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From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 10-02-03
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8:00-8:01 Billboard:
Former CIA Agent Lashes Out at White House For Blowing Colleague’s
Cover
Former CIA Agent Phillip Agee On the Wilson Affair, the
Iraq Invasion and Why Bush Sr. Calls Him A Traitor
"Intimigate" Scandal at the White House
Own a Piece of Iraq: How U.S. Gvt. Officials Are Leaving
Public Office To Cash In On Iraq
8:01-8:06 Headlines
8:06-8:07 One Minute Music Break
8:07-8:25 Former CIA Agent Lashes Out at White House
For Blowing Colleague’s Cover
INTRO: As administration allies seek to discredit former
ambassador Joseph Wilson as a partisan critic disregarding
his commendation by President Bush Sr. for his “heroism”
in the 1991 Persian Gulf War we speak with former intelligence
officer Larry Johnson who worked with Joseph Wilson’s
wife, Valerie Plame, at the CIA.
According to the latest Washington Post/ABC News poll, 69%
of Americans believe there should be a special counsel independent
of the administration investigating the allegations that Bush
administration officials illegally leaked the name of an undercover
CIA agent.
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle and three
other Senators wrote to the president repeating their call
for a special counsel and asking for all White House senior
staff members to sign a statement saying they were not responsible
for the leak. Separately, Sen. Chuck Hagel said that Bush
"needs to get this behind him" by taking a more
active role.
Bush remained quiet on the topic, but White House press secretary
Scott McClellan was besieged by questions from reporters with
the Wilson affair filling 22 of 24 pages in the transcript
of yesterday’s White House press briefing.
The White House left open the possibility that administration
officials could submit to lie detector tests as part of the
investigation. McClellan did not directly answer questions
about whether White House staff would take polygraph tests
saying "Full co-operation is full co-operation."
Meanwhile, administration allies are seeking to discredit
Wilson, whose wife was named as a CIA operative. RNC Director
Ed Gillespie said Wilson is prone to "rash statements"
and is “someone - given his politics - who is obviously
prone to think the worst of this White House."
However, as the former US ambassador to Iraq, Joseph Wilson
was formally commended by the Bush Sr. administration for
his bravery and heroism in the weeks leading up to the 1991
Persian Gulf War. At that time Wilson was the only open line
of communication between Washington and Saddam Hussein and
the White House consulted Wilson daily. Wilson also helped
evacuate thousands of foreigners from Kuwait, negotiated the
release of more than 120 American hostages and sheltered nearly
800 Americans in the embassy compound. President Bush the
First wrote Wilson in a letter which read in part: “Your
courageous leadership during this period of great danger for
American interests and American citizens has my admiration
and respect.”
- Larry Johnson, former intelligence officer at the CIA
where he worked with Joseph Wilson’s wife Valerie
Plame. He served as deputy director of the U.S. State Department
Office of Counterterrorism, 1989-1993. He is now CEO and
co-founder of BERG Associates, LLC ,an international business-consulting
firm.
8:25-8:40 Former CIA Agent Phillip Agee On the Wilson
Affair, the Iraq Invasion and Why Bush Sr. Calls Him A Traitor
INTRO: Whoever in the White House burned Wislon's wife could
be charged under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act
which imposes strict penalties on the outting of agents. We
speak with former CIA agent Phillip Agee, for whom, many believe,
the Act was written.
Former acting ambassador to Iraq Joseph Wilson says that
the outing of his wife other attempts to discredit him “are
clearly intended to intimidate others from coming forward.”
But it’s not just intimidation; it’s a felony.
Until now, a crime the Bush family has taken very seriously.
Many believe the law was passed in direct response to former
CIA agent Philip Agee’s blowing the whistle on CIA dirty
tricks in his book “Inside the Company: CIA Diary”
George H.W. Bush, who was vice-president when the law was
passed, said some of the criticism of the Agency ruined secret
U.S. clandestine operations in foreign countries.
So seriously did the Bushes take the crime of exposing CIA
operatives that Barbara Bush, in her memoirs, accused Agee
of blowing the cover of the CIA Station Chief in Greece, Richard
Welch, who was assassinated outside his Athens residence in
1975. Agee sued the former first lady and Mrs. Bush withdrew
the statement from additional printings of her book. Still,
at a celebration marking the fiftieth anniversary of the CIA,
the elder Bush again singled out Agee in his remarks, calling
him “a traitor to our country.”
- Phil Agee, former CIA agent. In 1975 Agee wrote "Inside
the Company: CIA Diary" about his experiences with
the agency from 1957 to 1968. Many believe the Intelligence
Identities Protection Act was passed in direct response
to Agee’s blowing the whistle on CIA dirty tricks.
He speaks to us from Cuba.
8:40-8:41 One Minute Music Break
8:41-8:45 "Intimigate" Scandal at the White
House
The outting of Joseph Wilson’s wife a week after he
publicly challenged President Bush's claim that Iraq had tried
to buy uranium from Niger is just the latest in a pattern
of retaliation by the White House against critics of the Iraq
invasion. The Center for American Progress outlines 6 prior
examples of critics who were fired, intimidated or defamed
by the administration.
8:45-8:58 Own a Piece of Iraq: How U.S. Gvt. Officials
Are Leaving Public Office To Cash In On Iraq
INTRO: As President Bush asks U.S. taxpayers to cough up
$87 billion for the reconstruction of Iraq, some of his closest
allies have set up a new private business firm in Washington
and Iraq to advise companies that want to do business in Iraq
including companies who are seeking government contracts.
President Bush’s campaign manager in 2000, Joe Allbaugh,
has set up a new private business firm in Washington and Iraq
to advise companies that want to do business in Iraq including
companies who are seeking government contracts.
Until March, Allbaugh served as the director of the Federal
Emergency Management Agency and was Bush’s chief of
staff when he was governor of Texas. Other directors of the
new firm called New Bridge Strategies include Edward Rogers
Jr. and Lanny Griffith, two lobbyists who were assistants
to the first President George Bush and now have close ties
to the White House.
The company Web site says the company was "created specifically
with the aim of assisting clients to evaluate and take advantage
of business opportunities in the Middle East following the
conclusion of the U.S.-led war in Iraq." The new company
benefited from a decision by the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing
Council that allows foreign companies to establish 100 percent
ownership of businesses in Iraq.
Other Washington insiders who are working in Iraq are former
Defense Secretary William Cohen, former Senate Majority Leader
George Mitchell and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey.
8:58-8:59 Outro and Credits
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Jeremy Scahill, Mike Burke,
Angie Karran, Sharif Abdul Kouddous, Lenina Nadal, Ana Nogueira,
and Elizabeth Press. Mike Di Filippo is our music maestro
and engineer.
[Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Rafael delaUz, Gabriel Weiss, Johnny Sender,
Rich Kim, Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Jenny
Filipazzo]
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