TPMtv Guide: Tuesday, May 1
We know TPMtv promised you a rundown of the latest news from the US Attorney scandal today, but we decided at the last second that this Niger/uranium story we chatted about yesterday demands a follow-up.
As you may have seen from the clip we posted on TPM yesterday, retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern went onto Tucker Carlson’s MSNBC show yesterday afternoon and made one seriously eyebrow-raising claim: Vice President Dick Cheney was behind the Niger forgeries. The question we ask in today’s episode of TPMtv is: does Ray McGovern know what he’s talking about?
Based on his own extensive reporting, Josh is a bit dubious that McGovern can back up his claims with concrete evidence, mostly because he is dubious that such evidence actually exists. (On the show McGovern said that he had some evidence but was unwilling to share it “here and now.”) But the fact that we're still debating the Niger mystery a full 4 years after the President uttered those 16 words during the 2003 State of the Union address signals a larger point: this matter has still yet to be fully investigated.
We told you yesterday what a laugh the Senate Intelligence Committee and Silberman-Robb reports are. But an investigation of the Niger forgeries falls not only within the purview of congress. Being a crime, the Niger forgeries also demand an FBI investigation.
Both Josh and Mr. McGovern note that Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) of the Senate Intelligence Committee tried his best back in 2003 to get the FBI to investigate the Niger forgeries. The FBI’s response has been lackluster at best.
Let’s break it down:
1) By 2006 it became clear that the Italian military intelligence agency, SISMI, had played a role in passing these forged documents on to the United States.
2) Hence, to investigate the matter with any semblance of aggression the FBI would need the cooperation of the Italian government.
3) But, in his reporting last year, Josh spoke to senior federal law enforcement officials who told him that the Bush administration had refused to pressure the Italian government to cooperate with the FBI’s investigation. So there you go. [Ed. note: the siren that can be heard in the background during this segment of the video was actually present in real time and not added in post-production for dramatic effect.]
So, is McGovern to be believed? Who knows? The point is if the FBI would go ahead and investigate this matter, then we wouldn’t have to rely on spooky allegations made by former CIA employees on cable news shows to find our answers. If House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) is really interested in getting to the bottom of this story then he ought to talk to some officials at the FBI in addition to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
After the break, Josh plugs his favorite new book: The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught, by Marcus Stern, Jerry Kammer, Dean Calbreath, and George E. Condon Jr. These are the San Diego Union-Tribune and Copley News reporters who actually broke the Duke Cunningham story. Should be a good read.
So, tune in tomorrow for (really this time, we promise) a comprehensive recap of the latest developments in the US Attorney scandal.
Hmmm... Could McGovern possibly be talking about Michael Ledeen?
May 1, 2007 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
First, thanks for adding a text summary of the TPMtv post. I hope you will do this as a matter of course in the future. I cannot launch the video clips from my computer at work.
Second, I've thought for a long time that Cheney was involved in the genesis of these forgeries. There just does not seem to me to be sufficient motive for some rogue semi-retired French Connection operative to gin up these forgeries on his own initiative, hoping that he could fool the US government into paying some money for them. Seems more rational to think that somebody put him up to it. (I will be surprized, however, if there is real proof of this, or if we ever hear the truth about it.)
Third, it's good to hear from you, Ben. Could this assignment morph into the new Daily Roundup (or whatever...)?
-- ARG in Chicago
May 1, 2007 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
I doubt if Cheney instigated the forgeries but I think he pushed them. I have no idea the truth behind them but the original story was a former SISMI agent trying to sell them to a reporter after obtaining the letterhead paper through a Nigerian employee. Trying not to be a conspiracy theorist, it's possible that was a cover for the real motive to get them in the intelligence stream. There was so much bogus intelligence around at the time what is a little more? And Cheney really needed something to back up his declaration that Saddam WAS obtaining uranium for his reactors(gag). I wouldn't put it past Ashcroft to counsel the FBI to trace the validity of the subject but not if they were forgeries. They had the information long before they were turned over to the UN Commission who determined they were forgeries before the day was out. Unless our CIA and the Pentagon are complete dunces they had to know it also. If that was the case it could be the reason it wasn't disclosed so they (CHENEY) could keep beating this dead horse. Something like Atta's meeting in Prague.
May 1, 2007 11:53 AM | Reply | Permalink
From early rumors, I've long understood that Michael Ledeen and his associates were directly responsible for these forgeries. But who set him on the path to the Italian forgeries and the Iranian Manucher Ghorbanifar machinations recently confirmed by Tenent?
Like a filthy combinations of cockroaches and termites; disgusting neocons.
May 1, 2007 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree, I like the text rundown, for us sometimes-video-disabled people.
Our obligation is to define the liberty of all, not to mandate our own moral code. -- SCOTUS that was...
May 1, 2007 12:56 PM | Reply | Permalink
Two events, both a bit tangential.
Long before the Niger forgeries, there was a report of a man captured smuggling a small amount of uranium into Iraq through Turkey. Several weeks later the report was debunked. Apparently the "uranium" was actually lead.
Also, during the 2004 election when Rather lost his credibility, nobody -- to my knowledge -- investigated the forgeries that Rather presented. Who forged those papers? Why? Surely the CBS people knew about trojan gifts delivered before an election. (Anyone remember Yvette Lozano?)
These and other events indicate there must be a plumbers group as McGovern claims.
MW
May 1, 2007 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I suspect that a good prosecutor could construct an unbreakable chain of evidence from Cheney, to the National Energy Policy Development Group, the Niger Documents, the Invasion of Iraq, and the Forthcoming Iraqi Hydrocarbon Law.
The HydroCarbon Law should be renamed the Iraqi OIl Theft Law. Only with the duress of 150,000 troops would a country sign away 75% of its oil resources.
May 1, 2007 2:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is not helpful at all, IMO, for McGovern to be making such a serious accusation without presenting any evidence. It puts our side in the wrong.
May 1, 2007 2:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Do not dismiss this investigation. If you google Ray McGovern and uranium claims, you see he has been dropping hints for several years - and one tantalizing one drops on John Bolton's doorstep in a 2005 article on the net.
He is on to something and has been now in public making these same accusations for several years -and even now, no one wants to take him seriously. We should. Google him and get back to me.
May 2, 2007 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink