Forums

[sgtclub]

Ty, you may want to contact this guy and back up your boy.

http://zonitics.blogspot.com/2004_07...26145478501297

When will we learn?

When the confirmation of the Iraq/Niger/Uranium story broke in the Financial Times last week, my enthusiasm was slightly guarded because of this post by Josh Marshall (lefty uber-blogger) [text deleted]:


A UK government inquiry into the intelligence used to justify the war in Iraq is expected to conclude that Britain's spies were correct to say that Saddam Hussein's regime sought to buy uranium from Niger.

The inquiry by Lord Butler, which was delivered to the printers on Wednesday and is expected to be released on July 14, has examined the intelligence that underpinned the UK government's claims about the threat from Iraq. . . .

The Financial Times revealed last week that a key part of the UK's intelligence on the uranium came from a European intelligence service that undertook a three-year surveillance of an alleged clandestine uranium-smuggling operation of which Iraq was a part.

Intelligence officials have now confirmed that the results of this operation formed an important part of the conclusions of British intelligence. The same information was passed to the US but US officials did not incorporate it in their assessment.
I would like to believe that Marshall actually knew something when he published his critique of the first Financial Times story. I'd like to think that Marshall wouldn't post something with so much breathless innuendo if there weren't something to back it up.

Unfortunately, Josh Marshall's history leaves one with little reason to believe him when he makes such assertions. In case you need a refresher, here's what I wrote about Marshall and scandal at the end of March, 2002:


1. Marshall promised that a bombshell report on Enron and a member of the Bush administration would be released by Common Cause right away. When it didn't appear immediately, he backtracked and said it was coming soon. Ultimately, that report never really materialized.


2. Before that, on February 22nd, Marshall wrote about suspicious connections between Karl Rove, Ralph Reed and Enron. He ended the post with a breathless hint of deep shenanigans and a promise of "More on this tomorrow." Well, he didn't post anything about it on the 23rd, the 24th, or the 25th. On February 28th, he wrote about "astroturf" organizing (his phase for phony grass-roots organizing) that included discussion of Reed, but nothing of substance about Enron. As far as I can tell, he never delivered on his promise of "more on this."


3. Before all of that, in a series of early to mid-February posts (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5) Marshall reported on developments in the Enron situation. Each time he hinted that someone big in the Bush administration was going to be implicated in one of the Enron phony-balony partnerships (that generally made huge money for the insiders for no risk investments). In fact, Marshall did more than just hint on February 10th:


There are investigators on the Hill, ones working in private lawsuits against Enron, and presumably many in the Justice Department who are piecing together this information. And given that investments in one of Fastow's particularly lucrative sweetheart deals would likely be politically fatal and perhaps even worse, the rumor mill is bubbling with names. Names high up the political ladder. Really high up the political ladder.

A good bit of this is probably just wishful thinking on the part of Democratic politicos in Washington. But not all of it, I'd bet. In any case, we'll know soon enough.
It's over 6 weeks later and those "really high up" names still haven't surfaced. Maybe they still will, but if the rumor mill were really "bubbling" with names like Marshall claimed, I seriously doubt that it would still be quiet now.

4. In January, Marshall speculated that Phil Gramm's decision to retire was connected to his wife's involvement in a scandal involving Enron. Although not explicit, in a later post Marshall seemed to imply that it was more than just her membership on the Enron board.

5. Also in January, Marshall wrote that he suspected that the White House must have known far, far in advance of Enron's problems because they had vetted Ken Lay as a possible Treasury Secretary. After telling the White House Press Corp, that "this one's on me" nothing ever came of it.

As you can imagine, after writing that post, I pretty much quit checking out Marshall's blog as a useless waste of my time. If you've found examples after March 2002, where he actually delivered anything close to what he's promised by way of scandal, feel free to post it in the comments. His latest non-delivery doesn't give me much reason to fear.
posted by Edward at 9:18 PM Comments (27)