I think it is time to start asking the hard questions about the original Niger forgeries. As far as we know, this is not a part of Patrick Fitzgerald's investigation, and Scott should be able to answer the questions. Questions like:
1. Scott, how is the White House investigation of the original Niger forgeries going? After all, it fooled the American people into believing that the Iraq war was about WMD, and 1800 Americans are dead so far, as a result. It seems like a fairly serious matter.
- Scott, is anyone at the White House investigating Michael Ledeen's involvement in the procurement of the Niger forged documents? Scott is it, in fact, true that Ledeen procured the documents for Karl Rove, and, if so, how did he do that?
- Scott, do you believe that the Niger forgeries were a "rogue" operation conducted by friends of the President? After all, Vice President Cheney seemed to think that the papers were real (he naively asked the CIA to check it out, after all). This violated the 1st rule of lawyering: never ask a question you don't already know the answer to. Do you think the Neocons did it behind his back?
- Scott, is it true that Harold Rhode (from Cheney's Office of Special Plans) participated in the Niger forgery procurement? If so, did he use Ahmed Chalabi's people to help, or did he use Ghorbanifar's expertise?
- Scott, are we coordinating our investigation of the Niger forgery with the Italian Government? What have we learned about how Rocco Martino obtained the documents?
- Scott, Rocco Martino seems to have obtained the Niger forgeries from a "lady" in the Niger embassy. Is it the White House's understanding that this "lady" is actually ROBERT SELDON LADY, the CIA officer recently indicted in Italy?
- Scott, is it your belief that the White House's Wilson-Plame smear was actually intended to prevent us from asking the hard questions about the original forgeries?
- For over 2 years, the White House has blamed every intelligence failure on the CIA. Since the Niger forgeries seem to have started in the Vice President's office, isn't it in poor taste to blame them for this one?
[And so on...] BTW, the most recent article on this appears at the Collective Bella Ciao site, and it is an EXCELLENT summary. The purpose of asking Scott these questions, of course, is to try to remind the most vapid among us that lies matter --- especially White House lies.
