Richard Armitage on Valerie Plame - "She's right"

[lame54]

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/11/11/late-edition-armitage-on-leaking-plames-identity/
Late Edition: Armitage on Leaking Plame’s Identity and Smart Power
By: Nicole Belle on Sunday, November 11th, 2007 at 11:02 AM - PST

Download (356) | Play (484) Download (280) | Play (260) (thanks to Dan for vids)

What an amazingly refreshing and grown up admission from a former member of the Bush Administration. When shown a clip of Valerie Plame Wilson castigating him for revealing her identity to Robert Novak by Wolf Blitzer, former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has really only one thing to say: She’s right.

Download (221) | Play (277) Download (57) | Play (121)

In the second clip, Wolf asks Armitage about his work with the CSIS Commission on “Smart Power.” Armitage’s response to the way that Bush & Co. have prosecuted the “War on Terror” sounds amazingly like a *gasp!* progressive position:

BLITZER: Are you suggesting that the “War on Terror” is not the central component of U.S. policy right now?

<!---->

ARMITAGE: There’s two different things. I’m suggesting that it perhaps shouldn’t be. The fact that we make a war on “terror”–which I think is a bit of a misnomer—perhaps it should be a war on extremism, certainly Islamic extremism right now—is keeping us from focusing on other issues, both domestic and international. Look, these terrorists want to hurt us; they’re a real and growing threat. But absent the availability of WMDs to them, they don’t pose an existential threat to us. This is not like fascism during the second world war or communism. The threat they pose to us is whether we in response to their activities will actually do harm to ourselves by changing our way of life, by suspending writs of habeas corpus and by engaging in such activities as torture.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gU5gA6IcIpk

[Cha]

1. Finally! I'm so sick of that

"War" on this and that..that they created.

[Fuzz]

2. I saw that live and was doing a double take, was I really watching

Armitage?

Then he said some other stuff and was brought back to reality, but some of the stuff he was saying was very interesting and logical, emphasis on 'some' and not in line with the current administration at all.

[journalist3072]

3. I have a problem with these conversions after they've already left the Administration

I just find it amazing that people like Richard Armitage, Colin Powell, etc have these conversions and finally speak some truth, after they've already left the Bush crime team.

When they were part of the Administration, they knew exactly what they were doing, and I believe they knew it was wrong.

I would have more respect for them, if they had resigned in disgust and said "I will not take part in these criminal acts."

[HCE SuiGeneris]

7. Exactly. Well said. We are to laud them now?

It is cowardice and complicity that has ruined our foreign and domestic policy. These politicians and Generals could be much more effective if they would expose wrong doing as they find it.

[journalist3072]

22. Exactly right!! You are dead on! eom

[leveymg]

4. Armitage is a straight shooter, but he's a shooter, nonetheless

He's one of the few who felt enough responsibility for the South Vietnamese to successfully guide thousands of them to Singapore harbour after the fall of Saigon. He didn't have to do that, but he did, virtually single-handed. But, he had previously volunteered to work with the CIA Phoenix Program, an assassination program -- or CORDS, something very similar to it.

Armitage then worked with rogue CIA operator Ed Wilson in the Shah's Iran and with Richard Secord in Laos and then Latin America. Wilson, Armitage and Ted Shackley formed the core of George H.W. Bush's privatized CIA that operated with Saudi money after the Democratic Congress and the Carter Administration tried to shut own the worst of the Agency's dirty wet operations. Wilson was later convicted of a number of crimes, including selling assassination devices and plastic explosives to Khadafi. Secord went down during Iran-Contra.

Richard Armitage went on to be the Bush 43 Administration official who on June 1, 2001 leaked to Rupert Murdoch's Times of London that AQ Khadaffi had been trading nuclear and missile technoogy with North Korea. That effectively outed the CIA unit that had been monitoring and sabotaging nuclear programs in the "Axis of Evil" countries, effectively blinding CIA Counter-Proliferation Division, where Valerie Plame worked. That left the job of WMD intelligence gathering to Cheney's boys at the Pentagon OSP.

In May 2001, Armitage then leaked Plame's identity to Bob Woodward of the Washington Post, outing her.

As I said, he's a shooter.

[aquart]

6. Complex little traitor, isn't he?

[leveymg]

11. He thinks of himself as a patriot who made some mistakes.

Interesting dichotomy of opinion. Goes right to the heart of the semi-secret civil war and coups that have been going on since Vietnam.

[leveymg]

33. Couple late edits

Para 3: AQ Khadaffi should read AQ Khan (what was I thinking?)
Para 4: In May 2003 . . .

Oops. The limited edit period here can be embarrassing.

[mod mom]

37. Thank you for providing background. It really helps in understanding the context

of what is occurring.

Sometime I would love to read your thoughts on connections between the neocons and the dlc. I'm interested to hear whether you believe the concerns many of DU express are valid or exaggerated.

[leveymg]

38. There are three forces at work: the DLC do-nothing strategy; and,the neocon Iran strategy

Between the two, Congress and American troops, are trapped in a failed strategy in Iraq with no hope of regime change -- the only regime that can be changed, Bush-Cheney. Then, there are the Saudis, who rightly fear what will happen when we leave, so they won't let us. See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/320

Armitage, I think, recognizes defeat when he sees it. He has considerable practice. He'll probably survive, again.

[mod mom]

40. Thank you for this info-I missed it. Tonight On NPR's Marketplace, they had a story

on a special meeting of OPEC leaders about investment in new oil output. It seemed as if they are blackmailing against movement toward alternative fuels saying they want agreements against this movement or else (they won't invest toward output-therefore greatly increasing cost of existing). Here is a link:

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/11/12/opec_summit/

But as you aptly point out, they need us to stay to fight off S'hite encroachment thanks to the removal of Saddam as a buffer. It's not surprising to read that the Saudis are a huge backer of Hillary. They need someone who is willing to toe the line. So whether we have Hillary or a surprise "win" from Guiliani, the folks who pay the price will be our soldiers and the unfortunate middle easterners could between these factions, as well as the taxpayers who must pay for all this mess. Not much of a choice unless we can unseat HRC.

I really appreciate your sharing your insight. I know I am not alone in finding it invaluable. I plan to do a re-read (sans interruption) after the kids go to bed.

[leveymg]

41. There's no danger of a declining global market for oil.

So long as the US continues to import a growing share of its manufactured goods from China, and Chinese pursue rising living standards (read, embrace of American styles of consumer middle-class society, including private gasoline-burning automobiles) global oil consumption will rise.

That's why I'm rather perplexed by the statements made that OPEC is trying to preempt a switchover to alternative energy solutions in the post-industrial countries. I think the Saudis would want to take the opportunity to now diversify, and invest in the post-HCO boom. At least, that's what I would advise them to do, if they paid me as a consultant.

Perhaps the model of American deindustrialization, deficit financing, and Chinese-centric production has reached its carrying capacity limit. If that is the case, then American oil consumption is going to decline, anyway. So, why try to beat a dying horse?

[Vincardog]

5. This is not like fascism during the second world war. It IS like FASCISM NOW.

The difference is instead of having an American being Hitler's banker.
We have Hitler's banker's Grandson acting as America's (p)Resident.
They are taking us down the same path as Germany in the 1930s.
IF we do not wake up and violently resist we deserve to be in the world court answering just as the German guards were.

Why do we allow "Extraordinary Rendition" make that secret kidnapping and
torture?
Why do we allow people to be imprisoned without charges or a chance to even know the charges against them?
Why do we allow Dim Son to continue to illegally wiretap our phones and emails?
Why do we allow them to lie cheat and steal without any accountability?

Is it because we are all really "Good Germans"?

[robinlynne]

10. He was referring to "islamofascists". not to Bush fascists.

[Vincardog]

13. "islamofascists" is a oxymoron. Bush fascist is just for morons.

[robinlynne]

21. well nice to talk with you too.

btw, it's an oxymoron.

[Vincardog]

26. I did not see where the OP said anything about Islamofascists. He did say it (The current threat)

was NOTHING like the Fascist threat we faced in WWII.

[robinlynne]

28. "it", the current threat is that of the "terrorists". i.e. in Bush's eyes.

[Vincardog]

29. The current bogeyman is a manufactured threat. More people die every year from by drivers

than are killed by "terrorists" excluding terror organizations like the GOP.

[robinlynne]

30. yes, and....

[DeSwiss]

8. To the Greatest Page you go....

...and I find it repugnant that Armitage now speaks the truth. Conscience? Maybe, but I have my doubts. Of course he can speak truth since Libby's been pardoned. Who would or even could charge him with anything now???

- K&R!

[robinlynne]

9. wow. That coming from the extreme right? bizarre.

[struggle4progress]

14. Many are experiencing those "I have no future joined to Bush at the hip" moments

[Richard Steele]

15. Yup. I think that's exactly what's happened here.

He may be evil, but he's not stupid.

[struggle4progress]

18. Hey DS!

Hope all is going well! Oughta get together again to slurp more brewskis sometime!

[Richard Steele]

31. Hey yourself, S4P!

Did you make Supernova's Hallowe'en party?

I hated to miss that one, but that was the first time
my folks have been down in 2 years. Their annual vacation
fund has been eaten by the gas pumps in this wonderful
booming B*sh economy.

[struggle4progress]

32. Yep: I thought

it was a great party. Interesting conversation into the wee hours plus the smashing brownies and other such. Hope you enjoyed yer folks!

[Gabi Hayes]

12. Armitage is a MONSTER. an opium dealer, originally employed by the CIA

Theodore Shackley and Thomas Clines financed a highly intensified phase of the Phoenix project, in 1974 and 1975, by causing an intense flow of Vang Pao opium money to be secretly brought into Vietnam for this purpose. This Vang Pao opium money was administered for Theodore Shackley and Thomas Clines by a US Navy official based in Saigon's US office of Naval Operations by the name of Richard Armitage.

However, because Theodore Shackley, Thomas Clines and Richard Armitage knew that their secret anti-communist extermination program was going to be shut down in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand in the very near future, they, in 1973, began a highly secret non-CIA authorized program. Thus, from late 1973 until April of 1975, Theodore Shackley, Thomas Clines and Richard Armitage disbursed, from the secret, Laotian-based, Vang Pao opium fund, vastly more money than was required to finance even the highly intensified Phoenix Project in Vietnam.

The money in excess of that used in Vietnam was secretly smuggled out of Vietnam in large suitcases, by Richard Secord and Thomas Clines and carried into Australia, where it was deposited in a secret, personal bank account (privately accessible to Theodore Shackley, Thomas Clines and Richard Secord). During this same period of time between 1973 and 1975, Theodore Shackley and Thomas Clines caused thousands of tons of US weapons, ammunition, and explosives to be secretly taken from Vietnam and stored at a secret "cache" hidden inside Thailand.

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/lofiversion/index.php/t6941.html

interview with Alfred McCoy, professor at U of Wisconsin and author of The Politics of Heroin in SE Asia. nobody's ever been able to refute his work, so they tried to keep it from being published, then had their media ignore it

[scarletwoman]

16. You rock, Gabi! Great post! Not enough people know about all this shit.

:yourock:

sw

[Gabi Hayes]

17. these people are the scummiest of the scum, and they're STILL in power.

Armitage is way too smart for Wolf and the other lapdogs.

they don't even NEED Mockingbird anymore

did you read in that link how the CIA went after McCoy when he was writing Cord Meyer's bio?

they did to him what they do now to Plame, etal. just for starters. that was after they tried to keep the publisher from going with the book

I heard McCoy on Chicago's NPR outlet the other day; one of the very few shows worth listenting to, and didn't realize he was still around

he NEVER, EVER gets on major media outlets

wonder why, and I'd love to hear what he has to say about Armitage/Plame, etal. they didn't talk about that when I listened

[AntiFascist]

24. Very interesting revelations!

Probably kid stuff compared to what is happening in Afghanistan.

[lumberjack_jeff]

19. The entire administration defense over plamgate

was that this was the result of Armitage, a guy who just couldn't shut up.

Armitage was an admiral. It strains credibility that he'd ignorantly reveal the identity of spies without being told to do so by his boss.

[Gabi Hayes]

20. then, to the CIA, to SE Asia, to Iran, to Nicaragua, and who knows where else

ever heard of the Nugan Hand Bank?

[TacticalPeek]

23. Hmm - not admiral.

Armitage did only the obligatory six-year hitch after graduating from the Naval Academy, then quit.

His highest rank was probably lieutenant, possibly (remotely) lieutenant commander - very hard to find on the Web, which smells intentional. And he was a surface warfare officer, not a SEAL as he has sometimes failed to deny when reporters called him that.

Of course, I agree that Armitage likely knew exactly what he was doing when he deliberately outed Plame, despite his transparent lies to the contrary.

As Nofacts said, he's not a political hit-man. He's a 'beyond politics' hit-man.

[lumberjack_jeff]

25. My bad. Thanks for the correction. n/t

[Gabi Hayes]

27. exactly...and you know what his boss, Colin Powell, calls him:

my white son

that's right, even though they're about the same age,
Armitage being spawned in 1945

[magellan]

34. If this is true, why hasn't Armitage been brought up on charges?

I have reservations about his "mea culpa" and its convenience to the WH, but never mind that; he's admitting it. No perp walk? Or has the law that made this a crime worthy of an investigation since been compromised away?

[leveymg]

35. Armitage cooperated with Fitz's Grand Jury

So, he walked. Scooter got caught up in his lies to protect Cheney, so he didn't. Simple as that.

[spanone]

36. the pig should be jailed

[baldguy]

39. Somehow, I doubt he'll go quietly if charges are brought.

He'd lawyer up real quick & move to suppress this interview as prejudicial.