Shortly after I posted the original Aspens turning diary (
Libby Writes IN CODE To Miller?) in October, it occurred to me that the "Aspens" may have been connected at the root to none other than Condaleeza Rice.
And no one was more closely connected to her Aspen Institute roots in the administration than Stephen Hadley.
So I posted a follow-up diary about Hadley, Rice and the Aspen Institute.
And today, Raw Story has broken a story that -- if true -- makes it likely that I was right: Hadley is cooperating with Patrick Fitzgerald.
Jump for more.
Bob Woodward testified before the grand jury
because he had to:
...Fitzgerald interviewed Woodward about the previously undisclosed conversation after the official alerted the prosecutor to it on Nov. 3 -- one week after Vice President Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted in the investigation....
Now why would a senior administration official be giving evidence to Fitzgerald? Because he's cooperating, that's why.
I know it's bad form to re-post a diary, but that's just what I'm doing here. Read on for the original post about Hadley, and decide for yourself if Hadley is one of those turning aspens.
From Thu Oct 06, 2005 at 04:53:52 PM PDT:
Thank you, Murray Waas! Today, Waas further developed the story of Karl Rove's desperate bid to avoid indictment -- and turned attention to a key player that may help explain that enigmatic letter from Scooter Libby to Judith Miller. Remember that soggy, suspicious prose?
[Libby] closed the letter [to Judy Miller] on this personal note (although he wasn't quite right on when autumn begins): "You went into jail in the summer. It is fall now. You will have stories to cover--Iraqi elections and suicide bombers, biological threats and the Iranian nuclear program. Out West, where you vacation, the aspens will already be turning. They turn in clusters, because their roots connect them. Come back to work---and life. Until then, you will remain in my thoughts and prayers."
For those of you who played along last time as we tried to crack the "code," or who want to don a little Reynolds wrap this evening, read on below the fold for a new suspect in the aspen/root puzzle: Stephen J. Hadley.
Remember the circumstances of that letter from Scooter Libby to Judith Miller: a message from a man about to be frog-marched to the woman who holds his fate in her hands.
It's not unreasonable to speculate that there was a little something extra in that communication: a threat? a promise of safety? a warning?
One key image attracted our attention last time: "aspens" that "will already be turning"; "they turn in clusters because their roots connect them." That's a juicy clue.
So another google -- "Stephen J. Hadley" "Aspen Institute"-- quickly uncovered some very significant Aspen roots: Condaleeza Rice.
Retired Air Force Gen. Brent Scowcroft (who held the post of national security adviser for Gerald Ford, alongside Cheney and Rumsfeld) discovered Rice during the 1980s at the Aspen Institute.
Rooted in Aspen, Rice put together a team of "Vulcans":
Rice not only coordinated Bush's issues papers but kept in line the "Vulcans"--the brain trust of national security experts who periodically assembled to give Bush the benefit of their accumulated wisdom. All the Vulcans (Richard Armitage, Robert Blackwill, Stephen J. Hadley, Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, Dov Zakheim, Robert Zoellick) went on to important jobs or advisory posts in the Bush administration, and it was hardly surprising that Rice landed as national security adviser.
Stephen J. Hadley became Rice's deputy....
There you have it: a target in the investigation who has roots in Aspen.
Perhaps he "will already be turning."
Anyone else care to speculate?