Iraq War Planner Downplays Role (Denies Running Stealth Intelligence Ops)

[Khephra]

In normal times, the chief of the Pentagon's office for Middle Eastern policy toils in obscurity, a third-level functionary hardly noticed inside the building, let alone outside it.

Not so Deputy Undersecretary William J. Luti. The day-to-day manager of the Defense Department's Iraq policy, he has the highest profile of anyone to ever hold his post .

A recent Google search uncovered 1,340 Internet hits mentioning him, many of them depicting him as a stealthy Svengali of Iraq policy, operating at the center of a network connecting Vice President Cheney, former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith -- all people for whom Luti has worked in the past seven years. Some Web sites associated with fringe political player Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. attack him in lurid terms as an "ignoble liar" and "Satan."

The critics are especially suspicious of his Office of Special Plans, which was created last year. The purposely ambiguous title -- it was an office to work on policy for invading Iraq -- gave rise to speculation that Luti was running a shadowy intelligence operation intended to second-guess the CIA and provide the Pentagon with findings that supported its policies. The office has since been closed.

more..........

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61603-2003Oct21.html

[T Bone]

1. OSP wasn't closed

but had a name change I don't remember.
It's still there.

[salin]

2. Interesting he comes up now... never heard the name til the "stovepipe"

Hersch article. Made a note of it yesterday. Either he has just been more publically outed... or he is being set to become a fall-guy in place of Wolfowitz and Feith.

[remfan]

3. Hersh is making them all squirm a bit

Overall, Luti said of his critics, they are "either confused, malicious, or both." :eyes:

"The conspiracies out of this are quite stunning," Luti said in a recent interview in his crowded office in an unfashionable inner corridor of the Pentagon. "We are a consumer of intelligence rather than a provider."

The second quote is actually an honest account of what they were doing, the problem is they were consuming UNVETTED "intelligence" from questionable sources and passing it along to Cheney, who in turn whispered it into bush's pointed ears.

Shout out to any WaPo reporters lurking on DU -- You've got the story of a lifetime here, don't blow it.