Larry, we will continue this conversation.

Larry, thanks very much.

JOHNSON: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Larry Johnson, former CIA officer, worked at counterterrorism at the State Department as well.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0510/26/sitroom.03.html




rely upon 911.



:grr:

[Coexist]

43. Wow - thanks for that transcript

it pisses me off to read it as much as it did to hear it.

[bigwillq]

56. Was that on yesterday (Wed.)?

I saw Johnson on some CNN show yesterday and he was really good.

[countryjake]

57. Yes