the document says “our knowledge of Iraq’s ties to terrorism is evolving [redacted],

Missing close quote in the above?

Now, we’ve all read mostly the same things, but different minds notice different things. As I said above, back then I got really interested in the blatancy of the propshop operations. Now that we see how the torture shop was to a great extent a wholly-owned subsidiary of the propshop, those old cullings have started shouting out to me.

I expect Judith Miller to be on Fox several times in coming weeks; she’s no doubt going to be spinning her deceitful little ass off.

She started up again no later than Friday. She performed exactly as scripted, leaving the inference that Pelosi lied and maligned the beleaguered CIA, but it was for others to decide if she should be lit afire and thrown in the pit.

And I cannot believe that we are again in a posture to defend Nancy Pelosi.

August 2002, Cheney gives his saber-rattler speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Aug-Sept 2002 The White House Iraq Group had begun meeting in order to ‘market’ the idea of a war against Iraq. It was led by Andy Card and included: Hughes, Rove, Matalin, Libby, Gerson, Calio, Hadley, among others.

Pelosi was briefed Sept 4, 2002.

Sept 8, 2002 the NYT front page carries an article about Saddam trying to make WMD. The article is attributed to Judith Miller and Michael Gordon. Condi, Cheney, Rumsfeld all go on teevee to echo the key catch phrases about ‘smoking guns‘ and ‘mushroom clouds‘. Cheney says, “There’s a story in the New York Times this morning… I don’t want to talk about, obviously, specific intelligence sources, but it’s now public that… [Saddam] has been seeking to acquire, and we have been able to intercept and prevent him from acquiring through this particular channel, the kinds of tubes that are necessary to build a centrifuge.”

{Taken from “Anatomy of Deceit“, by Marcy Wheeler, p. 28 from Chpt 2: “Deconstructing Judy”}

I expect Judith Miller to be on Fox several times in coming weeks; she’s no doubt going to be spinning her deceitful little ass off. And no doubt James Carville will be trying to cut deals with some of his Dem buddies in an effort to keep his wife, Matalin, out of a long prison term.

September 16, 2001
VP Cheney appears on Meet the Press with Tim Russert. There is an exchange regarding Saddam and terrorists:
TR: If we determine that [S.H.] is also harboring terrorists […] would we have any reluctance of going after Saddam Hussein?
VPC: No.
TR: Do we have evidence that he is harboring […]?
VPC: […] There have been some activities related […] the focus is over here on Al Qaeda […] Saddam’s bottled up at this point.
TR: Do we have any evidence linking Saddam Hussein or Iraqis to this operation?
VPC: No.
White House transcript.

But by gum, “we”‘re going to get some!

December 17, 2001
A CIA polygrapher examines Adnan I.S. al-Haideri at a hotel in Pattaya, Thailand. After some hours, the polygrapher concludes that Haideri’s story of recently-hidden Iraqi WMD was false. The examiner returned to Washington with his data.
James Bamford, “The Men Who Sold the War,” Rolling Stone, November 17, 2005.

December 17, 2001 or somewhat thereafter
Ahmed Chalabi and Zaab Sethna place Haideri’s story with Paul Moran of the Australian Broadcasting Company, and Judith Miller of the New York Times, which together will result in worldwide broadcast and print dissemination. The agents do this despite the doubts raised by the polygraph examination of Dec. 17.
James Bamford, “The Men Who Sold the War,” Rolling Stone, November 17, 2005.

December 20, 2001
Judith Miller reports claims by “defector” al-Haideri to have worked on renovations in Iraq of wells, villas, and a hospital to allow them to accomodate CBW weapons research.
Jim Lobe, “Framing the Plame Case” TomDispatch.com, August 1, 2005.

December 20, 2001
On HardBall (CNBC at the time), James Woolsey touts the “find” of the Miller article of that day on al-Haideri: “This defector sounds quite credible.” Lobe continues, “Within a week, he [Woolsey] was telling the Washington Post that the case that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons was a ’slam dunk.’” The next week, Richard Perle has an Op-Ed in the NYTimes also touting the al-Haideri “intelligence.”
Jim Lobe, “Framing the Plame Case” TomDispatch.com, August 1, 2005.

Comparing these with what we now know about who was tortured around that time and why, it looks as if early on they thought they had the WMD angle covered, but still wanted the Al Qaeda link; I think even at the time it was clear that they felt they had to play the latter for the American public, while the WMD angle was for the UN.

In regard to the latest filing in the al-Haramain case that stryder refers to in # 17, is it safe for us all to assume that this was what Wendell was referring to on Thursday in his comment of:

Hey Marcy,

I have some developments on Al Haramain. Do you have an email I can contact.

Wendell

Or did Wendell have more goodies that have yet to be surfaced?