Cambridge Common

a white house (and a war) exposed

The LA Times today has exactly the piece I have been hoping for since the beginning of the Valerie Plame affair. I assumed that it wouldn't come until after special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald came back with a report detailing the ins and outs of the White House smear machine and the intelligence debacle that lead it into action (in this case anyway). But this article tells an amazingly comprehensive story about all of the aspects of Plamegate (or Rovegate, or whatever). All tied up into one disturbing, awful and fascinating narrative, the story includes detailed accounts of:

• the massive arrogance of this administration's handling of intelligence
• the facts and timeline of Joe Wilson's involvement in the Niger yellowcake mistake
• the ongoing struggles between the CIA and the pentagon and DoD
• the smear effort on the part of White House officials to discredit Wilson.

It's all there, and it's scary. You absolutely must read this story.

posted by andrew golis @ 8:10 PM