Plame: The Dogs Start Biting Each Other

Over the last two days, we have been overwhelmed with rumors in what was once a tight-lipped affair. What that tells me is that people are beginning to talk to get their story out ahead, to make sure they distance themselves from the "wrong" people and try to point the finger elsewhere. And of course, these things tend to move along the chain of command.

But first the fear has to come up from the bottom. Assuming for the moment that the reports are accurate--and they are not at all unreasonable--in the last two days Raw Story has described testimony of two White House functionaries who are turning evidence on the VP's office. Once you get people inside the White House pointing fingers up the chain (apparently Fitzgerald has them nailed on participating in the links, according to RS), the people who gave the orders start working on their stories.

Thus, today in the Daily News we have the "protect Bush" leak: George was "furious" with Rove for his efforts in unmasking Plame--although apparently on grounds of incompetence, not ethics. I don't think the leakers on this one meant to suggest that Bush was lying when he said Rove told him he wasn't involved, but there it is, and the groundwork for later is laid: Bush was mad when he found out---implying that he had to be TOLD. Hint, hint. Josh Marshall digs in deep on the story today.

So now Rove's out in the cold, right? Heck no. He can just pass on the heat. Tomorrow's WaPo carries the story of Rove's recollection on who might have been that guy who told him about Plame, that he just couldn't remember before: Oh yeah, it was Scooter! I think, anyway. And besides, we just talked about what we heard the reporters tell us.

I suspect as the vulnerability of the White House Group spreads (they're even trying to rope Judy Miller in now, although she may have eagerly qualified on her own), you'll also see more of this from former administration personnel--the sudden freedom to speak your mind about all the dead bodies you saw during your time in the regime:

n a scathing attack on the record of President George W. Bush, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to Mr Powell until last January, said: “What I saw was a cabal between the vice-president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made.

“Now it is paying the consequences of making those decisions in secret, but far more telling to me is America is paying the consequences.”
...

   Among his other charges:

■ The detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere was “a concrete example” of the decision-making problem, with the president and other top officials in effect giving the green light to soldiers to abuse detainees. “You don't have this kind of pervasive attitude out there unless you've condoned it.”

■ Condoleezza Rice, the former national security adviser and now secretary of state, was “part of the problem”. Instead of ensuring that Mr Bush received the best possible advice, “she would side with the president to build her intimacy with the president”.

■ The military, particularly the army and marine corps, is overstretched and demoralised. Officers, Mr Wilkerson claimed, “start voting with their feet, as they did in Vietnam. . . and all of a sudden your military begins to unravel”.

Note with interest the reference to fallout with Powell on his public comments; Wilkerson describes him as a good soldier to the end. Pathetic. And I'm glad he speaks up about Rice; the heinous rumor that Rice would get nominated to replace Cheney at VP has been making me ill with the number of people who seem to think that's a good idea. I think if this really blows up to the point where Cheney resigns, Condi is going to get some of the mud splatter on her own dress.

For so long, the Bush administration was a model of harsh enforcement of discipline. But once people's names started getting into the paper alongside the word "indictment," these cowards began bailing on each other. (To be fair, it would seem Wurmser and Hannah bailed some time earlier, once Fitzgerald showed them what he had). As I saw someone mention in a comment recently, you can bet there are no G Gordon Liddys in this sniveling group.

It's horrible for the country, but I have to admit that it's satisfying to see the rats scurry as the cellar door opens on them.

--TJ

Comments

[Steve]

People seem to be missing something about Judy Miller. Maybe it's not that she's being "roped" in to this scheme. Just as she appeared to be part of the WHIQ disinformation team on the WMDs, she could have been part of the team in getting back at Wilson/Plame. Why did she go to jail? Nobody thinks she did it to protect Libby; indeed she seems to have lied in his favor, according to her story in the Times. How could she forget who told her about "Valerie Flame"? Why is her whole story about why she went to jail and the Libby waiver incoherent? Why did Robert Bennett make a deal that she would talk only about Libby? Why did Rove and some others say they first heard about Plame from a journalist? Why didn't she do the story on Plame herself? Isn't the most likely scenario that she was a participant in the outing-Plame scheme, rather than the recipient of an unsuccessful effort to get the story out? Maybe she went to jail to protect herself and Bennett did her a great service by limiting her testimony to Libby instead of her participation the scheme.

[torridjoe]

Oh, I fully agree. Something is not right about her involvement in this. Since she seemed very much a willing dupe in the WMD affair, there's ample reason to believe she was still carrying White House water.

You raise excellent questions; I hope they get asked by the difference makers.

Thanks for the comment!