"Get Your Fresh Hot Peanuts..."

This just in from Rick the Peanut Guy: FireDogLake‘s Reddhedd is stocking up on popcorn for the show, and I’m tossin’ fresh hot peanuts for the — which inning is it now? — of this monumental muthah of all ballgames.

According to the WaPo, the only folks known to have been on that July 12, 2003, flight from Norfolk to DC on Air Force II are Cheney, Libby and Catherine Martin. Well, now isn’t that interesting?

Barton Gellman has put together one hell of a narrative that raises a whole lot more questions than supplying answers. But in reading through this article, one thing becomes very clear to me — those questions are going to be asked over and over again until they are answered. Somewhere between Katrina and the Libby indictment on Friday, the last bit of curtain got pulled up.

And an awful lot of the questions are about Dick Cheney. Not just here on this blog and other progressive spots in the blogosphere, but everywhere. And now the WaPo puts him smack dab in the middle of a conversation with Libby and Martin on how to deal with the “mosquitoesque” critic Joe Wilson — with a sledgehammer just a few hours after the flight […]

… Cheney was suddenly feeling directly threatened, not just the Administration as a whole, and that just can’t be allowed to stand unchallenged? Wonder how it feels to be left hanging by the boss that you’ve served with all you have? Wonder how the others working for the VP are feeling now? Watching your back can get exhausting after a while. […]
… Could be any number of people trying to twist the knife deeper for Libby to save their own skins: Grossman, Rove, etc. Or it could be Tenet or McLaughlin or someone at CIA trying to pull out the Libby knife and plunge it into Cheney’s heart of darkness. (Emphasis mine.)

Do you like your popcorn buttered?

Want your hot nuts salty? … Watch now … I’m tossin’ the peanuts with the knuckle ball Fitz taught me.

[editor’s note, by susanhu] For non-Mariners fans, Rick “Peanut Man” Kaminski is famous “for throwing bags of peanuts to his customers at pro sports events in Seattle, along with a tennis ball sliced open enough for the patron to place his money inside for the return toss.” (Seattle Times)

8 Comments

YankInDC on October 30, 2005 at 12:12 pm

If you haven’t already, go watch “The unauthorized biography of Dick Cheney, which was produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

You can stream it at InfomationClearinghouse, and it will make the popcorn taste even better.

diane101 on October 30, 2005 at 12:25 pm

Anyway watching CNN and Alexander Haig, boy is this making me mad….so far…he has his facts wrong too, it seems. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Dean Pajevic on October 30, 2005 at 12:33 pm

I half-listened. He even mispronounced words. Pathetic!

I’m, um, so glad he’s not in charge anymore.

(Hi, Diane!)

nowar on October 30, 2005 at 12:34 pm

I am really concerned as to why an indictment on Rove seemed certain and wasn’t produced.
Let’s be realistic as to what Mr. Libby has going for him. 1. Unlimited funds from the evil Cheney who has made tons from Halliburton, to help with defense and then 2. a sitting president who will be more than happy to pardon him under any circumstances, providing he keep his mouth shut.
We are being more than foolish if we believe we have a slam dunk,no pun intended, on our hands.Sure it’s all about the war but we are powerless until congress investigates and we are in the minority in congress.A great example of being in the minority is the way the Senate committee viewed Ambassador Wilsons report.
Further evidence of how this will be treated is simply to look at the presidents statement on the hard working, much sacrificing Libby.
We have lots to do and 2006 is the important dates for us to look to for answers.
While writing this I’m listening to ultra right wing Alexander, I’m in charge here, Haig. If Fitz is not coming up with more, he’ll be quietly giggled out of town
Nowar

Dean Pajevic on October 30, 2005 at 1:17 pm

Murray, did you get a chance to read Marty’s legal analysis last night?

It’s so readable and makes a lot of sense. I’m on my knees hoping he’s got it down.
- nowar on October 30, 2005 at 1:43 pm
  
  Susan,
  I sure hope his analysis is right but that doesn’t seem to be the prevailing attitude. Time will tell, I suppose. Remember our posts because therein lies success or failure, to rid ourselves of these cockroaches, who have hijacked our government.

Janet Strange on October 30, 2005 at 1:31 pm

What a contrast to their weasely editorial and out-eff’ing-rageous op-ed (no link, spare your blood pressure) yesterday.

I love it that the reporters spell it out about Rocco Martino. I remember Josh Marshall going on about this guy before the election (iirc when he was posting those stories at TPM).

From the WaPo article:

The chain of events that led to Friday’s indictment can be traced as far back as 1991, when an unremarkable burglary took place at the embassy of Niger in Rome. All that turned up missing was a quantity of official letterhead with “Republique du Niger” at its top.

More than 10 years later, according to a retired high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, a businessman named Rocco Martino approached the CIA station chief in Rome. An occasional informant for U.S., British, French and Italian intelligence services, Martino brought documents on Niger government letterhead describing secret plans for the sale of uranium to Iraq.

The station chief “saw they were fakes and threw [Martino] out,” the former CIA official said. But Italy shared a similar report with the Americans in October 2001, he said, and the CIA gave it circulation because it did not know the Italians relied on the same source.

On Feb. 12, 2002, Cheney received an expanded version of the unconfirmed Italian report. It said Iraq’s then-ambassador to the Vatican had led a mission to Niger in 1999 and sealed a deal for the purchase of 500 tons of uranium in July 2000. Cheney asked for more information.

The same day, Plame wrote to her superior in the CIA’s Counterproliferation Division that “my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” Wilson — who had undertaken a similar mission three years before — soon departed for Niamey, the Niger capital. He said he found no support for the uranium report and said so when he returned.

Martino continued to peddle his documents, with an asking price of more than 10,000 euros — this time to Panorama, an Italian magazine owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Panorama editor Carlo Rossella said his staff concluded the letters were bogus but in the interim sent copies to the U.S. Embassy in Rome in October 2002. “I believed the Americans were the best source for verifying authenticity,” he said. When the documents reached the State Department, according to a commission that investigated prewar intelligence this year, analysts there said they had “serious doubts about the authenticity” of the “transparently forged” documents.

rumi on October 30, 2005 at 11:00 pm

They had more to hide than they knew about. Lynne Cheney has been near the top of AIPAC for a while (multiple espionage charges at AIPAC), Chalabi had ties to the forgery, had ties to Iran intelligence and was getting paid a healthy salary by us at the same time.

He was given the go ahead by presumably the WHIG to sell off interests in Iraq early on and was later busted/raided and taken out of office. I haven’t rechecked but my guess is this about the time it came up in the concurrent investigations.

At some point, the issue of billions of dollars missing, mishandled sales of Iraq’s industries and other money crimes are going to have to be addressed.

YankInDC on October 30, 2005 at 12:12 pm

If you haven’t already, go watch “The unauthorized biography of Dick Cheney, which was produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Company.

You can stream it at InfomationClearinghouse, and it will make the popcorn taste even better.
diane101 on October 30, 2005 at 12:25 pm

Anyway watching CNN and Alexander Haig, boy is this making me mad….so far…he has his facts wrong too, it seems. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr.
- Dean Pajevic on October 30, 2005 at 12:33 pm
  
  I half-listened. He even mispronounced words. Pathetic!
  
  I’m, um, so glad he’s not in charge anymore.
  
  (Hi, Diane!)
nowar on October 30, 2005 at 12:34 pm

I am really concerned as to why an indictment on Rove seemed certain and wasn’t produced.
Let’s be realistic as to what Mr. Libby has going for him. 1. Unlimited funds from the evil Cheney who has made tons from Halliburton, to help with defense and then 2. a sitting president who will be more than happy to pardon him under any circumstances, providing he keep his mouth shut.
We are being more than foolish if we believe we have a slam dunk,no pun intended, on our hands.Sure it’s all about the war but we are powerless until congress investigates and we are in the minority in congress.A great example of being in the minority is the way the Senate committee viewed Ambassador Wilsons report.
Further evidence of how this will be treated is simply to look at the presidents statement on the hard working, much sacrificing Libby.
We have lots to do and 2006 is the important dates for us to look to for answers.
While writing this I’m listening to ultra right wing Alexander, I’m in charge here, Haig. If Fitz is not coming up with more, he’ll be quietly giggled out of town
Nowar
- Dean Pajevic on October 30, 2005 at 1:17 pm
  
  Murray, did you get a chance to read Marty’s legal analysis last night?
  
  It’s so readable and makes a lot of sense. I’m on my knees hoping he’s got it down.
  - nowar on October 30, 2005 at 1:43 pm
    
    Susan,
    I sure hope his analysis is right but that doesn’t seem to be the prevailing attitude. Time will tell, I suppose. Remember our posts because therein lies success or failure, to rid ourselves of these cockroaches, who have hijacked our government.
Janet Strange on October 30, 2005 at 1:31 pm

What a contrast to their weasely editorial and out-eff’ing-rageous op-ed (no link, spare your blood pressure) yesterday.

I love it that the reporters spell it out about Rocco Martino. I remember Josh Marshall going on about this guy before the election (iirc when he was posting those stories at TPM).

From the WaPo article:

The chain of events that led to Friday’s indictment can be traced as far back as 1991, when an unremarkable burglary took place at the embassy of Niger in Rome. All that turned up missing was a quantity of official letterhead with “Republique du Niger” at its top.

More than 10 years later, according to a retired high-ranking U.S. intelligence official, a businessman named Rocco Martino approached the CIA station chief in Rome. An occasional informant for U.S., British, French and Italian intelligence services, Martino brought documents on Niger government letterhead describing secret plans for the sale of uranium to Iraq.

The station chief “saw they were fakes and threw [Martino] out,” the former CIA official said. But Italy shared a similar report with the Americans in October 2001, he said, and the CIA gave it circulation because it did not know the Italians relied on the same source.

On Feb. 12, 2002, Cheney received an expanded version of the unconfirmed Italian report. It said Iraq’s then-ambassador to the Vatican had led a mission to Niger in 1999 and sealed a deal for the purchase of 500 tons of uranium in July 2000. Cheney asked for more information.

The same day, Plame wrote to her superior in the CIA’s Counterproliferation Division that “my husband has good relations with both the PM [prime minister] and the former Minister of Mines (not to mention lots of French contacts), both of whom could possibly shed light on this sort of activity.” Wilson — who had undertaken a similar mission three years before — soon departed for Niamey, the Niger capital. He said he found no support for the uranium report and said so when he returned.

Martino continued to peddle his documents, with an asking price of more than 10,000 euros — this time to Panorama, an Italian magazine owned by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. Panorama editor Carlo Rossella said his staff concluded the letters were bogus but in the interim sent copies to the U.S. Embassy in Rome in October 2002. “I believed the Americans were the best source for verifying authenticity,” he said. When the documents reached the State Department, according to a commission that investigated prewar intelligence this year, analysts there said they had “serious doubts about the authenticity” of the “transparently forged” documents.
rumi on October 30, 2005 at 11:00 pm

They had more to hide than they knew about. Lynne Cheney has been near the top of AIPAC for a while (multiple espionage charges at AIPAC), Chalabi had ties to the forgery, had ties to Iran intelligence and was getting paid a healthy salary by us at the same time.

He was given the go ahead by presumably the WHIG to sell off interests in Iraq early on and was later busted/raided and taken out of office. I haven’t rechecked but my guess is this about the time it came up in the concurrent investigations.

At some point, the issue of billions of dollars missing, mishandled sales of Iraq’s industries and other money crimes are going to have to be addressed.

“Get Your Fresh Hot Peanuts…”

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