Author: Larry Johnson

For your background, Richard was the first to tip me last year to the developing Larry Franklin spy scandal, which proved to be right. – LJ

Aides To Be Indicted, Probe to Continue

By Richard Sale, longtime Intelligence Correspondent for UPI

This comes to us courtesy of <a href="Pat Lang at turcopolier.typepad.com. I’ve found Richard to always be on target in my experience. — Larry Johnson

Two top White House aides are expected to be indicted today on various charges related to the probe of CIA operative Valerie Plame whose classified identity was publicly breached in retaliation after her husband, Joe Wilson, challenged the administration’s claim that Saddam Hussein had sought to buy enriched uranium from Niger, acording to federal law enforcement and senior U.S. intelligence officials.

If no action is taken today, it will take place on Friday, these sources said.

I. Scooter Libby, the chief of staff of Vice President Richard Cheney, and chief presidential advisor Karl Rove are expected to be named in indictments this morning by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald.

Others are to be named as well, these sources said. According to U.S. officials close to the case, a bill of indictment has been in existence before October 17 which named five people. Various names have surfaced such as National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley, yet only one source would confirm that Hadley was on the list. Hadley could not be reached for comment.

But letters from Fitzgerald, notifying various White House officiials that they are targets of the investigation, went out late last week, a former senior U.S. intelligence official said.

Most press accounts emphasized that Fitzgerald was likely to concentrate on attempts by Libby, Rove and others to cover up wrongdoing by means of perjury before the grand jury, lying to federal officials, conspiring to obstruct justice, etc. But federal law enforcement officials told this reporter that Fitzgerald was likely to charge the people indicted with violating Joe Wilson’s civil rights, smearing his name in an attempt to destroy his ability to earn a living in Washington as a consultant.

The civil rights charge is said to include “the conspiracy was committed using U.S. government offices, buildings, personnel and funds,” one federal law enforcement official said.

Other charges could include possible violations of U.S. espionage laws, including the mishandling of U.S. classified information, these sources said.

That Vice President Cheney is at the center of the controversy comes as no surprise. Last Friday, Fitzgerald investigators were talking to Cheney’s attorneys, and detailied questionnaires, designed to pin down in meticulous sequence what Cheney knew, when he knew it, and what he told his aides, were delivered to the White House on Monday, these sources said.

The probe is far from being at an end. According to this reporter’s sources, Fitzgerald approached the judge in charge of the case and asked that a new grand jury be empaneled. The old grand jury, which has been sitting for two years, will expire on October 28.

Thanks to a letter of February, 2004 in which Fitzgerald asked for and obtained expanded authority, the Special Prosecutor is now in possession of an Italian parliament nvestigation into the forged Niger documents alleging Iraq’s interest in purchasing Niger uranium, sources said.

They said that Fitzgerald is looking into such individuals as former CIA agent, Duane Claridge, military consultant to the Iraqi National Congress, Gen. Wayne Downing, another military consultant for INC, and Francis Brooke, head of INC’s Washingfton office in an effort to determine if they played any role in the forgeriese or their dissiemination. Also included in this group is long-time neoconservative Michael Ledeen, these federal sources said.

On the Hill, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), democratic whip, are asking for public hearings to lay bare the forgeries and how their false allegations ended up in President George Bush’s State of the Union speech.

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Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.

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by Larry C. Johnson

The pathetic whiny column by Nicholas Kristoff in the New York Times today makes one wonder if we must see the actual bodies before we understand the damage done to this country when White House officials exposed the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Valerie, who was still working under non-official cover, was in the process of converting to official cover.All that means is that she would no longer have to travel overseas and face the threat of death if caught while carrying out espionage activities. No, in the future, she would have traveled with a black U.S. diplomatic passport and would have been entitled to Geneva Convention protections. However, she would have still been undercover and still protected by the law.

Unfortunately the media appears to be helping spin the spin by suggesting that Patrick Fitzgerald is a prosecutor, a la Ken Starr, run amuck. While Starr brought the Clinton White House to its knees because the President lied about sex with an intern, the current case is far more serious than a blow job from a willing adult.

The activities of the Bush White House, their politics as normal, involve trashing the reputation and motives of anyone who dares speak the truth. If Joe Wilson had been the only victim of this tactic, one could make the argument that this was an isolated, unusual event. But that is not true. Just ask Secretary of Treasury Paul O’Neill, Army Chief of Staff Eric Shinseki, Secretary of the Army Thomas White, Counter Terrorism Czar Richard Clarke, and any other American who dared speak up about the Administration’s flawed record on fighting terrorism and dealing with Iraq.

Only, in this case, the White House crossed the line. In an orchestrated, organized effort they planned and disseminated false information about Joe Wilson. People who have demonstrably lied to the American people–including Karl Rove, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and Scott McClellan–try to pin the label of liar on Joe Wilson. Why? Because Joe Wilson told his CIA briefers that there was no evidence that Iraq was trying to buy uranium in Niger. Guess what? That is the position held by all analysts in the intelligence community except one. Consequently, senior CIA officials repeatedly told members of Congress and the White House that there was no substance to the reports, including the British white paper, alleging that such activity was underway. Despite these repeated warnings from the CIA that the information was no good, Dick Cheney and George Bush continued to tell the American people the opposite. And they call Joe Wilson a “liar”?

What will become increasingly obvious in the coming days is that the White House was fully organized in its effort to attack Joe and Valerie Wilson. Too bad the Bush Administration has not shown the same enthusiasm for finding Osama Bin Laden or rescuing the three Americans that have been held by terrorists in Colombia for the last three years.

If the Bush White House spent the same amount of time looking for terrorists rather than conspiring to attack the reputation and livelihood of American citizens they would have made significant progress in the war on terrorism. Instead, terrorist attacks in which people were killed and wounded rose to unprecedented levels last year and more than 2000 Americans have died in Iraq.

This scandal is not about semen stains on a blue dress. This scandal is about destroying and diverting national security resources for petty political gains and using the power of the White House to attack American citizens. If that is not justification for impeachment than nothing meets the test.

Biography:

Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.

Larry C. Johnson
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My first cut at the NY Times scoop. WOW!

Who Told Dick Cheney?

by Larry C. Johnson

Thanks to the NY Times, one more piece of the tangled web woven by White House operatives has unraveled and we now know that Vice President Cheney told Scooter Libby that Joe Wilson’s wife worked at the CIA.

It also seems pretty clear that the notes show that Libby lied to the Grand Jury when he claimed he learned the name from reporters. Libby faces big trouble.

Although the NY Times story reports that Libby’s notes indicate that George Tenet told Cheney about Plame, there are some intriguing unanswered questions. For starters it is highly unlikely that George Tenet showed up at the White House and just happened to know the name of Valerie Plame. Someone at the White House asked for it first. Tenet clearly came prepared to respond to a White House request. I’m sure the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, knows who called CIA to ask the question.

I also doubt that Tenet used the name “Plame”. Since Valerie married Joe Wilson she went by the name, Valerie Wilson. Someone introduced “Plame” into the equation.

Who did the subsequent work up on Mrs. Wilson? Only Scooter? Unlikely. Look for other names to emerge in coming days that will reveal who helped work out the “background” info on Valerie Wilson.

What sweet irony! Dick Cheney had a hand in pushing the “nepotism” charge, you know, Joe Wilson only got the job because his wife hired him. Since Dick got his daughter a sweetheart deal at State Department he should not be out casting such stones or encouraging others to do so.

See Dick. See Dick run. See Dick resign.

Larry C. Johnson
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by Larry C. Johnson

The CIA field commander for the agency’s Jawbreaker team at Tora Bora, Gary Berntsen, has finally got approval to publish his book, which will hit the streets on December 27, 2005.

The CIA has sat on the book for more than a year and tried to stop its publication. Although the book is not intended as a criticism of President Bush, it will land another body blow to the beleaguered Bush Presidency.

Bernsten’s key point in the book is his testimonty that he and other U.S. commanders did know that bin Laden was among the hundreds of fleeing Qaeda and Taliban members.

According to NEWSWEEK, “Berntsen says he had definitive intelligence that bin Laden was holed up at Tora Bora–intelligence operatives had tracked him–and could have been caught. He was there.”

Look for General Tommy Franks image as the great commander to be further tarnished.

This book will have the unintended effect of reminding all Americans that George Bush did not finish the job of tracking down Bin Laden. Instead, he shifted key military and intelligence resources and started a war of choice in Iraq.

At the current fatality rate more than 2100 Americans will have died in Iraq when this book is available in bookstores. Put on your list for belated Christmas and Hanukkah shopping.

Happy Holidays.

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Larry C. Johnson is CEO and co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC, an international business-consulting firm that helps corporations and governments manage threats posed by terrorism and money laundering. Mr. Johnson, who worked previously with the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. State Department’s Office of Counter Terrorism (as a Deputy Director), is a recognized expert in the fields of terrorism, aviation security, crisis and risk management. Mr. Johnson has analyzed terrorist incidents for a variety of media including the Jim Lehrer News Hour, National Public Radio, ABC’s Nightline, NBC’s Today Show, the New York Times, CNN, Fox News, and the BBC. Mr. Johnson has authored several articles for publications, including Security Management Magazine, the New York Times, and The Los Angeles Times. He has lectured on terrorism and aviation security around the world. Further bio details.

Larry C. Johnson
Personal Blog: No Quarter || Bio
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by Larry C. Johnson

This happened one month ago and word of it is just now leaking out. Yep, things sure are going well over there in Iraq. The heats and mind thing is certainly progressing. The image of children piling straw on a living man who is on fire and dying certainly captures the “progress” we’ve made. – LJ

US troops fighting losing battle for Sunni triangle


By Adrian Blomfield
The Telegraph (UK)

(Filed: 22/10/2005)

The mob grew more frenzied as the gunmen dragged the two surviving Americans from the cab of their bullet-ridden lorry and forced them to kneel on the street.

Killing one of the men with a rifle round fired into the back of his head, they doused the other with petrol and set him alight. Barefoot children, yelping in delight, piled straw on to the screaming man’s body to stoke the flames.

It had taken just one wrong turn for disaster to unfold. Less than a mile from the base it was heading to, the convoy turned left instead of right and lumbered down one of the most anti-American streets in Iraq, a narrow bottleneck in Duluiya town, on a peninsular jutting into the Tigris river named after the Jibouri tribe that lives there.

As the lorries desperately tried to reverse out, dozens of Sunni Arab insurgents wielding rocket launchers and automatic rifles emerged from their homes.

The gunmen were almost certainly emboldened by the fact that the American soldiers escorting the convoy would not have been able to respond quickly enough.

“The hatches of the humvees were closed,” said Capt Andrew Staples, a member of the Task Force Liberty 1-15 battalion that patrols Duluiya and other small towns on the eastern bank of the Tigris, who spoke to soldiers involved.

Within minutes, four American contractors, all employees of the Halliburton subsidiary Kellog, Brown & Root, were dead. The jubilant crowd dragged their corpses through the street, chanting anti-US slogans. An investigation has been launched into why the contractors were not better protected.

Perhaps fearful of public reaction in America, where support for the war is falling, US officials suppressed details of the Sept 20 attack, which bore a striking resemblance to the murder of four other contractors in Fallujah last year. … (Read the full article.)

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