Okay. I’ve been leading the charge on the SFW (So Fuckin’ What) brigade regarding Scott McClellan, our former White House spokesman from 2003-2006 who has been very publicly voicing his reservations about issuing statements and relaying information he now suspects was not true on behalf of the Bush Administration. My feeling up until today was, well… I knew they were lying about the reasons and justifications for invading Iraq, so I don’t need a reformed propagandist to tell me I was right all along, after the horse has bolted from the barn so to speak. In fact, I have to admit that I resent Scott McClellan’s belated candor and honesty. It appeared to me, that his newly found conscience and honesty was directly related to the new book he was putting out "What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception".
Today, he changed the game for me.
Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan admitted to House Judiciary Committee (led by John Conyers, (D) Michigan) that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney instructed him to say that Lewis Libby was in no way involved in the leak (identified by US law as an act of treason) of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. It was obvious to anyone watching and reading the news closely in those months leading up to the war in Iraq that the Bush Administration revealed Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters in direct retaliation to her husband’s very public and aggressive opposition to the evidence that was being presented to the American public and the world regarding specific classes of Uranium procurement that might constitute the grounds for suspicion of WMDs present or in development in Iraq, by the Iraqi government. Valerie Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, a former Ambassador, wrote an Op Ed piece in the New York Times on July 6, 2003 called “What I didn’t find in Africa”. It substantively contradicted the “facts” and interpretation of intelligence information being presented by the Bush Administration. Scott McClellan went along with, and relayed the “story” that no one in the administration’s senior level was involved with the leak, and that should such a breach be discovered, the administration’s policy would be to fire and prosecute such a person… more on that later.
It turned out that both Lewis Libby and Karl Rove had discussed Valerie Plame's identity with reporters. In the months after, their only line of defense was to attempt to say that she wasn’t actually a CIA operative at the time they compromised her identity. So which was it? Lewis Libby resigned from office the day he was indicted on charges of covering up the leak, falling on his sword for all the president’s men while Karl Rove was never charged in the investigation. Lewis Libby was eventually convicted of “obstruction of justice” and perjury. The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in this case would be dismissed and prosecuted. Scott McClellan has essentially told the world today what we already knew, they were lying when they said they didn’t know where the leak of Valerie’s Plame’s name was coming from within their administration, -otherwise, why would they have the need to issue such specific instructions to protect specific people, people in the administration who it turns out, knew about the leak before it happened.
Shouldn’t George W. Bush fire himself?
Shouldn’t someone, anyone in congress, stand with Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers as they try to investigate the crimes of this administration?
-SJ
Today, he changed the game for me.
Former White House spokesman Scott McClellan admitted to House Judiciary Committee (led by John Conyers, (D) Michigan) that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney instructed him to say that Lewis Libby was in no way involved in the leak (identified by US law as an act of treason) of CIA operative Valerie Plame’s identity. It was obvious to anyone watching and reading the news closely in those months leading up to the war in Iraq that the Bush Administration revealed Valerie Plame’s identity to reporters in direct retaliation to her husband’s very public and aggressive opposition to the evidence that was being presented to the American public and the world regarding specific classes of Uranium procurement that might constitute the grounds for suspicion of WMDs present or in development in Iraq, by the Iraqi government. Valerie Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, a former Ambassador, wrote an Op Ed piece in the New York Times on July 6, 2003 called “What I didn’t find in Africa”. It substantively contradicted the “facts” and interpretation of intelligence information being presented by the Bush Administration. Scott McClellan went along with, and relayed the “story” that no one in the administration’s senior level was involved with the leak, and that should such a breach be discovered, the administration’s policy would be to fire and prosecute such a person… more on that later.
It turned out that both Lewis Libby and Karl Rove had discussed Valerie Plame's identity with reporters. In the months after, their only line of defense was to attempt to say that she wasn’t actually a CIA operative at the time they compromised her identity. So which was it? Lewis Libby resigned from office the day he was indicted on charges of covering up the leak, falling on his sword for all the president’s men while Karl Rove was never charged in the investigation. Lewis Libby was eventually convicted of “obstruction of justice” and perjury. The White House had said in 2003 that anyone who leaked classified information in this case would be dismissed and prosecuted. Scott McClellan has essentially told the world today what we already knew, they were lying when they said they didn’t know where the leak of Valerie’s Plame’s name was coming from within their administration, -otherwise, why would they have the need to issue such specific instructions to protect specific people, people in the administration who it turns out, knew about the leak before it happened.
Shouldn’t George W. Bush fire himself?
Shouldn’t someone, anyone in congress, stand with Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers as they try to investigate the crimes of this administration?
-SJ
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