``Phase II'' squirming in its grave

Was intelligence ``exaggerated or misused'' by U.S. government officials? Republican burial of answer not total, yet.

Beyond the Plame investigation -- always framed in terms of the ``outing of a CIA agent'', even on our media, like Democracy Now! -- always there has existed a much bigger scandal about just how the Bush administration's Iraq weapons of mass destruction fraud was generated. It appears the Fitzgerald investigation may be reaching beyond the narrow issue of revealing an agent's name to a panoply of possible illegalites surrounding the Iraq weapons propaganda operation. I say good, but I am not drooling over narrow Plame-outing indictments like much of the rest of the blogosphere.

In the midst of all this, thanks to A Tiny Revolution for refocusing on the bigger picture and reminding us of just how badly the Republican-controlled Senate Select Committee on Intelligence has failed in its job of oversight with respect to the weapons fraud. Deep Blade carried an item on the official whitewashes underway last spring.

So, since last spring, what has happened to that Senate ``Phase II'' report on intelligence exaggerated and misused by Bush, Cheney, and other administration officials? Jonathan links to a new piece at The American Prospect Online (Laura Rozen, "The Report They Forgot", The American Prospect Online, Oct 19, 2005). This piece offers some explanations about what is now happening given the pressure surrounding the Fitzgerald investigation.

Rosen includes this juicy detail about the late-2001 operations of Cheney operative Michael Ledeen, Larry Franklin (who recently plead guilty in another investigation), and former Pentagon policy deputy Douglas Feith, a key player in the rogue Pentagon intelligence shop called the Office of Special Plans, among others:

a cable the CIA station chief in Rome sent to Langley expressing concern that members of Feith’s office were involved in an unauthorized covert action. The committee also has Franklin’s Rome report, which, according to sources, revealed that the meeting included the discussion of possibilities for engaging a network of Ghorbanifar associates to pursue action against Tehran.

Of course, besides plotting the next war with Iran, these guys also appear to have concocted the now-infamous Iraq-Niger-uranium forgeries.

And yep, that's Manucher Ghorbanifar, a long-time US-friendly arms dealer who played a big role in the Iran-Contra scandal.

Senator Pat Roberts is Chairman of the SSCI. He exudes Kansas credibility but in fact has played the role of Chief Whitewasher. (Our own Olympia Snowe, SSCI committee member, is a player in this coverup too.) Rosen's posting in her own blog explains Robert's role:

Roberts has literally been coordinating with Senate majority leader Frist and Cheney's office very closely on many aspects of the Senate Intelligence committee's supposed investigation of the intelligence, and in particular, working closely with Cheney's office on crafting the language defining the terms for the as-yet unfinished Phase II report.

Again, I'm not holding my breath that these Republicans will be able to investigate themselves to the point that any justice is done at all. It will be to my surprise if the near-dead Phase II report revives, and if Fitzgerald brings forth any truth while proceeding with prosecutions of the rogue officials that lied us into war.