All that and the ISI is pro Taliban to boot, god what a continuing cluster fuck!

“Cheney’s personal involvement in Pakistan policy is one of the reasons things are going FUBAR over there today”

Yup.
Thanks, EW, for laying all this out about Rashid Rauf. Once again, our president cares more about political capital than good intelligence, or successful prosecution.

Um, isn’t there a relevant law about this kind of thing?

Bob in HI

And about that 3 oz limit? Prescriptions in their original bottles are exempt. And at least one of the components this program is trying to prevent in large quantities is available by prescription in 6 oz bottles. Just totally crazy.

…and would you be surprised if I told you Bush ordered Cheney to have it done in time to fear-monger leading up to the 2006 elections?

Meaning that Bush acquiesced in Cheney’s demand that he “allow” Cheney to do it. Apart from bike riding, there isn’t much this Prez initiates.

EW- a bright spot: they now make Tom’s of Maine toothpaste in travel sizes…

you know, everybody i know, regardless of political affiliation/beliefs, thinks that airport security is a joke…that is to say that all the hassle of shoes off, laptop out, 3oz bottles, etc is a total waste of time and not making anybody safer…

seems like this could be exploited by democrats to undermine any republican “credibility” on security issues…

Well, apparently, Suskind answers the unanswered questions about Rauf’s arrest … and would you be surprised if I told you Bush ordered Cheney to have it done in time to fear-monger leading up to the 2006 elections? Here’s Ron Suskind on Fresh Air describing what happened, transcribed at AfterDowningStreet:

as if we didn’t know this already?

the only thing we didn’t have was the proof

wheel, you are incredible

This, of course, as anyone could expect, triggers a reaction in London, a lot of scurrying. And the Brits have to run through the night wild-eyed and basically round up 25 or 30 people. It’s quite a frenzy. The British are livid about this. They talk to the Americans. The Americans kind of shrug, “Who knows? You know, ISI picked up Rashid Rauf.”

I am AMAZED blair hangs with bush, bush throws blair and england under the bus and blair contunues to ruin his own career so not to offend bush

how is it bush gets this kind of loyalty?

I can see the morons, the goodlings and the gonzo’s but blair?

hard to understand

The whole world outside the borders of the U.S. is a shadow play the Republicans use regularly to manipulate American voters to return them to power. And no one in Washington cares what happens to the shadows in the play.

“how is it bush gets this kind of loyalty”

In Blair’s case, the fact that they have so much mutual blackmail on each other would be a minor item, but Blair’s Carlyle Group gig after he left office is probably a bigger one. And Tenet ends up with his “Q” slot, where a big chunk of QinetiQ is owned by the CG.

The Rodriguez revelations make you wonder a bit more who had the most direct hand in the Habbush letter. Maybe someone wants to have Muller pipe in with how legal everything was - if it did happen. A “legal” way for the President to pump up 18yos to go die and lose limbs in his vanity war in Iraq. Legal shootdowns of missionaries and their infants. Legal legal legal.

Meanwhile, the legally commuted Libby wasn’t high on Richer’s list it seems, from the transcript Susking released:

Ron: Now this is from the Vice President’s Office is how you remembered it–not from the president?

Rob: No, no, no. What I remember is George saying, ‘we got this from’–basically, from what George said was ‘downtown.’

Ron: Which is the White House?

Rob: Yes. But he did not–in my memory–never said president, vice president, or NSC. Okay? But now–he may have hinted–just by the way he said it, it would have–cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president.

“And we’re all still surviving on hotel shampoo when we travel, two years later.”

Trust me… It was LOTS and LOTS of fun the next morning at Dulles Airport. As I recall, it took about 2.5 hours just to get through security — and there was enough shampoo and other liquids in discarded bottles to float the Titanic!

I hate hotel shampoo.

It will be 2010 until the next president can move into the WH it will take at least a year to get the stench out

Heathrow was a sick joke - hours and hours to find that they would not let my tynenol gel caps go through, but were ok with my asprin gel caps (sailing bashes one around a bit). The arabs with their voluminous clothing and throne-like baby carriages really got inspected, and not pulled out of line, so the back ups were horrendous. Worse than going through Ben Gurion, because Heathrow was not set up for this kind of scrutiny. Heathrow has retooled in the last 2 years and operates no worse than JFK (in my opinion).

Do they really? That’s great news!!! Where do you get the travel sizes?

As I’m sure you can imagine, I’m actually okay with hotel shampoo. It’s the Tom’s of Maine that really fries my ass.

the news that Jose Rodriguez is the guy who did Cheney’s political dirty work for him makes Rodriguez’ destruction of the torture tapes more interesting

That’s the most significant piece of information in the story, IMO.

My daughter and I happened to be at Heathrow on August 12, 2006. You would not believe the mess. I had to throw away the coolest front pack I had just bought in Florence along with everything in it except my plane ticket and passport. My daughter had to throw away her knock off purse she just bought in New York. She was able to keep her new $300.!! sunglasses because I made her put them on her head. People sleeping all over the airport. It was a nightmare of security. Six check spots between boarding passes and the gate. But somehow our coach tickets turned into first class…

Well, no. Don’t be misled by the accent and the nice ties. Blair always was an odd duck, and during his time in office he became odder and odder. Mary @ 9 is no doubt right that he was considering his own future every step of the way, but he would have been strange in any event.

The detail about Rodriguez is useful news indeed. We know that somebody in the U.S. was arranging this sort of thing with the ISI at other times as well. There is, for instance, the case of Abdullah Khadr, oldest brother of Omar (child soldier at GTMO):

A U.S. intelligence agency paid a bounty of $500,000 (U.S.) to Pakistani military officials who arrested a Canadian citizen wanted for links to al-Qaeda, according to a new Federal Court ruling. Mr. Justice Richard Mosley ordered an Oct. 19, 2004, RCMP memo released yesterday after lawyers for The Globe and Mail fought for its disclosure.

I’m sorry that you can’t read the rest of that article without a subscription, but the Grope and Flail continues to resist modern civilization. I can’t even date it for you at the moment, but the article and Justice Mosley’s decision date from this spring. Anyway, trust me, the article demonstrates what that intro claims. Abdullah is now back in Canada, the ISI having determined after torturing him for fourteen months that he knew nothing of value, and he is currently fighting extradition to the U.S. (He’s also in a wheelchair.)

Much of airport ”security” is theater, to evidence that this not-so-competent administration is in fact competent [sic], that the government is ever present in your life and requires that you meekly submit to what were once gobsmacking impositions — for your safety:

”X-ray” like machines that image you nude, not just as a skeleton. Government copying of your phone’s SIM card and computer hard drive (at border crossings) without probable cause, as if that were no different than glancing inside a backpack or purse. Forcible removal a ”dangerous” nipple ring while only occasionally checking airport ground staff, and only 1-4% of marine cargo containers.

And dare we talk about the personality types being hired to guard our airports and borders? Not during the children’s hour.

Dick Cheney and Pakistan. Let’s see, that would be this Dick Cheney:

‘If there’s a one percent chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response,’ Cheney said. He paused to assess his declaration. ‘It’s not about our analysis, or finding a preponderance of evidence,’ he added. ‘It’s about our response.’

So. Now spoken, it stood: a standard of action that would frame events and responses from the administration for years to come. The Cheney Doctrine. Even if there’s just a one percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act a if it is a certainty. (One Percent Solution, p. 62)

Since we are now living with that particular Cheney pensee and its consequences, I think it worthwhile to act on its ramifications. Ms. Pelosi? Meet I. Lewis ‘Scooter’ Libby:

Cheney’s chief of staff . . . was particularly opposed to changing course, an administration observer said. ‘He said the detention system was working fine as it was. Legally, he said, there was nothing wrong with the CIA’s secret program, or almost nothing.’ ‘Ninety-nine percent of what we do is legal,’ Libby said with a chuckle at one such White House meeting, to the amazement of another administration lawyer who took the comment as an admission that Cheney’s staff realized that some part of what they were condoning was illegal. (The Dark Side, p. 305)

Yep, that would be one-percent confirmed illegality. I think that meets the test. Can we finally just start assuming that, based on the Cheney Doctrine, everything this administration does is illegal and get an appropriate response?

Try here: http://www.tomsofmaine.com/toms/

I’ve seen small samples being given out as promos at my local co-op, as well.

and would you be surprised if I told you Bush ordered Cheney to have it done in time to fear-monger leading up to the 2006 elections?

An inclusive “No.”

Furthermore, as it seemed to me at the time, this was the incident in which they finally and forever jumped the shark on terror alerts with roughly everybody, even the 25 percent who will never admit it. You could use it as a regime-break point in your time series analysis.

My copy arrives by Monday. I can hardly wait.

Tom’s of Maine travel size toothpaste at drugstore.com

I like hotel shampoo. It usually smells good, and it has great names, like Cadwallader and Wichersham, or Rosemary Infusion.

Thank you!

Now let me see if I have this right. Bush and Cheney demand a big terror arrest to drum up fear before the ‘06 elections, going behind an allies back, and they still lose both houses of congress?

Bwahahaha! Maybe the 3 oz security measures pissed people off enough that it actually helped the gop lose a few seats. By trying to prevent a situation, they brought it about. Tee hee.

Good catch, EW, and a good post too. There’s a lot behind this story that hasn’t been reported in any of the Western media, and some that’s only been reported once, and as always there’s a lot to be learned from reading between the lines. I’ve been digging into this alleged plot, and writing about it, for two years now, and there’s a lot about it that hardly anybody knows — stuff that’s only been reported in Pakistani newspapers and my blog, for instance.

I’m currently working on the 34th installment of an ongoing series; you could probably read all 33 before I get the next one finished. I doubt anyone would do that, but the links to the first 33 articles in the series are here: The ‘Liquid Bombers’ Series

I’ll assume that you aren’t interested enough to do that much reading, so I’ll try to bring you up to speed as quickly as I can. The most important features of this story include:

– the fact that the timing of the arrests was forced by Bush i.e. Cheney against the wishes of the British, who had done all the preliminary work (as reported by Ron Suskind);

– the information that came out along the way concerning the Pakistani government’s support of terrorist groups such as LeT and JeM, not to mention al-Q;

– the “escape” of the “primary suspect” (Rashid Rauf) from Pakistani custody and the Pakistani government’s blatant coverup of that event;

– the fact that the US and the UK continue to support the Pakistani government despite what appear to be acts of aggression against them;

and finally (and most tellingly, in my opinion)

– the alleged plot (in whatever version you choose) was physically and chemically impossible!

Putting two and two and two together, we get: CIA, MI6 and ISI are all working together, along with al-Q, JeM, LeT (aka JUD) and other terrorist groups. The basic idea of this plot was not to bomb airplanes out of the sky (for that was impossible) but to scare us into giving up precious civil liberties (or allowing them to be stolen, which amounts to the same thing) (and that worked!)

Various articles in the series provide extensive documentation for these claims and much more … but if you only read one of them it should probably be this one: Inadequate Deception: The Impossible Plots Of The Terror War

~~~

You can find the latest news on this story at my newest “other blog”, Peroxide Plotters.

You can find the basis for much of my research at my oldest “other blog”, Winter Parking. At Winter Parking, check the sidebar for links to articles about “Liquid Bombers” (50 so far), and “Rashid Rauf” (over 300 now).

Or if you want to skip all that and jump straight to the good stuff, here’s a good one: Is Pakistan’s “Public Enemy Number One” A CIA Asset? Of Course He Is! Otherwise He’d Have Been Dead A Long Time Ago:

Pakistan’s most feared terrorist communicates with encryption so strong the Pakistani intelligence services cannot crack it.

You can’t make this stuff up. Or at least I can’t.

~~~

“I don’t mind telling you, ’cause every word is true!
and sometimes I feel like pourin’ it all out …”

– Graham Parker

Bwahaha yourself. You’re gonna have to come up with a better argument than that, chump. The fact that the GOP lost seats in the election proves nothing about this alleged plot. On the contrary, there is every reason to believe the GOP would have lost even more seats without the incessant fear-mongering that began two years ago this weekend.

And the facts are facts; the GOP strategists (i.e. Rove) had their strategy all mapped out; this alleged plot was to push the the Lieberman loss in CT off the map and keep everything other than terror out of the news until the 6th anniversary celebration of Bush’s greatest accomplishment.

This is not a conspiracy theory, BTW; it documented here, in an article full of insider quotes (which is stupid — but GOP strategists are too proud of themselves to keep their mouths closed);

and the entire bogus charade was discussed (dissected) on my blog, here:

An Avalanche Of Bullshit: Republican Attack Dogs Hit Democrats Nationwide Over Lieberman’s Loss In CT Primary

and here:

Spin? CounterSpin! The Alleged British Airplane Bombing Plot, Counterclockwise

Since the primary contribution of your sudden appearance so far has been long winded blogwhoring, perhaps you might should refrain from calling the locals chumps.

Equally damning in that interview is Suskind’s telling (toward the end) of how in his conversations with Bhutto, just before she is killed, that she laments that cheney won’t tell Musharraf to make sure she has protection. They ponder why cheney won’t help her.

I’ll stick this here, though logically it belongs on a post that will roll off in the next few hours.

I read all the responses — and there is much detail in “The Way of the World” that will clear things up.

First off — what is actually in the Habbush “forgery” — people are actually debating this???!!! It is dated July 1, 2001. It is constructed and phrased as a report to Saddam from Habbush on “current intelligence projects.”

The first point advises that Atta has completed his training in Iraq, staying at the house of Abu Nidal. Reports Atta did well in his training, and shows firm committment to destroying the agreed targets.

Second point claims that Iraqi Intelligence, along with a small team from al-Qaeda have arranged the trans-shipment of Yellowcake from Niger through Libya to Syria and thus forwarding to Iraq.

Third point “flatters” Saddam by praising him for his secret meeting with Syrian President Bashir-al-Asad, that among other things finalized the Yellowcake shipment arrangements.

OK — now that you have had a laugh at the memo, consider the question when was it actually composed?

Things we know: We know it appeared in the Telegraph in mid December, 2003. We know that Allawi was the proported source for the Telegraph. We know that at the time the Telegraph was owned by Conrad Black (it would later be sold to Murdoch.) Richard Perle serving on Black’s board at the time — Black just coming into our friend Pat Fitzgerald’s cross-hairs in late 2003.

But the fake memo was not written in December 2003 — we kinda know that because Suskind tells us Habbush got his 5 million in October, and one generally doesn’t pay for something like this till it is satisfactory and in hand. My own suspicion is that it was written in September, 2003 — after the CIA made the referral of the Plame matters to DOJ, and while the FBI was doing the initial inquiry. The contents of the memo suggest the purpose was to dispose of two problems — 1, counter Joe Wilson’s claims about Niger Yellowcake, and 2, give substance to Cheney’s fast disappearing claims that Atta had a connection to Iraq in the pre-911 period of summer of 2001, and thusly sustain the Saddam/al-Qaeda connection. The memo provides two links to al-Qaeda — the Atta one, and the picture of al-Qaeda hauling the Yellowcake through the desert from Niger to Libya. Syria and Libya stand out as allied with Saddam. (just in case you need an argument for more invasions.)

Of all the people in the whole Bush circle, as of September, 2003, I suspect it was largely Scooter Libby and Cheney who would focus on these fabrications, given that the two of them would have the detailed knowledge of both points — the Plame Wilson issues, and the FBI work (already in the hands of the 9/11 commission) totally ditching the Iraq-Atta relationship claim. So this was intended not only to reinforce the Niger-Yellowcake story, and hit Joe Wilson over the head — but it was also intended to destroy the FBI’s investigative product following the pre-9/11 trail of Atta — and possibly to restore Cheney’s veracity on this issue.

In fact neither of these matters made a damn bit of difference to Iraq — these were lies to cover for Cheney and (if he knew of it) Bush’s political situation given that we were one year out from mid-term elections. It is totally domestic, and totally about holding on to political power.

In fact, you can add in another timeline here as it does intersect, and that is in November 2003, they re-call Paul Bremer for discussions, and make the decision to end his Pro-Counsel position in June, 2004, and proceed with the writing of a constitution and elections. I suspect the context of Allawi’s December visit to DC in 2003 was dictated more by the change in tactical plans decision, less by any “release the Habbush memo” plan.

Nuther subject:

Everyone needs to get a flavor of the Rob Richer, and His Majesty, King Abdullah of Jordan relationship. Our CIA guy and the King have something in common — they both love riding en masse on Harley Davidsons. Suskind provides us with a good description of one ride — the Pacific Coast Highway around Carmel and on to Big Sur — but more recently Richter organized another one across Southern Africa, and Abdullah brought along a couple more middle east princes. Richer goes way back with the Hashimite Family — he was so close to King Hussain that Hussain depended on his advice as to which of his sons should inherit the throne — and Richer backed Abdullah. Hussain depended on Richer for advice on educating Abdullah — so the relationships are long and deep. Keep in mind.

Richer retired from CIA in 2005 — during the reign of the Gosslings, and has since become part owner and President of Blackwater’s new intelligence set-up. Suskind tells a few details about Habbash’s life style in Jordan over the past few years — and further tells us that Jordanian Security is probably keeping him safe. The detail suggests that perhaps Suskind got an interview on a quiet Jordanian patio with tea, in the midst of an area protected by Iraqi Sunni interests, and Jordanian Security. (If you know what someone’s patio looks like, perhaps you have been there, no?)

I been thinking about this picture along with the one from a couple of weeks ago now, when Obama dropped in to visit with Abdullah during his world tour, and Abdullah could hardly let him go. Drove him to the Airport, kept him on the tarmack for more conversation after the plane was loaded and ready — clearly the kind of first impressions that might lead to a further bonding on a Harley Ride at some juncture. (the latter is my own fashioning of how this all ends in a Hollywood Buddy Movie.) Apparently Abdullah and Bush and Cheney are civil, but have never developed much of an honest relationship.

Anyhow the relevant equations: Rob Richer and King Abdullah — Best Buddies over several decades. Rob Richer — new president of Blackwater Intelligence Arm.

Habbush — (5 million richer) protected by Jordanian Intelligence, probably run as a CIA asset by Richer. Probably still run by Blackwater these days. Handed off to Blackwater because of the attacks of the Gosslings, which was the Bush/Cheney decision to totally politicize the CIA.

Now Habbush was not primarily an American Asset — he was developed by the British, in particular by Michael Shipster, a 30 year vet of MI6, who clearly sat for an interview with Suskind. It was Shipster who reported to both MI6 and CIA and directly to Bush, that Iraq had no WMD’s and no programs to produce them a couple of months before the invasion. Habbush met several times in Jordan with Shipster pre-invasion, made the point that Saddam did not want to be explicit as to what he had, or didn’t have, largely because of Iran and Syria, mostly Iran. Bush refused to accept Shipster’s work product, and ordered the cut off of contacts with Habbush, though the British and CIA make it their business to get Habbush to Jordan after the invasion began, and allow the Jordanians to protect him and his family.

What all this is really about is the simple point that in addition to US Intelligence sources, Suskind has dug all the way to the top in British Intelligence, and his saga is based in such source material. And this is why the White House blast back is not going to work.

Thank you.

I don’t have my own blog so I won’t point readers to it and tell them I how my reporting and prose are so much better than that on display in this one. I’m happy for those with other blogs. Takes a lot of commitment, sacrifice and talent to carry off successfully. Which includes responsibly buying adverts on blogs like this, not submitting no-cost comments attempting to achieve the same end. That’s so Michelle Malkin it makes me want to jump - two or three inches high.

Blog-whoring? Sorry! Wrong number!

I don’t care whether you read my blog or not. I only want you to know what’s been happening — if you want to know.

So how do I do that?

If I tell you the story without any links, nobody will believe me.
If I link to my pages on my blog, that’s blog-whoring.
If I link to my original sources, then you’ll have to redo all the work I’ve done.
If I link to my blog but pretend I’m somebody else, that’s dishonest.

Do I have any other choices? I can’t think of any.

SO … how do I share the information without offending anybody?