FRANKLIN TESTIFIES is the real story. The rest is a Rovian distraction.

[robertpaulsen]

And when I say the rest, I'm referring to the Spy in the White House as well as the Fitzgerald indictment rumors; Rove is certainly not above using himself as a distraction from stories that are truly damaging to the White House. Testimony about AIPAC in court is a hell of a lot more damaging than rumors of indictment, which have been floating around since 2003.

Here's the real story again. MSM, I'm sure with Rove's influence, is omitting these important details:

Oct. 6, 2005 0:10 | Updated Oct. 6, 2005 0:54
Franklin admits: I gave Israel secret material
By NATHAN GUTTMAN
ALEXANDRIA, Virginia

Former Pentagon analyst Larry Franklin admitted in court Wednesday he passed classified information to Israeli diplomat Naor Gilon and to two former AIPAC officials, Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman.

snip

This was the first time that Israel was explicitly mentioned in the courtroom and that Gilon's name was disclosed. When asked by Judge T.S. Ellis whether he communicated classified information to a foreign official, Franklin replied: "I met occasionally with Naor Gilon from the Israeli embassy."

snip

The indictment speaks of information garnered from two US government officials and relayed to three foreign officials, understood to be senior Israeli Embassy staffers.

JTA reported that one of the US government officials is David Satterfield, then deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs and now the No. 2 man at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. The other is Kenneth Pollack, a Clinton-era National Security Council staffer and now an analyst at the Brookings Institution.

more...

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1128478900053

[seemslikeadream]

1. THANK YOU ROBERTPAULSEN

YOU ARE EXACLY RIGHT AND IT'S WORKING RIGHT HERE AT DU

PROOF

ABC BREAKING: Spy in the Whitehouse - LBN 76 replies

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1829810&mesg_id=1829810

Pentagon Analyst Pleads Guility in Spy Case - LBN 4 replies
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1829862

[BeHereNow]

4. Glad you mentioned that-

I can't help but notice that your threads were either moved
or sunk like a stone.
Often one in the same in regard to the end result.
BHN

[cantstandbush]

13. Are you really surprised that it is working here at DU?

Are you?

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. Could be the other way too.

Perhaps Whitehouse leaked the WH spy news today because today is full of Franklin, Miers, and Roberts first SCOTUS hearing.

[robertpaulsen]

10. That's what I'm saying.

This Aragoncillo was kicked out the White House for allegedly being a spy. He has not been indicted, which Bush set as the standard for loss of employment there.

Can you smell the irony?

[leveymg]

11. I can smell a diversion. n/t

Notice the implicit link to Gore. Rove is still working, apparently.

[Angry Girl]

23. Daf-daf-dafinitely a diversion

First thing I thought when I read the article was This isn't news, the guy was arrested LAST month!

Like PNAC dragging out ye olde bioweapons/virus routine. Avian flu, tularemia, military lockdowns....

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. Sorry, I should have been clearer

I think it more likely that the White House dropped the WH spy case now because the Franklin plea, asian bird flu, and Miers would soak up the news oxygen.

[Garbo 2004]

34. Actually it's better than that. He had left the WH and was working at the

FBI. The FBI caught him stealing from them last year, as I read. They arrested him last month and in the course of questioning they got info out of him about his previous activities at the WH.

[leveymg]

3. So what we have are 3 senior American officials vacuuming classified

US documents and passing them on to Israeli intelligence agents in Washington. The other side of this that hasn't been widely reported is the fact that Franklin, an Iran desk officer, was salting Pentagon files with information he received from Gilon and his Mossad cronies about IRAN WMD programs. See, http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/6/15/12176/9231

This is the other side of the operation that stove-piped forged Niger (IRAQ) docs into the eager hands of high Bush Administration policy-makers, and paved the way for the American disaster in Iraq.

The Likudites were trying to push the US into a second war with Iran through exactly the same methods it used against Iraq.

Yes, these is a highly under-reported, major story.

[H2O Man]

5. A three leaf clover:

Plame, neocon spy, and document forgeries.

[AuntiBush]

27. Thank you "Again," H2O Man for Clearing This Up.

As I try to figure all this out.

Not a four, but a three leaf clover, huh!?!

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

60. Nope. It's a four-leafer.

Plame, neocon spy, document forgeries and war.

Lucky, lucky America! :party:

[aquart]

7. Astonishing how few people care.

But you keep plugging. Run-of-the-mill espionage is always more important than members of our government plotting to destroy OUR espionage capabilities.

[Angry Girl]

21. No, no, please keep plugging!

It's all a bit complicated, with so many players - kind of like a Russian novel. I'm sure there are others like me who appreciate being spoon-fed this information! I learned a lot today. Thanks!

[slaveplanet]

28. let's just call it what it is

The Likudites were trying to push the US into a second war with Iran through exactly the same methods it used against Iraq.

our US soldiers are the surrogate cannon fodder for Israel and to an extent ...the British

some friends.. huh

do we have any real legitimate allies left?

Allies that are not considered mutually parasitic.

Blood Allies

Allies who's soldiers have fought here in defense of our country, our freedom, ours there for them.

Allies who's blood has seeped into
American dirt, and likewise ours there for them

Allies who's native sons are STILL buried here in defense of our freedom.

If you don't know the answer, you know nothing at all.

[BeHereNow]

29. The Answer?

Unfettered testimony from Sible Edmunds.
I think we have all figured out who she has
been prevented from naming in her gag order.
BHN

[bloom]

46. "Blair Implicates Iran in Iraqi Bomb Attacks on British Troops" NYT

Today:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1832323

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/06/international/europe/06cnd-blair.html

[robertpaulsen]

47. Great! *'s lapdog is a Weapon of Mass Distortion.

It's a brilliant move, actually. "Regime change" must occur in Iran before they start pricing their oil in euros next year, so the sheeple need to hear about a preemptive event from someone other than the obvious candidates Bush and Sharon. Blair's perfect.

Until someone ties Plamegate to David Kelly, that is.

[amandabeech]

58. Perhaps you are thinking of the French?

The French came to our aid during the Revolution at Yorktown and other spots. They also fought the British during the French and Indian WAr, although that was not for our freedom.

The French also fought the Germans in both World Wars. Our dead are buried on their soil.

[mountebank]

55. And who remembers Kenneth Pollack before the Iraq War....

Talking up the weapons of mass destruction on Charlie Rose and every cable TV channel and then coming with his big mea culpa in the Atlantic Monthly when it all proved to be bullshit? They really pressed the button and activated *that* son of a bitch.

[zippy890]

6. I know this is really important

I must be a bit dense, because its a complicated set of facts, but the people involved aren't from the White House clique.

Franklin's from the Pentagon - and this is bad business for sure. Is the fact he pleaded guilty mean other higher-ups might be implicated?

[leveymg]

9. They're from Rummy's clique. Let's not forget how central

Donald and Wolfie were to enabling Feith, Wurmser, and Perle to set up the links that funnelled phony intelligence to the White House, and the Office of the Veep, which together eviscerated the CIA's ongoing WMD investigation unit.

Meanwhile, in the Pentagon Office of Special Plans (OSP), the neocons destroyed a lot of good, career people at DIA, and this is their payback time, as well.

Not really that complicated, if you put the two main strands of the neocon-Likudite web together.

[seemslikeadream]

17. and Perle was caught doing this before

[burythehatchet]

19. perhaps we should pass a 3 treason strikes and yer out.

[Catrina]

30. Franklin was very much a part

of the neocon crowd that cooked up the false evidence that got us into the War in Iraq, ie the forged documents.

Mostly he was very close to arch-neocon, Douglas Feith, the man who was working on pushing the 'terror' connection lies about Iraq. Douglas Feith left his job in January, to 'spend more time with the family'.

Rumsfeld, Cheney, Perle, Wolfowitz, Feith, Condy, Bush, Ari Fleischer and in a supportive, although not as committed way, Tenet, Colin Powell amongst others, and not to forget the Iraq contingency, Chalabi and 'Curveball' and Judith Miller, and Novak. I'm sure I'm leaving someone out.

Oh, and let's not forget the propaganda machine, most notably and by his own claim, Jeff Gannon who claimed he had seen the CIA document which gave the information on Valerie Plame, was questioned by the FBI during which he claimed he had not actually seen it, but 'read about it in a news report'. Only problem with that is, the only report he could have seen was in the WSJ which did not come out until after he claimed to have seen it.



All these stories, and people, are inter-connected (like Aspens, connected by their roots?).

The Valerie Plame story
The Spy in the Pentagon
The WMD lies/DSM
The Dr. Kelly Suicide?

It's late and I know I'm forgetting a few ~ but initially I thought they were all separate. Now, I see they were all connected.

[robertpaulsen]

39. I like your interpretation of the Aspen reference.

Libby knows better than most how all the stories you mention are connected. Miller may have cut a nice deal just talking about her source and nothing else, but I hope this grand jury will lead to future trials where she will be compelled to talk about more than just the Plame related info Libby, Bolton and the whole cabal fed her.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

40. Hey, just a sec. HOW did that private letter make it into the news?

Could it be a plant, a deliberate effort to get us riled, while they do something even more evil and nefarious?

[seemslikeadream]

41. I was thinking about that too, I thought I read Libby's lawyer

released it, but not sure.

Oh and Merry Fritzmas antifaschits

[ChairmanAgnostic]

44. merry fritz?

and if I respond Bah humbug, will freepers realize that Plan X is going full steam ahead?

[countryjake]

52. Don't forget to include Judith Miller spewing Chalabi's lies...

then sitting in jail for 85 wondrous days, only to spring herself just in time to knock this guilty-plea off the front page headlines! It's raining toadies this whole week!

[countryjake]

54. And Chertoff too...

http://la.indymedia.org/news/2005/10/136703.php

[Joe Chi Minh]

37. I can sure see what an important breakthrough

this must be. Is this going to end up with the military-industrial complex and its sponsors in the administration being brought to book?

[BeHereNow]

8. KICK-KICK-KICK

KICK!
BHN

[kohodog]

12. Seems like only the surface gets scratched...

I had been hoping that the Plame outing would open the door to the deeper intrigue. Now that the Bush administration has been exposed in so many ways it seems like he and his cronies will be gone and The Machine (my word)) will keep on going.

Anybody remember the song by Lothar and the Hand People? "Machines, machines, they keep on going..."

The cabal is so much deeper than Bushco, but will need to regroup after supporting such an incompetent puppet-leader.

[leveymg]

14. You know what, I think this has awoken a sleeping giant that

is stronger than The Machine. I think all those loyal intelligence officers and Pentagon analysts now understand that the enemy is within - and it is NOT the left-wing.

It's subversion from above by an extremist Right-wing cabal with global links.

[robertpaulsen]

15. How deep the exposure goes rests on SCOTUS decision on Sibel Edmonds.

If Sibel remains gagged, Hastert will be President.

If SCOTUS somehow doesn't do the BFEE's bidding, all bets are off.

[kohodog]

16. Let's hope all bets are off!

And as they say, timing is everything. If Miers replaces O'Connor prior to the Edmond's decision which is likely (Have they actually taken the case yet or is irt still working through?), her loyalst vote may make the difference. Are the objections to her nomination from the right coming from "old conservatives" who are loyal to America and the constitution, or right wing cabalists? (and there are dems and repubs among both groups).

[cascadiance]

31. I was hearing that they needed to decide sometime the next week or so...

The court is supposed to be going in session in the middle of August and they should have decided by then. I'm guessing that unless the Dems have a lot to fear themselves from Sibel's testimony, they won't let this nomination go through before then if they think that this will help them in the long run, to let Sibel's case be heard before a court with O'Connor still on it. O'Connor being on the court is Sibel's best chance at winning the case. I think she can get heard by the 4 votes of the liberal justices (only 4 votes are needed to hear the case). The tricky thing will be getting a 5-4 win with Roberts on the court now.

[robertpaulsen]

43. Yeah, I heard they would hear the case in October.

So the next week or so sounds about right. I'm with you, I hope they rule on it before they get a replacement for O'Connor. Not that she hasn't toted the party line in the past, but with Miers thinking Dumbya is a genius, I fear her more.

[yodermon]

20. So could it be

that the Meirs' nomination is really a last-gasp effort to more fully control SCOTUS?

Is that maybe what Radical Cleric James Dobson is hinting about here?:
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2005/10/5/153716/970

"I believe in trusting this president and this time because of the stand that he has taken and the way he has implemented it consistently for four and a half years. When you put that with all the other information that I have been able to gather - and you'll have to trust me on this one - when you know some of the things that I know, that I probably shouldn't know, that take me in this direction, you will understand why I have said, with fear and trepidation, why I have said why I believe that Harriet Miers will be a good justice."

on edit: And when might the SC rule on Sibel's case??

[kohodog]

22. That's my thinking.

Miers covered his ass during his National Guard scandal and buried thew evidence well enough that Rather lost his job instead of Bush the election. She has a bad odor to me.

[cascadiance]

32. It would be Roberts overseeing any impeachment trial of Bush...

so the impeachment trial itself would likely not be affected by her being on the court.

However, should he get convicted and the Senate also vote to convict him in effect, then his case could go before the Supreme Court. Not sure, but perhaps he has an "appeal" available for that, which Meiers being on the court would be his "get out of jail free" card, as Thom Hartmann put it.

I'm guessing that this article that was out today about how Tom "Sergeant Schultz" Davis "knew nutink" about the issues around security whistleblowers was related to this as well. Davis didn't want to jeopardize the whistleblowing bill (which the implication was that Bush might veto) if it included security whistleblowers protections in it. Davis is obviously scared for his own skin and wants such a bill to pass (and LOOK like he's trying to stay above this corruption fray), but he's trying to tow the line and not put too big a hot potato in Bush's pocket with that bill protecting whistleblowers.

http://federaltimes.com/index2.php?S=1146772

[leveymg]

35. Miers is more than a crony - she's part of 9/11 Team Terror

As she's part of the criminal malfeasance and cover-up from the beginning, what better way to insure her continued loyalty than to appoint her as a lifetime member of the body that will weigh the judgment?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/10/4/13945/3197
Is Miers the CIA briefer who read Bush the 8/6/01 PDB?
by leveymg
Tue Oct 4th, 2005 at 10:09:45 PDT

Editor & Publisher picked up on a report in the LA Times that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers was the briefer who read the notorious August 6, 2001 CIA Presidential Daily Brief (PDB) to President Bush. That is startling news in itself, considering that she's also W's lawyer and advised him about the handling of 9/11 after the attacks.

Here's another unexploded bombshell. Up until now, it has been reported that Bush reviewed the Top Secret PDB with an anonymous "CIA briefer."

This raises a few new questions below the fold:

leveymg's diary :: ::
*Is Harriet Miers an employee or operative of the Central Intelligence Agency?

*Or, did someone else in the room read the document to Bush, while Ms. Miers listened?

*What did she advise the President to do, both before and after 9/11, about the terrorist attack?

*What, if anything, will Senators ask her about this subject?

Here's the E&P story:

Miers Briefed Bush on Famous Bin Laden Memo, But Newspapers Handle the AP Photo Quite Differently

By E&P Staff

Published: October 04, 2005 10:45 AM ET

NEW YORK On its front page today, The New York Times publishes a photo of new U.S. Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers going over a briefing paper with President George W. Bush at his Crawford ranch, "in August 2001," the caption reads. USA Today and the Boston Globe carried the photo labeled simply "2001," but many other newspapers ran the picture in print or on the Web with a more precise date: August 6, 2001.

Does that date sound familiar? Indeed, that was the date, a little over a month before 9/11, that President Bush was briefed on the now-famous "PDB" that declared that Osama Bin Laden was "determined" to attack the U.S. homeland, perhaps with hijacked planes. But does that mean that Miers had anything to do with that briefing?

As it turns out, yes, according to today's Los Angeles Times. An article by Richard A. Serrano and Scott Gold observes that early in the Bush presidency "Miers assumed such an insider role that in 2001 it was she who handed Bush the crucial 'presidential daily briefing' hinting at terrorist plots against America just a month before the Sept. 11 attacks."

So the August 6 photo may show this historic moment, though quite possibly not . . . Two others in the background are Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and Steve Biegun of the national security staff."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001221205

[robertpaulsen]

45. That is a scary thought, yoderman.

Miers being appointed to keep Sibel gagged. At first I wondered what the motive would be, but seeing that picture of Miers on August 6, 2001 it hit me: Miers knows!

[emulatorloo]

24. kick and nominating -- EOM

[Me.]

25. All Right RP

Good for spotlighting this. Not a peep on any news show tonight, not even Olberman.

[BeHereNow]

26. KICK

And furthermore...
:kick:
BHN

[Disturbed]

33. Sometimes an important situation gets overlooked.

This is one of those. The Bushco Neo Fascists are well financed and devious. Dems need to stall out this Fundie Bush crony for as long as they can and keep insisting on memos and docs. This time they better not back down!

[Me.]

36. It May Be Overlooked For Now

But that won't stop it from happening. People need to send emails asking why this wasn't reported.

[countryjake]

51. How many right here don't even know about it?

The "burial" it's getting by the media is too frustrating! Emailing the press is a good idea, but it's not even getting the proper attention on a progressive site like this!

[Just Me]

38. Well, this situation does tend to tie all the co-conspirators together.

It HAS to reveal the PNAC network. Toss in the DSM and exposuring a CIA op on WMDs and you can easily recognize what amounts to the most criminal administration in US History.

I just hope the full potential of exposing the ENTIRE network is realized. We need to clean house, big time.

[Alizaryn]

42. Nice catch. You have a good point.

" Rove is certainly not above using himself as a distraction from stories that are truly damaging to the White House. Testimony about AIPAC in court is a hell of a lot more damaging than rumors of indictment"

It would not be the first time that he played this game. (I really hope that you are wrong and that indictments are on the way, but we need to keep our eyes open.)

[Holly_Hobby]

48. This is SO important!

Franklin worked under Feith in the Office of Special Plans, the same office that built up the so-called intelligence case for the war. The Niger uranium story came out of the OSP. Franklin has been quoted as saying that Israeli gov't gave him more than he gave them.

I can't forget what Justin Raimondo reports:

Robert Dreyfuss, writing in The Nation, cites a highly placed former intelligence official who points the finger directly at Israel:

"According to the former official, also feeding information to the Office of Special Plans was a secret, rump unit established last year in the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon of Israel. This unit, which paralleled Shulsky's – and which has not previously been reported – prepared intelligence reports on Iraq in English (not Hebrew) and forwarded them to the Office of Special Plans. It was created in Sharon's office, not inside Israel's Mossad intelligence service, because the Mossad – which prides itself on extreme professionalism – had views closer to the CIA's, not the Pentagon's, on Iraq. This secretive unit, and not the Mossad, may well have been the source of the forged documents purporting to show that Iraq tried to purchase yellowcake uranium for weapons from Niger in West Africa, according to the former official."

...

It may well be treason, as many people say, to expose an undercover U.S. intelligence officer. So what do we call funneling disinformation to the President on behalf of a foreign power – high treason?

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=1031

Justin's documention on how the FBI pinched Franklin, note that Franklin's crimes go back 30 years.

http://www.antiwar.com/justin/?articleid=5857

The dots are there for all to see.

RP - no luck with the scanner, huh?

:hi:

Mods, please don't "disappear" this post. Read this by Juan Cole first:

Note that over 80% of American Jews vote Democrat, that the majority of American Jews opposed the Iraq war (more were against it than in the general population), and that American Jews have been enormously important in securing civil liberties for all Americans. Moreover, Israel has been a faithful ally of the U.S. and deserves our support in ensuring its security. The Likudniks like to pretend that they represent American Jewry, but they do not. And they like to suggest that objecting to their policies is tantamount to anti-Semitism, which is sort of like suggesting that if you don't like Chile's former dictator Pinochet, you are bigoted against Latinos.

http://www.antiwar.com/cole/?articleid=3467

[countryjake]

49. Thanks for all these links and info...

You are so right, this is significantly more important than any NYC security scare, Rovian-shirking-Plame-blame-tactics, or any Philippino spy. And now we even have bomb scares at the Washington monument! What a busy news week it's been - even the bogus Miers nomination & subsequent outcry! I've watched and listened and googled galore and aside for one vague hometown newspaper article on this subject, hardly any info at all to be found in the mainstream media.

The possibility of the yellowcake forgery tie-in is sure worthy of a whole, new independent investigation...wonder if that's why Franklin copped a plea, to get it done quickly and quietly? Just the connection between our National Security Council and AIPAC that he referred to during the hearing should be raising lots of eyebrows and also the way the prosecutors clamped shut his testimony, right in the middle of a sentence about "murders" and the Iranian government, really makes me wonder why a career Pentagon analyst, with expertise on Iraq and Iran, would take three felony counts and give up his freedom rather than bring "harm to the United States".

How in the world is this not the top story? They certainly have everyone well-trained!

[Holly_Hobby]

50. Yes - lap dogs n/t

[H2O Man]

53. A footnote from John Dean:

(page 101 of "Worse Than Watergate") "* Ironically, Scooter Libby represented fugitive financier Marc Rich and told Congress, after he became Cheney's chief of staff, that he believed the prosecutors from the US Attorney's Office had 'misconstrued the facts and the law' when they went after Rich on tax evasion charges. This, of course, was one of the principal reasons Clinton pardoned Rich."

Small world.

[Disturbed]

56. A guilty plea to avoid death...

from the NeoFascist cabal?

[H2O Man]

57. Libby is

going to fight the charges. He may face serious time, and he will attempt to put up a fight that produces issues for appeal.

[kohodog]

59. Which will leads to more exposure.

I think he's on the inside of the Bush family team, and if anyone is pardoned I would expect it to be Libby.

And his lawyer will be.....BAKER?