Peter Lance: "Mr. Fitz, in your threat to sue for libel, please, either put up or shut up"

[reprehensor]

(Last month, I wrote about the attempt by Patrick Fitzgerald to stop the publication of Peter Lance's book, "Triple Cross". Lance saw my diary entry at Daily Kos, titled, "The Wreck of the Patrick Fitzgerald" and asked me to post his latest piece, challenging Fitzgerald to step up to the plate. So here it is, and I should note to DUers that I ultimately disagree with Lance about the true nature of "al Qaeda"... nevertheless, the attempts to suppress his book simply make no sense to me at all... unless a cover-up is underway. What's the cover-up? That is the question. -rep.)

"Mr. Fitz, in your threat to sue for libel, please, either put up or shut up"

by Peter Lance - July 15th, 2009

Seven weeks ago Patrick Fitzgerald, the most intimidating Federal prosecutor in America, sent my publisher (HarperCollins) and me a letter threatening to sue us for libel if Triple Cross, a book I wrote, critical of his anti-terrorism track record, was published.

Yesterday marked the four week anniversary of the book's pub date and although it's been out for a month, we're still waiting for his summons and complaint.

It was the fourth threat letter that Fitzgerald had sent since October 2007 and the man who’d succeeded in getting New York Times reporter Judith Miller jailed for 85 days in the CIA leak probe, was growing impatient.

"To put it plain and simple," Fitzgerald wrote, "if in fact you publish the book this month and it defames me or casts me in a false light, HarperCollins will be sued."

Continued...
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/15/753730/-Pet...

[Time for change]

1. Very interesting theory

So I guess that getting more attention for "Triple Cross" would be terribly upsetting to some people.

[Missy Vixen]

2. Maybe he decided that since the book has evidently died a well-deserved death, he has other things

to do.

Peter Lance is not all that and a bag of chips. Maybe some of you need to ask the National Geographic Channel why they met with Mr. Fitzgerald's immediate bosses, then censored the special they made out of "Triple Cross".

I'd also like to mention that Patrick Fitzgerald is not the Great Satan, but there are people here determined to paint him as such.

[Senator]

5. After two and a half years of whining, now he's giving up?

Not likely. Seems that Lance has filed a complaint with DOJ, while Fitzy's all hot air.

BTW, who were those "immediate bosses" anyway? And did you really mean to say "censosred?"

--

[Missy Vixen]

7. I'm not doing your research

You're free to search Google for the information.

Furthermore, National Geographic Channel would not broadcast Lance's assertions because of a lack of decent sourcing.

You might want to take yourself off to www.firedoglake.com and ask them a few questions.

[Senator]

9. No one asked you to.

Just thought you might want to say who it was that could get something "censored" at NGC. But as they are a Fox outlet, I would imagine just about anyone in law enforcement could.

But Fitzgerald -- whether he's a satan, a bag of chips, or otherwise -- still makes a public ass of himself when he "doth protest too much" about a single book.

--

[reprehensor]

6. Well, here's Lance's version of the National Geographic story.

For anybody interested;

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-lance/triple-cross-...

"...All of this is documented in a series of letters between me and Nat Geo Channel executives contained (along with the January 2006 treatment) in a press release on my website.

In effect, NGC ended up replacing me with Jack Cloonan, one of the very Feds that my research had found grossly negligent. Cloonan had two and a half years from January 1996 to August 1998 to build a file on Ali and interdict the Embassy plot and yet, despite evidence from I-49's own files of Ali's direct links to senior Embassy plotters, Cloonan, Fitzgerald and other top Feds failed to detect the plot.

In February of 2001, Fitzgerald went on to prosecute three relatively peripheral players in the plot and cemented his reputation by convicting them of an act of terror that his own "bin Laden squad" had failed to prevent. The fourth operative, Wadih El-Hage had been on the FBI's radar since 1991. Ali Mohamed had stayed in his Kenyan home in the mid 90's as they plotted the bombings. Another agent in Fitzie's squad Dan Coleman, had searched El-Hage's home a year before the bombings and found direct links to Ali Mohamed and yet Fitzgerald failed to connect the dots..."

Continued...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/peter-lance/triple-cross-...

[Missy Vixen]

8. Oooh. A conspiracy!

I think it's comical that Lance will do anything to keep this book in the public eye, but nobody seems to want to read it.

[TexasObserver]

3. Yes, Patrick Fitzcowardly is a jerk.

Worst Prosecutor ever.

[wildbilln864]

10. Its no wonder Rove, Cheney and all played him so easily. nt

[JohnyCanuck]

4. Kick n/t