It appears there is a reasonable basis in light of the DoD emails and NYT reporting (referenced below) the Vice President and President will have a harder time invoking executive privilege to shield information. This appears to be known to counsel and could explain the data destruction, email loss, installation fires, Presidential attempts to hide information from the National Archives, and OVP document shredding.

These issues have war crimes implications. The subject cannot be quickly researched nor reported in a single blog. However, rather than sitting on this information, we thought the underground bloggers might benefit from this information. This comment is intended to encourage discussion within the underground blogging community on what areas might be interesting to independently research; explore other information available in the open media that may help organize the DoD emails; and suggests a course of inquiry and investigation to examine the DoD emails for other clues about the Vice President’s dealings with Feith, Libby, and McClellan.

Due to limitations on space, and permitted links (2) in TPM comments, the comments below are a narrative, do not provide any web references with links. This is a preliminary comment, which later blogs may address in more detail with detailed links to the DoD emails, ACLU FOIA information, the NYT articles, and the Fitzgerald Grand Jury transcripts.

The comments below are a preliminary commentary on McClellan’s book; and the role the Vice President had in deceiving the public on issues of war crimes, FISA violations, POW abuse, and violations of Geneva.

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The White House feigned shock over McClellan’s memoir, asking us to wonder, “What happened?” The White House would have us believe McClellan must have been out of the loop, and nothing explains the “Betrayal” of McClellan.

McClellan was part of the White House Press Office. He had responsibility to provide information to the media. Not having read the book, it appears McClellan would like to pretend the DoD emails do not include his name. If the assertions about his bock are true – that he’s blaming the media for not challenging a propaganda effort – McClellan has only himself to blame.

The DoD emails paint a different picture. Contrary to the White House assertions about McClellan or his book, McClellan was well involved. Contrary to McClellan’s’ implicit claims – that the responsibility for the failures lie with the media’s failure to confront the President – McClellan hasn’t explained why his name is on the DoD emails; or how much information McClellan knew about the propaganda, and failed to truthfully respond to questions.

There’s another distraction effort underway. IT relates to the GOP accusations against Senator Obama that because he could not correctly state which Nazi concentration camp is relative liberated, this would make him unfit to be President. Again, the DoD emails paint a problem for the GOP on the issue of concentration camps.

One of the DoD emails references an editorial to the Army Times. The classified DoD emails show the name of the Command Sergeant Major. The letter head to the Army Times includes the same American military unit assigned to a German Nazi concentration camp. The retried Command Sergeant Major would have us believe that the media got it wrong on the Guantanamo leadership. The Command Sergeant major claims he never saw any prisoner abuse. That misses the point. The FBI agents did. It appears someone from DoD worked with the President to close the FBI war crimes/prisoner abuse case files.

The GOP needs to explain why there has been no investigation of the American concentration camp at Guantanamo. It’s one thing to argue over Senator Obama’s technical error over which camp or which relative liberated. The Republican’s problem is they still have a concentration camp, the prisoners have not been liberated, and the DoD emails show the link between the Nazi Concentration camp and those military units assigned to Guantanamo.

It’s absurd for the Republicans to argue because Obama made a technical error that he’s not fit to be President; but not confront the military units assigned to Guantanamo that should have applied the lessons of WWII, and did not repeat the abuses. When the Republican Party takes responsibility for what it failed to do at Guantanamo – comply with the Geneva Conventions and make way for an FBI investigation – perhaps the public might take seriously the “concerns” the GOP has about Obama’s ancestor who did the right thing: Confronted abuse. The DoD emails show this is lost on the Republican Party.

Put aside the above two anecdotes showing misdirection from the DoD emails. Consider the problem for the Vice President. He’s a well known player in screening information before it reaches the White House. Libby’s job was to shut down things. The DOD emails show the Vice President and Libby must have given the green light: The President and White House were involved with the military analysts, conducting meetings, and exchanging emails. If the Vice President did not approve of this through Libby, there would be no military analysts.

It defies reason for McClellan to argue that there was some sort of cloud or mysterious forces of propaganda that was swirling around the White House. No, McClellan was involved. How he was or wasn’t involved directly with the Vice President and Libby remains to be understood. However, the DoD emails do show some important details about Feith, Libby, and the Vice President.

The information below is intended to provide you with some background information showing the DoD email connection to the Vice President, Feith, and the Military Analysts. If you recall, you’ll the White House had several groups connected with Feith that had the job to sell the war in Iraq, prove a link between Hussein and Osama bin Ladin, and make the case that there were WMD. The DOD emails paint a very different picture about the Vice President, Feith, and the various groups connected with OVP, the White House, and DoD.

For those of you who are lost on how the DoD emails fit in with the Feith efforts, we only need to look at the NYT reporting of the Feith-connected groups. You’ll see some surprising patterns emerge. The NYT reporting after 2001 creates a good framework to hang the DoD emails: The NYT reporting points to specific groups, contractors, and White House-OVP-connected personnel involved with the propaganda.

The DoD emails paint part of the picture of how these previously-reported groups were or were not working with the military analysts.

The problem has been despite the grand jury and (cursory) Congressional investigations, Libby and the Vice President have largely not been confronted on the military analysts or the propaganda effort. McClellan’s assertions today create another opening for the public to contrast what McClellan says in his book; versus what the DoD emails show; versus the NYT reporting on these Feith-connected organizations.

The public is encouraged to not get lost on the details. What’s happening now is spin, but the DoD emails cannot be changed. Once McClellan disclosed his assertions, and we contrast those with the DoD emails, McClellan has a problem: He’s publicly asking us to believe he had an arms-reach connection with the propaganda efforts; the White House would ask that we believe McClellan was out of the loop, but the DoD emails contract both McClellan and the White House. Once McClellan’s email and his written statements are before a grand jury, those contradictions could be the basis to impeach him as a witness.

Going forward, one suggestion is to review the NYT articles about Feith and Libby, and compare the DoD emails with what the Vice President and Feith were doing to mobilize the country for war. The emails show there was massive coordination, the White House staff was involved, and DoD staff were well working through Rumsfeld to provide information to Libby and others connected indirectly with Feith and his DoD-based groups.

To assist you in making some headway in understanding how the Vice President worked with Libby through Feith to mobilize the country for war using propaganda, we’ve reviewed some of the NYT articles, and presented those for you here. The DoD emails help fill in the connections and details about Feith, the Vice President, and how the Vice President was working through Feith to provide this information.

You’ll see that McClellan, the Vice President and President have a problem. Not only has McClellan put in writing information that is damaging to the President, McClellan has provided details that give the public another avenue to request additional information. It’s the job of the US government to provide a good reason why the information connected with the Vice President must still remain secret.

The NYT reporting below largely complements what the DoD emails show: That there was a massive effort, the Vice President was well connected, and McClellan and the Republican party knew or should have known about war crimes and prisoner abuse. The DoD emails and ACLU FOIA show people were responding to questions about POWs. Whether McClellan, the Vice President or president were or were not asking the right questions misses the point: The media was confronting McClellan, and the ACLU FOIA information suggests McClellan is shifting the burden from his office to the public. On that point, McClellan may be right -- the media fell down -- but McClellan fails to discuss who tripped the media: McClellan, Feith, the Vice President, the President, Libby, and the military analysts.

The DoD emails also complement some of the ACLU FOIA information. McClellan was asked some very specific questions about Guantanamo. There were calls to shut down Guantanamo. In the weeks and months after the press confronted McClellan on these prisoner abuse questions, the DoD emails show there was extensive message traffic within public affairs to respond to questions; and the ACLU FOIA provides further details of which specific names on the DoD emails were responding to the media questioned directed at McClellan.

It may be true the President and Vice President abused power, and manipulated the media and military analysts. The point is that the DoD emails, ACLU FOIA, and the NYT reporting are coming together on some key issues. The problem is the abuse of power, and the failure of the US government to ensure the President and Vice President were adequately checked. How this occurred is less important than understanding that it does not need to continue.

Congress has the responsibility to review the following information showing the connection between the DoD emails, the Vice President, and the groups connected with Feith. However, Congress has reviewed some of the investigation results on WMD deception, and largely done nothing. We’re not optimistic a few DoD emails will mobilize Congress to start doing what it refuses to do: Enforce the laws of war.

There’s one issue which hasn’t gotten much attention: The link between the military analysts, the NSA contractors, and the digital data forensics industry. The classified DoD information shows the email addresses of military analysts that are linked with information security. What’s not been well discussed is how the Vice President working through Feith organized military analysts not on the issues of Iraq and WMD, but the FISA violations, and the excuses to ignore the Judicial Branch.

What’s needed is a public effort to review the DoD emails, reconsider the ACLU FOIA information, challenge McClellan, and examine the NYT articles below. You are encouraged to reach your own conclusions about McClellan, his boo, and the DoD emails. But what cannot be disputed is that the DoD emails paint a picture which the public needs to examine: What role did the Vice President play on a day to day basis to mobilize this nation for an illegal war; what approvals and coordination did Feith make on behalf of the Vice President, and what will ensure this abuse of power does not repeat itself.

The information below is not intended to be all inclusive, but designed to generate discussion on the following points:

A. What specific information does the Grand Jury and public need about the military analysts to provide some informed inputs to what needs to be done to ensure this abuse of power does not occur;

B. What other research can the underground bloggers do to make some reasonable connections between the NYT information on Feith/Libby with the DOD emails;

C. What specific information is needed to understand how the Vice President worked through Libby and Feith to manage military analysts, and provide misleading information to Congress and the public.

D. What assistance would a new grand jury – looking at the Vice President, Feith, Libby, and others connected with these groups providing information – need to examine to ensure they are adequately looking at the full spectrum of activities connected with the Vice President.

DoD Emails and Subpoenas

1. On the table are possible grand jury subpoenas to former military officials, now called “military analysts.” Libby and the Vice President refused to cooperate with the Grand Jury, yet did work through military analysts to provide misleading information to the public about Iraq and its connection to 9-11. The public and grand jury should see the same free flow of reliable and factual information as we saw with propaganda.

Military Analysts, DoD Emails May Provide Possible Answer on Plame Leak

2. The DoD emails show the role of military analysts, and may help answer “how that information may have spread within the administration and journalists”. [Bill Marsh, “Who Spoke to Woodward?’ NYT, Nov 27, 2005]

3. Libby was reluctant to provide information to the Senate intelligence committee. Information going to Libby, or from Libby to Feith/WHIG/OSP should be available to the Senate and Grand Jury. [Richard W. Stevenson, Douglas Jehl, “Leak Case Renews Questions on War 's Rationale,” NYT, Oct 23, 2005.]

Appropriate Questions

4. After 9-11, the Administration asked, “Was _(excuse of the week)__ involved?” The Administration, military analysts, and US government officials cannot be immune to the same question: Who was involved with the alleged illegal propaganda, how long have they been involved, and what funds changed hands based on this alleged illegal propaganda?”

Intermediary Groups Coordinate Information To Military Analysts

5. The DoD emails privately disclose Feith wanted to be involved with information, approvals, and coordination; publicly Feith said he was not using his official position to provide misleading information. US government investigations have also concluded there was no official policy or illegal activity. These conclusion are absurd. Someone must have transmitted the information. The FISA violations relied on intermediaries. The US government did not, in some cases, directly violate the law. Similarly, the US government has used contractors to do things the government is expressly prohibited.

6. There is little understanding of the connection between the military analysts, Doug Feith, and the White House Iraq Group (WHIG); nor how the military analysts worked through Feith with the WHIG to push propaganda. [Frank Rich, “One Step Closer to The Big Enchilada,” NYT, Oct 30, 2005]

7. The public and grand jury does not have adequate information about Feith’s “Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group” or know how this group worked with the military analysts to provide information to the public and Congress. This group attempted to prove there were links between Iraq and AlQueda. [Frank Rich, “All the President’s Flacks,” NYT, Dec 4, 2005] The group is also known as the “Counter Terrorism Evaluation Group [James Risen, “How Pair’s Finding on Terror Led to Clash on Shaping Intelligence,” NYT April 28, 2004.]

8. The other groups linked with Feith, and apparently working with the military analysts include the “Office of Special Plans.”

Vice President Involvement, Knowledge of WHIG and Military Analysts

9. The DoD emails show Libby’s name was on a DoD list, generated from Rumsfeld’s “snowflakes.” This was a list DoD used to target policy makers, staff, and Members of Congress on various issues. We do not have enough information about this list, or samples of the types of reports sent.

10. The DoD emails show the President had combined meetings with military analysts and White House staff; his staff was on DoD email lists related to the military analysts. Cheney would have been involved, aware, and concurred with the Military Analysts involvement. Libby’s role was to “choke” off ideas Cheney opposed “before they rose to the Oval Office.” [David E. Sanger, Eric Schmitt, “Cheney’s Power No Longer Goes Unquestioned,” NYT Sept 10, 2006.]

DoD Emails Mirror Agencies Connected With Vice President

11. The DoD emails show (a) on page 120 NSC involvement; and (b) the “snowflake” list included Libby. The DoD emails include office symbols substantially matching those associated with the Counterterrorism Evaluation Group. The redacted DoD-emails substantially mirror agencies and contractors affiliated with the NSA, digital data forensics. On Sept 16, 2002 the “Feith team briefed Stephen J. Hadley” of the NSC, and Libby on the DoD’s “snowflake” list. [See chart, showing links between Libby and Feith, and top officials briefed: James Risen, “How Pair’s Finding On Terror Led to Clash on Shaping Intelligence,” NYT, April 28, 2004; key phrase: “COUNTER TERRORISM EVALUATION GROUP”] We do not have enough information about Christina Shelton or Stephen A. Cambone to comment on what interaction they had with the military analysts through WHIG, Counterterrorism Evaluation Group or any Feith-connected groups inside DoD.

12. DoD emails also mention the UN reports, NSC officials, and the snowflake list. Libby’s Deputy John Hannah is connected with Robert Joseph at the NSC, and Bolton Advisor David Wurmser, later assigned to Cheney’s office. [RICHARD W. STEVENSON and DOUGLAS JEHL “Leak Case Renews Questions on War's Rationale,” NYT, Oct 23, 2005. ]

US Government Diversions From Government To Analysts

13. Rather than discuss the US government-military analyst role in providing inaccurate information, US government investigations in the Senate and IG have focused on the analysis of the intelligence. This is misdirection. The reports assign no responsibility, but never discuss the role of the military analysts is providing this inaccurate information. Whether the military analysts were or were not criminally responsible for illegal warfare is a separate issue.. We don’t yet have enough information about the military analysts’ sources, their connection with Feith’s groups, or the role the Vice President played in providing this misleading information through the WHIG to the military analysts.

14. The Vice President made 17 trips to the CIA. NYT: “Analysts reporting to Douglas Feith . . . told Stephen J. Hadley . . .and Libby, there were ‘fundamental problems with how the intelligence community is assessing information.” [Bloomberg (author): “Hussein-Qaeda Link ' Inappropriate ,' Report Says,” NYT, April 6, 2007.]

15. Congress narrowly looked at Feith-directly-connected alleged deceptions to Congress on Iraq. They did not review the alleged Feith-reviewed-approved deceptions routed outside official channels, indirectly through the military analysts.

Official Briefings

16. It would be useful to chart how information flowed from the CIA, to OVP, to the WHIG, then to the military analysts; then understand how the WHIG interacted with the agencies to develop talking points and briefings; then coordinate this information with the military analysts.

17. 2002, 22-year veteran DIA analysts Tina Shelton presented “some” Feith slides to the CIA. Tenet reports Shelton briefed it was an “open and shut case”. [Scott Shane, “Former C.I.A. Chief 's Memoir Irritates Some High - Ranking Readers,” NYT, Apr 28, 2007.]

18. Aug 2002, Feith briefed Bush, Cheney, and Aides. [ Douglas Jehl, “CIA Chief Says He’s Corrected Cheney Privately,” NYT, March 10, 2004]

Funds Linked With Feith To Contractors

19. The public does not have enough information about how information from military analysts generated specific contract awards. Feith’s Deputy is Christopher Henry (former SAIC). Feith is reported to have directed a contractor to hire Riza to help set up the Iraq government. Two writers discussed these contract efforts: Steven Weisman, David Sarger [ Maureen Dowd “Cupid and Cupidity,” NYT, April 18, 2007]

20. Feith Advisor Michael H. Mobbs is reported to be associated with a $1.9M task order. The proposal is briefed to Libby and others. The office symbols of those in attendance substantially match (a) the email on page 120 listing McClellan and others linked with the White House; (b) the list of attendees to the President meeting with analysts; (c) and SecDef snowflake-related names. [Erik Eckholm, “White House Officials and Cheney Aide Approved Halliburton Contract in Iraq , Pentagon Says,” NYT, June 14, 2004]

Cheney

21. May 8, 2001 Cheney on CNN Announces role in direction government review of US “consequence management.” Where is this plan he disclosed; what is the plan of OVP to discuss this with the military analysts? [Frank Rich, “One Step Closer to The Big Enchilada,” NYT, Oct 30, 2005]

No one has time to read these blow-hard polemics, the failed effort to disguise them as being really serious stuff about law notwithstanding.