INVESTIGATE Suskind's Revelations

I've urged my senators and representative make a statement on the revelations of Ron Suskind's book regarding the CIA forging of a letter used to influence domestic public opinion on the Iraq war. Please do the same now... go directly to the bottom and click on the contact information.

.... or procrastinate and read on.

The Way of the World: A Story of Truth and Hope in an Age of Extremism

It is gravely illegal for the US foreign intelligence agency (CIA) to conduct a domestic propaganda operation. Suskind presents multiple on-the-record testimonials that say George Tenant got a stinky assignment from Vice President Cheney's office to forge a letter implicating Iraq in 9/11 and WMD. One source is Rob Richer, former head of CIA’s Near East Division, and former deputy chief of clandestine operations. Richer points to Vice President Cheney's office as the source of the assignment. Richer puts it to words in the following transcript of a taped interview with Suskind. Speaking of CIA Director George Tenet with whom he discussed this assignment, Richer says:

But now--he may have hinted--just by the way he said it, it would have--cause almost all that stuff came from one place only: Scooter Libby and the shop around the vice president.

But he [Tenet] didn't say that specifically. I would naturally--I would probably stand on my, basically, my reputation and say it came from the vice president.

Rob Richer is not alone in speaking on the record. John Maguire, the former deputy chief of Iraq Operations Group with the CIA is adding to the body of evidence. These two men are not light-weights.

Vice President Cheney's connection is corroborated by the American Conservative newspaper, which accepts the fabricated CIA letter as a given and adds some color to the unfolding revelations. They report that the idea originated in the Pentagon's Office of Special Plans, headed by neo-con Douglas Feith. This office was exposed by Robert Dreyfuss in The Lie Factory reported in Mother Jones magazine, and shown to be a direct pipeline
to Vice President Cheney's office. We're just now hearing of another lie from that machine.

The letter that is at the center of these revelations was faked to appear to have been written by Tahir Jalil Habbush, Iraq's head of intelligence. Habbush left Iraq and made contact with US and British intelligence to inform them that Iraq had no WMD, even though the reports to the UN inspectors left some doubt. That doubt was left intentionally. Habbush told the US and Britain that Hussien feared revealing his military weakness to Iran than he feared the US, which explains Hussein's "irrational" behavior.

Unfortunately for everyone affected by the Iraq war, Habbush's story-line, though possibly true, didn't fit the Bush story-line on going to war with Iraq. So Bush side-lined Habbush by paying him $5 million to go live quietly in Jordan.

Habbush never had anything to do with the letter; the CIA fabricated it on its own. It was backdated to July 1, 2001, and referenced the three points Cheney was repeating on Sunday talks shows: 9/11's Mohamed Atta trained in Iraq, Iraq tried to buy yellow cake uranium, biological and chemical weapons. According to Suskind, within intelligence circles, the inclusion of all three of Cheney talking points in a forgery is viewed as a particularly amateurish aspect of the letter forgery, which itself is viewed as "amateur hour".

Suskind explains,

Maguire talks, in the book—and there’s a quote, people who read it—he’s, “I wish George [Tenet] had more experience in actual operations, like some CIA directors, because he could have told his bosses in the White House, ‘This is a bad idea. Habbush is never going to sign it. We don’t think this is such a good plan.’” But Tenet doesn’t push back. And as he said, “That’s one thing,” Maguire says, “we blame George about.”

I could go on, but buy and read Suskind's "The Way of the World," and demand accountability.

Contact Congress: Cut 'n Paste the following into their e-mail forms:

I urge you to make a statement on the revelations of Ron Suskind's book about the CIA fabrication of a letter used to influence domestic public opinion on the Iraq war. If proven, this would be a grave violation of federal law designed to protect our democracy.

INVESTIGATIONS - In your statement on this matter please consider calling for investigations by the House, Senate and Justice Department.

DECLASSIFICATIONS - You should also urge a rapid review of CIA documents for declassification. Many documents are highly likely to have no national security relevance, but rather are classified to hide embarrassment.

THE MEDIA - Call 4th estate, the free press, to help expedite the laborious investigation process by coming forward with information.

I look forward to hearing from you on this.

CONTACT US SENATE

CONTACT US HOUSE

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Sources:

PART 1:
The Way of the World: Ron Suskind on How the Bush Admin Deliberately Faked an Iraq-al-Qaeda Connection and Undermined Diplomacy, Democracy in Pakistan and Iran. "Democracy Now" August 13, 2008.

PART 2:
After Ron Suskind Reveals Bush Admin Ordered Iraq-9/11 Fakery, House Judiciary Chair John Conyers Opens Congressional Probe. "Democracy Now" August 14, 2008.

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