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June 20, 2006

Comments

Semanticleo

"It's a chapter that has ended. Fitzgerald is a very thorough person. I think he's conducted his investigation in a dignified way. And he's ended his investigation." GWB 6/13/06

How should Libby interpret this?

And....since this will leave me EPU'd on previous thread....bear with me....

BTW Maguire (Liberal Larry?)

Finally got around to reading comments at TO and discovered the origin of your cryptic derogation which devolved from 'Semanticlown'
(pure genius) to 'Semanticduck'(bemusing)

DarkDuck is in no way affiliated with me or my writing, and I demand an immediate retraction and effusive apologies for your slanderous attack upon my person(::chuckle::)

Only a sociopathic and shizoid personality who lacks any intestinal fortitude would hide behind an alter-ego.

Shame on you!

BTW; for the obtuse; I ALWAYS use Semanticleo. No other handle will suffice.

steve sturm

With tongue firmly in cheek, let me shed some light on what is going on...

Fitzgerald said 'he does not anticipate seeking charges against Rove at this time' because he already had brought charges against Rove.

There's an innocent explanation for the claim that Fitzgerald met with Luskin for about 15 hours to go over the charges against Rove... the 15 hours doesn't refer to a single meeting but is the cumulative amount of time Fitzgerald had spend talking with Luskin about Rove.

As far as Rove being told he had 24 business hours to get his affairs in order, this was simply a standard means of applying pressure on a target.... it makes them sweat, thinking an indictment is imminent. It happens all the time and it would be surprising if a prosecutor didn't say that at sometime to Rove.

And Luskin and Rove were not read the contents of the actual indictment, but rather the contents of the indictment Fitzgerald was threatening to request the grand jury to issue.

And Leopold never said 'which' offices of Patton Boggs Fitzgerald and Luskin met at for that long Friday afternoon. Patton Boggs has offices all over the place. The meeting could have easily taken place at the 'office' in Luskin's house.

JohnH

The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another

his mother called him “WILD THING!” and Max said “I”LL EAT YOU UP!” so he was sent to bed without eating anything.

That very night in Max’s room a forest grew

and grew-

and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and the walls became the world all around

and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day

and in and out of weeks and almost over a year to where the wild things are.

Cecil Turner

Fitzgerald said 'he does not anticipate seeking charges against Rove at this time' because he already had brought charges against Rove.

The sad part is that a lot of those folks apparently believe exactly that. (It's so much more compelling than a simple "Leopold lied" (again)). Wonder how many "business hours" we'll have to wait before waving the B.S. flag (again)?

And....since this will leave me EPU'd on previous thread....bear with me....

Leo, that was silly the first time, and weird the next. If it makes you feel better, I feel certain your injured pseudonymous reputation will soon recover its former stature.

BurbankErnie

I think the Sub Story over at TruthOut is better then the Plame Investigation.
We now have multiple sources confirming every demented conspiracy theory in this case. It is not only quite amusing, but the absurdity level of Ash and his loyal followers is astounding.
Semanticleo, are you supporting Truthout, or are you giving up the Ghost?

topsecretk9

Joe Lauria and The Washington Post's Attacks on Jason Leopold

We are well aware of the Lauria article and the series of attacks The Washington Post has launched against Jason Leopold and Truthout. As always, we will carefully consider all information and then publish a thoughtful response. In this case, we will publish our response on Wednesday, June 21, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific time.

Um..why does it take them so long to respond to crap?

topsecretk9

Here's the deal: we won't know the truth of all of this until we know the truth of all of this. I know that many people have completely dumped truthout as a reliable source over this. Frankly, I think that's premature and unfair. As for Leopold, I'm also aware of his sordid past but does that necessarily mean he's wrong on this story? We just don't know and I will not pass judgment on him until all of the details come out. I also think those who have been calling for him to out his sources are being irresponsible. He'll live or die journalistically by this story but his sources need to be protected.

"The very future of this Republic may well rest on whether or not anyone can, or will, stop George W. Bush." George Harleigh

those wild and crazy thruthNUTS..."Here's the deal: we won't know the truth of all of this until we know the truth of all of this. "...how they manage to tie their shoes everyday is a wonder.

Rick Ballard

BE,

Tic will never get off the Truthout short bus. He's taken their motto of "We're Special" to heart - please don't be so cruel as to explain the "special" part in a public forum.

Cecil Turner

Um..why does it take them so long to respond to crap?

Now, now. It isn't easy being so creative. Mustn't rush the artiste.

(Besides, they have to wait for the propitious moment vis-à-vis current sunspot activity . . . in this case, 12 hours after the Summer Solstice.)

WhiteCollar Redneck

This is my favorite quote from TruthOut's latest comment: "...as we press our investigation we find indicators that more of our key facts are correct, not less."

In other words, "We swore originally that this stuff was 100% accurate, but we didn't really know that, but hey, now that we look at it closer, it seems that it really is accurate, and we're as surprised as you are."

Thanks, guys, for a month's worth of laughs.

clarice

I'd pay to sit in on one of those editorial sessions. It brings back memories of the Boccardi-Thornburgh report on the meetings at CBS when the TANG memos were challenged and Mapes was lying her ass off to everyone all but one of whom (to her credit) took the bait.

Monkey Trainer

Leo

"It's a chapter that has ended. Fitzgerald is a very thorough person. I think he's conducted his investigation in a dignified way. And he's ended his investigation." GWB 6/13/06

How should Libby interpret this?

I think he should interpret it as follows:

1) "it's a chapter that has ended" - the investigation of the "leak" has ended;
2) "Fitzgerald is a very thorough person" - President Bush thinks Fitzgerald is a very thorough person;
3) "I think he's conducted his investigation in a dignified way." - President Bush thinks Fitzgerald has conducted his investigation in a dignified way; and
4) "And he's ended his investigation." - President Bush believes Fitzgerald has ended his investigation.

Please let me know if you need any more things interpreted for you.

By the way, do you believe Truthout is in any way credible?

- MT

MarkD

MT,

It can't be true. Unless, of course, Bush told the truth because Bush always lies, so nobody would ever believe him if he told the truth. So by telling the truth, he's lying.

I mean he's too dumb to fool anybody. So by saying what he meant, he fooled everybody.

topsecretk9

Remember when Windansea found that bit on Steve Clemmons blog about Armitage being a target? You know the one EW railed against because -- well I don't know why except for the Inman bit seemed to torpedo the Armitage love...

but that web posting was within a few days of Leopold's first bombshell...then imeddiately there was a damage control article done in the NY Daily News that suggested Armitage was Fitz helper really...it also had the stupid claim that Armitage was favorable because he was actually discouraging reporters vs. Rove's "don't get too far out on Wilson" /sacrasm off

I thought about the article because I seem to remember there was that tell tale sign of Wilson in the article AND the suggestion Armitage was
helping indict Rove...


"Rich has been cooperating with Fitzgerald since day one," said another source, who has close ties to Armitage. "He was one of the first people to offer his testimony."

Armitage's office said he was was not available to comment.

Rove has testified five times as a subject of the grand jury probe.

Even if Rove escapes indictment, he could still be forced to resign for talking about Plame with a Time magazine reporter.

"People don't seem to want to talk about the possibility that Karl could be named an unindicted co-conspirator," a third source close to the case said. "Can an unindicted co-conspirator remain at the White House? Personally, I don't think so."

Wilson speaking style to the bone. Now Wilson and Larry were the ones that coined - Karl flipped on Cheney BS at Yearly Kos--but since Larry and TO editor Will Pitt outed Wilson as a helping source of TO's why are lefties so dismissive of Clemmon's Inman scoop (that was backed up mind you!) but so accepting of out and out BSer's Wilson and Larry? And why are lefties ignoring Wilson's involvlement in the Truthnot BS?

One thing...I bet Wilson is not getting as many calls from Main Streamers trolling for info as he once enjoyed...MSM KNOW ecactly who peddaled the story to TruthNot and Schuster...

Prowler: Let's not forget Joe Wilson in the catalog of losers. I have a reporter friend who was standing next to Wilson when Jason Leopold's bogus scoop that Rove's indictment was imminent flashed on Wilson's Blackberry. Wilson, goes the hearsay, was enthusiastic and utterly credulous-- when a prominent liberal columnist involved in the conversation (rhymes with Smellanor Swift) wondered if TruthOut.org was a reputable source and the story could be trusted, Wilson declared firmly, "It's true."

How do you suppose he reacted this morning?

Posted By: John Tabin

Kevin B
The short version is a re-hash of the fantasy still prevailing among lefties who can't let go - Rove has given up the key evidence on Cheney, who will be getting his come-uppance within the next 24 business hours

Um, I thought I'd been following this case fairly closely but I seem to have dozed off for a bit and missed a key development.

So, what is Fitz going to get Cheney for?

Outing super secret Val?

I thought she wasn't, and anyway UGO outed her, and Cheney seemed surprised judging by his scribbled comments on the Novak piece, and has any reporter come forward and said Cheney told me super secret Val's name.

Lying to investigators or the GJ?

Has he even given evidence to the GJ? Has he been interogated by the Feds? Has he been invited back be Fitz and asked about it? You know: "Rove said you said this and you said you said that. Any comments?" And everyone in the WH is going along as normal despite the fact that Rove has snithched on Dick?

Masterminding the fiendish plot to punish brave whistleblower Joe?

But is this a crime? Or does Fitz actually have to find something the VP did that is actually, you know, criminal?

JM Hanes

PROPS TO DU?

Let me add a prop or two for someone by the screen name "Spatula" who, at that very hour, was actually posting virtually the same information in the lion's den itself on http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2006/6/12/9216/61823>Marc Ash's own "06 cr 128" thread! Said someone was promptly banned, and subsequent posts expunged, but oddly enough, the initial comment remains:

Time Frame
Mr. Ash:

I'm afraid you are being badly burned here. Cases are numbered in consecutive order by filing date, and in fact to call this purported indictment Case "06 cr 128" is incorrect on its face. You couldn't even look it up on the Party/Case index that way. It's possible that you might turn up something using 1-06-cr-128, but correctly labeled, this case would be a variant of 1:06-cr-00128. In identifying and searching for records, laymen typically mistake the importance of specific numerical combinations & punctuation in legal nomenclature.

The numbering system employed by the courts indicate that case 1:06-cr-00128 had to have been filed either on May 16th, as was the preceeding Case 1:06-cr-00127, or on May 17th as was the following Case 1:06-cr-00129. There is no way it could have been filed in the time frame asserted by Mr. Leopold, and defended by you.

As for Mr. Leopold's latest, I cannot conceive of any reason a serious "legal expert" or "legal scholar" would insist on anonymity before commenting on the unusual nature of a "Sealed v Sealed" docket entry. The mistake in identifying the case # itself is only one of several errors in terminology that any knowledgeable party simply would not make.

I would like to think that it is your trust, not solely that of your readers, which is being abused. Unfortunately, the longer you protect the sources of the misinformation Mr. Leopold has been promulgating under TruthOut's banner, the more difficult it will be to salvage what is left of your own reputation outside, and eventually within, your fan base. Even an actual Rove indictment, should one actually come, will only soften the landing, it will not vindicate the travesty of journalism here. What a sorry end for the idealistic enterprise TruthOut once represented.

by Spatula on Mon Jun 12th, 2006 at 08:02:41 PM EDT

I posted http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2006/06/no_charges_agai.html#comment-18476901>similarly here, myself, the next day. Props to tops as well for some of the earliest legwork of all, natch!

Specter

Marc Ash is my hero....Not! Think about it this way. The original Leopold article was based on "multiple sources". Jason even promised to out them, although he has now backpedaled on that.

Then Little Marc came out with his - We Are Standing Behind Jason and His Sources article. Note again, multile sources - and this time it included the national news crews that were mysteriously staking out Patton Boggs and never saw Rove, Luskin, or even Fitz.

Then the news that Rove will not be indicted was quickly followed with 06 cr 128 where Marc specifically said (emphasis mine):

Once again we will attempt to clearly separate what we know from what we believe - and why. What we know will be based on official records and official statements. What we believe will be based on single source information and general background information obtained from experts. The conclusions we arrive at should be considered carefully, but not taken as statements of fact, per se.

~snip~

Now for what we believe: We believe that federal criminal indictment "06 cr 128" (Sealed vs. Sealed) is directly related to the Fitzgerald/Plame investigation. That's based on a single credible source and the information discussed above.

Now note that nowhere does Little Marc talk about these multiple sources - especially in the section where he talks about "what we know." When he does get around to sources in this article there is only "a single credible source." Direct contradiction to his and Leopold's original articles. One single source.

Now comes the new article by Marc "I Can't Make Up My Mind" Ash and we find him saying:

Our primary sources for this report are career federal law enforcement and federal government officials speaking on condition of anonymity.

We also have heard (discussed here in another thread - I can't seem to find the specific post) that another character from TO slipped and let us all know that the source was Joe Wilson.

So I guess my question is what is the TRUTH here? Single or multiple sources? TO doesn't seem to be able to make up its' mind.

Lesley

Jeralyn Merritt Article Washington Examiner

JOM - Tom Maguire mention

Gary Maxwell

Based on Specter recantation of the TO nonsense, I conclude Marc Ash is a liar or a moron ( and perhaps both). I base this on his own words, not some undisclosed source or sources. The little voice whispering in my ear says he probably has some motivation to lie, but I dont have a source at this time. But you can reach my conclusion independently, based on his own meadering trail, while there is no way to reach his unless you can conclude that his sources are not only well informed but also willing to break ethical prohibitions about talking about the case outside of the courtroom.

Carol Herman

And, this is what keeps Libby away from his job in the veep's office?

Hopefully, our President, at some point in '06, will call Libby back to work.

This whole thing is a circus.

Sorry for the donks, though. Not enough suckers are born every minute for them. RaTHer, it's slide in the ratings. The stuff that measures success in the real world; where they're proving to be utter failures. Not even capitalizing on very decent stories fit to print.

What creates this madness?

Jane

Merritt's piece is oddly contradictory. She touts innocent until proven guilty while on a daily basis encourages just the opposite.

Jane

What creates this madness?

BDS

clarice

Gary, that's why you can never be an ace anchor on CNN or a Pulitzer prize winning journo. You are not supposed to weigh credibility, assess rationally the statements of "witnesses", or bring to bear ordinary reason to these things. You are supposed to have a rolodex of trusted "experts"--like LJ for CIA--and run with whatever crap they tell you.

G Wiz

"I think the Sub Story over at TruthOut is better then the Plame Investigation."

Couldn't agree more! Plame shmame, the TruthOut fiasco is 10x more interesting.

Rick Ballard

"Merritt's piece is oddly contradictory."

Only for those who live in a single space/time continuum. For those living in two or more space/time continua there is no contradiction.

If the reality based community would number the reality to which any particular statement refers it would be a great aid to those of us limited to the Sol/3/2006 continuum.

That or they could have their dosage checked.

Jane

Has anyone else noticed that things are getting mighty nasty out there? I think Glenn Reynolds is about the most even handed guy in the blogosphere, but today he reports on a bit of a "hatched job" on him by the New Republic. Kos took some shots at him a couple of days ago. As the left continues to get exposed are they trying to return the favor? If so, Instapundit seems like an odd place to start.

Gabriel Sutherland

lol, someone pinch me.

Is "They Live" actually the second record returned in an Amazon.com query for "Jason Leopold"?

Link

Someone else want to do a search at Amazon to make sure that the geeks at Amazon aren't just feeding me items from my wish list?

If you don't know about "They Live" than you must read about it.

Gary Maxwell

As Reynolds has said ( I paraphrase) He is the of the mind that gay married couple should have closets full of automatic weapons. He fits no mold well. But the lefties can throw rocks at Joe Lieberman who is a liberals liberal on everything except a strong defense so it aint a big stretch to heave more at anyone else. When you a mile out on a pier on the left bank, everyone looks like a righty to you.

Specter

Man...that price for News Junkie just keeps going down. Must be amking a killing on the market...LOL

Patton

When you think about it...this was ToothOuts only logical way out.

1. Rove is more evil and more conniving then Hitler and probably killed his on Mother.

2. If our sources are lying we'd have to expose them..so they can't be lying they have to be telling the truth.

3. Our audience will snort this stuff like street crack and love every second of it.

This can continue through:
- Rove cuts a deal,
- Rove testifies secretly against Cheney,
- Rove names names and exposes the Ring,
- Rove resigns after provided damning testimony against Bush in secret tribunal trying the President in Abstentia for crimes againt the World.
- Rove makes Soylent Green in his garage.

Its a winner all the way around. They just need to through in the kicker that Bush really outled Plame because she was about to provide damning evidence that Bush has doctored the Iraq WMD intelligence. She had to be stopped.

Doe

I just love you guys. Reading JOM is better than eating popcorn. Keep it up!

clarice

Tsk tsk--you neglected to show the link to Jeff Gannon, Patton..Some script writer you are.

Bill in AZ

Patton, you missed a key part - Rove, Cheney, and Bush stay in office and continue as if nothing happened. Only those of us "in the know" as educated by StrewthOut know that all of those things happened.

topsecretk9

Arrianna is bitching and blaming Viveka Novak of Time for f'ing up the Rove indictment


It's been a week since Patrick Fitzgerald decided that he couldn't make the case against Karl Rove, and I'm amazed that more hasn't been made of the role Viveca Novak played in Rove's narrow escape from indictment. She was his human stay-out-of-jail-free card....

...The sad truth is that Novak's perfidy did more to stymie the indictment of Karl Rove than anything else, and while it would be nice to believe that Rove may yet face criminal justice for his actions, it's unlikely that he will.


Well Gee Arianna...I find it amazing more hasn't been made of Matt Cooper's article drafts the Judge deemed so troublesome that Cooper's testimony CAN'T hold up...and so convenient you'd ignore this little get out jail free card since any Rove indictment would be supported by the guy with the little "credibility" problem at Time...but that's just me. Arianna sounds full of sour grapes.

Patton

Doesn't Arianna trust ToothOut...Rove has been indicted and is being forced to testify against the entire corrupt adminstration.

Just where does she get her news???!!

maryrose

Having just dealt with a situation where someone has lied continuously over a period of time I can attest that it is only a matter of time before the truth does come out. As long as Jason is not held accountable and his sources are protected the false story will continue. I'm sure those dems at that big meeting {Hil included} ans Wilson were really hoping their nefarious plan was working. Sorry but truth and real life will intrude and spoil all their fun. What is lost is credibility and and a window is opened however briefly on just how low their tactics are and that winning at all costs no matter whose reputation you ruin is their mantra. No person of this ilk will ever get my vote or my support.

Slartibartfast

You just know that the next claim is going to be that it was REALLY -124, which plausibly could have happened on May 12, don't you?

crosspatch

Their behavior is telling. When someone publishes a comment that might point out an inaccuracy or asks hard questions about their methods, they are banned. I can understand banning someone who is disruptive, but banning someone for questioning accuracy speaks volumes more than any of us can here. It shows that "truth" is obviously the least important goal.

An honest reporter of fact should welcome such interactive review if the goal is honest research. It is done in the academic community all the time. When one publishes what one feels is a representation of fact, then one should expect and even welcome such feedback as to provide them with the opportunity to either show the merit of the information/research or to allow it to be rejected as flawed.

When one rejects negative criticism and bars the critic from further input, serious doubt is cast upon the information and it begins to move from fact to "faith based" reporting. Their forum ceases to be a repository of investigative fact becomes a religious text.

Anyone who speaks blasphemy is excommunicated from the congregation. What you are witnessing at "truth"out is a typical fundamentalist religious response to dissent. Heretics are not tolerated. You have to believe in the religion of anti-Bush or be shunned by that community.

Semanticleo

Semanticleo, are you supporting Truthout, or are you giving up the Ghost?

Burbank; I support Yogi Berra who said;
"It ain't over, 'till it's over".

Specter

And the characters include those initiates: Cassandra, LWelsch, Wonder Woman, Slow Down (AKA mensa-man), sarao, dark duck, etc. Those folks will only welcome you to the debate if you support their POV. If not they attack, complain to their admins, and then you get banned. That is what TO and Marc Ash stand for.

clarice

I guess to Arianna, telling the truth to protect the innocent is a crime when your political opponents are involved.

Semanticleo

"How should Libby interpret this?

I think he should interpret it as follows:"

Monkey Trainer;

Thanks for your refluxed Bush Simplisms.

But another Libby interpretation could be:

"Pardonnez Mois?"

Javani

New on Dridge Report:

Headline: Class Action Suit Filed in Plame Matter

Text: (Herndon, VA) In yet another twist in CIA leak investigation surrounding the White House a class action lawsuit has been filed in northern Virginia. The primary defendant is a website known as "Truthout.org". Plaintiff Chunk Stool alleges that he and "hundreds, maybe thousands of others" were deceived by Truthout's promises of information about the "indictment of Karl Rove" related to the leaking of former CIA employee Valerie Plame. In reliance of these promises the class members gave Truthout donations "in total amount unknown but certainly exceeding the jurisdictional minimum of this Court."...

...Chip Chipstein attorney for Truthout stated to the AP "This suit is frivolous. The donors were all adults. The website gave them what they wanted and some remain happy to still believe Karl Rove was indicted...

...Attorney Brixton said just before publication of this story "They were adults, sure, but they had eggshell egos. Truthout knew the class members had an emotional investment in this issue, and Truthout exploited this to their material advantage." The complaint asks for a return of all money donated to Truthout and moneys for psychological care and monitoring for all class members for "a period not to exceed three years or when President Bush is removed from office, whichever is the shorter."

Jane

Anyone who speaks blasphemy is excommunicated from the congregation. What you are witnessing at "truth"out is a typical fundamentalist religious response to dissent. Heretics are not tolerated. You have to believe in the religion of anti-Bush or be shunned by that community.

That stuff has been going on for years. It's the only way the left can keep their message untainted by reality. Gee I can name 2 or 3 BBS' I've been banned from, simply for presenting facts.

Carol Herman

On the other hand ... George Soros paid for Truth's Not Out; and there's a growing stain "ringing round the collar."

If you came close to getting a million dollars; but got konked out on the way to collecting your proceeds, what story line would you follow?

Good old George Soros' problems seem to multiply? He's spend a lot. Got no country slipped into his pocket. And, the donks don't seem to be lining up to win anything in November. Whose paying Murtha to behave like such a clown?

ALgore decides he doesn't have to acknowledge Lieberman's existence? Nope. You couldn't be making stuff like this up at all.

Code Pink's a failure, too. Women didn't get a bit of gain for all the public pratfalls they do.

And, like I said, George Soros (like when he backed the Euro), is coming up short in the "results" department.

Most of the time, ravings of lunatics stay on the ambulance; as they get carted place to place. This one's out there in full view.

Of course, not exactly in the "real universe," since blogs are only for those who can read and write. And, who have computers. And, who decide to link to sites that clear up public messes. Make fun of Dan RaTHer, whose still here, even though we're told he's saying "goodbye." Sure takes them long enough, no?

As long as Libby is without his job, I suppose the loonies on the left have won? What do they care for the truth? Russians have gone without it for more than 75 'earth' years. Pravda, my foot. Worse for them, their Cyrillic Alphabet is being torn out of countries where the soviets once ruled. Like in all the stinkystans. So all the street signs; how kids are taught reading skills in school. The whole bit is now done in the Roman Alphabet. (By the way, Aberbizian, etc. All speak a dirivative Turkish tongue. Proving that some of their masters has sticking powers; even when their rules were blown off course.)

What's Soros got now? I bet he's sore!

And, TruthOut(toothout) 'spit-it-out' ... They've got blog problems now, similar to the ones Kevin Drum (Cat blogging Fridays, Cal Pundit), suffered when he cast off Dean, hoping to arouse passions for Wesley Clark. Didn't get to square one.

Even though he writes well enough to have a job within the leftie press. From venture capitalist to jerk with a paycheck. Really, it's not the same. And, Jason Leopold's done harm to his "master." So to speak, similar to Judith Miller's tortured kick in the pants from pinch's organization. And, Run Amok, as a label's been taken.

Not for free, you're seeing this stuff, though.

And, the day the President welcomes Libby back to the White House, THEN, Fitzgerald will feel humiliation. Right now? He wants his paychecks.

Well? We get fed our news, anyway. Just like the Short-Wave brought news to many Europeans, who spent time getting their signals. Because in the chaos of war, with all the smoke and commotion, you don't get a sense that the victors are winning.

We do win, ya know?

Lesley

CLARICE!!! WHOO HOO!!!

Superb job on Right Talk - I followed your clear explanations in their entirety, the story hung together in a cohesive fashion (ofcourse I've been following AT, S & L and Riehl World, which helped), beautiful conversational delivery. Dang that was fun, hearing you speak. BRAVA

clarice

THANKS! I never know how it's coming off. I am always afraid that it's too detailed for someone whose just listening..I appreciate the generous feedback..

clarice

**that is, "WHO'S just listening"************

charles austin

I understand Occam's Razor now comes with up to five blades.

Toog

A humorous look at the left-wing mind.

Kate

OT-has anyone commented on the LA Times story this morning that essentially said that there was no massive coverup on Haditha. In fact, there was just the problem of not asking the right questions.

Not only did Murtha totally misrepresent the confidential briefing he received, but just last week, ABC was talking about charges up the chain of command due to a coverup. I will try to find the link.

But if there are charges it would probably be written or verbal reprimands. Who in the Pentagon is leaking this story in such a biased way. It's beginning to remind me of the coverage of the Plame case with the bad reporting and questionable "sources".

boris

"It ain't over, 'till it's over".

It's over.

DCRob

Crosspatch is correct that TO is banning commenters whose only offense is that they ridicule TO. I was banned when I posted a comment saying that there are infinite parallel universes and that somewhere on the Planet Zargon, Karl Rove is doing the perp walk right this minute. The comment was removed too. TO can dish it out, but they sure can't take it.

clarice

Yes, Kate. Prong one of the Murtha claim--there was a cover up--seems dead. Prong two--cold blooded murder of civilians--is still pending but I know and respect Marines; the CNN reporter embedded with these troops confirms how incredibly discplined they were, and the published reports of the accusers are so incredible and inconsistent that I am certain he will have been proven to slander them as well.

crosspatch

I suspect all of these leaks are originating with Democrats in congress, not from the Pentagon. Did ABC specificially say "Pentagon sources?" or did they say simply "sources"?

verner

"Good old George Soros' problems seem to multiply? He's spend a lot. Got no country slipped into his pocket. And, the donks don't seem to be lining up to win anything in November. Whose paying Murtha to behave like such a clown?"

Let me tell ya something. Soros needs to ask for his money back. Although, I hope he wastes another 20 million or so. For every dime he donates, the GOP raises $1. All they have to do is mention his name. Can you imagine the TV ads? Joe Blow gets money from the devil billionaire George Soros who wants to take over America..." They'll kill them.

The KOS kids are causing more harm than good. They came off like abunch of tinfoil-hat geeks who couldn't get a date to the prom in Vegas. The press people who pushed the Wilsons are coming off like raving idiots. Howie Kurtz's little item means that Larry Johnson will never again be able to raise his ugly head in the MSM. And now, we have the Wilsonistas in total head thumping meltdown over the letter from Fitz.

Not bad.

Now all we need is for Clarice to take down Human Rights Watch! Go Clarice Go!

Kate

Thanks, Clarice.

crosspatch: I'm beginning to think there may be an anti-Administration or anti-Rumsfeld faction in the Pentagon that is actively using this story to advance an agenda.

It seems strange to me that military people would push a story that makes the military look so bad, but we live in strange times.

Let me find that ABC link.

Kate

Found it...

The message is ready to be sent with the following file or link attachments:
Shortcut to: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2029993

David Walser

Is there a link to where we can listen to Clarice's performance? I have no doubt she was great, which makes me want to listen all the more.

crosspatch

Military sources told ABC News that there are likely to be charges filed against officers up the chain of command in connection with the killing of 24 civilians by U.S. Marines in Haditha, Iraq, in November 2005.

No telling who that might be. "Military sources" could be anyone. "Military officials" or "Pentagon officials" would tend to point to a high ranking source. "Military sources" could be a DoD civilian employee even.

There are plenty of sour grapes around. There are a more than a few partisan civilian employees and there are some generals that are upset that they have been leapfrogged in the career chain by younger officers.

Lesley

Clarice Live

Carol Herman

Has anyone seen Chris Muir's comic strip, today? Captain's Quarters always has it on top. And, in it, Murtha's on the Star Trek ship, leaving his team behind; punching "GET OUT OF HERE."

I'm going to guess one lone House of Rep creep isn't exactly selling his message across America. And, unlike Jane Fonda, Murtha has an ugly body that rarely happens to Marine types who stay in shape. Muir plays with this shape; as well as the cartoonish characteristics Murtha displays.

Lots of lost causes. But no news, yet, that the TRUTH has a staying power liars ever duplicate. Bush has been masterful at keeping a "no compromise" posture. Lincoln did, too. History remembers things a hell of a lot better than most "current events."

It's also possible, Arrianna Huffington's blog saw Soros money? She sure dipped in with both feet. She even "stole" Breitbart from Drudge.

From where I sit, Drudge does better than his detractors. And, he did throw a life-line to Breitbart. It seems, though the Blogging world is young, that the left's sites lose altitude pretty fast. They seem to be going "pop" like the dot.com's.

Kate

Interestingly enough, hatred for Rumsfeld preceeds both the GWOT and Iraq. In fact, the military brass was almost successful in making Rumsfeld the first resignation of the Bush Administration, and then 9/11 happened.

As for Haditha, I notice that none of the accused are in custody. That indicates to me that the situation is murky.

However, Murtha was able to frame this issue for the whole world in a very negative way.

Dwilkers

Bizarre.

From what I can tell a solid majority of posters on lefty websites believe that snot from TruthOut.

You'd think...well never mind.

Specter

DCRob,

That is what they do over there. Can't take the heat so get rid of the kitchen.

crosspatch

Rumsfeld is something of a genius and has been approaching the military as an engineering problem. He has managed to reconfigure it as a modular force where a commander can configure a force from the available modules to face the current threat being faced.

In the old military, we had huge units (divisions) that were pre-configured for the kind of battle we thought they would most likely face. In other words, they were configured for a cold-war type conflict heavy on tanks.

Rumsfeld set out on breaking those up into brigade combat teams and placed more emphasis on special operations forces. This really angered some generals that had been high up in the old division structure. They also didn't seem to fully grasp the power that these modular forces along with modern weapons that have appeared in the past 5 years or so have. Younger officers seem to be "getting it". They like the idea of picking from an array of modules to build a custom force to fight a custom threat. The old line officers are basically lost and upset the the special operations forces are getting all the funding and toys.

Simple fact is, the cold war threat and it's configuration of forces is obsolete. So they are retiring and sniping at Rumsfeld. We can do much more damage these days with far fewer troops than we could even during the first gulf war. When generals complain that we needed a much larger force, they are playing by old obsolete rules. We took the entire country with a relatively small force. Keeping the peace was a problem but that isn't a combat role, that is basically a police role. It hasn't been the role of the US military to be a natinal police force. That is a whole different set of problems we might or might not have to address in the future.

Lurker

Congrats, Clarice! Is this your first interview?

Also, do you know about Bruce Kesler requesting HRW to let Mark Garalasco go?

Let Mark Go

Lurker

RoadMap of Iraqi exit:

Roadmap (WAPO also)

Iraqi expects to be take over everything by end of year 2008.

richard mcenroe

Lurker -- Everything? Well, they can HAVE California...and Massachusetts... and New York...

Lurker

ROFL! :) Their own country.

Seceding those states plus New England states will certainly help turn USA around, huh? :-)

I tried to email John Murtha the WAPO link as Austin Bay suggested but he will listen to his own constituents. Sigh.

Specter

Wait....I don't want to be part of Iraq.

Slartibartfast

...and no thread would be complete without someone whose handle was "Twok" or "Tooq" or some such blogwhoring for the Futurist.

Lurker

ROFL, Specter! Sorry for the confusion.

OT: What have you heard about the new bill about the death tax that just came out yesterday? Looks like they are proposing to make the current death tax permanent, instead of expiring in 2010.

EGADS! Why not repeal the death tax in its entirety? Guess making it permanent would be the interim step to the repeal, huh?

John Allen

What I find curious is that I read Marc Ash's statement on 06/19/2006 and if my memory serves me correctly it was timestamped approx 4:30 p.m. Pacific time. I just looked at Truthout again and the statement is now dated 06/20/2006. I'm sure it must have been edited in some way but its hard to determine what exactly was changed. I suppose I can try to retrieve an earlier copy from Google cache but I'm curious why they would change the statement without also posting a copy of the original... this is way too important an issue.

JM Hanes

John Allen

I think Ash has done a lot of fiddling. In the thread I linked to earlier in the comments here, his original post now has a later date than all the commentary on it which follows!

megapotamus

The Truthies are the hard kernel of the nut. Their self-esteem (in apposition to self-respect) is utterly dependent on the realization of this and many another putrid fantasy. What a raft of idiots. Luckily for the Dems at large, that raft is taking on water at rates approaching theoretical maximum. And the band plays on...

Leguleius

My money says that "truthout" does have some insider sourcing on this.

My money, and rampant specultion, says their source is none other than Joseph Wilson.

This, of course, is why the cannot, willnot burn their source for the May 12 nonsense.

BMOC

GOP'ers are simpletons.

Jane

THANKS! I never know how it's coming off.

I listened too Clarice - altho work called about 5 minutes in - One question tho: You and the interviewer kept saying Haditha (short "i") where I have always heard it pronounced Hadeetha. (long "e"). Is the former correct?

clarice

Jane, I've no idea how to pronounce it. And with respect to the second claimed atrocity, the military originally said the incident at issue took place in Hamdaniya. Now they say they had the wrong place --it took plance in Hamdania..

Thanks, Lurker..No , it isn't.


The hard thing about Haditha--no matter how you pronounce it--is new stuff keeps turning up--This afternoon S & L has some more information about the earliest (Arab) reports and they are wildly at odds with the stories that follow. (Far more lurid.)
What people have to realize..and I didn't make this point well..is that there are two big reasons for locals to lie (1) they are supporting the insurgents, which I think did come thru, and (2) we pay a fair amount for all persons killed in collateral damage. The last figure I saw was $2500 per which is big money in Iraq. So, there is additional reason to claim that more people were killed in these incidents than actually were. (That seems to explain the lawyer in Haditha's claims.)

Lurker

Ha! BMOC
is posting "GOP'ers are simpletons." everywhere.

Take a look at one link.

Specter

BMOC? Geeezzzz....give us some of your insight into your comment. Enlighten us with your brilliance oh enlightened one. Tell us why GOP'ers are simpletons oh master.

Specter

lurker,

Not sure. I've actually been working on an article about Ned Lamont which I plan to post on a new blog. I'll keep you updated.

Lurker

It wasn't? Well, it's still congrats to you. Will there be a transcript available?

I can't believe those reasons you just cited. That's deplorable.

Kate

clarice-listened to the interview. Very interesting. I thought the theory of the pattern is interesting. The defense strategy should be to expose this tactic and expose it to the world.

I listened to Bill O'Reilly tonight who sometimes gets on my nerves, but he did insist that we need to start fighting this war seriously, no PC.

He suggests martial law be declared in insurgent strongholds by the Iraqi government and that shoot to kill curfews be enforced. Also, I believe that if you are speeding towards a checkpoint you are going to get shot.

Even our allies (Italy/Spain) feel enboldened to charge our troops with murder for friendly fire incidents. This needs to change.

Semanticleo

Specter;

A litle OT, (but then this site doesn't seem
to be dogmatic about that)

Read your 25 rules and find them well thought out. However, you apply them to the left. Mayhaps the reverse (mirror image) could reflect the Right Wing?

Rick Ballard

The True Right Wing does not cast reflections. Ever.

richard mcenroe

"You are very wise, professor Van Ballard, for man who has yet to steal a single election..."

richard mcenroe

kate -- doing ANYTHING seriously does not involve listening to Bill O'Reilly squawk...

Semanticleo

"The True Right Wing does not cast reflections. Ever."

That's what they say about Vampires.

verner

"clarice-listened to the interview. Very interesting. I thought the theory of the pattern is interesting. The defense strategy should be to expose this tactic and expose it to the world."

And don't forget, a very important part of the strategy includes feeding the Al Qaeda generated garbage to the hate America bullshit artists in the "peace community" and the press.

Rick Ballard

Vampires are copycats.

Damned sissies, too.

Javani

Clarice:

Has it been determined, or questioned in the first place, whether the "video" shown to the Time mag person is actually of the same event? It could be a different event, even a Saddamist attack.

It would be a clever use of propaganda.

Charlie (Colorado)

That's what they say about Vampires.

Oh, congratulations, Leo.

You got the joke.

Still look a little stupid for then trying to explain it back to us, but hell, it's a start.

crosspatch

is posting "GOP'ers are simpletons." everywhere.

Yeah, he just learned to type with BOTH fingers and is so excited.

maryrose

I didn't hear your interview Clarice and wonder if it is in transcript form?
Thank you for illuminating this issue and getting the true facts out. You are a true patriot.

maryrose

Rick:
I agree about vamps being sissies,give me zombies any day.

clarice

Javani, we don't even know when the video was made or by whom. The reports from Time about the provenance of the video changes every day. We do know that one of the two men who constitute the Hammurabi organization never mentioned it when he was interviewed in December, a month after the incident.

The snippets I saw of the purported tape on CNN showed bloddy floors, bullet pocked walls, and bodies that were entirely covered up from which one could ascertain nada.

To hear the interview, go here and hit the button above Paul Schiffer. http://rightalk.com/

Kate

I think the strongest evidence are pictures taken by the second team that came in after the Marines that were involved in the incident.

I think the video by the Iraqi group can be easily discounted. No one knows when it was taken, it looks like propaganda.

It's the pictures from the military that will prove difficult.

clarice

Maryrose, the hero in this Time debunking is the publisher of Sweetness& Light. Dan Riehl and Waldon of the Hawaii Report share the honors. I did no more than take their excellent, hard work and put it in narrative, chronological form so people could see how weak the story was.

Tonight , watching Hume, I was heartened to see that his panel (Liasson, Kondracke and Barnes) all seemed to acknowledge that the story is nothing like Murtha said it was and far from the initial press reports.

The comments to this entry are closed.

Wilson/Plame