Sparky: This Morning's reminder: Support the co-sponsors to roast the GOP traitors in the White House — It's Rove, Libby, and Cheney who should be in Leavenworth Federal Prison along with that loathsome “tool” doucebag Robert Novak ... -

Rep. Barbara Lee calls for U.S. Congress probe into Iraq War planning

Ongoing Investigation of the
Bush Junta II Administration's
suspcious mishandling
of pre-war intelligence
in their mad rush
to an unnecessary war

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

Related stories

• Capitol Hill Democrats hold informal hearing on Plame leak
• Rep. Barbara Lee calls for U.S. Congress probe into Iraq War planning
• Cooper claims he learned of Plame through Rove
• Rep. Waxman: Karl Rove violated non-disclosure agreement
• A timeline: Novak, Rove, Cooper
• US Senate debates Rove and intelligence access

More...

External links

• Downing Street memo
• DowningStreetMemo.com
• Why has 'Downing Street memo' story been a 'dud' in US?
• Officials express misgivings on Iraq
• Sen. Roberts & Rockefellor on pre-war intelligence
• List of documents
• Knight-Ridder Special Report on intelligence

July 22, 2005

Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), co-chairwoman of the Out of Iraq Caucus and a member of the International Affairs Committee, along with 26 co-sponsors, proposed yesterday a Resolution of Inquiry in the House of Representatives which, if passed, will require the White House and the State Department to "transmit all information relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq." The resolution, was submitted in the House of Representatives and referred to the U.S. House Committee on International Relations.

The resolution comes in response to questions that have been raised about the handling of pre-war intelligence by the Bush administration, and the planning and execution of the Iraq war. “We would like to see a member of Congress look into whether or not the president committed impeachable offenses,” said John Bonifaz, a constitutional lawyer. “We’ve been having that discussion with a number of offices.”

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary Minority leader, recently met with John Bonifaz and representatives. But Conyers is reluctant to take such a bold step just yet. “My inclination at this time is not to do something like that,” Conyers said, although he noted that he wanted to press for an investigation in other ways, including sending committee investigators to London.

Earlier this month, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said at a forum held by Conyers “If you read the record of the writing of the Constitution, ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’ had a very particular meaning at the time of the drafting of the Constitution. It certainly didn’t mean lying about sex, but it might well mean lying to the Congress about a large public purpose such as Iraq.”, referring to Republican's filing of such a resolution in 1998 in an effort to remove Bill Clinton from office.

Rep. Barbara Lee's resolution of inquiry is a less-drastic parliamentary maneuver that would ask the administration to provide more information related to the claims in classified British memos that suggest that pre-war intelligence in Iraq was "fixed" in order to justify the invasion. The Resolution of Inquiry is a privileged resolution, which means that if it is not acted on in 14 legislative days after it is introduced, the member of Congress who introduced it is entitled to request that it be brought to the House floor for a vote. The committee may take the matter up right away, and could vote it down before the August recess. If they do not, they will be required to take it up by September 16th.

Text of the Resolution

RESOLUTION

Requesting the President and directing the Secretary of State to transmit to the House of Representatives not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution all information in the possession of the President and the Secretary of State relating to communication with officials of the United Kingdom between January 1, 2002, and October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq.

Resolved, That not later than 14 days after the date of the adoption of this resolution—

(1) the President is requested to transmit to the House of Representatives all documents, including telephone and electronic mail records, logs, calendars, minutes, and memos, in the possession of the President relating to communications with officials of the United Kingdom from January 1, 2002, to October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq, including any discussions or communications between the President or other Administration officials and officials of the United Kingdom that occurred before the meeting on July 23, 2002, at 10 Downing Street in London, England, between Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom intelligence officer Richard Dearlove, and other national security officials of the Blair Administration; and

(2) the Secretary of State is directed to transmit to the House of Representatives all documents, including telephone and electronic mail records, logs, calendars, minutes, memos, and records of internal discussions, in the possession of the Secretary relating to communications with officials of the United Kingdom from January 1, 2002, to October 16, 2002, relating to the policy of the United States with respect to Iraq, including any discussions or communications between the Secretary of State or other officials of the Department of State and officials of the United Kingdom that occurred before the meeting on July 23, 2002, at 10 Downing Street in London, England, between Prime Minister Tony Blair of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom intelligence officer Richard Dearlove, and other national security officials of the Blair Administration.

Original co-sponsors

• Rep. John Conyers
• Rep. Tammy Baldwin
• Rep. William Lacy Clay
• Rep. Danny Davis
• Rep. William Delahunt
• Rep. Lane Evans
• Rep. Sam Farr
• Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva
• Rep. Luis Gutierrez
• Rep. Maurice D. Hinchey
• Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee
• Rep. Dennis Kucinich
• Rep. Carolyn C. Kilpatrick
• Rep. Jim McDermott
• Rep. Jim Oberstar
• Rep. Major R. Owens
• Rep. Frank Pallone Jr.
• Rep. Don Payne
• Rep. Charles Rangel
• Rep. Jan Schakowsky
• Rep. José E. Serrano
• Rep. Pete Stark
• Rep. Bennie Thompson
• Rep. Diane Watson
• Rep. Robert Wexler
• Rep. Lynn Woolsey

External links

• pdf of the resolution

Sources

• Josephine Hearn "Dems target pre-Iraq war intelligence". The Hill, June 28, 2005
• "Downing Street Minutes". Congress.org, July 18, 2005
• David Swanson "Rep. Lee Introduces Resolution of Inquiry into Iraq War Planning". AfterDowningStreet.org, July 21, 2005
• Barbara Lee "Barbara Lee Submits Resolution of Inquiry on Downing Street Memo". www.house.gov

Capitol Hill Democrats hold informal hearing on Plame leak

July 23, 2005

United States Capital Building

Democrats on Saturday turned over their radio broadcast to a former CIA agent and Republican, Larry Johnson, who accused President Bush of flip-flopping on his pledge to fire anybody on his staff involved with the Valerie Plame leak.

Johnson, a participant in yesterday's Democratic hearing on Capitol Hill, said "We deserve people who work in the White House who are committed to protecting classified information, telling the truth to the American people, and living by example to the idea that a country at war with Islamic extremists cannot focus its efforts on attacking other American citizens who simply tried to tell the truth."

House and Senate Democrats held a highly partisan hearing Friday where four retired U.S. intelligence officials aired views that were critical of the Plame leak itself, and then critical of Bush administration and Republican efforts to minimize damage caused by the controversy.

Former CIA case officer, Jim Marcinkowski, testified that the current administration policy of setting a criminal standard for dismissal was too high, and that Bush should take action on those persons involved. "Each time the political machine made up of prime-time patriots and partisan ninnies display their ignorance by deriding Valerie Plame as a mere paper-pusher, or belittling the varying degrees of cover used to protect our officers, or continuing to play partisan politics with our national security, it's a disservice to this country," he said.

Representative Henry Waxman

The hearing was not an official proceeding of Congress. Democratic lawmakers organized it after Republican leaders in congressional committees with jurisdiction in these matters rejected their request for a legislative oversight hearing. Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA), the ranking minority member of the House Committee on Government Reform, said "A special standard seems to apply to Karl Rove: There will be no questions asked, and no accountability.”

Meanwhile, a Vermont native Dennis Morrisseau, 62, plans a Republican run for a soon to be vacated seat in the House of Representatives. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt) will leave the post in his run for a Senate seat. Central to Morrisseau's bid is his pledge to bring articles of impeachment against George W. Bush.

Related news

• "Rep. Barbara Lee calls for U.S. Congress probe into Iraq War planning". Wikinews, July 22, 2005
• "Rep. Waxman: Karl Rove violated non-disclosure agreement". Wikinews, July 17, 2005

Sources

• Scott Shepard "Bush-Rove loyalty a threat, CIA retirees say". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, July 23, 2005

• "Democrats spotlight CIA leak in radio address". Reuters, July 23, 2005

• Reuters "Ex-agents rip Bush on CIA leak". The Boston Globe, July 23, 2005

• Gorden Dritschilo "GOP candidate calls for impeachment". Rutland Herald, July 22, 2005

• reported by David Johnston, Douglas Jehl, Richard W. Stevenson and Anne E. Kornblut. Written by David Johnston "For Two Aides in Leak Case, 2nd Issue Rises". The New York Times, July 22, 2005

• Dan Froomkin "Conflicting Stories". The Washington Post, July 22, 2005

• Rep. Henry Waxman "Waxman: 11 Security Breaches in Plame Case". YubaNet.com, July 22, 2005

• "New York Times timeline". The New York Times, last updated July 21, 2005

Support This Woman!

In other news:

Parents aid jailbreak of 18 year old Swede convicted of rape

July 20, 2005

An 18 year old Swedish man guilty of rape was released from the court of appeal in Sundsvall today, in a way described as chaotic.

According to the news agency TT, the man tried to escape from the custody of the staff of the treatment of offenders. His parents and some friends attacked the staff, and the 18-year-old and an additional 17-year-old managed to escape.

The parents have been arrested, but the young men are reported to be free as of this evening. Both men had been sentenced in the Sundsvall district court, the 18-year-old for rape.

Sources

• TT "Färäldrar hjälpte våldtäktsman rymma". Dagens Nyheter, July 20, 2005

And lastly for the Xtians and various other fundies -

Prayer does not help heart patients, study finds

July 20, 2005

A multi-center US study of 748 patients, who were to undergo treatment for coronary artery disease, has found that prayer by Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Buddhist groups had no measurable effects on the medical health of the study subjects. The prayers were conducted by established congregations and were held away from the hospitals.

The study, published in the 16 July 2005 issue of The Lancet, found that the likelihood of an adverse cardiovascular event in hospital, re-admission or death within six months was unaffected by prayer.

None of the patients were told that they were prayed for, and none of the prayer groups knew who they prayed for. Nevertheless, 67% of the non-prayer group believed they were being prayed for - a potential placebo effect that may have hidden any small differences between the two groups.

The study also examined the effects of "music, imagery, and touch (MIT) therapy" before heart surgery. Practitioners qualified to Level 1 Healing Touch taught the patient relaxation techniques and played soothing music before applying 21 Healing Touch hand positions, over a 40 minute session.

There was no significant change in the combined chance of an adverse cardiovascular event in hospital, re-admission or death within six months. However, while the set of patients was evenly split, only 7 patients who received MIT therapy died, and 20 patients who did not receive it died. The result is not highly significant due to the low overall number of people who died.

A number of studies has recently examined the possible effects of prayer, with mixed results. While some religious groups have hailed studies which found positive results [1], skeptics have challenged the very notion of scientifically examining prayer [2], and have described past studies as flawed or even fraudulent. [3]

"The mechanisms through which distant intercessory prayer might convey healing benefit are unknown", the authors of the study explain. One hypothesis they propose for such effects are "non-local features of consciousness based theoretically around observations in quantum physics."

The study was conducted by a team of 16 researchers at Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), Duke University Medical Center, the Durham Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), and seven other academic medical institutions across the United States.

Sources

• Mitchell W Krucoff, et al. "Music, imagery, touch, and prayer as adjuncts to interventional cardiac care: the Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II randomised study". The Lancet, July 16, 2005 (requires registration)

• "Prayer 'no aid to heart patients'". BBC News, July 15, 2005

• "Results of First Multicenter Trial of Intercessory Prayer, Healing Touch in Heart Patients". Duke University Press Release, July 14, 2005

THE PP GURU COMIC CON
CROTCHROT JARGON REPORT # 2



So the PP Guru was thinking about the second botched attempt on his neighboring Londoners this morning- (afternoon Earl Grey tea time their time) and couldn't help but wonder: how many sleeper cells do these Al Qaeda schmoes have all togetherin the world anyway? Why, they're opening up faster than a branch of Washington Mutual or a Bank of America. The PP Guru is elated that his favorite tribal people over the pond have emerged from this practically unscathed. This little mnemonic moment also sparks me up about my second biggest complaint concerning the San Diego Comic Con Internatonal convention that took place last week.

Appears that the San Diego Padres were also booked to the rafters at their new eye sore stadium which was built a couple of years back just a few blocks away from the Clarion Hotel (where the PP Guru in his drippy drooling fanboy days- used to partake in nightly get-togethers of snacky-poos and watch people play D&D for a good portion of the night- but essentially he was there to descend on the free eats since he never had money to afford a half way decent meal(c'mon, you'd be hard pressed not to refuse a free Togo's sandwich too!He also had a few of his monthly comic con committee meetings there when he was helping running things in the small press department). The city should have known before hand that the comic con attendees and the jocks were going to eventually clash - and therefore we wind up with...unnecessary congestion- not only on the trolley tracks spilling out to the pavement and the streets. All this pandemonium would have made a great target for Islam extremists - not that they would know where San Diego is anyway.

The PP Guru left the show during one Saturday away from the convention site to get a much more affordable meal since the CONGESTED lines at the CAFE EXPRESS (a misnomer if the PP Guru has ever heard of one) were charging 8 bucks for a Ham Sandwich which was nothing more than two slices of ham, a slice of Provolone cheese jammed in between a soggy roll. The PP Guru needed energy- and thus embarked on a sorjourn for a smoothie up to the Horton Plaza which was approximately 6 blocks up from the convention center. Now the PP Guru checked his Fantastic Four movie digital clock that were given out as free promos at the con- it said 12:58 and he was off for a delicious giant cup of frosty fruity goodness.


ONE HOUR AND A HALF LATER

You heard right- one hour and a half later- because what the PP Guru had to contend with was lines to get back to the hall- cut through the swath of the locust gathered in the hall and what was spilt over in the streets and drop off points and even making his way through the crowded Gaslamp Quarter area of town- he wounded up in yet another line at JAMBA JUICE to pick up his Razzmatazz smoothie that MOTHER GRIM allowed him to phone in an HOUR and a half before on her cellphone.

The PP Guru found it hard pressed to even do the nightlife scene. He tried to make it to the Eisner Awards but this was the first time he ever had to sit this one out. The trolley lines were severly atrociously backed up because the system just inaugurated a new GREEN LINE to go along with the RED and BLUE ( What the fuck- where the PURPLE Line for cripessakes?)three trains went by the Old Town station that said OUT OF SERVICE and thereby the PP Guru did not get back downtown until close to eleven that night- the Eisners having just getting out. Even as the PP Guru got off the trolley station near the Hyatt and was about to cross the track- lo, and behold, a 300 plus car Union Pacific Locomotive tooks it's sweet goddamn time getting across- and the PP Guru got to the Hyatt to have one lousy glass of wine on the rocks and only managed to hang out for a couple of minutes with Avatar Press Robocop and Dark Horse Badlands writer Steven Grant before he decided it was a lost cause and didn't really know anybody at the bar.

Due to the constant delaying procrastination of the San Diego Trolley Service and the San Diego Padres fans, the PP Guru had no one to play with that Friday evening.

Not Even Her ...

As slurringly told to:

~

Coat

STRANGE DESERTED
ISLAND STIRRINGS
BELOW THE PP GURU's BELT

(AKA Comic Con Crotchrot Jargon Report # 3)


Although the PP Guru didn't have a whole alot of time to utilize the fun factor at this year's San Diego Comic Con International such as asking for autograph hand outs from the cascade of celebrities that festered the halls (he hardly saw any lurking other than Bruce Campbell being escorted to the men's room by convention security or stumbled across some of the cast of the new Battlestar Galactica ), attending masquerade balls, or seeing sneak previews of upcoming movies ( the PP Guru would have loved to have attended the new King Kong or the cult favorite, Serenity). Instead, he was too engaged at a table touting Cary Coatney's Deposit Man products (fucking slavedriver!!), scurrying around for writing jobs, and pestering Maggie Thompson about advertising rates in the new monthly Comics Buyer's Guide. The PP Guru spent a lot of time of his time snapping digital glossies of some comic-con females attendees and their spandex posteriors...while their husbands or significant others weren't watching!! Besides, doing some shopping ( Yay! PP Guru scored the new season of Doctor Who on DVD - bootlegged ), all the PP Guru made personal con downtime were for two panels: one a tribute to the late Bill Liebowitz and the other dealing on the subject of comic book weirdoes doing their own blogs.

Some speaking on the panel were quite notorious for their comic book antics, most notably Mark Evanier, Variety's Tom McLean ,Peter David. Comics Journal Tom Spurgeon was there in not a very bloggy like capacity (he hates when people comment on his blog- he may not allow comments on his- however, the PP Guru allows comments on his) and of course, you can't dive into the subject of blogging without everyone's favorite Queen of all Cyber Silloquays Heidi MacDonald being in attendance. When everyone seated in the audience had to go around the room and introduce himw or herself to tell everybody else what it is they do on their blog., Heidi took it upon herself to out the PP Guru....


The Guru could talk about crushes ... but no ...

right ...

in front ...

of everyone ...

She acted as if she were the one responsible for creating this monstrosity of a blog of what you see before you now.

"And who was it who told you to start blogging, PP Guru?" she asked as she spotted the PP Guru in the audience. How that can that be? The PP Guru was supposedly dressed in camouflage. Now the PP Guru knows how Valerie Plame must feel.

Then a silent pause to ponder that conundrum ambush that the PP Guru has stumbled upon...

....wait.

Aha! The PP Guru has got it!

It was....

Scarlett Johansson!

Yeah, that's it, he answered. Scarlett Johansson taught the PP Guru how to blog.

And he is extremely grateful as you can see here:







Now it isn't as if the PP Guru can't give Heidi a little credit for something. After all, the PP Guru has been following her remarkable innovative career for some time since the summer of 1989 when he was first introduced to her by a remarkable comic book creator who will only go by the initials of HC at a San Diego Comic Con which he first attended on all four days while staying at a room in the US Grant (a really cool hotel built around the turn of the last century).

Now HC has always had a reputation of going a little overboard with some off-the-wall borderline sexist comments - it's no secret from those who are in awe of his work. It was a Friday and it was just after the first Eisner Awards (what used to the Kirby Awards) ceremony where the PP Guru first met Heidi wearing a somewhat mini-skirt decked out with leotards that had tiger prints all over it. At the time, just a little inebriated, the PP Guru was just simply admiring the view of those mesmerizing tights when all of a sudden HC blasted out with this rather loud and abashing comment: "Hey Heidi- with stockings like that - you almost look like a halfway decent piece of ass! " The PP Guru was shocked that such a esteemed professional such as HC would stoop to such an incorrigible level to say something so derogatory to a fellow colleague. But like a lemming or a loon, the PP Guru was too young to understand the ways of the world back then and therefore thought the safest thing for him would be just to chuckle into his glass of wine on the rocks as Heidi and HC traded crude verbage blows amongst themselves.

Then Heidi heard the PP Guru smirking at HC's crude remark, took a leather glove out of her Felix the Cat purse and smacked the PP Guru right across the face with it. The PP Guru definitely saw stars at the Doubletree Hotel that night (it's called something else now- but it's still centrally located at Horten Plaza) before collapsing in a drunken heap upon a piano bench.
And that's the story of how the PP Guru was introduced to Heidi that night. A conversation about dolphins and endorphins somehow played a role of provoking Heidi's ire that same evening but the PP Guru vaguely goes into comic con flashback mode these days.

Sixteen years later, the PP Guru is still trying to shake off that concussion, and since in that time, the accordian-playing girl with the good left hook has managed to influence plenty of people in the comic book industry to follow in her footsteps. She has worked her journalistic Tae Kwon Do skills on the Comics Journal, the LA Weekly, has edited for both Disney and DC/Vertigo comics, and was instrumental in founding the Friends of Lulu- an organization devoted into getting young girls (and boys) and women interested in partcipating in the reading world of comic books.

Now how can anyone top that level of accomplishment?

Well reportly now she has served as a stand-in for Scarlett in Lost in Translation and the new Michael Bay sci-fi flick, The Island which opens in theaters today through Dreamworks and that company that the PP Guru works for.

The PP Guru swears that's what Heidi told the PP Guru last time he saw her.

Of course, Scarlett has stepped into the PP Guru's heart with this picture:





Demerolly induced to:

~

Coat:

PP GURU: COMIC CON
CROTCHROT JARGON REPORT

Here's the Guru's kvetch # 1:

The PP Guru is nearly at his wit's end concerning San Diego Comic Con International's yearly jam-packed jubilee — that it's getting a little too much jammed packed for his own good. It seems that the entire city wants their piece of the pie from the annual four color/manga/movie & tv vacationing crowd that leaves a trail of freebie entrails consisting of free discarded posters, postcards, and stickers in its' wake. the PP Guru only says that because he can imagine the city has to pay it's street sweepers overtime just to clean after the pile of shit we leave behind on the streets (the PP Guru must have seen at least thousands of littered flyers and cards scattered all over the Gaslamp Quarter area of town).


Mother Grimm at Golden Apple in 2001


The PP Guru's alter ego - Cary Coatney did not have a very profitable year concerning his Deposit Man line of products - even though attendance was up about 10% percent from last year- not many people were in a buying frenzy- in fact, people were in so much in a hurry to get from one section of the exhibit hall to the next, that they barely even gave his product a section glance.

Guess Who Is Being Ignored in this Photo?

Of course sharing a booth with a hottie such as Mother Grim with eerie contact lenses didn't help his exposure much either- all the attention went to her, even though she didn't fare at the booth financially either. Mother Grim maybe sold no more than two books on her end. Most of her sales went into her line of photos or trading card sets.

But more on Mother Grim later on the week- the PP Guru is pressed for time (he has to go down and pick up his Constantine DVD down on the lot AT HIS SPECIAL EMPLOYEE DISCOUNTED RATE, thank yew very much) and he wanted to give his loyal archaic peyote partisans a whole smorgasbord of greivances that he experienced at the con- especially about the lines for every kind of service imaginable- every where a line here, every where a line there. Line upon lines upon lines- it just never ended. However the one thing- the only incredible thing that really licked the lycra hemmed ballsweat of the PP Guru's bright purple flourescent undies was this the gouging in price of this little underwelming number:




Now the PP Guru forgot entirely about the DC purposily releasing Frank Miller and Jim Lee's collaboration on the pumped up cream in your fanboy jeans release of All Star Batman & Robin, the Boy Wonder title (in 3 different variant editions) to coincide with the San Diego Comic Con International, thus causing a retailing avalanche, a stampede if you will, to initiate a price hike war amongst the dealers in the showroom.

A $ 2.99 book released on that Wednesday (the preview night of the show) does not constitute a inflation of up to $ 10.00 for what it nothing more than a creative burp or a fart from Mssrs Miller and Lee- because that's what the book is- nothing more than a eight minute read of shit that you've already seen before. Not to extract anything from Jim Lee or Frank Miller - they are surely the creme of la creme of mainstream comic book genius storytelling- but c'mon, not much dialogue, regurgitated action sequences, and 3 pages of Vicki Vale in see through Victoria Secret panties makes one feel a little cheated.

The PP Guru was appalled at every dealer that he went to that were selling this nonsensical product at $ 5, 6, 7 or 10 dollars a copy. The PP Guru luckily found a dealer that was selling the Robin cover for $ 4.00 a copy- so he found that sort of reasonable...but why? The PP Guru bought the rest of his weekly fix for nothing more than cover price- did they think that these dealers were going to make the money of their tables on just this one book alone? Was it because since all close to 100,000 attendees were inconvenienced becaused they were separated miles and miles away from their hometown specialty store?

IF either Jim Lee or Frank Miller walked by your favorite dealer's table and decided to take a steaming pile of shit on all the copies lying on top of your table, instead of personizing it with sharpie - would you still inflate the price?

The griping has barely begun ... Knocked out by:

~ Coat


Cary's test shot of someone in the Claypool Booth ...

Oddly enough - Claypool's PR presence got a boost from the many Cassandra Peterson Autograph session under the sails in AA8. We sold $10 and $25 dollar packs as well as the Trade Paperbacks ... SoulSearchers and Elvira being the big sellers ...

Added by Sparky

Sparky: More Traitors Identified As
Backstabbing Bastard Partisan
Opportunists Who'd Sell
Our United States of America
Down The River For Short Term
Political Gain —

So much for the so-called “War on Terror” which was an unneeded thinly disguised mask to reassure a 2nd term; As, the Partisans already gimmicked the Poll Tabulation. This is a bigger smoking gun that the Downing Street Memos.

Yet Another GOP Traitor
Irving Lewis “Scooter” Libby

Our Spanish Friends identify him as a Mafia Lawyer

Irving Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Jr. (born August 22, 1950) is a lawyer and Chief of Staff to Dick Cheney, Vice President of the United States as well as the Vice President's assistant for National Security Affairs.

The Christian Science Monitor sums up the weasel this way:

Lewis "Scooter" Libby

Mr. Libby is currently chief of staff and national security advisor for Vice President Dick Cheney. He's served in a wide variety of posts. In the first Bush administration, Mr. Libby served in the Department of Principal Deputy Under Secretary (Strategy and Resources), and, later, as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

Libby was a founding member of the Project for the New American Century. He joined Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, and others in writing its 2000 report entitled, "Rebuilding America's Defenses - Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century."

Libby co-authored the once-shocking draft of the 'Defense Planning Guidance' with Mr. Wolfowitz for then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in 1992. Libby serves on the advisory board of the Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies of the RAND Corporation.

Libby was a founding member of the Project for the New American Century. He joined Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, and others in writing its 2000 report entitled, "Rebuilding America's Defenses - Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century."

Libby co-authored the draft of the 'Defense Planning Guidance' with Wolfowitz for then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney in 1992.

Biography

Libby started his government career in the State Department in 1981 under President Ronald Reagan. He has also, at various times in his long career, held positions with the American Bar Association, the RAND Corporation, the Department of Defense, and the United States House of Representatives (as a Legal Advisor).

Libby graduated from Yale University in 1972, where one of his professors was Paul Wolfowitz, and from Columbia University's law school in 1975. He also wrote The Apprentice, a novel published in 1996.

Libby was a founding member of the Project for the New American Century. He joined Paul Wolfowitz, William Kristol, Robert Kagan, and others in writing its 2000 report entitled, "Rebuilding America's Defenses - Strategy, Forces, and Resources for a New Century."

Plame affair

See Plame scandal timeline, Plame affair

In 2003 and 2004, intense speculation about Libby centered around the possibility that he may have been the administration official who "outed" Valerie Plame, an undercover CIA agent for political gain. In July of 2005, Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper revealed that Libby and George W. Bush deputy chief-of-staff Karl Rove were the first to disclose Plame's identity.

Trivia

Libby's current office in the Old Executive Office Building was formerly the office of Theodore Roosevelt when he was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the Phillipine-American War.

References

• http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0202/16/lklw.00.html
• http://www.warstories.cc/person/?personId=8182
• http://slate.msn.com/id/2085803/
• http://www.antiwar.com/justin/jspecial100203.html
• http://fpc.state.gov/8488.htm
• http://rightweb.irc-online.org/ind/libby/libby.php
• http://www.namebase.org/main3/Lewis-_28scooter_29-Libby.html
• http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/administration/whbriefing/whoswho.html
• http://www.results.gov/leadership/bio_268.html
• http://college4.nytimes.com/guests/articles/2002/02/18/2141292.xml
• http://fairuse.1accesshost.com/news1/libby.html
• http://www.why-war.com/encyclopedia/people/I._Lewis_Libby/
• Libby's campaign contributions

The Other Traitor Indentified so far:
Stephen Hadley

Stephen John Hadley (born February 13, 1947) is the current National Security Advisor for U.S. President George W. Bush. He had been Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor from January 22, 2001. On November 16, 2004, it was announced that he would replace Condoleezza Rice as National Security Advisor, upon Rice's confirmation as Secretary of State, which occurred on January 26, 2005.

Hadley served as a senior foreign and defense policy advisor to then-Governor Bush during the 2000 presidential campaign and worked in the Bush-Cheney Transition on the National Security Council.

Previous to this position, he was a partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Shea & Gardner and a principal in The Scowcroft Group, Inc., an international consulting firm.

Hadley served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy from 1989-1993. In that position, he had responsibility for defense policy toward NATO and Western Europe, on nuclear weapons and ballistic missile defense, and arms control. He also participated in policy issues involving export control and the use of space. Hadley served as Secretary of Defense Cheney's representative in talks led by Secretary of State James Baker that resulted in the START I and START II Treaties.

Hadley previously served in a variety of other capacities in the defense and national security field, including serving from 1986-1987 as Counsel to the Special Review Board established by President Ronald Reagan (AKA the “Rapist”) to inquire into U.S. arms sales to Iran (the "Tower Commission"), as a member of the National Security Council staff under President Gerald Ford from 1974-1977, and as an analyst for the Comptroller of the Department of Defense from 1972-1974.

Hadley has been a member of the Department of Defense Policy Board, the National Security Advisory Panel to the Director of Central Intelligence, and the Board of Trustees of Analytical Services, Inc. ("ANSER"). His professional legal practice focused on business problems of U.S. and foreign corporations particularly as they involve international business, regulatory, and strategy issues. He received a B.A. degree from Cornell University in 1969, where he was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and a law degree from Yale Law School.

On July 22, 2003, Hadley offered his resignation to Bush because he had "failed in that responsibility" and that "the high standards the president set were not met." Bush denied Hadley's request. Hadley admitted fault in allowing a disputed claim about Iraq's quest for nuclear weapons material to be included in Bush's 2003 State of the Union speech (see Yellowcake forgery). In 2002, Hadley was a member of White House Iraq Group.

External links

• National Security Council - Stephen Hadley official biography
• New National Security Adviser Shuns the Spotlight from Newshouse News Service

The Google New Crawl:

U.S. News & World Report

Can Rove trump historic trend? Christian Science Monitor - 4 hours ago ... Early in the investigation of the Valerie Plame-CIA leak, a presidentialspokesman flatly denied that deputy chief of staff Karl Rove was involved. ... Bush aides push back on Rove U.S. News & World Report ‘Don’t Tell Karl’ Newsweek all 3 related »

CBC Newfoundland

Rove: out of White House, into jail? People's Weekly World - 10 hours ago WASHINGTON — It is an open question whether Karl Rove, deputy White House chief of staff, will keep out of jail, given the flood of evidence that he broke ... Rove-Bush Conspiracy Noose Tightens ZNet Rove's info leak raises questions Gainesville Times American people owed full story in Rove investigation Jackson Clarion Ledger CBS News - Science Daily (press release) - all 685 related »

DEMS TOLD: KEEP TALKING ABOUT ROVE Boston Herald, United States - 7 hours ago ... Jane Harman assailed the president for failing to punish Karl Rove for his alleged involvement in disclosing the name of a CIA operative. ... talking points for blind, stupid democRATs Boston Herald all 2 related »

Rove: Not Entirely Forgotten Washington Post, United States - 9 hours ago ... if -- with all the excitement over President Bush's brilliantly scripted Supreme Court nomination -- the press was going to forget about Karl Rove and the ... Announcement timing takes spotlight off Rove Dallas Morning News (subscription) A Supreme Court Nomination, A Pavlovian Media and Mr. Rove lives ... TPMCafe Justice John Roberts? Whatever: Let’s talk about Rove BTC News Washington Post - Houston Chronicle - all 43 related »

Rove violation only one flame in conflagration Indian Country Today, NY - 5 hours ago If Deep Throat had ultimate justice (and perhaps some retribution) in mind when he led the trail of Watergate to Nixon, the intent of Karl Rove, the alleged ... Think again Rochester Democrat and Chronicle by Sydney H. Schanberg Village Voice Bush’s Word is Like the Uranium Story – Worthless Political Affairs Magazine all 4 related »

Using Rove to Distract Us From Roberts? TPMCafe, NY - 6 hours ago Leave it to the right-wing blogs to provide an alternative reality when it comes to the Rove story vs Roberts nomination... Apparently ... Supreme Court nominee neither saint nor demon Press & Sun-Bulletin Headlines for July 20, 2005 Democracy Now all 3 related »

Unraveling Rove Queens Chronicle, NY - 8 hours ago For example, Fox News’ John Gibson actually advocated giving Rove a medal for outing Plame, blissfully unaware of the irony of his conclusion that “Pulling ... TPMCafe || Politics, Ideas & Lots Of Caffeine TPMCafe all 2 related »

Rove lawyer says Rove was the SECRET source Boston Herald, United States - 21 hours ago ... "Subject: Rove/P&C," (for personal and confidential), Cooper began. ... Rove's words on the Plame case have always been carefully chosen. "I didn't know her name. ...

Gerlach camp defends Rove invite at fund-raiser Wayne Suburban Newspapers, PA - 11 hours ago The controversy over the Karl Rove-CIA leak story is paying off for 6th District Congressman Jim Gerlach - in thousands of potential campaign dollars. ... Gerlach's fund-raiser with Rove draws protest Philadelphia Inquirer Protests against Karl Rove planned at Gerlach fundraiser Penn Live Protests against Karl Rove planned at Gerlach fundraiser WVEC.com (subscription) Wilkes Barre Times-Leader - all 15 related »

Krushing Karl Rove Torontofreepress.com, Canada - 13 hours ago ... loopy and/or B) convinced that their constituents are total morons, then listening to George Soros’ commercial detailing the evils of Karl Rove will forever ... Finding Truth in the Rove Rampage PEJ News Bush alters position on punishing leaker Globe and Mail

- o&o Sparky

PS James Doohan doesn't deserve to share space with the traitors above RIP

Sparky: Washington Post:

Plame's Identity Marked As Secret

Memo Central to Probe Of Leak Was Written By State Dept. Analyst

By Walter Pincus and Jim VandeHei

Washington Post Staff Writers
Thursday, July 21, 2005; Page A01

A classified State Department memorandum central to a federal leak investigation contained information about CIA officer Valerie Plame in a paragraph marked "(S)" for secret, a clear indication that any Bush administration official who read it should have been aware the information was classified, according to current and former government officials.

Plame -- who is referred to by her married name, Valerie Wilson, in the memo -- is mentioned in the second paragraph of the three-page document, which was written on June 10, 2003, by an analyst in the State Department's Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), according to a source who described the memo to The Washington Post.

Traitor Karl Rove

Plame's Identity Marked As Secret

Journalists Push for Shield Law

Court Nominee In the Eye of the Blogger Swarm

Reality TV Political Spin In 'Red/Blue' Series Proposal

House Votes

The paragraph identifying her as the wife of former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV was clearly marked to show that it contained classified material at the "secret" level, two sources said. The CIA classifies as "secret" the names of officers whose identities are covert, according to former senior agency officials.

Anyone reading that paragraph should have been aware that it contained secret information, though that designation was not specifically attached to Plame's name and did not describe her status as covert, the sources said. It is a federal crime, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, for a federal official to knowingly disclose the identity of a covert CIA official if the person knows the government is trying to keep it secret.

Prosecutors attempting to determine whether senior government officials knowingly leaked Plame's identity as a covert CIA operative to the media are investigating whether White House officials gained access to information about her from the memo, according to two sources familiar with the investigation.

The memo may be important to answering three central questions in the Plame case: Who in the Bush administration knew about Plame's CIA role? Did they know the agency was trying to protect her identity? And, who leaked it to the media?

Almost all of the memo is devoted to describing why State Department intelligence experts did not believe claims that Saddam Hussein had in the recent past sought to purchase uranium from Niger. Only two sentences in the seven-sentence paragraph mention Wilson's wife.

The memo was delivered to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell on July 7, 2003, as he headed to Africa for a trip with President Bush aboard Air Force One. Plame was unmasked in a syndicated column by Robert D. Novak seven days later.

Wilson has said his wife's identity was revealed to retaliate against him for accusing the Bush administration of "twisting" intelligence to justify the Iraq war. In a July 6 opinion piece in the New York Times and in an interview with The Washington Post, he cited a secret mission he conducted in February 2002 for the CIA, when he determined there was no evidence that Iraq was seeking uranium for a nuclear weapons program in the African nation of Niger.

White House officials discussed Wilson's wife's CIA connection in telling at least two reporters that she helped arrange his trip, according to one of the reporters, Matthew Cooper of Time magazine, and a lawyer familiar with the case.

Prosecutors have shown interest in the memo, especially when they were questioning White House officials during the early days of the investigation, people familiar with the probe said.

Karl Rove, President Bush's deputy chief of staff, has testified that he learned Plame's name from Novak a few days before telling another reporter she worked at the CIA and played a role in her husband's mission, according to a lawyer familiar with Rove's account. Rove has also testified that the first time he saw the State Department memo was when "people in the special prosecutor's office" showed it to him, said Robert Luskin, his attorney.

"He had not seen it or heard about it before that time," Luskin said.

Several other administration officials were on the trip to Africa, including senior adviser Dan Bartlett, then-White House spokesman Ari Fleischer and others. Bartlett's attorney has refused to discuss the case, citing requests by the special counsel. Fleischer could not be reached for comment yesterday.

Rove and Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, have been identified as people who discussed Wilson's wife with Cooper. Prosecutors are trying to determine the origin of their knowledge of Plame, including whether it was from the INR memo or from conversations with reporters.

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the memo made it clear that information about Wilson's wife was sensitive and should not be shared. Yesterday, sources provided greater detail on the memo to The Post.

The material in the memo about Wilson's wife was based on notes taken by an INR analyst who attended a Feb. 19, 2002, meeting at the CIA where Wilson's intelligence-gathering trip to Niger was discussed.

The memo was drafted June 10, 2003, for Undersecretary of State Marc Grossman, who asked to be brought up to date on INR's opposition to the White House view that Hussein was trying to buy uranium in Africa.

The description of Wilson's wife and her role in the Feb. 19, 2002, meeting at the CIA was considered "a footnote" in a background paragraph in the memo, according to an official who was aware of the process.

It records that the INR analyst at the meeting opposed Wilson's trip to Niger because the State Department, through other inquiries, already had disproved the allegation that Iraq was seeking uranium from Niger. Attached to the INR memo were the notes taken by the senior INR analyst who attended the 2002 meeting at the CIA.

On July 6, 2003, shortly after Wilson went public on NBC's "Meet the Press" and in The Post and the New York Times discussing his trip to Niger, the INR director at the time, Carl W. Ford Jr., was asked to explain Wilson's statements for Powell, according to sources familiar with the events. He went back and reprinted the June 10 memo but changed the addressee from Grossman to Powell.

Ford last year appeared before the federal grand jury investigating the leak and described the details surrounding the INR memo, the sources said. Yesterday he was on vacation in Arkansas, according to his office.

Sparky breaks TREASONGATE down for you:

John Lapp, Executive Director, DCCC writes to me:

It was hard to be surprised when I read this in Reuters about the Supreme Court nomination...

"Sources said the timing of an announcement had been moved up in part to deflect attention away from a CIA leak controversy that has engulfed Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove...'It helps take Rove off the front pages for a week,' one Republican strategist said."

When Democrats demanded that Rove be fired, it was about more than justice for dirty deeds done. It was about the fact that he was continuing as President Bush's top advisor on matters of supreme importance to all Americans -- literally.

We learned this week that Karl Rove was so adamant about smearing CIA agent Valerie Plame's husband that even White House aides were taken aback. When one asked him why, Rove replied simply: "He's a Democrat."

And yet President Bush allowed him to continue on in his job, despite his original pledge to fire any leakers, and Tuesday night presented a nominee for the highest court in the land chosen under the guidance of a man whose defining characteristic is dirty, scorched-earth partisanship at any cost.

We will not let Rove off the hook. Contribute today to help support our efforts to expose the truth about Rove's disgrace.

It is bad enough that the House is dominated by Rove's kindred spirit, Tom DeLay. Both of these men value power above all. They are the two most influential men in Republican strategy and policy, the men who tell the rest of the Republicans how to speak, think, and vote.

Their ethical blindness casts a shadow of dishonor across the entire Republican Party, who with precious few exceptions cannot bring themselves to utter the slightest word against the two.

Let us be clear here about who has been proven to be "in the loop" on the smearing of CIA agent Valerie Plame's husband:

• Karl Rove: President Bush's Right-Hand Man
• Scooter Libby: Vice President Cheney's Right-Hand Man
• Stephen Hadley: Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's Right-Hand Man
• Dick Cheney: Whose memo was “weakly re-edited” by these treasonous GOP partisans
  

Not only have they kept their jobs; not a single negative word has been said about any of them by the White House. In fact, let's be clear again:

There has been no indication whatsoever from the White House that what was done was wrong, and no indication whatsoever that they will not do it again.

To understand how profound this abuse of power is, consider that we are currently in a War on Terror, and that our country is desperate to recruit more qualified intelligence operatives. And yet the message from the White House is that, so long as the leaker is not convicted (apparently indictment is acceptable), they reserve the right to "out" with impunity any covert agent whose family member happens to rub the White House the wrong way.

Karl Rove hopes to slip away into the shadows, but we will keep churning the truth out for all Americans to see.

President Bush won't hold Karl Rove accountable. But we will.

Please help fund our efforts with a contribution of $35, $50 or $100 today.

Thank you for standing with us.

John Lapp
Executive Director, DCCC

If you would like to forward our petition and video to friends and family click here.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rep. Waxman: Karl Rove violated non-disclosure agreement

Traitor Karl Rove shows us Americans his true colors.

Bush administration handling of pre-war intelligence

Related stories

• Cooper claims he learned of Plame through Rove
• Rep. Waxman: Karl Rove violated non-disclosure agreement
• A timeline: Novak, Rove, Cooper
• US Senate debates Rove and intelligence access
• Wilson calls for Rove removal
• Karl Rove named as a source of Plame leak

More...

External links

• Downing Street memo
• DowningStreetMemo.com
• Why has 'Downing Street memo' story been a 'dud' in US?
• Officials express misgivings on Iraq
• Sen. Roberts & Rockefellor on pre-war intelligence
• List of documents
• Knight-Ridder Special Report on intelligence

July 17, 2005

House representative Henry Waxman (D-Cal) released on Friday a fact sheet from a "briefing booklet" that Karl Rove received when he signed the classified information nondisclosure agreement (SF-312). Executive Order 12958 requires that a person sign this standard form before being granted security clearance. The briefing booklet states that:

Before confirming the accuracy of what appears in the public source, the signer of the SF 312 must confirm through an authorized official that the information has, in fact, been declassified. If it has not, confirmation of its accuracy is also an unauthorized disclosure.

The nondisclosure agreement and the executive order require sanctions against security clearance holders who "knowingly, willfully, or negligently" disclose classified information. The sanctions for such a breach include "reprimand, suspension without pay, removal, termination of classification authority, loss or denial of access to classified information, or other sanctions.

The agreement requires that violators be subject to appropriate sanctions, regardless of whether or not they knew they were leaking classified information:

Officers and employees of the United States Government ... shall be subject to appropriate sanctions if they knowingly, willfully, or negligently ... disclose to unauthorized persons information properly classified.

This information was provided to YubaNet by Representative Waxman, and discussed in detail here.

The case, however, is being tried under the 1982 Intelligence Identities Protection Act. The strictest interpretation of the act limits breaking it to knowingly reveal the identity of an undercover agent. There is only one publicly known conviction for the law. CIA employee Sharon Scranage, who pleaded guilty in 1985. She served 8 months out of a 5 year conviction for revealing to her boyfriend the names of other agents while stationed in Ghana.

Was Plame a covert agent?

The case is clouded by reckoning on the covert status of Valerie Plame when the leak occurred. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for an FBI probe 10 days after the July 13, 2003 column by Robert Novak identified her as an agent. A Chicago native and appointed special prosecutor, Patrik Fitzgerald took over the case 19 months ago. That the case continues today says something in itself.

Critics of the investigation believe the case is overblown because it was widely known in Washington social power circles that Plame worked for the CIA.

A MediaMatters report on the widely publicized quote by Joseph Wilson, who said, "My wife was not a clandestine officer... ", was misconstrued by the press.

BLITZER: But the other argument that's been made against you is that you've sought to capitalize on this extravaganza, having that photo shoot with your wife [in the January 2004 Vanity Fair magazine], who was a clandestine officer of the CIA, and that you've tried to enrich yourself writing this book and all of that.

What do you make of those accusations, which are serious accusations, as you know, that have been leveled against you?

WILSON: My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity.

BLITZER: But she hadn't been a clandestine officer for some time before that?

WILSON: That's not anything that I can talk about. And, indeed, I'll go back to what I said earlier, the CIA believed that a possible crime had been committed, and that's why they referred it to the Justice Department.

In the full context of the above CNN Wolf Blitzer Reports televised broadcast, Wilson was responding to mean that after Robert Novak's column ran, his wife was no longer a clandestine officer. The Vanity Fair coverage given Wilson with wife Plame was a result of the publicity that ensued from the column written by Novack. The photo shoots did not occur before the disclosure, they came in January 2004.

The Associated Press reported the Wilson-Blitzer interview as follows:

...CNN Thursday before the latest revelation, Wilson kept up his criticism of the White House, saying [White House senior adviser Karl] Rove's conduct was an "outrageous abuse of power ... certainly worthy of frog-marching out of the White House."

But at the same time, Wilson acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job at the time Novak's column first identified her. "My wife was not a clandestine officer the day that Bob Novak blew her identity," he said.

Federal law prohibits goverment officials from divulging the identity ...

Media outlets followed the AP lead with their own reporting that mirrored AP report.

Sources

• Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen "In Plame Leaks, Long Shadows". Washington Post, July 17, 2005
• Representative Waxman "Karl Rove's Nondisclosure Agreement". YubaNet, July 15, 2005
• "AP falsely reported Wilson "acknowledged his wife was no longer in an undercover job" when her identity was first publicly leaked". MediaMatters, July 15, 2005
• "NY Times, Wash. Post revised White House pledge to fire Plame leakers". Media Matters for America, July 15, 2005
• Robert Collier "Key questions at the center of the leak controversy". SFGate.com, July 13, 2005
  

A timeline: Novak, Rove, Cooper

July 15, 2005

The Novak story that sparked the contoversy was written on July 14, 2003. The Star Telegram reported that Rove talked to Novak on Tuesday July 8, 2003. A perpetual calendar is useful to observe the date. Cooper called Rove 4 days after his talk with Novak. The date of the Rove-Cooper conversation must then have been July 12, 2003.

U.S. grand jury information "leaked" to the Associated Press revealed Karl Rove spoke to two reporters, rather than the previously thought one reporter Matthew Cooper. It was reported here by MSNBC with the help of MSNBC's "Today" show the reporter Robert Novak was also spoken to, but without a single date to serve as a reference point. Therefore, a reader who wanted to create a timeline of events to discover the publication date of the Novak story that blew Valerie Plames's cover is presented with the following puzzle (one date is provided by WN, the date of Wilson's Op-Ed piece):

• Novak called Rove on a Tuesday, 6 days before he broke the story. During the Novak-Rove conversation, Novak asked whether Rove heard Plame was an agent. At that time, Rove said he believed that he might have heard the same… he wasn’t sure if he did, and if he did, he couldn’t remember who it was.

• Novak’s story containing the Plame "leak" breaks 6 days after the Rove conversation. Two anonymous White House officials are its sources.

• Rove’s conversation with Cooper took place 5 days after Wilson’s Op-Ed piece in The New York Times ran on July 6, 2003. So Rove spoke with Cooper on July 11, 2003.

• Rove's conversation with Cooper takes place 4 days after talking to Novak. So Rove spoke to Novak on July 7, 2003.

• The Novak story broke 6 days after he spoke to Rove. So the Novak story broke on July 13, 2003.

Related news

• "White House refuses to comment on Karl Rove as source of leak". Wikinews, July 12, 2005
• "Karl Rove named as a source of Plame leak". Wikinews, July 3, 2005

Sources

• David Johnston and Richard W. Stevenson "Source says Rove spoke to columnist". Star-Telegram, July 15, 2005

• "Source: Rove says reporters told him of Plame". MSNBC News Services, July 15, 2005

• "Americans losing faith in Bush: Poll". Sify news, July 14, 2005

• CBS/AP "Wilson To Bush: Fire Rove". CBS News, July 14, 2005

• Sue Pleming "CIA agent's spouse says Rove must go". Reuters, July 14, 2005

• Associated Press "Wilson says Bush should fire Rove". MSNBC, July 13, 2005

• AP "Questions and Answers on Rove, CIA Case". SGate.com, July 14, 2005

• Linda Feldmann "In CIA leak case, eyes on Rove". The Christian Science Monitor, July 13, 2005

• Associated Press "White House maintains confidence in Rove". MSNBC, July 12, 2005

Google News follow up:
Bush dilutes pledge to fire scam-tainted aides
Hindu, India - 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON: President George Bush amended a pledge to fire any of his aides involved in the 2003 leak of a CIA agent's identity on Monday, promising only to ...

Hardball investigates CIA-leak MSNBC - 3 hours ago Hardball is conducting a special investigation this week into the CIA-leak controversy. On Monday's program, Dick Sauber, the lawyer ...

Why does CIA leak row matter? BBC News, UK - 3 hours ago By Matthew Davis. A special prosecutor is investigating who revealed a CIA agent's name to the press after her husband, former US ...

Bush will deal with CIA leak after probe
Washington Post, United States - 4 hours ago
By Tabassum Zakaria. WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush on Tuesday sidestepped a question about whether his top adviser, Karl ...

And London has been rethreatened:

Internet message warns Europe of further attacks Financial Times, UK - 2 hours ago By Jimmy Burns. The group that claimed responsibility on the internet for the London bombings on Tuesday issued a new statement on ...

Terror Group Threatens War Across Europe Los Angeles Times, CA - 6 hours ago By MAGGIE MICHAEL, Associated Press Writer. CAIRO, Egypt -- A statement in the name of a group that claimed responsibility for the ...

'London bombings' terror group issues new threat Ireland Online, Ireland - 8 hours ago An al-Qaida-linked group that claimed responsibility for the London bombings threatened today to launch “a bloody war” on the capitals of European ...

Al-Qaeda Sets Deadline for Europe for Iraq Pullout Zaman Online, Turkey - 9 hours ago By Anadolu News Agency (aa). An al-Qaeda linked group has allegedly given Eurpoean countries a month to withdraw from Iraq. An Internet ...

Al-Qaeda issues bloody warning
News24, South Africa - 12 hours ago
Dubai - The al-Qaeda terror network warned European nations to pull their troops out of Iraq within a month or face more attacks like the London bombings ...

For giggles - in other news the Japanese Governor of Tokyo Insults the French:

Governor of Tokyo is sued for insulting French language

July 18, 2005 On July 13, 21 French and Japanese individuals sued Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo, for defamation towards people who use the French language. Those 21 were French language teachers and Japanese researchers who taught French. In 2004, Ishihara said that no one can count in the French language. Ishihara was sued for 500,000 yen (approx. US $4,457) for each plaintiff, including Malik Berkane, a French private language school owner in Tokyo. In addition, the plaintiffs demanded that he make an apology.

On October 19, 2004, Ishihara said "French language is a language in which no one can count, therefore it seems to me reasonable that it is disqualified as an international language. People who are tied to the language have taken it upon themselves to oppose [me]. It is all ridiculous" in a speech Ishihara made at the inaugural celebrations of the "Tokyo U-Club". The Tokyo U-club was founded to support the foundation of Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japanese: ??????, Shuto daigaku Tokyo), which was planned by Ishihara as replacement of universities run by the Tokyo metropolitan government including the same name in English (Japanese: ?????? Tokyo Toritsu Daigaku).

On August 1, 2003, Ishihara issued his plan to found the new university. His plan had no relation to the restructuring plan of the former Tokyo Metropolitan University which had been on-going for years in cooperation with faculty and Tokyo prefectural government. In his new plan faculties of Humanities, Economics and Law would be drasticially changed and divided into newly organized faculties and departures. As for humanities, literature and language studies would be re-organized into language section and literature section, reduced in number of students, and undergraduate and graduate would be relocated into separate campuses. Quite a few members of the Faculty of Humanities opposed this idea strongly and called for opposition widely. As to that its all faculty issued the opposition on the consensus of all faculty on September 25, 2003. The department of French literature and language was a key group in the movment. Also in 2004, Professor Masato Goda, a teacher of French literature, resigned to express his opposition toward Ishihara's educational policy.

Berkane said "I was very shocked when I heard that. Of course we can count numbers in French, and it is used as an official language in international organisations." "I have been in Japan for 23 years. I am sad that what I have taught in that time is denigrated." Berkane said that Berkane had sent a memorandum to Ishihara in February to ask him to apologize but he had as yet received no reply from Ishihara.

On July 15, Ishihara again expressed his opinion that French was formerly a diplomatic lingua franca but due to its complexity it had been falling back. He mentioned that no student had registered in French language lessons at the newly founded Tokyo Metropolitan University. He also stated plaintiffs should have considered seriously if his criticism was appropriate.

Sources

• Japanese Wikinews, ???????????????????????? (Governer of Tokyo Ishihara is sued due to his words "French language is unqualified as the international language")

• "Tokyo Gov Ishihara sued for insulting French language". Japan Today, July 14, 2005

• "Tokyo governor Ishihara sued for insulting French". Khaleej Times Onine, July 14, 2005

- Your news junky pal Sparky