Sleuthing the Libby case

Update:  Captain's Quarters picks up on this National Review column by Byron York concerning the discrepancy between Wilson's claim that Vice President Cheney's question sent him off to Niger and Valerie Plame's memo recommending him for the trip.  The memo was written before the question was asked.  And you heard it here first!  Or actually, it was here, first.

There are some fascinating goings on over at JustOneMinute.  Way into the depths of the comments to a post polling the Plamaniacs as to what were the most surprising things to come to light so far in the trial of Scooter Libby, this question appeared:

Hey MJW- was it you trying to determine if Cheney's briefing that set this off was on the 13th?
It was. ?
(pdf)

Posted by: MayBee | February 02, 2007 at 12:53 AM

MayBee, I don't think it was me. I am curious as to what the issue about the date was.

Posted by: MJW | February 02, 2007 at 01:01 AM

I followed the link and discovered, yes the briefing date was February 13, 2002.  MayBee seemed to have noticed a discrepancy.

"MayBee, I don't think it was me. I am curious as to what the issue about the date was."

I would have sworn it was you. Maybe Cecil.
IIRC, there is something about Joe's trip that is dated on the 12th, and it had long been assumed that was the very day of the briefing. That alone makes it a fast turn-around. But someone then noticed Cheney may have been briefed on the 13th, making it a time-bendingly fast turn-around.

I do think, whether or not Ari admitted he pronounces things wrong if he sees them written the first time, Ari saying Plam-ay did make him back off being certain Libby had said her name. I'm sorry, nam-ay.

MayBee | February 02, 2007 at 01:42 AM  (Emphasis supplied)

Which led me to look it up in the Report of the Select Committee on Intelligence on the U.S. Intelligence Community’s Prewar Intelligence Assessments on Iraq.  On page 39 of the Niger section of the report I found that it wasn't Joe's trip that happened on the 12th, but Val's memo recommending him for it.   

The CPD reports officer told Committee staff that the former ambassador’s wife "offered up his name" and a memorandum to the Deputy Chief of the CPD on February 12,2002, from the former ambassador’s wife says, "my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activitv."  (Emphasis supplied)

So I dropped a comment at JustOneMinute:

The most remarkable thing I've learned, I learned right here today. It was on 2/12/02 that Val wrote her memo recommending Joe for the task of answering a question Cheney didn't ask until 2/13/02. Maybe there's an innocent explanation, but it's not at all clear to me what it would be.

Posted by: Tom Bowler | February 02, 2007 at 09:19 AM

This got picked up in a later thread where talk turned to the forgeries that Joe Wilson always talked about when defending his infamous editorial about what he was unable to find in Africa.  Here's what Topsecretk9 said:

wait a second here....

The most ironically amusing thing that went over the heads over pretty much everyone in the courthouse... (spotted by AJ Strata)

F what discussed. [Judy uncomfortable]
M SAid plenty of info before Powell presentation was given, supporting Iraq hunting uranium, it had been shown that IRaq HAD acquired uranium in Africa, prior to 1st gulf war, in 80s IAEA stated taht Iraq had acquired, after that several different reports that Iraq in market again for uranium. 2 reports, for a long-term arrangement for large quantities, and then a shorter term amount, then referred to anohter report, a third report, the arrival of a delegation in 1999 this delegation was seeking a broader trade relationship, since Niger only had one export, officials had concluded that Iraq was interested in uranium, Author of this report was Joe Wilson. The report had gone up to the Hill. Talking about info provided to Hill, which had prompted VP questions.

F Did he indicate who provided this report

M CIA

Joe Wilson went to debunk Joe Wilson - and Libby is on trial for it.

Posted by: Bill in AZ | February 02, 2007 at 06:01 AM

OK and...

The most remarkable thing I've learned, I learned right here today. It was on 2/12/02 that Val wrote her memo recommending Joe for the task of answering a question Cheney didn't ask until 2/13/02.Maybe there's an innocent explanation, but it's not at all clear to me what it would be.

Posted by: Tom Bowler | February 02, 2007 at 09:19 AM

OK and...

The CIA Got the Niger Documents!!!

by emptywheel

Here's the holy shit no one has noticed from yesterday. Here's the version of the INR memo introduced in court yesterday.

You'll note in the last paragraph of the second page--it says, "These documents, which were sent to Washington via both CIA and [State] Department channels..."

This is really big news. The CIA got the forgeries. But all this time, they've been saying CIA only got the forgeries through State.

Nope. They had their own copies. And still didn't analyze them until after it was too late...

The CIA's strong belief Iraq was interested in seeking Uranium and would sniff around Africa for it was based on Joe Wilson's own 1999 reporting AND Valerie was drawing up her memo recommending her husband check out the "crazy report" BEFORE Cheney asked his briefer what the CIA thought about it WHILE the Iraq Dept. was sitting on copies of the Docs UNANALYZED that were so obviously crude google revealed it.

Uh...yeah...Cheney's question spawned the tea sip trip -- "the whole genesis of the trip was flawed" - remember that?

I bet a you know what stormed ensued right after Colin Powell asked who the hell handed me documents at the UN UNANALYZED?

Oh I bet she had to cover her butt on the prompting of the Niger Junket and Wilson had to say HE DE-BUNKED THE FORGERIES.

Boondoggle.

topsecretk9 | February 02, 2007 at 10:22 AM (Emphasis in the original)

Which led Clarice to say:

I have always thought there was a French connection and these obviously forged two-bit papers were to be discovered in time to stop the war and when for some reason--I think because Bush went to war faster than anticipated (the French believing they could tie us up some more in the UN Security Council) they proved useful after the invasion in this mosr unbelievable disinfo campaign:"Bush Lied". 

clarice | February 02, 2007 at 02:36 PM (Emphasis supplied)

What I once thought of as a political soap opera is looking more and more like a spy novel.  Tune in to JustOneMinute for breaking news and analysis.